91

the “the King of glory shall come in,” and “He sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high,” but those things as of one who places himself with us by way of division according to mere thought as in “my God and your God.” Therefore, one must attribute the lofty things to the divine and superior nature, beyond passions and body, and the lowly things to the human nature, and the common things to the composite, that is, to the one Christ, who is God and man, and to know that both belong to one and the same our Lord Jesus Christ; for by knowing the property of each and seeing both proceeding from one, we believe rightly and shall not be led astray. From all of which the difference of the united natures is known, and “that they are not the same,” as the most divine Cyril says, “in natural quality, both divinity and humanity.” Yet one Son and Christ and Lord, and since He is one, His person is also one, the hypostatic union in no way being divided on account of the recognition of the natural difference. 92 That God is not the cause of evils One must know that it is the custom of the divine Scripture to call God's permission His action, as when the Apostle says in the Epistle to the Romans: “Or hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour?” For He indeed makes both these and those; for He alone is the Creator of all things, but He does not Himself make them honorable or dishonorable, but the personal choice of each does. And this is clear from what the same Apostle says in the second Epistle to Timothy: “In a great house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of earth; and some to honour, and some to dishonour. If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the master's use, and prepared unto every good work.” And it is clear that the purging is done voluntarily; “For if a man,” it says, “purge himself,” and the logical consequence responds: If he does not purge himself, he will be a vessel unto dishonor, useless to the master, worthy of being broken. Therefore the saying before us and “God hath concluded them all in unbelief,” and “God hath given them the spirit of slumber, eyes that they should not see, and ears that they should not hear,” all these things must be understood not as God having acted, but as God having permitted, because of free will and because the good is unforced. It is therefore customary for the divine Scripture to speak of His permission as His action and His doing. But indeed also when it says that God creates evils and that there is no “evil in a city, which the Lord hath not done,” it does not show God to be the cause of evils, but, since the name of evil is ambiguous, signifying two things: for sometimes it denotes that which is evil by nature, which is contrary to virtue and the will of God, and at other times that which is evil and painful to our perception, that is, afflictions and tribulations. These seem to be evil, being painful, but in truth they are good; for they become agents of conversion and salvation to those who understand; Scripture says that these come through God. And it must be known that we ourselves are the cause of these things. For involuntary evils are the offspring of voluntary evils. -And this also must be known, that it is a custom of Scripture to speak causally of certain things that ought to be spoken of consequentially as in “against thee only have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight: that thou mightest be justified in thy sayings, and mightest overcome when thou art judged.” For the one who sinned did not sin in order that God might overcome, nor did God need our sin, that from this He might appear as victor (for He incomparably bears the prize of victory over all, even those not sinning, being Creator and incomprehensible and uncreated and having glory by nature and not by acquisition), but that when we sin He is not unjust in bringing wrath and in forgiving those who repent, He is shown to be the victor over our evil. But we do not sin for this purpose, but because the matter turns out thus, just as if someone is sitting working, and a friend should arrive, he says that, so that I should not work today, my friend has come. So the friend did not,

91

τὸ «εἰσελεύσεται ὁ βασιλεὺς τῆς δόξης», καὶ τὸ «ἐκάθισεν ἐν δεξιᾷ τῆς μεγαλωσύνης ἐν τοῖς ὑψηλοῖς», τὰ δὲ ὡς μεθ' ἡμῶν ἑαυτὸν τάττοντος τῷ τρόπῳ τῆς κατὰ ψιλὴν ἐπίνοιαν διαιρέσεως ὡς τὸ «θεόν μου καὶ θεὸν ὑμῶν». ∆εῖ οὖν τὰ μὲν ὑψηλὰ προσνέμειν τῇ θείᾳ καὶ κρείττονι φύσει παθῶν καὶ σώματος, τὰ δὲ ταπεινὰ τῇ ἀνθρωπίνῃ, τὰ δὲ κοινὰ τῷ συνθέτῳ ἤγουν τῷ ἑνὶ Χριστῷ, ὅς ἐστι θεὸς καὶ ἄνθρωπος, καὶ εἰδέναι ἀμφότερα ἑνὸς καὶ τοῦ αὐτοῦ κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ· ἑκάστου γὰρ τὸ ἴδιον γινώσκοντες καὶ ἀμφότερα ἐξ ἑνὸς πραττόμενα βλέποντες ὀρθῶς πιστεύομεν καὶ οὐ πλανηθησόμεθα. Ἐξ ὧν ἁπάντων τῶν μὲν ἑνωθεισῶν φύσεων ἡ διαφορὰ γινώσκεται καὶ «ὅτι μὴ ταὐτόν», ὥς φησιν ὁ θειότατος Κύριλλος, «ἐν ποιότητι φυσικῇ θεότης τε καὶ ἀνθρωπότης». Εἷς γε μὴν υἱὸς καὶ Χριστὸς καὶ κύριος, καὶ ὡς ἑνὸς ὄντος ἓν αὐτοῦ καὶ τὸ πρόσωπον κατ' οὐδένα τρόπον διὰ τὴν ἐπίγνωσιν τῆς φυσικῆς διαφορᾶς μεριζομένης τῆς καθ' ὑπόστασιν ἑνώσεως. 92 Ὅτι οὐκ ἔστι τῶν κακῶν αἴτιος ὁ θεόσ Χρὴ εἰδέναι, ὅτι ἔθος τῇ θείᾳ γραφῇ τὴν παραχώρησιν τοῦ θεοῦ ἐνέργειαν αὐτοῦ καλεῖν, ὡς ὅταν λέγῃ ὁ ἀπόστολος ἐν τῇ πρὸς Ῥωμαίους ἐπιστολῇ· «Ἢ οὐκ ἔχει ἐξουσίαν ὁ κεραμεὺς τοῦ πηλοῦ ἐκ τοῦ αὐτοῦ φυράματος ποιῆσαι, ὃ μὲν εἰς τιμὴν σκεῦος, ὃ δὲ εἰς ἀτιμίαν;» Ὅτι μὲν γὰρ αὐτὸς ποιεῖ καὶ ταῦτα κἀκεῖνα· μόνος γὰρ αὐτός ἐστι τῶν ἁπάντων δημιουργός, ἀλλ' οὐκ αὐτὸς τίμια κατασκευάζει ἢ ἄτιμα, ἀλλ' ἡ οἰκεία ἑκάστου προαίρεσις. Καὶ τοῦτο δῆλον, ἐξ ὧν ὁ αὐτὸς ἀπόστολος ἐν τῇ πρὸς Τιμόθεον δευτέρᾳ ἐπιστολῇ φησιν· «Ἐν μεγάλῃ οἰκίᾳ οὐκ ἔστι μόνον σκεύη χρυσᾶ καὶ ἀργυρᾶ, ἀλλὰ καὶ ξύλινα καὶ ὀστράκινα, καὶ ἃ μὲν εἰς τιμήν, ἃ δὲ εἰς ἀτιμίαν. Ἐὰν οὖν τις ἐκκαθάρῃ ἑαυτὸν ἀπὸ τούτων, ἔσται σκεῦος εἰς τιμήν, ἡγιασμένον καὶ εὔχρηστον τῷ δεσπότῃ, εἰς πᾶν ἔργον ἀγαθὸν ἡτοιμασμένον». ∆ῆλον δέ, ὡς ἑκουσίως ἡ κάθαρσις γίνεται· «Ἐὰν γάρ τις», φησίν, «ἐκκαθάρῃ ἑαυτόν», ἡ δὲ ἀκόλουθος ἀντιστροφὴ ἀντιφωνεῖ· Ἐὰν δὲ μὴ ἐκκαθάρῃ, ἔσται σκεῦος εἰς ἀτιμίαν, ἄχρηστον τῷ δεσπότῃ, συντριβῆς ἄξιον. Τὸ οὖν προκείμενον ῥητὸν καὶ τὸ «συνέκλεισεν ὁ θεὸς πάντας εἰς ἀπείθειαν», καὶ τὸ «ἔδωκεν αὐτοῖς ὁ θεὸς πνεῦμα κατανύξεως, ὀφθαλμοὺς τοῦ μὴ βλέπειν καὶ ὦτα τοῦ μὴ ἀκούειν», ταῦτα πάντα οὐχ ὡς τοῦ θεοῦ ἐνεργήσαντος ἐκληπτέον, ἀλλ' ὡς τοῦ θεοῦ παραχωρήσαντος διὰ τὸ αὐτεξούσιον καὶ τὸ ἀβίαστον εἶναι τὸ καλόν. Τὴν οὖν παραχώρησιν αὐτοῦ ὡς ἐνέργειαν καὶ ποίησιν αὐτοῦ λέγειν σύνηθες τῇ θείᾳ γραφῇ. Ἀλλὰ μὴν καὶ ὅτε φησὶ τὸν θεὸν κτίζειν κακὰ καὶ μὴ εἶναι «ἐν πόλει κακίαν, ἣν ὁ κύριος οὐκ ἐποίησεν», οὐ κακῶν αἴτιον τὸν θεὸν δείκνυσιν, ἀλλ', ἐπειδὴ δισέμφατον τὸ τῆς κακίας ὄνομα, δύο σημαῖνον· ποτὲ μὲν γὰρ τὸ τῇ φύσει κακὸν δηλοῖ, ὅπερ ἐναντίον ἐστὶ τῇ ἀρετῇ καὶ τῇ τοῦ θεοῦ θελήσει, ποτὲ δὲ τὸ πρὸς τὴν ἡμετέραν αἴσθησιν κακὸν καὶ ἐπίπονον ἤγουν τὰς θλίψεις καὶ ἐπαγωγάς. Αὗται δὲ τῷ μὲν δοκεῖν κακαί εἰσιν ἀλγειναὶ τυγχάνουσαι, τῇ δὲ ἀληθείᾳ ἀγαθαί· ἐπιστροφῆς γὰρ καὶ σωτηρίας γίνονται τοῖς συνιοῦσι πρόξενοι· ταύτας διὰ θεοῦ γίνεσθαί φησιν ἡ γραφή. Ἰστέον δέ, ὡς καὶ τούτων ἡμεῖς ἐσμεν αἴτιοι. Τῶν γὰρ ἑκουσίων κακῶν τὰ ἀκούσιά εἰσιν ἔκγονα. -Καὶ τοῦτο δὲ ἰστέον, ὅτι ἔθος τῇ γραφῇ τινα ἐκβατικῶς ὀφείλοντα λέγεσθαι αἰτιολογικῶς λέγειν ὡς τὸ «σοὶ μόνῳ ἥμαρτον καὶ τὸ πονηρὸν ἐνώπιόν σου ἐποίησα, ὅπως ἂν δικαιωθῇς ἐν τοῖς λόγοις σου καὶ νικήσῃς ἐν τῷ κρίνεσθαί σε». Οὐ γὰρ ὁ ἁμαρτήσας, ἵνα νικήσῃ ὁ θεός, ἥμαρτεν, οὔτε δὲ ὁ θεὸς ἐδεῖτο τῆς ἡμῶν ἁμαρτίας, ἵνα ἐκ ταύτης νικητὴς ἀναφανῇ (φέρει γὰρ ἀσυγκρίτως κατὰ πάντων καὶ μὴ ἁμαρτανόντων τὰ νικητήρια δημιουργὸς ὢν καὶ ἀκατάληπτος καὶ ἄκτιστος καὶ φυσικὴν ἔχων τὴν δόξαν καὶ οὐκ ἐπίκτητον), ἀλλ' ὅτι ἡμῶν ἁμαρτανόντων οὐκ ἄδικός ἐστιν ἐπιφέρων τὴν ὀργὴν καὶ μετανοοῦσι συγχωρῶν νικητὴς τῆς ἡμετέρας κακίας ἀναδείκνυται. Οὐκ ἐπὶ τούτῳ δὲ ἡμεῖς ἁμαρτάνομεν, ἀλλ' ὅτι οὕτως ἀποβαίνει τὸ πρᾶγμα, ὥσπερ, ἐὰν κάθηταί τις ἐργαζόμενος, φίλος δέ τις ἐπιστῇ, φησίν, ὅτι, ἵνα μηδὲ σήμερον ἐργάσωμαι, παρεγένετο ὁ φίλος. Ὁ μὲν οὖν φίλος οὐχ,