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TO EPISTLE 2 "How is he who is beyond all": These things have often been said in various ways in "On the Divine Names", but he interpreted them exceptionally in that very discourse, in chapter 11, near the end, saying: How is the cause of all things both deity and goodness, and the hypostasis of deity, and beyond these things. And it must be read thus: You ask how God is a principle beyond deity? Then he answers: If you understand that deity is the very gift from God by which we are deified, (15∆_412> but not God himself, you have the solution; for God, I mean the very super-essential essence, is beyond the deifying principle that is gifted and bestowed by him, that is, deification, and the rest similarly. Then, therefore, he reasons, saying that, if the gift from God becomes the principle of our being deified, it is clear that he who is the cause and principle of all, or rather, who is beyond-principle, is thus also beyond the so-called deity, or deifying principle. For God does not possess the good in relation, as we do, but has it without relation, but we [have it] in relation, for we are mutable, while he is immutable.

"If deity and goodness": Not, he says, the very deity and goodness according to essence, whatever that may be, I say, but the goodness-making and deity-making gift of the one who is God and good; for this is the principle and cause of being deified and made good, and in this manner he says it is said to be beyond the principle of deity and the principle of goodness, that is, the one so understood. And note also from this that deity and goodness are not the very essence of God; for it has been said more extensively in "On the Divine Names," chapter 11, that God alone is beyond these things too.

"Unimitated and unrelated": He who does not have something in relation, but from himself is imitation and relation, these things themselves, but [those] who participate and imitate are those around whom these things are seen. He said the Divine is unimitated and unrelated, because, in so far as one progresses toward imitation of and relation to God, to that extent he comprehends the impossibility of the imitation and relation.

TO EPISTLE 3 "Suddenly is that which is beyond hope": I observe that (15∆_414> Gaius rather asked about that prophetic saying of the prophet Malachi, which goes: "And suddenly the Lord whom you seek will come to his temple, and the angel of the covenant whom you desire." And it seemed to me that this was asked from his adding: "This, I think, theology signifies." Here he wonderfully theologizes about the Lord Jesus Christ. Note how he derives the etymology of "suddenly"; note also that Christ was made substantial in a human way.

"But he is hidden": He often said "hidden" instead of God, and hiddenness for deity, as in the preceding discourses. Therefore, "hidden" here is said instead of "the God," as being invisible.

TO EPISTLE 4 "How, you say, is Jesus": You ask, he says, how is this? Note the "here, that is, in the economy, since apart from this, and as cause of men, he is called man, as creator of men.

"For not as cause of men": This Africanus also says in the Chronographies for God is called homonymously by all things from him, since he is in all things. But in the economy he is called man as having been made substantial in his whole essence,

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ΕΙΣ ΤΗΝ ΕΠΙΣΤΟΛΗΝ Β' «Πῶς ὁ πάντων ἐπέκεινα»: Ταῦτα πολλάκις μέν καί ἐν τῷ «Περί θείων

ὀνομάτων» διαφόρως εἴρηται, κατ' ἐξαίρετον δέ αὐτά ἡρμήνευσεν ἐν αὐτῷ τῷ λόγῳ κεφαλαίῳ ια', περί τό τέλος, λέγων· Πῶς ὁ πάντων αἴτιος καί θεότης καί ἀγαθότης, καί θεότητος ὑποστάτης, καί ὑπέρ ταῦτα. Οὕτω δέ ἀναγνωστέον· Ἐρωτᾶς πῶς ὁ Θεός ὑπέρ θεότητος ἀρχήν; Εἴτα ἀποκρίνεται· Εἰ νοήσεις, ὅτι θεότης αὐτό τό ἐκ Θεοῦ δῶρόν ἐστι καθ' ὅ θεούμεθα, οὐ (15∆_412> μήν αὐτός ὁ Θεός, ἔχεις τήν λύσιν· ὁ γάρ Θεός, αὐτό φημι καί ὑπερούσιος οὐσία ὑπέρ τήν παρ' αὐτοῦ δωρουμένην καί χαριζομένην θεαρχίαν, τουτέστι θέωσίν ἐστι, καί τά ἑξῆς ὁμοίως. Εἶτα λοιπόν συλλογίζεται φάσκων, ὅτι, εἰ τό ἐκ Θεοῦ δῶρον ἀρχή γίνεται τοῦ θεοῦσθαι ἡμᾶς, δῆλον, ὅτι ὁ πάσης αἴτιος καί ἀρχή ὤν, μᾶλλον δέ ὑπεράρχιος, οὕτω καί τῆς λεγομένης θεότητος, ἤ ὡς θεαρχίας ἐπέκεινά ἐστιν. Ὁ μέν γάρ Θεός οὐ κατά σχέσιν, ὡς ἡμεῖς, κτᾶται τό ἀγαθόν, ἀλλ' ἀσχέτως ἔχει, ἡμεῖς δέ σχετῶς, τρεπτοί γάρ, ἐκεῖνος δέ ἄτρεπτος.

«Εἰ θεότητα καί ἀγαθότητα»: Οὐκ αὐτήν, φησί, τήν κατ' οὐσίαν θεότητα καί ἀγαθότητα, ὅ τι ποτέ ἐστι λέγω, ἀλλά τήν ἀγαθοποιόν καί θεοποιόν δωρεάν τοῦ ὄντος Θεοῦ καί ἀγαθοῦ· τοῦτο γάρ ἡ ἀρχή καί αἰτία τοῦ θεοῦσθαι καί ἀγαθύνεσθαι, καί κατά τοῦτον τόν τρόπον φησί λέγεσθαι ὑπέρ θεαρχίαν καί ἀγαθαρχίαν, τήν οὕτω δηλαδή νοουμένην. Σημείωσαι δέ καί ἐντεῦθεν, ὅτι ἡ θεότης και ἡ ἀγαθότης οὐκ αὐτουσία ἐστι τοῦ Θεοῦ· καί γάρ καί τούτων ἐπέκεινα ὁ Θεός μόνος ἐν τῷ «Περί θείων ὀνομάτων» κεφαλαίῳ ια' πλατύτερον εἴρηται.

«Ἀμίμητος καί ἄσχετος»: Ὁ κατά σχέσιν οὐκ ἔχων τι, ἀλλ' ἐξ ἑαυτοῦ μίμησις καί σχέσις αὐτά τά πράγματα, μετέχοντες δέ καί μιμούμενοι, περί οὕς ταῦτα ὁρῶνται. Ἀμίμητον δέ καί ἄσχετον ἔφη τό Θεῖον, ὅτι, ὅσῳ τίς πρός μίμησιν καί σχέσιν Θεοῦ προκόπτει, τοσοῦτον καταλαμβάνει τό ἀνέφικτον τῆς μιμήσεως καί σχέσεως.

ΕΙΣ ΤΗΝ ΕΠΙΣΤΟΛΗΝ Γ' «Ἐξαίφνης ἐστί τό παρ' ἐλπίδα»: Ἐφίστημι, ὡς ὅτι μᾶλλον ἐκεῖνο τό

προφητικόν τοῦ προφήτου Μαλαχίου ἠρώτησεν ὁ (15∆_414> Γάϊος, τό ἔχον· «Καί ἐξαίφνης ἥξει εἰς τόν ναόν αὑτοῦ ὁ Κύριος, ὅν ὑμεῖς ζητεῖτε, καί ὁ ἄγγελος τῆς διαθήκης, ὅν ὑμεῖς ἐπιποθεῖτε». Ἔδοξε δέ μοι τοῦτο ἠρωτῆσθαι ἐκ τόν ἐπαγαγεῖν· «Τοῦτο οἶμαι τήν θεολογίαν αἰνίττεσθαι». Θαυμασίως ἐνταῦθα θεολογεῖ τά περί τοῦ Κυρίου Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ. Σημείωσαι δέ πῶς ἐτυμολογεῖ τό «ἐξαίφνης»· σημείωσαι καί τό ἀνθρωπίνως οὐσιωθῆναι Χριστόν.

«Κρύφιος δέ ἐστι»: Τό «κρύφιος» πολλάκις ἀντί τοῦ Θεός εἶπε, καί κρυφιότητα τήν θεότητα, ὡς ἐν τοῖς ἄνω λόγοις. Τό «κρύφιος» οὖν ἐνταῦθα ἀντί τοῦ «ὁ Θεός» εἴρηται, ὡς ἀόρατος.

ΕΙΣ ΤΗΝ ΕΠΙΣΤΟΛΗΝ ∆' «Πῶς, φής, Ἰησοῦς»: Ἐπερωτᾷς, φησί, πῶς τοῦτο; Σημείωσαι δέ τό «ἐνθάδε,

τουτέστιν ἐν τῇ οἰκονομίᾳ, ἐπεί δίχα ταύτης, καί ὡς αἴτιος ἀνθρώπων, λέγεται ἄνθρωπος, ὡς ποιητής ἀνθρώπων.

«Οὐ γάρ ὡς αἴτιος ἀνθρώπων»: Τοῦτό φησι καί Ἀφρικανός ἐν ταῖς Χρονογραφίας λέγεται γάρ ὁμωνύμως ὁ Θεός πᾶσι τοῖς ἐξ αὐτοῦ, ἐπειδή ἐν πᾶσίν ἐστιν. Ἐν δέ τῇ οἰκονομίᾳ ὡς κατά τήν οὐσίαν ὅλην οὐσιωθείς ἄνθρωπος λέγεται,