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96

let us not love it for the sake of another. "perfect" therefore "love casts out fear, because fear has torment"-, not that one, about which it is said: "there is no want for those who fear him". 20 You have wrought for those who hope in you in the sight of the sons of men. You have wrought this hiding. There are some sons of men who are not blamed. But often men and sons are blamed when it says that: "sons of men, how long will you be heavy of heart"? But when it says: "the Lord looked down from heaven, he saw all the sons of men," these sons of men are praiseworthy. And I say a paradox: when they are referred to God, the righteous are men and sons of men, but when to the righteous, the sinners are sons of men, since those of whom Paul writes are wicked151: "for where there is strife and jealousy among you, are you not men"? and about whom: "but you indeed die like men," having fallen from being gods and sons of the Most High. The wicked are called sons of men in relation to the holy men who are spoken of or the gods who are named, but in relation to the one who is the cause for God of excellent sons, upon whom he looks. And again: "you will save men and beasts, Lord. How you have multiplied your mercy, O God; but the sons of men will hope in the shelter of your wings". "A great thing is man and a precious thing a merciful man". Here the man "according to the image and likeness" of God is praised for his greatness. But when someone, having fallen from being a son of the Most High, a man becomes a son, this man is wicked. "You have wrought for those who hope in you in the sight of the sons of men"—the excellent ones, and they know the work—a hiding of the riches of your goodness. 21 You will hide them in the secret place of your face. The sons of men for whom you wrought your mercy. And someone is hidden in the secret place of God thus: God has a face that is revealed through his own creations; for it is said: "from the greatness and beauty of created things their originator is seen proportionately". He is seen from the proportion of creation; for just as if someone sees a ship, he gets an impression of the shipbuilder even if he is not present, and the one who beholds a ship being steered from afar immediately comes to the thought that there is one who is piloting it, and the one who sees a chariot from afar being borne along in an orderly way, even if he does not see the charioteer, receives a notion of him, so with the cosmos being borne along in an orderly way and having a most beautiful nature, an impression of the beauty and greatness of God is known; for if the things that have come to be are great, much greater is the one who fashioned them. When someone, therefore, from the cosmos and its order and its design and the judgments of providence receives an impression of God, he has not been hidden in the secret place of his face. And such are also those who philosophized among the Greeks; for from the greatness of the creations and their beauty they received an impression of God. But the one who receives an impression of God without creation, having seen the Son and through the Son the Father—for "he who has seen me has seen the Father"—this one has been hidden in the secret place of the face of God. And the secret place is that which is according to the creative Word. Again, that we may also speak more popularly: Jesus had two faces, of man and of God. As many as know him according to the flesh receive him in the manifestation of his face. But as many as, having departed from knowing him according to the flesh, have come to know him insofar as he is God the Word, these have been hidden in the secret place of the face of God. And further, since I was saying that the external appearance of the cosmos is a face, the Word according to which the things that have come to be were made and are provided for and are administered, is the secret place of the face of God, and the secret place is that which is according to the creative Word. God often hides his own goodness from the little ones who fear him. And yesterday we understood those who fear with the fear

96

μὴ ἄλλου χάριν αὐτὸ ἀγαπῶμεν. "ἡ τελεία" οὖν "ἀγάπη ἔξω βάλλει τὸν φόβον ὅτι ὁ φόβος κόλασιν ἔχει"-, οὐκ ἐκεῖνον, περὶ οὗ λέγεται· "οὐκ ἔστιν ὑστέρημα τοῖς φοβουμένοις αὐτόν". 20 ἐξειργάσω τοῖς ἐλπίζουσιν ἐπὶ σὲ ἐναντίον τῶν υἱῶν τῶν ἀνθρώπων. ἐξειργάσω ταύτην τὴν κρύψιν. τινές εἰσιν υἱοὶ ἀνθρώπων οὐ ψεγομένων. ψέγονται δὲ πολλάκις οἱ ἄνθρωποι καὶ οἱ υἱοὶ ὅταν λέγῃ ὅτι· "υἱοὶ ἀνθρώπων, ἕως πότε βαρυκάρδιοι"; ὅταν δὲ λέγῃ· "ἐξ οὐρανοῦ ἐπέβλεψεν κύριος, εἶδεν πάντας τοὺς υἱοὺς τῶν ἀνθρώπων", ἐπαινετοί εἰσιν οὗτοι οἱ υἱοὶ τῶν ἀνθρώπων. καὶ λέγω παράδοξον· ὅταν πρὸς θεὸν ἀναφέρωνται, οἱ δίκαιοι ἄνθρωποί εἰσιν καὶ ἀνθρώπων υἱοί, ὅταν δὲ πρὸς τοὺς δικαίους, οἱ ἁμαρτωλοὶ υἱοὶ ἀνθρώπων, φαύλων ὄντων ἐκεί151 νων, περὶ ὧν γράφει Παῦλος· "ὅπου γὰρ ἔρις καὶ ζῆλος ἐν ὑμῖν, οὐχὶ ἄνθρωποί ἐστε"; καὶ περὶ ὧν· "ὑμεῖς δὲ δὴ ὡς ἄνθρωποι ἀποθνῄςκετε", ἐκπεσόντες τοῦ θεοὶ εἶναι καὶ υἱοὶ ὑψίστου. πρὸς τοὺς ἁγίους ἀνθρώπους λεγομένους ἢ θεοὺς ὀνομαζομένους υἱοὶ ἀνθρώπων οἱ φαῦλοι λέγονται, πρὸς δὲ τὸν τῷ θεῷ αἴτιον υἱοὺς σπουδαίους, ἐφ' οὓς ἐπιβλέπει. καὶ πάλιν· "ἀνθρώπους καὶ κτήνη σώσεις, κύριε. ὡς ἐπλήθυνας τὸ ἔλεός σου, ὁ θεός· οἱ δὲ υἱοὶ τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἐν σκέπῃ τῶν πτερύγων σου ἐλπιοῦσιν". "μέγα ἄνθρωπος καὶ τίμιον ἀνὴρ ἐλεήμων". ὧδε ὁ ἄνθρωπος ὁ "κατ' εἰκόνα καὶ ὁμοίωσιν" θεοῦ ἐπὶ μεγέθει ἐπαινεῖται. ὅταν δέ τις ἐκπεσὼν τοῦ εἶναι ὑψίστου υἱὸς ἄνθρωπος γένηται υἱός, φαῦλός ἐστιν οὗτος ὁ ἄνθρωπος. "ἐξειργάσω τοῖς ἐλπίζουσιν ἐπὶ σὲ ἐναντίον τῶν υἱῶν τῶν ἀνθρώπων" τῶν σπουδαίων-ἴσασιν δὲ ἐκεῖνοι τὴν ἐξεργασίαν- κρύψιν τοῦ πλούτου τῆς χρηστότητός σου. 21 κατακρύψεις αὐτοὺς ἐν ἀποκρύφῳ τοῦ προσώπου σου. τοὺς υἱοὺς τῶν ἀνθρώπων οἷς ἐξειργάσω τὸν σὸν ἔλεον. κατακρύπτεταί τις δὲ ἐν ἀποκρύφῳ τοῦ θεοῦ οὕτως· ἔχει θεὸς πρόσωπον ἐπιφαινόμενον διὰ τῶν ἑαυτῶν δημιουργημάτων· λέγεται γάρ· "ἐκ μεγέθους καὶ καλλονῆς τῶν κτισμάτων ἀναλόγως ὁ γενεσιουργὸς αὐτῶν θεωρεῖται". ἐξ ἀναλογίας τῆς κτίσεως θεωρεῖται· ὥσπερ γὰρ ἐὰν ἴδῃ τις σκάφος, φαντασίαν ναυπηγοῦ λαμβάνει κἂν μὴ παρῇ, καὶ ὁ θεωρήσας ἰθυνομένην ναῦν πόρρωθεν εὐθέως εἰς ἔννοιαν ἔρχεται ὅτι ἔστιν ὁ πηδαλιουχῶν αὐτήν, καὶ ἅρμα πόρρωθεν ὁ βλέπων τεταγμένως φερόμενον κἂν μὴ ὁρᾷ τὸν ἡνίοχον, ἐνθύμησιν αὐτοῦ λαμβάνει, οὕτω τεταγμένως τοῦ κόσμου ἄρα φερομένου καὶ περικαλλῆ ἔχοντος τὴν φύσιν φαντασία τοῦ κάλλους καὶ τοῦ μεγέθους τοῦ θεοῦ γνωρίζεται· εἰ γὰρ μεγάλα τὰ γενόμενα, πολὺ μείζω ὁ κατασκευάσας. ὅταν τις οὖν ἐκ τοῦ κόσμου καὶ τῆς τάξεως καὶ τῆς ἐννοίας καὶ τῶν κριμάτων τῆς προνοίας φαντασίαν λάβῃ θεοῦ, οὐκ εἰς τὸ ἀπόκρυφον τοῦ προσώπου αὐτοῦ κατεκρύβη. τοιοῦτοι δέ εἰσιν καὶ οἱ παρ' Ἕλλησιν φιλοσοφήσαντες· ἐκ γὰρ τοῦ μεγέθους τῶν δημιουργημάτων καὶ τῆς καλλονῆς φαντασίαν ἔλαβον θεοῦ. ὁ δὲ ἄνευ τῆς δημιουργίας λαμβάνων θεοῦ φαντασίαν ἑωρακὼς τὸν υἱὸν καὶ διὰ τοῦ υἱοῦ τὸν πατέρα-"ὁ" γὰρ "ἑωρακὼς ἐμὲ ἑώρακεν τὸν πατέρα"-, οὗτος ἐν ἀποκρύφῳ τοῦ προσώπου τοῦ θεοῦ κέκρυπται. ἀπόκρυφον δὲ τὸ κατὰ τὸν λόγον τὸν δημιουργικόν. πάλιν ἵνα καὶ δημωδεστέρως εἴπωμεν· δύο πρόσωπα εἶχεν Ἰησοῦς, ἀνθρώπου καὶ θεοῦ. ὅσοι κατὰ σάρκα αὐτὸν γιγνώσκουσιν, ἐν τῇ φανερώσει τοῦ προσώπου αὐτὸν λαμβάνουσιν. ὅσοι δὲ ἀποστάντες ἀπὸ τοῦ κατὰ σάρκα αὐτὸν εἰδέναι ἦλθον εἰς τὸ γιγνώσκειν αὐτὸν καθὸ θεὸς λόγος ἐστίν, οὗτοι κατεκρύβησαν ἐν ἀποκρύφῳ τοῦ προσώπου τοῦ θεοῦ. καὶ ἔτι, ἐπειδὴ ἔλεγον τὴν ἔξωθεν φαντασίαν τοῦ κόσμου πρόσωπον εἶναι, ὁ λόγος ὁ καθ' ὃν γέγονεν τὰ γενόμενα καὶ προνοεῖται καὶ διοικεῖται, τὸ ἀπόκρυφόν ἐστιν τοῦ προσώπου τοῦ θεοῦ, ἀπόκρυφον δὲ τὸ κατὰ τὸν λόγον τὸν δημιουργικόν. κρύπτει τὴν ἑαυτοῦ χρηστότητα ὁ θεὸς πολλάκις τοῖς μικροῖς τοῖς φοβουμένοις αὐτόν. ἐξειλήφαμεν δὲ χθὲς τοὺς φοβουμένους τοὺς φόβῳ