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to be deemed worthy of your eyes, we at the same time examine the apostolic mind with a love for learning.

SCHOLIA. a'. By 'genesis' he means the first fashioning of man by God; but by 'gennesis', the succession from one another afterwards out of condemnation (317) because of the transgression.

b'. Our [experience] according to pleasure, appropriating the experience for the provocation of the tempter, by nature according to pleasure and as a man, being impassible; for he was passible in the flesh according to nature, as a man, because of mortality, but not subject to passion according to his mind, as one who is sinless.

c'. He has called a property of nature the propensity toward sin from weakness, which is according to the will after the transgression; which the Lord neither had naturally according to the flesh, being also sinless in the flesh according to essence.

QUESTION 22.

If in the ages to come God will show His riches, how have the ends of the ages come to us?

Answer. He who established the creation of all creation, both visible and invisible, by the mere inclination of his will, had before all the ages, and before the very creation of things that have come to be, a counsel for them that was ineffably and supremely good; and this was for him to be unchangeably mingled with the nature of men through the true hypostatic union; and for the human nature to be unalterably united to himself; so that he might become man, as he himself knows, and might make man God by union with himself, having obviously divided and defined the ages wisely; some, for the work of his becoming man; others, for the work of making man God. Therefore, the ends of the ages preordained for the work of his becoming man have come to us, since the divine purpose according to the incarnation has received its outcome through these very events. Considering this, the divine Apostle, having seen the end of the counsel according to the purpose of the ages for God to become man through the very incarnation of God the Word, says that the ends of the ages have come to us; not meaning the ages simply as understood by us, but those which, for the work, that is, of the mystery of the embodiment, have received their own end according to the purpose of God.

Since, therefore, the ages foreordained according to the purpose for the work of God becoming man have reached their end in us, as God has truly effected and fulfilled His perfect becoming man; it is necessary, then, to await the other ages that are to come, for the work of the mystical and ineffable deification of men; in which God will show us the surpassing riches of His goodness, having perfectly effected deification in those who are worthy. For if He himself has reached the end of the mystical work of (320) becoming human, having been made like us in every way apart from sin alone, and having descended into the lower parts of the earth, where the tyranny of sin had thrust man; He will surely also receive the end of the mystical work of man being deified, having made man like himself in every way, apart, obviously, from identity with him in essence, and having raised him above all the heavens; where the magnitude of grace, existing by nature, through the infinity of goodness calls forth man who lies below. Which the great Apostle, teaching mystically, says in the

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ὀφθαλμούς ὑμῶν ἀξιωθῆναι, τήν ἀποστολικήν διάνοιαν ἅμα φιλομαθῶς ἐξετάζομεν.

ΣΧΟΛΙΑ. α΄ . Γένεσιν λέγει τήν ἐκ Θεοῦ πρώτην τοῦ ἀνθρώπου διάπλασιν· γέννησιν δέ,

τήν ἐκ καταδίκης (317) ὕστερον διά τήν παράβασιν ἐξ ἀλλήλων διαδοχήν. β΄ . Τήν ἡμῶν καθ᾿ ἡδονήν, οἰκειοῦσαι πεῖραν εἰς πρόκλησιν τοῦ πειράζοντος,

φύσει καθ᾿ ἡδονήν καί ὡς ἄνθρωπος, ἀπαθής ὑπάρχων· παθητός γάρ ἦν σαρκί κατά φύσιν, ὡς ἄνθρωπος, διά τό θνητόν, ἀλλ᾿ οὐκ ἐμπαθής κατά γνώμην ὡς ἀναμάρτητος.

γ΄ . Φύσεως ἴδιον κέκληκε, τό κατά γνώμην μετά παράβασιν πρός ἁμαρτίαν ἐξ ἀσθενείας ὀλισθηρόν· ὅπερ οὔτε κατά σάρκα φυσικῶς εἶχεν ὁ Κύριος, καί σαρκί κατ᾿ οὐσίαν ἀναμάρτητος ὤν.

ΕΡΩΤΗΣΙΣ ΚΒ΄ .

Εἰ ἐν τοῖς αἰῶσι τοῖς ἐπερχομένοις δείξει τόν πλοῦτο αὐτοῦ ὁ Θεός, πῶς εἰς ἡμᾶς τά τέλη τῶν αἰώνων κατήντησεν;

Ἀπόκρισις. Ὁ πάσης κτίσεως ὁρατῆς τε καί ἀοράτου κατά μόνην τοῦ θελήματος τήν ῥοπήν

ὑποστήσας τήν γένεσιν, πρό πάντων τῶν αἰώνων, καί αὐτῆς τῆς τῶν γεγονότων γενέσεως, τήν ἐπ᾿ αὐτοῖς ἀφράστως ὑπεράγαθον εἶχε βουλήν· ἡ δέ ἦν αὐτόν μέν ἀτρέπτως ἐγκραθῆναι τῇ φύσει τῶν ἀνθρώπων διά τῆς καθ᾿ ὑπόστασιν ἀληθοῦς ἑνώσεως· ἑαυτῷ δέ τήν φύσιν ἀναλλοιώτως ἑνῶσαι τήν ἀνθρωπίνην· ἵνα αὐτός μέν ἄνθρωπος γένηται, καθώς οἶδεν αὐτός, Θεόν δέ ποιήσειε τῇ πρός ἑαυτόν ἑνώσει τόν ἄνθρωπον, μερίσας δηλονότι σοφῶς τούς αἰῶνας καί διορίσας· τούς μέν, ἐπ᾿ ἐνεργείᾳ τοῦ αὐτόν γενέσθαι ἄνθρωπον· τούς δέ, ἐπ᾿ ἐνεργείᾳ τοῦ τόν ἄνθρωπον ποιῆσαι Θεόν. Τῶν οὖν ἐπ᾿ ἐνεργείᾳ τοῦ αὐτόν γενέσθαι ἄνθρωπον προωρισμένων αἰώνων, εἰς ἡμᾶς τά τέλη κατήντησε, τῆς θείας προθέσεως κατά τήν σάρκωσιν δι᾿ αὐτῶν τῶν πραγμάτων λαβούσης τήν ἔκβασιν. Ὅπερ ὁ θεῖος διασκοπήσας Ἀπόστολος, τῆς κατά πρόθεσιν τῶν αἰώνων πρός τό γενέσθαι τόν Θεόν ἄνθρωπον βουλῆς ἐνιδών τό τέλος, δι᾿ αὐτῆς τοῦ Θεοῦ καί Λόγου σαρκώσεως, φησίν, εἰς ἡμᾶς κατηντηκέναι τά τέλη τῶν αἰώνων· οὐχ ἁπλῶς παρ᾿ ἡμῶν νοουμένων τῶν αἰώνων, ἀλλά τῶν, ἐπ᾿ ἐνεργείᾳ δηλονότι τοῦ τῆς ἐνσωματώσεως μυστηρίου, τό οἰκεῖον κατά πρόθεσιν τοῦ Θεοῦ πέρας εἰληφότων.

Ἐπεί οὖν οἱ κατά πρόθεσιν ἐπ᾿ ἐνεργείᾳ τοῦ γενέσθαι τόν Θεόν ἄνθρωπον προορισθέντες αἰῶνες εἰς ἡμᾶς τό τέλος εἰλήφασιν, ἐνεργήσαντος κατ᾿ ἀλήθειαν τοῦ Θεοῦ τήν ἑαυτοῦ τελείαν ἐνανθρώπησιν καί πληρώσαντος· τούς ἄλλους ἐκδέχεσθαι χρή λοιπόν αἰῶνας ἐλευσομένους, ἐπ᾿ ἐνεργείᾳ τῆς τῶν ἀνθρώπων μυστικῆς καί ἀποῤῥήτου θεώσεως· καθ᾿ οὕς τόν ὑπερβάλλοντα πλοῦτον τῆς χρηστότητος αὐτοῦ εἰς ἡμᾶς δείξει ὁ Θεός, ἐνεργήσας τελείως ἐν τοῖς ἀξίοις τήν θέωσιν. Εἰ γάρ αὐτός τῆς ἐπί τῷ (320) ἀνθρωπισθῆναι μυστικῆς ἐνεργείας εἴληφε πέρας, κατά πάντα τρόπον χωρίς μόνης ἁμαρτίας ἡμῖν ὁμοιωθείς, καί εἰς τά κατώτερα μέρη τῆς γῆς καταβάς, ἔνθα τόν ἄνθρωπον ἀπεώσατο τῆς ἁμαρτίας ἡ τυραννίς· πάντως καί τῆς ἐπί τῷ θεωθῆναι τόν ἄνθρωπον μυστικῆς ἐνεργείας λήψεται πέρας, κατά πάντα τρόπον, χωρίς μόνης δηλονότι τῆς πρός αὐτόν κατ᾿ οὐσίαν ταυτότητος, ὁμοιώσας ἑαυτῷ τόν ἄνθρωπον, καί ὑπεράνω πάντων τῶν οὐρανῶν ἀναβιβάσας· ἔνθα τό τῆς χάριτος φύσει μέγεθος ὑπάρχον προκαλεῖται διά τήν ἀπειρίαν τῆς ἀγαθότητος τόν κάτω κείμενον ἄνθρωπον. Ὅπερ μυστικῶς διδάσκων ὁ μέγας Ἀπόστολος φησίν ἐν τοῖς