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SCHOLIA. 1. The hypostatic union of the Logos with the flesh revealed the ineffable

purpose of the divine will, in not confusing the substance by the union with the flesh; but to show one, even in the incarnation of the Logos, the hypostasis; so that the flesh might remain flesh according to its substance, and become divine according to its hypostasis.

2. Of the ages, he says, some have become manifestations of the incarnation, the ends of which have come down to us; others happen to be proofs of our deification, of which the wealth of glory has not yet been revealed.

3. A sure confirmation, he says, of the hope for deification for the nature of men, is the incarnation of God; making man God to the same extent that He Himself became man. For He who became man without sin, it is clear that without a change into God, He will deify the nature; and He will raise it up through Himself as much as, for the sake of man, He lowered Himself.

4. Another contemplation, by which it shows that in Christ exists circumscribed without separation, the beginning and the middle and the (324) end of the ages. Who came down to us as the end of the ages through the incarnation, having naturally the fullness of the paternal goodness, of which He made us partakers in Himself by grace, establishing for us hope as a confirmation of faith.

5. Another contemplation. The principle of doing is the natural power for the activity of the virtues; but the principle of suffering is the grace of things beyond nature, or the concurrence of things contrary to nature. For just as we do not have the natural power for what is beyond being, so also we do not have by nature the power for what is non-being. We suffer therefore, as it is beyond nature, by grace, but we do not effect deification. For we do not have a natural power for the generation of evil. Therefore, he says, while being here we practice the virtues, having by nature the power to do them; but in the future we suffer deification, receiving the grace freely given to suffer it.

6. Practicing the virtues, he says, we cease after this life; but the passion beyond nature according to grace is indefinite, because it is also active; but what is contrary to nature is non-existent, because it is also inert.

7. Reason, he says, presiding over both anger and desire, produces the virtues; while the intellect, applying itself to the principles of created things, gathers unerring knowledge of created things. When, therefore, reason, after the rejection of opposites, finds what is naturally desirable; and the intellect, after traversing the things that are known, grasps the cause of beings which is beyond substance and knowledge, then the passion of deification by grace supervenes, leading reason away from natural distinction, where there is nothing to be distinguished; and causing the intellect to cease from natural intellection, where there is nothing to be known, making God through identity in stasis, the one who is deemed worthy of divine participation.

8. He says that the types of the divine goods are both the modes according to virtue, and the principles of beings; having the modes of the virtues as a body; and as a soul, the spiritual principles of knowledge, by which He deifies the worthy, giving an enhypostatic character of virtue, and granting the essential existence of unerring knowledge.

9. He interpreted the wealth of kindness to be the disposition of God's goodness towards us.

QUESTION 22.

If David reigned only over Israel according to the flesh; but Israel according to the flesh rejected the kingdom of Christ, for which reason it passed over to the Gentiles; how according to the voice of the

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ΣΧΟΛΙΑ. α΄ . Ἡ πρός τήν σάρκα τοῦ Λόγου καθ᾿ ὑπόστασιν ἕνωσις, τόν ἀπόῤῥητον τῆς

θείας βουλῆς ἐφανέρωσε σκοπόν, ἐν τῷ μή φῦραι τῇ ἑνώσει τῆς σαρκός τήν οὐσίαν· μίαν δέ δεῖξαι, κἀν τῇ σαρκώσει τοῦ Λόγου τήν ὑπόστασιν· ἵνα καί μείνῃ σάρξ κατά τήν οὐσίαν ἡ σάρξ, καί γένηται θεία κατά τήν ὑπόστασιν.

β΄ . Τῶν αἰώνων, φησίν, οἱ μέν ἐκφαντικοί γεγόνασιν ἐνανθρωπήσεως, ὧν εἰς ἡμᾶς τά τέλη κατήντησεν· οἱ δέ τῆς ἡμῶν ἀποδεικτικοί τυγχάνουσιν ἐκθεώσεως· ὧν οὔπω τῆς δόξης ὁ πλοῦτος ἐφανερώθη.

γ΄ . Βεβαία πίστωσίς ἐστι, φησί, τῆς πρός ἐκθέωσιν ἐλπίδος τῇ φύσει τῶν ἀνθρώπων, ἡ τοῦ Θεοῦ ἐνανθρώπησις· τοσοῦτον Θεόν ποιοῦσα τόν ἄνθρωπον, ὅσον αὐτός γέγονεν ἄνθρωπος. Ὁ γάρ χωρίς ἁμαρτίας γενόμενος ἄνθρωπος, δῆλον ὅτι χωρίς τῆς εἰς Θεόν μεταβολῆς, τήν φύσιν θεοποιήσει· καί τοσοῦτον ἀναβιβάσει δι᾿ ἑαυτόν, ὅσον διά τόν ἄνθρωπον ἑαυτόν κατεβίβασε.

δ΄ . Ἄλλη θεωρία, δι᾿ ἧς ἐν Χριστῷ κατά περιγραφήν εἶναι δείκνυσιν ἀδιαστάτως, τήν ἀρχήν καί τό μέσον καί τό (324) τέλος τῶν αἰώνων. Ὅς εἰς ἡμᾶς κατήντησεν ὡς αἰώνων τέλος διά σαρκώσεως, ἔχων φυσικῶς τό πλήρωμα τῆς πατρικῆς ἀγαθότητος, οὗπερ ἐν ἑαυτῷ κατά χάριν ἡμᾶς μετόχους κατέστησε, πίστεως ἡμῖν θέμενος τήν ἐλπίδα βεβαίωσιν.

ε΄ . Ἄλλη θεωρία. Ὁ τοῦ ποιεῖν λόγος ἐστίν ἡ φυσική πρός ἀρετῶν ἐνέργειαν δύναμις· ὁ δέ τοῦ πάσχειν λόγος ἐστίν ἡ χάρις τῶν ὑπέρ φύσιν, ἤ σύμβασις τῶν παρά φύσιν. Ὡς γάρ τοῦ ὑπερόντος φυσικήν οὐκ ἔχομεν δύναμιν, οὕτως οὔτε τοῦ μή ὄντος ἔχομεν φύσει τήν δύναμιν. Πάσχομεν οὖν ὡς ὑπέρ φύσιν οὖσαν κατά χάριν, ἀλλ᾿ οὐ ποιοῦμεν τήν θέωσιν. Οὐ γάρ ἔχομεν πρός γένεσιν κακίας φυσικήν δύναμιν. Ποιοῦμεν οὖν ἐνταῦθα, φησίν, ὄντες, τάς ἀρετάς πρός τό ποιεῖν ταύτας ἔχοντες φύσει τήν δύναμιν· πάσχομεν δέ κατά τό μέλλον τήν θέωσιν, τήν πρός τό παθεῖν ταύτην κατά δωρεάν χάριν δεχόμενοι.

στ΄ . Τάς μέν ἀρετάς ποιοῦντες μετά τήνδε, φησί, παυόμεθα τήν ζωήν· τήν δέ κατά χάριν ὑπέρ φύσιν πάθος, ἀόριστον, ὅτι καί δραστικόν· τό δέ παρά φύσιν, ἀνύπαρκτον, ὅτι καί ἀδρανές.

ζ΄ . Τοῦ τε θυμοῦ καί τῆς ἐπιθυμίας ἐπιστατῶν ὁ λόγος, φησί, ποιεῖ τάς ἀρετάς· ὁ δέ νοῦς τοῖς λόγοις ἐπιβάλλων τῶν γεγονότων τήν ἄπταιστον τῶν γεγονότων συλλέγεται γνῶσιν. Ὅταν οὖν ὁ λόγος μετά τήν τῶν ἀντικειμένων ἀποβολήν εὕρῃ τό κατά φύσιν ἐραστόν· καί ὁ νοῦς μετά τήν τῶν γινωσκομένων διάβασιν λάβηται τῆς ὑπέρ οὐσίαν καί γνῶσιν τῶν ὄντων αἰτίας, τηνικαῦτα τό τῆς θεώσεως κατά χάριν ἐπιγίνεται πάθος, τόν μέν λόγον ἀπάγον τῆς φυσικῆς διακρίσεως, ἔνθα διακρινόμενον οὐκ ἔστι· τόν δέ νοῦν καταπαῦον τῆς κατά φύσιν νοήσεως, ἔνθα μή ἐστι τό γινωσκόμενον, καταποιοῦν τῇ κατά τήν στάσιν ταυτότητι Θεόν, τόν ἀξιούμενον τῆς θείας μεθέξεως.

η΄ . Τῶν θείων φησίν ἀγαθῶν τύπους εἶναι τούς τε κατ᾿ ἀρετήν τρόπους, καί τούς τῶν ὄντων λόγους· τούς τρόπους ἔχων τῶν ἀρετῶν ὡς σῶμα· ὡς δέ ψυχήν, τούς ἐν πνεύματι λόγους τῆς γνώσεως, οἷς τούς ἀξίους θεοποιεῖ, χαρακτῆρα διδούς ἀρετῆς ἐνυπόστατον, καί ἀπλανοῦς γνώσεως ἐνούσιον χαριζόμενος ὕπαρξιν.

θ΄ . Πλοῦτον ἑρμήνευσεν εἶναι χρηστότητος, τήν εἰς ἡμᾶς τοῦ Θεοῦ διάθεσιν τῆς ἀγαθότητος.

ΕΡΩΤΗΣΙΣ ΚΒ΄ .

Εἰ ∆αβίδ τοῦ κατά σάρκα μόνον Ἰσραήλ ἐβασίλευσεν· ὁ δέ κατά σάρκα Ἰσραήλ τήν τοῦ Χριστοῦ ἀπώσατο βασιλείαν, διό καί μετῆλθεν ἐπί τά ἔθνη· πῶς κατά τήν φωνήν τοῦ