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he promises, saying: "I will dwell in them and walk among them. And I and the Father will come and make our home with them," that is, with those who believe and demonstrate their faith by the aforementioned works. But pay attention. Since God, according to his unfailing promises, dwells in us, his genuine servants, and walks in our souls through the energies and illuminations of the all-holy Spirit, we confessedly believe that the worthy souls of such persons are inseparable from God. And since the souls, in turn, pervade the whole body and are absent from no part, it is altogether necessary that the flesh itself, being inseparable from the soul, or rather, not even able to live without it, should be led entirely by the will of the soul; and just as it is not possible for a body to live without a soul, so too is it not possible for the body then to have a will apart from the soul.

It has been shown, therefore, that, just as in the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit one God is worshipped without confusion and without division, so again in God and soul and body, man becomes a god by grace, indivisibly and without confusion, (232) with neither the body being changed into soul, nor the soul being transformed into divinity, nor God being confused with the soul, nor the soul being converted into flesh, but God remaining as he is God, and the soul as it is by nature, and the body, as it was formed, clay. He who miraculously bound them together and mixed the intelligible and immaterial with the clay, he himself is united to both of these without confusion, and I become in his image and likeness, as the Word has shown. But again, if you please, let us take up the argument again; for moved by pleasure and joy, I wish to dwell still on what has been said, so that I may also set forth the meaning of such things more clearly. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, one God whom we worship. God, soul, and body, the man created in the image of God and deemed worthy to be a god.

Why then have I said these things, and to what end have they been spoken in more detail, and why have I extended the argument at length, if not that they should be ashamed, or rather, that those who do not have the image may recognize themselves, and that those who are separated from God may bewail themselves and know what they have been deprived of, and that by hearing the word they may discern by what they are held captive, and understand what kind of darkness covers them, and tremble to teach about God, or rather, to speak more condescendingly, that they should shudder to contradict those who have the grace of God in themselves and are taught all things through it and can do all things in it, and stop saying that it is not possible for someone living according to God, moving about in the world and eating with women or speaking with them, to remain undefiled both intellectually and physically? God is without passion, not affected by what is seen. And I know again that those who are not able to see with the eyes of the soul nor perceive with its senses, not having understood the (233) power of what is being said, will reply something like this: "That God, he says, is without passion, we know; but it is not about God, but about man, that we have doubts."

But for this reason the argument, anticipating this, has shut their mouths, by calling man also a god, who becomes so by grace, that is, by the gift of the all-holy Spirit. For just as it is not possible for the rays of the sun shining in mud ever to be defiled, so too it is not possible for the soul or the mind of a man who bears God and is full of grace to be defiled, even if his most pure body should happen to be rolling in the mud, so to speak, of human bodies, which is foreign to the devout; and not only this, but not even if he is shut up with ten thousand unbelieving and impious defiled persons and, naked in body, is joined to their naked bodies, will his faith be harmed or will he be separated from his own master and forget that beauty. For many such things happened to martyrs and saints, as in the case of the martyr Chrysanthus and certain other saints, and yet nothing from the

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ἐπαγγέλεται λέγων· "Ἐνοικήσω ἐν αὐτοῖς καί ἐμπεριπατήσω. Καί ἐγώ καί ὁ Πατήρ ἐλευσόμεθα καί μονήν παρ᾿ αὐτοῖς ποιησόμεθα", δηλαδή τοῖς πιστεύουσι καί τήν πίστιν ἐκ τῶν προειρημένων ἔργων ἐνδεικνυμένοις. Ἀλλά πρόσεχε. Θεοῦ κατά τάς ἀψευδεῖς ἐπαγγελίας ἐνοικοῦντος ἐν ἡμῖν τοῖς γνησίοις δούλοις αὐτοῦ καί διά τῶν ἐνεργειῶν καί ἐλλάμψεων τοῦ παναγίου Πνεύματος ἐμπεριπατοῦντος ἐν ταῖς ἡμετέραις ψυχαῖς, ἀχωρίστους εἶναι τοῦ Θεοῦ τάς ἀξίας τῶν τοιούτων ψυχάς ὁμολογουμένως πιστεύομεν. Τῶν δέ ψυχῶν πάλιν διϊκνουμένων ἐν ὅλῳ τῷ σώματι καί μηδενί μέρει ἀπολιμπανομένων, ἀνάγκη πάντως καί αὐτήν τήν σάρκα, ἀχώριστον οὖσαν τῆς ψυχῆς, μᾶλλον δέ μηδέ ζῆν χωρίς αὐτῆς δυναμένην, ὅλην ἄγεσθαι τῆς ψυχῆς τῷ θελήματι· καί ὡς οὐκ ἔστι σῶμα ζῆν ἄνευ ψυχῆς, οὕτως οὐδέ θέλημα ἔνι τό σῶμα ἔχειν τότε παρεκτός τῆς ψυχῆς.

Ἀποδέδεικται τοίνυν ὅτι, ὥσπερ ἐν Πατρί καί Υἱῷ καί Ἁγίῳ Πνεύματι εἷς Θεός ἀσυγχύτως καί ἀδιαιρέτως προσκυνεῖται, οὕτω πάλιν ἐν Θεῷ καί ψυχῇ καί σώματι ἀδιαιρέτως καί ἀσυγχύτως θεός κατά χάριν ὁ ἄνθρωπος γίνεται, (232) μήτε τοῦ σώματος εἰς ψυχήν μεταβαλλομένου, μήτε τῆς ψυχῆς εἰς θεότητα μεταποιουμένης, μήτε τοῦ Θεοῦ τῇ ψυχῇ συγχεομένου, μήτε τῆς ψυχῆς εἰς σάρκα μεταπηγνυμένης, ἀλλά μένων ὁ Θεός καθό Θεός ἐστι καί ἡ ψυχή καθώς ἔχει φύσεως καί τό σῶμα, καθώς ἐπλάσθη, πηλός. Ὁ παραδόξως συνδήσας αὐτά καί τό νοερόν τε καί ἄϋλον τῷ πηλῷ συγκεράσας, αὐτός ἀμφοτέροις τούτοις ἀσυγχύτως ἑνοῦται κἀγώ κατ᾿ εἰκόνα καί ὁμοίωσιν ἐκείνου, ὡς ὁ Λόγος ἀπέδειξε, γίνομαι. Ἀλλά πάλιν, εἰ δοκεῖ, τόν λόγον ἐπαναλάβωμεν· ὑφ᾿ ἡδονῆς γάρ κινούμενος καί χαρᾶς, ἔτι τοῖς εἰρημένοις προσμένειν βούλομαι, ἵνα καί τόν νοῦν τῶν τοιούτων ἐκδηλότερον ἀνατάξωμαι. Πατήρ, Υἱός καί Ἅγιον Πνεῦμα εἷς Θεός ὅν σεβόμεθα. Θεός, ψυχή καί σῶμα, ὁ κατ᾿ εἰκόνα Θεοῦ κτισθείς ἄνθρωπος καί θεός εἶναι καταξιούμενος.

Τί οὖν μοι ταῦτα καί πρός τί λεπτότερον εἴρηται καί διά τί μακρόν τόν λόγον ἐξέτεινα, ἤ ἵνα αἰσχυνθῶσι, μᾶλλον δέ οἱ τό κατ᾿ εἰκόνα μή ἔχοντες ἑαυτούς ἐπιγνώσωνται καί οἱ κεχωρισμένοι ἀπό τοῦ Θεοῦ ἑαυτούς ἀποκλαύσωνται καί τίνων ἐστέρηνται γνώσωσι καί ὑφ᾿ ὧν κατέχονται τῇ ἀκροάσει τοῦ λόγου διακρίνωσι και οἷον αὐτούς σκότος κατακαλύπτει νοήσωσι καί Θεόν διδάσκειν τρομάσωσι, μᾶλλον δέ, ἵνα συγκαταβατικώτερον εἴπω, τοῖς τήν χάριν ἐν ἑαυτοῖς ἔχουσι τοῦ Θεοῦ καί πάντα διδασκομένοις δι᾿ αὐτῆς καί πάντα ἰσχύουσιν ἐν αὐτῇ ἀντιλέγειν φρίξωσι καί παύσωνται λέγειν μή εἶναι δυνατόν τινα τῶν κατά Θεόν ζώντων, ἐν κόσμῳ ἀναστρεφόμενον καί μετά γυναικῶν συνεσθίοντα ἤ αὐταῖς ὁμιλοῦντα, ἀμόλυντον νοητῶς τε καί αἰσθητῶς διαμένειν; Θεός ἀπαθής ἐστι, μή προσπάσχων τοῖς ὁρωμένοις. Καί οἶδα πάλιν ὅτι οἱ μή ὁρᾶν ἰσχύοντες τοῖς τῆς ψυχῆς ὀφθαλμοῖς μηδέ τοῖς αἰσθητηρίοις αὐτῆς αἰσθανόμενοι, τοῦ λεγομένου τήν (233) δύναμιν μή νοήσαντες, οὕτω πως ἀνταποκριθήσονται· "Ὅτι μέν ὁ Θεός, φησίν, ἀπαθής ἐστιν, οἴδαμεν· ἀλλ᾿ οὐ περί Θεοῦ, περί δέ ἀνθρώπου πάντως ἡμεῖς ἀμφιβάλλομεν".

Ἀλλά καί ὁ λόγος διά τοῦτο προλαβών τά τούτων ἐνέφραξε στόματα, θεόν εἰπών καί τόν ἄνθρωπον κατά χάριν γινόμενον, ἤγουν τῇ δωρεᾷ τοῦ παναγίου Πνεύματος. Ὥσπερ γάρ οὐκ ἔνι τόν ἥλιον ἐν βορβόρῳ λάμποντα μολυνθῆναι τάς ἀκτῖνάς ποτε, οὕτως οὐδέ τοῦ Θεόν φοροῦντος κεχαριτωμένου ἀνθρώπου τήν ψυχήν ἤ τήν διάνοιαν μολυνθῆναι ἐνδέχεται, κἄν ἐν βορβόρῳ σωμάτων, εἰπεῖν, ἀνθρωπίνων ἐγκυλινδεῖσθαι τύχοι τό καθαρώτατον αὐτοῦ σῶμα, ὅπερ τοῖς θεοσεβέσιν ἀνοίκειον· οὐ μόνον δέ, ἀλλ᾿ οὐδέ, εἰ μετά μυρίων ἀπίστων καί ἀσεβῶν μεμιασμένων καθειρχθήσεται καί γυμνός τῷ σώματι γυμνοῖς αὐτοῖς ἑνωθήσεται, τήν πίστιν παραβλαβήσεται ἤ τοῦ ἰδίου δεσπότου χωρισθήσεται καί τοῦ κάλλους ἐκείνου ἐπιληφθήσεται. Πολλά γάρ ἐπί μαρτύρων καί ἁγίων τοιαῦτα ἐγένοντο, ὡς ἐν τῷ Χρυσάνθῳ μάρτυρι καί ἐν ἄλλοις τισί τῶν ἁγίων, καί ὅμως οὐδέν ἐκ τῆς