But you, least of all initiated in these things, as it seems, say that of divine things there is neither knowledge nor demonstration, but only faith, and you do not even hear the great Paul, who says to the unbelieving Greeks "what is known of God is manifest" and that "although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God or give thanks to Him", nor the true contemplation of God which arises in the faithful and in those who show their faith by works, which the Lord in (p. 528) the gospels calls blessed, have you experienced or believed, you who boast greatly in faith, although it is the end or prize or pledge of the prize of faith, made effective through love; for if in divine matters there is only faith, not even this contemplation is true. But if it is true, as indeed it is, that other thing is also true, that "no one has ever seen God," that is, as we said, that some divine things can be contemplated, but others not.

But you have never read and understood that theological saying, "one God, who is over all and through all and in all," who is now comprehended, now sought, and who at some time will perhaps be comprehended as much as is possible; "for he made darkness his hiding place," as the psalmist says, but also "his lightnings lit up the world," and no one is without knowledge of God, even if some, being willfully blind, pretend not to know. For indeed "he is a sun of righteousness" shining generously on all, "both evil and good"; but some, opening their eyelids, are filled with the life-giving ray, while the wicked, closing their eyes, pretend not to know in any way and by their long lack of intercourse with the light they fall into a blindness of the mind, which is also accustomed to happen in the case of physical eyes. He, however, by the abundance of his brightness does not permit anyone at all to look upon him, which is why he is also beyond conception, and again by this abundance he reaches even those who see dimly and reveals himself to those who seek and even to the very last of rational beings, just as the sensible sun also acts upon even weak eyes, although because of its exceeding brightness it does not at all permit the sense of sight to gaze at it.

And yet if it were possible to demonstrate only cataphatically, it would perhaps make some sense that there is (p. 530) no demonstration of any of the divine things; but since it is also possible to demonstrate apophatically, what do you say? Shall we not demonstrate that the creator of all is none of the created things? Shall we not demonstrate that the Good is the cause of no evil? Moreover, if none of the created things were beyond demonstration, then in saying that all divine things are beyond demonstration you would rightly think something great, as one magnifying God above others; but since many things, even of those on earth and attainable by us, appear to be beyond demonstration, how from this will there be a manifestation of the divine preeminence? For we know that experience is by nature more certain than demonstration, so that it too is beyond demonstration, although every art and science has its principles from it; art being gathered from things in generation and corruption, and science from things that are always said to be in the same state. Since, therefore, so many existing things are beyond demonstration, how then did you think to magnify above others the one who is above all being, by declaring this to be beyond demonstration? For what greatness is it for the supercosmic angels that their nature has been shown to be superior to lions and elephants? For we too, who are in the world and so far inferior to those angels, have a nature superior to them; so, therefore, neither could one show the majesty of God by showing him to be beyond demonstration.

For the divine is incomprehensible to the intellect and beyond things comprehensible to the intellect; but many of the things that exist and are comprehensible to the intellect are beyond demonstration, so that the divine surpasses even that "beyond demonstration" of which you speak by incomparable and incommensurate preeminences, and he who thinks to magnify greatly by saying the divine things are beyond the Aristotelian demonstration has unconsciously fallen into the opposite

Σύ δ᾿ ἥκιστα μεμυημένος ταῦθ᾿ ὡς ἔοικεν οὐδενός φῄς εἶναι τῶν θείων γνῶσιν οὐδέ ἀπόδειξιν, ἀλλά πίστιν μόνην, καί οὐδέ τοῦ μεγάλου Παύλου ἀκούεις, ὅς τοῖς ἀπίστοις Ἕλλησι λέγει «φανερόν εἶναι τό γνωστόν τοῦ Θεοῦ» καί ὅτι «γνόντες τόν Θεόν, οὐχ ὡς Θεόν ἐδόξασαν ἤ ἐσεβάσθησαν», οὐδέ τήν τοῖς πιστοῖς καί ἔργῳ τήν πίστιν ἐπιδεικνυομένοις ἐγγινομένην ἀληθῆ Θεοῦ θεωρίαν, ἥν ἐν (σελ. 528) εὐαγγελίοις μακαρίζει ὁ Κύριος, ἤ πέπονθας ἤ πεπίστευκας, ὅς τῇ πίστει μεγαλαυχῶν, καίτοι τῆς πίστεως οὖσαν τέλος ἤ βραβεῖον ἤ βραβείου ἀρραβῶνα διά τῆς ἀγάπης ἐνεργούμενον˙ εἰ γάρ πίστις ἐπί τῶν θείων μόνη, οὐδ᾿ ἡ θεωρία αὕτη ἀληθής. Εἰ δ᾿ ἀληθής, ὥσπερ οὖν ἐστιν, ἀληθές δέ κἀκεῖνο, ὅτι «Θεόν οὐδείς ἑώρακε πώποτε», τοῦτ᾿ ἔστιν ὑπέρ ἔφημεν ἡμ εῖς, ὅτι τά μέν τῶν θείων θεωρητά ἐστι, τά δ᾿ οὔ.

Σύ δέ οὐδέ τό θελογικόν ἐκεῖνό ποτ᾿ ἀναγνούς ἐπέγνως, «εἷς Θεός, ὁ ἐπί πάντων καί διά πάντων καί ἐν πᾶσι», τό μέν ἄρτι καταλαμβανόμενος, τό δέ ζητούμενος, ποτέ δέ ὅσον ἐστί τυχόν καταληφθησόμενος˙ «ἔθετο μέν γάρ σκότος ἀποκρυφήν αὐτοῦ», καθά φησιν ὁ ψαλμῳδός, ἀλλά καί «ἔφαναν αἱ ἀστραπαί αὐτοῦ τῇ οἰκουμένῃ», καί οὐδείς ἀνεπιγνώμων ἐστί τοῦ Θεοῦ, εἰ καί τινες ἐθελοκακοῦντες μή εἰδέναι προσποιοῦνται. Καί γάρ «ἥλιός ἐστι δικαιοσύνης» πᾶσι δαψιλῶς ἐπιλάμπων «πονηροῖς τε καί ἀγαθοῖς»˙ ἀλλ᾿ οἱ μέν διαίροντες τά βλέφαρα, τῆς ζωαρχικῆς ἀκτῖνος ἐμφοροῦνται, οἱ δέ πονηροί μύοντες τάς ὄψεις, μηδ᾿ ἀμωσγέπως εἰδέναι προσποιοῦνται καί τῇ ἐπί πλεῖστον ἀνομιλησίᾳ τοῦ φωτός εἰς τήν κατά διάνοιαν πήρωσιν ἐκπίπτουσιν, ὅ κἀπί τῶν σωματικῶν ὄψεων συμβαίνειν πέφυκεν. Ἐκεῖνος μέντοι τῇ περιουσίᾳ τῆς λαμπρότητος οὔτε προσιδεῖν ὅλως συγχωρεῖ τινα, διό καί ὑπέρ ἔννοιάν ἐστι, καί ταύτῃ αὖθις τῇ περιουσίᾳ καί μέχρι τῶν ἀμυδρῶς ὁρώντων φθάνει καί τοῖς ζητοῦσιν ἐπιφαίνεται καί αὐτοῖς τοῖς τῶν λογικῶν ἐσχάτοις, ὥσπερ καί ὁ αἰσθητός ἥλιος κἀπί τάς ἀμβλείας ὄψεις ἐνεργεῖ, καίτοι διά τό ὑπερβάλλον τῆς λαμπρότητος μηδέ προσατενίζειν ὅλως συγχωρῶν τήν αἴσθησιν.

Καί μήν εἰ μέν καταφατικῶς μόνον ἦν ἀποδεικνύειν, εἶχεν ἄν τινα λόγον ἴσως ἐπ᾿ οὐδενός τῶν θείων εἶναι (σελ. 530) ἀπόδειξιν˙ ἐκεῖ δέ καί ἀποφατικῶς ἀποδεικνύειν ἔνι, τί φῄς; Οὐκ ἀποδείξομεν τόν πάντων κτίστην μηδέν εἶναι τῶν κτιστῶν; Οὐκ ἀποδείξομεν τό ἀγαθόν μηδενός αἴτιον κακοῦ; Πρός δέ, εἰ μέν μηδέν ἦν τῶν κτισμάτων ὑπέρ ἀπόδειξιν, καλῶς ἄν εἰπών πάντα τά θεῖα ὑπέρ ἀπόδειξιν, μέγα τι φρονεῖς ὡς ὑπέρ τούς ἄλλους μεγαλύνων τόν Θεόν˙ ἐπεί δέ πολλά καί τῶν ἐπί γῆς ὄντων καί ἡμῖν ἐφικτῶν ὑπέρ ἀπόδειξιν ὄντα φαίνεται, πῶς ἐντεῦθεν ἔκφανσις ἔσται τῆς θείας ὑπεροχῆς; Τῆς γάρ ἀποδείξεως ἴσμεν βεβαιοτέραν φύσει τήν ἐμπειρίαν οὖσαν, ὥστε καί αὕτη ὑπέρ ἀπόδειξιν, καίτοι πᾶσα καί τέχνη καί ἐπιστήμη παρ᾿ αὐτῆς ἔχει τάς ἀρχάς˙ συνηθροισμένη μέν ἀπό τῶν ἐν γενέσει καί φθορᾷ πραγμάτων ἡ τέχνη, ἐπιστήμη δέ παρά τῶν ἀεί λεγομένων ὡσαύτως ἔχειν.Ἐπεί τοίνυν τοσαῦτα τῶν ὄντων ὑπέρ ἀπόδειξιν πῶς γό ὑπέρ ᾶν ὄν μεγαλύνεις ᾠήθης ὑπέρ τούς ἄλλους καί ὑπέρ ἀπόδειξιν ἀποφηνάμενος τοῦτο; Τίς γάρ μεγαλειότης τοῖς ὑπερκοσμίοις ἀγγέλοις ὑπέρ τούς λέοντας δεδεῖχθαι τήν φύσιν καί τούς ἐλέφαντας; Καί ἡμεῖς γάρ τήν φύσιν ὑπέρ αὐτούς οἱ ἐγκόσμιοι καί τοσοῦτον ἀποδέοντες τῶν ἀγγέλων ἐκείνων˙ οὕτω τοίνυν οὐδέ μεγαλειότητα ἄν τις δεῖξαι Θεοῦ τῷ δεῖξαι τοῦτον ὑπέρ ἀπόδειξιν.

Νῷ γάρ ἄληπτον τό θεῖον καί ὑπέρ τά νῷ ληπτά˙ πολλά δέ τῶν ὄντων καί νῷ ληπτῶν ἐστιν ὑπέρ ἀπόδειξιν, ὥστε τό θεῖον καί τοῦ ὑπέρ ἀπόδειξιν, οὗ σύ φῄς, ὑπερβάλλει ἀπαραβλήτοις καί ἀξυμλήτοις ὑπεροχαῖς, καί ὁ μεγαλύνειν ἄγαν οἰόμενος τῷ ὑπέρ τήν ἀριστοτελικήν ἀπόδειξιν τά θεῖα λέγειν ἔλαθεν ἑαυτόν πρός τἀναντία