117

knowing. If, then, as he has just now declared here, it is possible to know the negations only of those things and to deny divinity only from those things of which we have comprehension, it will be necessary—O, the absurdity!—that the one who will know God from the abstraction of all things be God. For either one would know all existing things, so that from the abstraction of all things he might know God, and he introduces himself to us as God—for it belongs to God alone to know all things—or, if he is ignorant of something, he considers this to be God; for what he is ignorant of, it is impossible to abstract divinity from it, as this man said. And if, again, one knows God to be the cause only of those things which he knows, he does not consider God the cause of as many things as have escaped his knowledge; therefore, he will measure the divine power by the cosmos, for this man will not know more than this universe. But we, having been raised above knowledge, have been persuaded that it is one of the easiest things for God to bring forth countless worlds, not only similar but also different, and from all things we universally deny divinity, and from things not yet known we know the infinitely powerful power. Thus Paul says that Christ is seated above every name that is named, that is, known, not only in this age, but also in the one to come that will be known, and from (p. 538) the things not known by him extolling the majesty of God. So elsewhere in the epistles, after saying, "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?" and enumerating all things sensible and intelligible, present and future, he added, "nor any other creature will be able to separate us from the love of God," from existing things seeing also non-existing things and making pronouncements about them as if they existed. But we who understand countless things from one and the infinite power from the finite, how shall we not know all things from the moderate things concerning him, as they say, the lion from its claws and the cloth from its fringe, and so we shall recognize God as the cause of all things and from all these things we shall abstract, and that which surpasses the knowledge of God from existing things, as all things were brought forth from non-existing things by word alone, shall we add through faith?

This, therefore, is a knowledge beyond conception common to all who have believed in Christ; but the goal of this true faith, which comes about through the working of the commandments, does not provide the knowledge of God from existing things alone, both known and unknown—for here we call created things existing things in every case—but from the uncreated light, which is the glory of God and of Christ God and of those who have attained the Christ-like end; in the glory of the Father Christ will come, in the glory of their Father Christ "the righteous will shine like the sun" and will be light and will see light, the delightful and all-holy spectacle of the pure heart alone, which now is moderately shown in the manner of a pledge even to those who have passed through all profane things by means of dispassion and pure things by means of sincere and immaterial prayer, but then will manifestly deify the sons of the resurrection, co-eternalizing and co-glorifying them with the one who imparted to our nature divine glory and splendor. But glory and splendor could never be essence, not even in the case of (p. 540) created things; how then could anyone glorify the glory of God as being the essence of God, of a God who, being unparticipated in and invisible and intangible, by a supra-essential power becomes participated in and contained and shines through and in contemplation becomes one Spirit with those who encounter him through a pure heart, according to the most mystical and ineffable prayer for us to the proper Father of the common Father? "For grant them," he says, "that just as I, Father, am in you and you in me, they also may be one in us" in truth. Such, therefore, being the vision of God, which only those who have been deemed worthy of the blessed end will see throughout the unceasing age, which even now the chosen of the apostles on Tabor

117

εἰδότα. Εἰ τοίνυν, ὡς ἄρτι κἀνταῦθ᾿ οὗτος ἀπεφήνατο, τούτων μόνων ἔνι καί τάς ἀναιρέσεις γινώσκειν καί ἐκ τούτων μόνων ἀποφάσκειν τό θεῖον, ὧν ἔχομεν τήν κατάληψιν, Θεόν εἶναι δεήσει, βαβαί τῆς ἀτοπίας, τόν ἐκ τῆς πάντων ἀφαιρέσεως Θεόν γνωσόμενον. Ἤ γάρ τά ὄντα πάντα τις εἰδείη ἄν, ὡς ἄν ἐκ τῆς πάντων ἀφαιρέσεως εἰδείη Θεόν, καί Θεόν ἡμῖν ἑαυτόν εἰσάγει - Θεοῦ γάρ μόνου τό εἰδέναι τά πάντα ἤ, εἴ τι ἀγνοεῖ, τοῦτο ἥγηται Θεόν˙ ὅ γάρ ἀγνοεῖ, ἀφαιρεῖν αὐτοῦ τό θεῖον, ὡς οὗτος ἔφησεν, ἀδύνατον. Καί εἰ, ὧν αὖθις γινώσκει τις, τούτων μόνων αἴτιον γινώσκει Θεόν, ὅσα τήν γνῶσιν αὐτοῦ διαπέφευγε, τούτων οὐκ αἴτιον ἡγεῖται Θεόν˙ οὐκοῦν, συμμετρήσει τῷ κόσμῳ τήν θείαν δύναμιν, οὐ γάρ πλείω γνώσεται τοῦδε τοῦ παντός οὗτος. Ἀλλ᾿ ἡμεῖς, ὑπεραρθέντες τῆς γνώσεως, μυρίους ἀναπεπείσμεθα κόσμους, οὐχ ὁμοίους μόνον ἀλλά καί διαφόρους, Θεῷ προαγαγεῖν τῶν εὐχερεστάτων ὄν καί ἐκ πάντων ὁλικῶς ἀποφάσκομεν τό θεῖον, κἀκ τῶν μήπω ἐγνωσμένων γινώσκομεν τήν ἀπειροδύναμον δύναμιν. Οὕτως ὁ Παῦλός φησι καθῆσθαι τόν Χριστόν ἐπάνω παντός ὀνόματος οὐ μόνον τοῦ ὀνομαζομένου, τουτέστιν ἐγνωσμένου, ἐν τῷ νῦν αἰῶνι, ἀλλά καί ἐν τῷ μέλλοντι γνωσθησομένου, καί ἀπό (σελ. 538) τῶν μή ἐγνωσμένων αὐτῷ τήν μεγαλωσύνην τοῦ Θεοῦ ἐξαίρων οὕτως ἀλλαχοῦ που τῶν ἐπιστολῶν, εἰπών «τίς ἡμᾶς χωρήσει ἀπό τῆς ἀγάπης τοῦ Χριστοῦ;» καί ἀπαριθμήσας πάντα τά αἰσθητά καί νοητά, τά ἐνεστῶτα καί τά μέλλοντα, ἐπήγαγεν, «οὔτε τις κτίσις ἑτέρα δυνήσεται ἡμᾶς χωρίσαι ἀπό τῆς ἀγάπης τοῦ Θεοῦ», ἐκ τῶν ὄντων καί τά μή ὄντα συνορῶν καί κατ᾿ ἐκείνων ὡς ὄντων ἀποφαινόμενος. Οἱ δέ ἐξ ἑνός μυρίους καί ἐκ τοῦ πεπερασμένου τήν ἄπειρον συνιέντες δύναμιν, πῶς οὐκ ἐκ μετρίων τῶν κατ᾿ αὐτόν ἅπαντα γνωσόμεθα, ὡς ἐξ ὀνύχων φασί τόν λέοντα καί ἐκ κρασπέδου τό ὕφασμα, καί οὕτω πάντων αἴτιον ἐπιγνωσόμεθα Θεόν καί ἀπό πάντων τούτων ἀφαιρήσομεν καί τό τήν ἐκ τῶν ὄντων θεογνωσίαν ὑπερβαῖνον, ὡς ἐξ οὐκ ὄντων λόγῳ μόνῳ ἅπαντα παρήχθη, διά πίστεως προσθήσομεν;

Κοινή μέν οὖν αὕτη πᾶσι τοῖς εἰς Χριστόν πεπιστευκόσιν ὑπέρ ἔννοιαν γνῶσις˙ τό δέ δή τῆς ἀληθοῦς πίστεως ταύτης τέλος, ὅ διά τῆς τῶν ἐντολῶν ἐργασίας προσγίνεται, οὐκ ἐκ τῶν ὄντων μόνων καί γνωστῶν καί ἀγνώστων τήν θεογωσίαν παρέχεται ὄντα γάρ ἐνταῦθα τά κτιστά πάντως λέγομεν ἀλλ᾿ ἐκ τοῦ ἀκτίστου φωτός, ὅ Θεοῦ ἐστι δόξα καί Χριστοῦ Θεοῦ καί τῶν τῆς χριστοειδοῦς ἐφικομένου λήξεως˙ ἐν τῇ δόξῃ τοῦ Πατρός ὁ Χριστός ἐλεύσεται, ἐν τῇ δόξῃ τοῦ Πατρός αὐτῶν Χριστοῦ «οἱ δίκαιοι λάμψουσιν ὡς ὁ ἥλιος» καί φῶς ἔσονται καί φῶς ὄψονται, τό μόνης τῆς κεκαθαρμένης καρδίας ἐπίχαρι καί πανίερον θέαμα, ὅ νῦν μέν καί τοῖς τἀ ἐναγῆ πάντα δι᾿ ἀπαθείας καί τά καθαρά διά τῆς εἰλικρινοῦς καί ἀΰλου διαβεβηκόσι προσευχῆς ἐν ἀρραβῶνος μέρει μετρίως προφαίνεται, τότε δέ τούς υἱούς τῆς ἀναστάσεως ἐμφανῶς θεοποιήσει, συνδιαωνίζοντας καί συνδοξαζομένους τῷ μεταδόντι τῇ καθ᾿ ἡμᾶς φύσει θείας δόξης τε καί λαμπρότητος. ∆όξα δέ καί λαμπρότης οὐδ᾿ ἐπί τῶν (σελ. 540) κτιστῶν οὐσία ποτ᾿ ἄν εἴη˙ πῶς οὖν Θεοῦ δοξάσειεν ἄν τις οὐσίαν εἶναι τήν Θεοῦ δόξαν, Θεοῦ ὅς, ἀμέθεκτος ὤν καί ἀόρατος καί ἀναφής, καθ᾿ ὑπερούσιον δύναμιν μεθεκτός γίνεται καί χωρεῖται καί διαφαίνεται καί ἕν ἐν θεωρίᾳ Πνεῦμα μετά τῶν διά καθαρᾶς καρδίας ἐντυγχανόντων γίνεται, κατά τήν πρός τόν ἴδιον πατέρα τοῦ κοινοῦ Πατρός ὑπέρ ἡμῶν μυστικωτάτην καί ἀπόρρητον εὐχήν; «∆ός γάρ αὐτοῖς», φησίν, «ἵνα καθάπερ ἐγώ, Πάτερ, ἐν σοί καί σύ ἐν ἐμοί, καί αὐτοί ἐν ἡμῖν ἕν ὦσιν» ἐν ἀληθείᾳ. Τοιαύτης τοίνυν οὔσης θέας τοῦ Θεοῦ, ἥν μόνοι οἱ τῆς μακαρίας κατηξιωμένοι λήξεως ὄψονται κατά τόν ἄληκτον αἰῶνα, ἥν καί νῦν οἱ ἔκκριτοι τῶν ἀποστόλων ἐν Θαβώρ