117

DISCOURSE IX. (272)

On true knowledge and that the knowledge of God comes not from lessons, but from purity and grace from above to the zealous; and that it is difficult to judge; and a refutation of those who think they know the things of the Spirit without the Spirit; in which also is concerning the holiness of the Father; and what a good thing faith is and what its fruit is and how it increases; and that those who have the treasure of the Spirit in themselves also recognize it when it is in others; and what are the signs of the saints and how and by whom they are recognized; and that he who has not been born from above cannot see God who has begotten him, nor recognize the one who has attained to this through the Spirit.

Now it is opportune and good to speak with David and to utter thus more loudly:

"The Lord looked down from heaven upon the sons of men, to see if there is anyone who understands or seeks God," then: "They have all turned aside, they have together become worthless; there is none who does good, no, not even one." "For where," so that I may weave in the words of the Apostle with what has been said, "is the wise man? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world," because no one was able through it to know the true wisdom, the truly existing God? For if through letters and learning the knowledge of true wisdom (273) and the knowledge of God were to be given to us, brothers, what need then would there be for faith or for divine baptism or for partaking of the mysteries themselves? None at all. "For since, in the wisdom of God, the world through its wisdom did not know God, it pleased God," he says, "through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe." And these things, indeed, says the herald and bride-leader of the Church of Christ.

But I will rightly lament and weep over the crushing of my own members, of my own race, of my brothers according to flesh and spirit, because we who have put on Christ through baptism, considering the mysteries of Christ as nothing, think we receive the knowledge of the truth of God through the wisdom of the world and we suppose that merely reading the divinely inspired writings of the saints is the comprehension of orthodoxy and we think this is the precise and certain knowledge of the Holy Trinity; and not only this, but even the more venerable among us foolishly assume that the contemplation which comes only through the Spirit in the worthy is the very fashioning of concepts in their own minds. Oh, the simple-mindedness, oh, the callousness! And those who, being unread, wish to delve into the depths of God and hasten to theologize, when they hear about God that, just as in three suns there is one fusion of light, so also in the Trinity there is the effulgence of one divinity, immediately they form three suns in their mind, united in light, that is, in substance, but separated in their hypostases, and they foolishly think that they are seeing that very divinity and that the holy, consubstantial, and undivided Trinity is thus similar to the example. But this is not so, it is not so. For no one can understand well (274) and speak of the things concerning the Holy Trinity from the reading of the Scriptures alone, but receiving these things by faith alone, he abides by what is written and investigates nothing further, but to the curious and those who brazenly dare to meddle in divine matters, he can say nothing at all beyond what is written and what he was taught.

And that this is true, hear what Christ says: "No one knows the Son except the Father, nor does anyone know the Father except the Son and he to whom the Son chooses

117

ΛΟΓΟΣ Θ΄. (272)

Περί γνώσεως ἀληθινῆς καί ὅτι ἡ τοῦ Θεοῦ γνῶσις οὐκ ἐκ μαθημάτων, ἀλλ᾿ ἐκ καθαρότητος καί τῆς ἄνωθεν χάριτος ἐπιγίνεται τῷ σπουδαίῳ· καί ὅτι χαλεπόν τό κρίνειν· καί ἔλεγχος τῶν οἰομένων εἰδέναι τά τοῦ Πνεύματος χωρίς Πνεύματος· ἐν ᾧ καί περί τῆς τοῦ Πατρός ἁγιωσύνης· καί οἷον ἀγαθόν ἐστιν ἡ πίστις καί τίς ὁ ταύτης καρπός καί ὅπως αὐξάνεται· καί ὅτι οἱ τόν θησαυρόν ἐν ἑαυτοῖς ἐσχηκότες τοῦ Πνεύματος καί ἐν ἄλλοις ὄντα γνωρίζουσι· καί τίνα τῶν ἁγίων τά σημεῖα καί πῶς καί τίσι γνωρίζονται· καί ὅτι ὁ μή γεννηθείς ἄνωθεν οὐ δύναται ἰδεῖν τόν γεγεννηκότα Θεόν οὐδέ γνωρίσαι τόν εἰς τοῦτο πεφθακότα διά τοῦ Πνεύματος.

Νῦν εὐκαίρως καλόν εἰπεῖν μετά τοῦ ∆αυίδ καί οὕτω γεγωνότερον φθέγξασθαι·

"Κύριος ἐκ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ διέκυψεν ἐπί τούς υἱούς τῶν ἀνθρώπων τοῦ ἰδεῖν εἰ ἔστι συνιῶν ἤ ἐκζητῶν τόν Θεόν", εἶτα· "Πάντες ἐξέκλιναν ἅμα ἠχρειώθησαν· οὐκ ἔστι ποιῶν χρηστότητα, οὐκ ἔστιν ἕως ἑνός". "Ποῦ γάρ" ἵνα τοῖς εἰρημένοις καί τά τοῦ Ἀποστόλου συνείρω "σοφός; Ποῦ γραμματεύς; Ποῦ συζητητής τοῦ αἰῶνος τούτου; Οὐχί ἐμώρανεν ὁ Θεός τήν σοφίαν τοῦ κόσμου τούτου", διά τό μή δύνασθαί τινα δι᾿ αὐτῆς ἐπιγνῶναι τήν ἀληθινήν σοφίαν, τόν ὄντως ὄντα Θεόν; Εἰ γάρ διά γραμμάτων καί μαθημάτων ἡ ἐπίγνωσις τῆς ἀληθοῦ σοφίας (273) καί τῆς τοῦ Θεοῦ γνώσεως ἔμελλεν ἡμῖν, ἀδελφοί, δίδοσθαι, τίς ἦν ἄρα χρεία τῆς πίστεως ἤ τοῦ θείου βαπτίσματος ἤ τῆς τῶν μυστηρίων αὐτῶν μεταλήψεως; Οὐδεμία μενοῦν. "Ἐπεί δέ διά τῆς σοφίας οὐκ ἔγνω ὁ κόσμος τόν Θεόν, εὐδόκησεν ὁ Θεός, φησί, διά τῆς μωρίας τοῦ κηρύγματος σῶσαι τούς πιστεύοντας". Καί ταῦτα μέν ὁ κῆρυξ καί νυμφαγωγός τῆς τοῦ Χριστοῦ Ἐκκλησίας.

Ἐγώ δέ εἰκότως θρηνήσω καί κλαύσομαι ἐπί τῇ συντριβῇ τῶν ἐμῶν μελῶν, τοῦ ἐμοῦ γένους, τῶν κατά σάρκα καί πνεῦμά μου ἀδελφῶν, ὅτι οἱ τόν Χριστόν διά τοῦ βαπτίσματος ἐνδυσάμενοι, τά τοῦ Χριστοῦ μυστήρια εἰς οὐδέν λογιζόμενοι, τήν ἐπίγνωσιν τῆς τοῦ Θεοῦ ἀληθείας διά τῆς τοῦ κόσμου σοφίας λαμβάνειν νομίζομεν καί τό μόνον ἀναγνῶναι τάς θεοπνεύστους συγγραφάς τῶν ἁγίων ὀρθοδοξίας εἶναι κατάληψιν τοῦτο οἰόμεθα καί τῆς Ἁγίας Τριάδος ἀκριβῆ καί βεβαίαν εἴδησιν τοῦτο νομίζομεν· οὐ μόνον δέ, ἀλλά καί τῶν ἄλλων ἡμῶν οἱ σεμνότεροι θεωρίαν τήν διά μόνου τοῦ Πνεύματος γινομένην ἐν τοῖς ἀξίοις, αὐτήν τήν ἐν ταῖς διανοίαις αὐτῶν ἀνάπλασιν τῶν νοημάτων ἀφρόνως εἶναι ὑπολαμβάνουσιν. Ὤ τῆς εὐηθείας, ὤ τῆς πωρώσεως. Οἱ δέ καί ἐμβαθύνειν ἀνάγνως ἐθέλοντες εἰς τά τοῦ Θεοῦ βάθη καί θεολογεῖν ἐπειγόμενοι, ὅταν ἀκούσωσι περί Θεοῦ ὅτι, ὥσπερ ἐν τρισίν ἡλίοις μία φωτός ἐστι σύγκρασις, οὕτω καί ἐν τῇ Τριάδι μιᾶς θεότητος ἔλλαμψις, αὐτίκα τρεῖς ἡλίους ἐν τῷ νοΐ αὐτῶν ἀναπλάττουσι, τῷ μέν φωτί ἡνωμένους, ἤτοι τῇ οὐσίᾳ, ταῖς δέ ὑποστάσεσι διακεχωρισμένους, καί οἴονται ἀφρόνως ἐκείνην αὐτήν ὁρᾶν τήν θεότητα καί οὕτως εἶναι τήν ἁγίαν καί ὁμοούσιον καί ἀδιαίρετον Τριάδα ὁμοίαν τῷ παραδείγματι. Ἀλλ᾿ οὐκ ἔστι τοῦτο, οὐκ ἔστιν. Οὐδείς γάρ τά περί τῆς Ἁγίας Τριάδος νοῆσαι καλῶς (274) καί εἰπεῖν δύναται ἀπό μόνης τῆς τῶν Γραφῶν ἀναγνώσεως, πίστει δέ μόνῃ ταῦτα δεχόμενος, ἐμμένει μέν τοῖς γεγραμμένοις καί πλέον οὐδέν περιεργάζεται, τοῖς δέ περιέργοις καί πολυπραγμονεῖν τά θεῖα θρασέως κατατολμῶσιν, ἔξω τῶν γεγραμμένων καί ὧν ἐδιδάχθη, εἰπεῖν ὅλως οὐ δύναται.

Ὅτι δέ τοῦτό ἐστιν ἀληθές, ἄκουσον τί φησιν ὁ Χριστός· "Οὐδείς ἐπιγινώσκει τόν Υἱόν εἰ μή ὁ Πατήρ, οὐδέ τόν Πατέρα τις ἐπιγινώσκει εἰ μή ὁ Υἱός καί ᾧ ἄν βούληται