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according to the spirit, if that which is according to the body is not also guarded, is gradually obscured. One Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all, and through all, and in us all. From all things he introduces unity. One Lord, therefore, whom we call upon; one faith, through which we have been brought in; one baptism, through which we were cleansed. One is the Father over all, who is also through all things through the Word from him, and in all through the same Spirit. Wishing the likeness of the divine unity to be illumined in us, he proclaimed the properties of the Trinity in the one God. 95.841 But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ's gift. Therefore He says: When He ascended on high, He led captivity captive. Although, he says, the gifts are different, with grace being measured according to each one's ability and purpose, yet nevertheless let the things of unity not be divided. And gave gifts to men. The psalmist also reveals, he says, the multitude of the gifts, which are given after the ascent of the Savior, when those who had been taken captive by death, He led captive in turn through His own life and resurrection. By saying, He gave, instead of what is said in the psalm, "he received," he shows that the things said of Christ in the flesh are not destructive of the spiritual and divine things, nor that "he received," which is said humanly, negates "he gave," which is said divinely. Now this, "He ascended"—what does it mean but that He also first descended into the lower parts of the earth? He who descended is also the One who ascended far above all the heavens, that He might fill all things. It is not possible, he says, for God to ascend, who has not descended, and it is clear that the ascent is to where the descent was from. Since, therefore, He has descended from heaven, He ascends above all heavens; having descended not only to the earth, but also under the earth. And He descended for this reason, that all things might be filled with divinity. And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting. But, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ—from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love. One received apostolic grace, he says, and proclaims the hidden wisdom of the economy; another performs a prophetic ministry, for a demonstration of the foreknowledge in us from the spirit. Another engages in Evangelism, through words or writings, as Philip through words, and those who wrote the Gospels, through writings; and another, having been entrusted with a Church, shepherds it. All the gifts therefore, he says, are for the purpose of equipping for perfection those who have been sanctified in faith, with those who have received the 95.844 gifts ministering for the common good. And the working of the gifts is necessary, until those who are now infants become perfect according to the spiritual perfection which is in the likeness of Christ, and one is no longer an infant, receiving many changes from the various words brought forward with cunning, and which deceive, but just as in the growth of a body, we all might reach such a height, as to be joined to our head, Christ. Who, presiding over us according to his divine pre-eminence, imparts himself to us according to the connection of the economy, joining us to himself and to one another, according to which we have a joining together with one another as in a building, and inasmuch as each one is able to receive the supply of the Spirit, with the perfection in growth being summed up in love. This I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk, in the futility

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κατὰ πνεῦμα, μὴ φυλαττομένου καὶ τοῦ κατὰ σῶμα, κατ' ὀλίγον ἀμαυροῦται. Εἷς Κύριος, μία πίστις, ἓν βάπτισμα, εἷς Θεὸς καὶ Πατὴρ πάντων, καὶ ὁ ἐπὶ πάντων, καὶ διὰ πάντων, καὶ ἐν πᾶσιν ἡμῖν. Ἐκ πάντων ἕνωσιν εἰσηγεῖται. Εἷς Κύριος οὖν, ὃν ἐπικαλούμεθα· μία πίστις, δι' ἧς εἰσήχθημεν· ἓν βάπτισμα, δι' οὗ ἐκαθαρίσθημεν. Εἷς ὁ ἐπὶ πάντων Πατὴρ, ὃς καὶ διὰ πάντων διὰ τὸν ἐξ αὐτοῦ Λόγον, καὶ ἐν πᾶσι διὰ τοῦ αὐτοῦ Πνεύματος. Τῆς δὲ θείας ἑνότητος τὴν ὁμοίωσιν ἐν ἡμῖν καταυγάζεσθαι βουλόμενος, τὰ τῆς Τριάδος ἰδιώματα ἐν ἑνὶ τῷ Θεῷ ἐκήρυξεν. 95.841 Ἑνὶ δὲ ἑκάστῳ ἡμῶν ἐδόθη χάρις κατὰ τὸ μέτρον τῆς δωρεᾶς τοῦ Χριστοῦ. ∆ιὸ λέγει· Ἀναβὰς εἰς ὕψος ᾐχμαλώτευσεν αἰχμαλωσίαν. Εἰ καὶ διάφορα, φησὶ, τὰ χαρίσματα, μετρουμένης τῆς χάριτος πρὸς τὴν ἑκάστου δύναμίν τε καὶ πρόθεσιν, ἀλλ' ὅμως μὴ μεριζέσθω τὰ τῆς ἑνότητος. Καὶ ἔδωκε δόματα τοῖς ἀνθρώποις. ∆ηλοῖ, φησὶ, καὶ ὁ ψαλμῳδὸς τὸ πλῆθος τῶν δομάτων, τῶν μετὰ τὴν ἄνοδον τοῦ Σωτῆρος δὲ δομένων, ὅτε τοὺς αἰχμαλωτισθέντας ὑπὸ τοῦ θανάτου, ἀντηχμαλώτευσε διὰ τῆς ἰδίας ζωῆς τε καὶ ἀναβιώσεως. ∆έδωκε δὲ εἰπὼν, ἀντὶ τοῦ εἰρημένου ἐν τῷ ψαλμῷ, ἔλαβε, δείκνυσιν ὅτι τὰ ἐπὶ Χριστοῦ σαρκικῶς λεγόμενα οὐκ ἀναιρετικὰ τῶν πνευματικῶν καὶ θείων ἐστὶν, οὐδὲ ὅτι τὸ, ἔλαβε, τὸ ἀνθρωπίνως λεγόμενον, ἀναιρεῖ τὸ, ἔδωκε, τὸ θεϊκῶς. Τὸ δὲ ἀνέβη, τί ἐστιν, εἰ μὴ ὅτι καὶ κατέβη πρῶτον εἰς τὰ κατώτερα μέρη τῆς γῆς; Ὁ καταβὰς αὐτός ἐστι καὶ ὁ ἀναβὰς ὑπεράνω τῶν οὐρανῶν, ἵνα πληρώσῃ τὰ πάντα. Ἀναβῆναι, φησὶν, οὐκ ἔστι Θεὸν, τὸν μὴ καταβάντα, καὶ δῆλον ὅτι ἐκεῖ ἡ ἀνάβασις, ὅθεν ἡ κατάβασις. Ἐπεὶ τοίνυν ἐξ οὐρανοῦ καταβέβηκεν, ἀναβαίνει ὑπεράνω πάντων οὐρανῶν· καταβὰς, οὐ μόνον εἰς γῆν, ἀλλὰ καὶ ὑπὸ γῆν. Καταβὰς δὲ διὰ τοῦτο, ἵνα πάντα ᾖ πεπληρωμένα θεότητος. Καὶ αὐτὸς ἔδωκε, τοὺς μὲν ἀποστόλους, τοὺς δὲ προφήτας, τοὺς δὲ εὐαγγελιστὰς, τοὺς δὲ ποιμένας καὶ διδασκάλους, πρὸς τὸν καταρτισμὸν τῶν ἁγίων εἰς ἔργον διακονίας ἐπ' οἰκοδομὴν τοῦ σώματος τοῦ Χριστοῦ, μέχρι καταντήσωμεν οἱ πάντες εἰς τὴν ἑνότητα τῆς πίστεως, καὶ τῆς ἐπιγνώσεως τοῦ Υἱοῦ Θεοῦ, εἰς ἄνδρα τέλειον, εἰς μέτρον ἡλικίας τοῦ πληρώματος τοῦ Χριστοῦ· ἵνα μηκέτι ὦμεν νήπιοι, κλυδωνιζόμενοι καὶ περιφερόμενοι παντὶ ἀνέμῳ τῆς διδασκαλίας, ἐν τῇ κυβείᾳ τῶν ἀνθρώπων, ἐν πανουργίᾳ πρὸς τὴν μεθοδείαν τῆς πλάνης. Ἀληθεύοντες δὲ ἐν ἀγάπῃ, αὐξήσωμεν εἰς αὐτὸν τὰ πάντα· ὅς ἐστιν ἡ κεφαλὴ Χριστὸς, ἐξ οὗ πᾶν τὸ σῶμα συναρμολογούμενον καὶ συμβιβαζόμενον διὰ πάσης ἀφῆς τῆς ἐπιχορηγίας κατὰ ἐνέργειαν, ἐν μέτρῳ ἑνὸς ἑκάστου μέρους τὴν αὔξησιν τοῦ σώματος ποιεῖται εἰς οἰκοδομὴν ἑαυτοῦ ἐν ἀγάπῃ. Ὃς μὲν ἀποστολικὴν ἔλαβε χάριν, φησὶν, καὶ ἐξαγγέλλει τὴν ἀπόκρυφον σοφίαν τῆς οἰκονομίας· ὃς δὲ προφητικὴν ὑπουργίαν ὑπουργεῖ, εἰς ἔνδειξιν τῆς ἐν ἡμῖν ἐκ πνεύματος προγνώσεως. Ἄλλος δὲ Εὐαγγελισμὸν ποιεῖται, διὰ λόγων ἢ γραμμάτων, ὡς Φίλιππος μὲν διὰ λόγων, οἱ δὲ γράψαντες τὰ Εὐαγγέλια, διὰ γραμμάτων· ὃς δὲ Ἐκκλησίαν ἐγχειρισθεὶς ποιμαίνειν. Πάντα οὖν τὰ χαρίσματα, φησὶ, πρὸς τὸ τοὺς ἁγιασθέντας ἐν πίστει καταρτίζεσθαι πρὸς τελείωσιν, διακονούντων εἰς τὸ κοινὸν τῶν τὰ 95.844 χαρίσματα εἰληφότων. Ἀναγκαία δὲ ἡ τῶν χαρισμάτων ἐνέργεια, μέχρις ἂν οἱ νῦν νήπιοι τέλειοι γένωνται κατὰ τὴν πνευματικὴν τελείωσιν τὴν ἐν ὁμοιώσει Χριστοῦ, καὶ μηκέτι νήπιός τις ᾖ, πολλὰς δεχόμενος τροπὰς ἐκ τῶν διαφόρων λόγων τῶν ἐν πανουργίᾳ προσαγομένων, καὶ πλανώντων, ἀλλὰ ὥσπερ ἐν σώματος αὐξήσει, φθάσωμεν εἰς τοσοῦτον ὕψος ἅπαντες, ὡς πρὸς τὴν κεφαλὴν ἡμῶν συναρμοσθῆναι τὸν Χριστόν. Ὃς ἐφεστὼς ἡμῖν κατὰ τὴν θεϊκὴν ἐξοχὴν, μεταδίδωσιν ἡμῖν ἑαυτὸν κατὰ τὴν οἰκονομίας συνάφειαν, ἑαυτῷ συνάπτων ἡμᾶς καὶ ἀλλήλοις, καθ' ἣν ἔχομεν πρὸς ἀλλήλους ὥσπερ ἐν οἰκοδομῇ συναρμογὴν, καὶ καθὸ τὴν ἐπιχορηγίαν τοῦ Πνεύματος ἕκαστος δύναται δέχεσθαι, τῆς ἐπὶ τῇ αὐξήσει τελειώσεως εἰς ἀγάπην συνκεφαλαιουμένης. Τοῦτο οὖν λέγω καὶ μαρτύρομαι ἐν Κυρίῳ, μηκέτι ὑμᾶς περιπατεῖν, καθὼς καὶ τὰ λοιπὰ ἔθνη περιπατεῖ, ἐν ματαιότητι