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subsisting in itself immaterially and incorporeally and unmixed with any opposite, but not, again, like the image among us, which has one underlying substance and another form, but being wholly form itself, and being likened to the Father in its very substance. And thus it is also the most life-giving fragrance of the Father, again inexpressibly to us and beyond our reasoning, 5.1.22 since also all things that are true concerning him would be ineffable to human voices and beyond the reasoning of mortals, according to the precise account. But as it is dear for us to hear, so also do the oracles instruct. 5.1.23 Or did not the sacred apostle also call himself and those like him "a fragrance of Christ" because of their participation in the Spirit of Christ, and is not the heavenly bridegroom proclaimed in the Song of Songs as "ointment poured out"? Wherefore all things, by participating in his pouring out, visible and invisible, corporeal and incorporeal, rational and irrational, have been deemed worthy of a share... in proportion, and have partaken of the communion of the divine Word. 5.1.24 The whole cosmos renders the perception of this divine breath to those whose rational senses have not been maimed, so that bodies that are by nature earthly and corruptible breathe forth the immaterial and undefiled fragrance, while from above flows the God of all things, who, being the Father of his only-begotten Word, would himself be the first and principal and only truly good, the begetter of the good, and in second place and as if supplied from the first and ruling substance is the Son, who has been declared to us as a certain fragrance of the paternal substance alone, serving the oracle that instructs about him, that he "is a breath of the power of God, and a pure emanation of the glory of the Almighty, and a reflection of eternal light, and a spotless mirror of the working of God, and an image of his goodness." 5.1.25 However, let these things be taken in whatever way one might wish; for us it is sufficient to repeat again that true and pious saying, through which we will also provide the solution to the questions, having already said it many times: "who shall declare his generation?" For truly unattainable, and not only to men but also to the powers beyond all substance, is the generation of the only-begotten of God, just as our Savior and Lord himself, initiating his own disciples into these very things, says, "no one has known the Father except the Son," 5.1.26 to which he adds: "and no one has known the Son except the Father." Since, therefore, the theology concerning the Father and concerning the Son is likewise unknown to all except themselves, one must listen as to mysteries in the cited words of Solomon to Wisdom saying: "before the mountains were settled and the earth was formed, and before all hills, he begets me." 5.1.27 And still she says she was present with the Father as he prepared the heaven: "For when he prepared the heaven, I was present with him," and she reveals the eternity of her continuance with the Father from endless ages, in what she adds: "I was by him, fitting things together, I was she in whom he delighted daily." 5.1.28 But as for the deeps and springs of waters, mountains and hills, and whatever else is named in the passage with common terms, one must hear them either concerning the constitution of the world, revealing the whole from a part, or one must take them more tropologically, transferring these significations to intelligible substances and divine powers, of all of which Wisdom, the firstborn, and the only-begotten and first-begotten Word of God, pre-existed, whom we call Christ, being disciples of the Apostle as our teacher, who says: "Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God." And he is fittingly called here by the name of Wisdom, inasmuch as the only wise Father established in him the all-wise and scientific theories and powers of all things, and constituted together the natures and substances of all created things all-wisely by the concepts within him, wisely creating and directing all things through him, things that are and things that will be and things that have been, as

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αὑτὴν ὑφεστῶσα ἀύλως καὶ ἀσωμάτως καὶ τοῦ ἐναντίου παντὸς ἀμιγῶς, ἀλλ' οὐχ οἵα τις πάλιν ἡ παρ' ἡμῖν εἰκών, ἕτερον μὲν ἔχουσα τὸ κατ' οὐσίαν ὑποκείμενον, ἕτερον δὲ τὸ εἶδος, ἀλλ' ὅλον αὐτὸ εἶδος ὥν, καὶ αὐτοουσίᾳ τῷ πατρὶ ἀφομοιούμενος. οὕτω δὲ καὶ ζωτικωτάτη τοῦ πατρὸς εὐωδία τυγχάνει, ἀρρήτως ἡμῖν πάλιν καὶ ἀνεπιλο γίστως, 5.1.22 ἐπεὶ καὶ πάντα, ὅσα ἐστὶν περὶ αὐτὸν ἀληθῆ, ἄρρητα ἂν εἴη ἀνθρώπων φωναῖς καὶ λογισμοῖς θνητῶν ἀνεπιλόγιστα κατὰ τὸν ἀκριβῆ λόγον. ἀλλὰ γὰρ ὡς ἡμῖν ἀκούειν φίλον, τοιῶσδε καὶ τὰ λόγια παιδεύει. 5.1.23 ἢ οὐχὶ καὶ «Χριστοῦ εὐωδίαν» αὐτὸς ἑαυτὸν καὶ τοὺς αὐτῷ παραπλησίους ὁ ἱερὸς ἀπόστολος προσεῖπεν διὰ τὴν τοῦ Χριστοῦ πνεύματος μετοχήν, «μύρον τε ἐκκενωθὲν» ὁ οὐράνιος νυμφίος ἐν τοῖς Ἄισμασιν ἀνηγόρευται; ∆ιὸ τῆς αὐτοῦ ἐκκενώσεως τὰ πάντα ὁρατά τε καὶ ἀόρατα σώματά τε καὶ ἀσώματα λογικά τε καὶ ἄλογα μετασχόντα, ἀναλόγως κατηξίωται ... μετουσίας, καὶ τῆς τοῦ θείου λόγου μετείληφεν κοινωνίας. 5.1.24 ταύτης γε τῆς ἐνθέου πνοῆς τὴν ἀντίληψιν τοῖς τὰς λογικὰς αἰσθήσεις μὴ πεπηρωμένοις ὁ σύμπας ἀποδίδωσι κόσμος, ὡς τὰ τῇ φύσει γεώδη καὶ φθαρτὰ σώματα τῆς ἀύλου καὶ ἀκηράτου εὐωδίας ἀποπνεῖν, πηγάζοντος μὲν ἄνωθεν τοῦ τῶν ὅλων θεοῦ, ὃς τοῦ μονογενοῦς αὐτοῦ λόγου πατὴρ ὢν αὐτὸς ἂν εἴη τὸ πρῶτον καὶ κύριον καὶ μόνον ἀληθῶς ἀγαθόν, ἀγαθοῦ γεννητικόν, δευτερεύοντος δὲ καὶ ὡς ἂν ἀπὸ πρώτης καὶ ἡγουμένης οὐσίας ἐπιχορηγουμένου τοῦ υἱοῦ, ὃς καὶ μόνος τῆς πατρικῆς οὐσίας εὐωδία τις ἡμῖν ἀνείρηται, δουλεύουσι λογίῳ παιδεύοντι περὶ αὐτοῦ, ὅτι δὴ «ἀτμίς ἐστιν τῆς τοῦ θεοῦ δυνάμεως, καὶ ἀπόρροια τῆς τοῦ παντοκράτορος δόξης εἰλικρινής, καὶ ἀπαύγασμα φωτὸς ἀϊδίου, καὶ ἔσοπτρον ἀκηλίδωτον τῆς τοῦ θεοῦ ἐνεργείας, καὶ εἰκὼν τῆς ἀγαθότητος αὐτοῦ». 5.1.25 Πλὴν ἀλλὰ ταῦτα, ὅπη ἄν τις καὶ θέλοι, ταύτῃ τιθέσθω· ἡμῖν δὲ ἐξαρκεῖ τὸ ἀληθὲς ἐκεῖνο καὶ εὐσεβὲς αὖθις ἐπαναλαμβάνειν ῥῆμα, δι' οὗ καὶ τὴν λύσιν ἐπιθήσομεν τοῖς ἐζητημένοις, πολλάκις ἤδη ἐπειπόντες· «τὴν γενεὰν αὐτοῦ τίς διηγήσεται»; ἀνέφικτος γὰρ ὡς ἀληθῶς, καὶ οὐκ ἀνθρώποις μόνον ἀλλὰ καὶ ταῖς πάσης ἐπέκεινα οὐσίας δυνάμεσιν, ἡ τοῦ μονογενοῦς τοῦ θεοῦ τυγχάνει γένεσις, ὥσπερ οὖν καὶ αὐτὸς ὁ σωτὴρ καὶ κύριος ἡμῶν, τοὺς οἰκείους μαθητὰς αὐτὰ δὴ ταῦτα μυσταγωγῶν, «οὐδεὶς ἔγνω», φησίν, «τὸν πατέρα εἰ μὴ ὁ υἱός», 5.1.26 ᾧ καὶ ἐπιλέγει· «καὶ οὐδεὶς ἔγνω τὸν υἱὸν εἰ μὴ ὁ πατήρ». Ἀγνώστου τοίνυν ὁμοίως τῆς τε περὶ τοῦ πατρὸς καὶ τῆς περὶ τοῦ υἱοῦ θεολογίας τοῖς πᾶσιν πλὴν αὐτοῖς τυγχανούσης, ὡς ἐν ἀπορρήτοις ἐν ταῖς παρατεθείσαις τοῦ Σολομῶνος λέξεσιν τῆς σοφίας ἀκουστέον λεγούσης· «πρὸ τοῦ ὄρη ἑδρασθῆναι καὶ πλασθῆναι τὴν γῆν, πρὸ δὲ πάντων βουνῶν γεννᾷ με». 5.1.27 ἔτι δέ φησιν συμπαρεῖναι τῷ πατρὶ τὸν οὐρανὸν κατασκευάζοντι· «ἡνίκα» γοῦν «ἡτοίμαζε τὸν οὐρανόν, συμπαρήμην αὐτῷ», καὶ τὸ ἐξ ἀπείρων δὲ αἰώνων ἀίδιον τῆς σὺν πατρὶ διαμονῆς ἐμφαίνει, οἷς ἐπιλέγει· «ἤμην παρ' αὐτῷ ἁρμόζουσα, ἐγὼ ἤμην ᾗ προσέχαιρεν καθ' ἡμέραν». 5.1.28 ἀβύσσους δὲ καὶ πηγὰς ὑδάτων, ὄρη τε καὶ βουνούς, καὶ ὅσα ἄλλα κατὰ τὸν τόπον κοινοῖς ῥηματίοις ἐπωνόμασται, ἤτοι περὶ τῆς τοῦ κόσμου συστάσεως, ἐκ μέρους τὸ πᾶν δηλοῦντος, ἀκουστέον, ἢ τροπικώτερον ἐκληπτέον, ταῦτα μεταφέροντα τὰ σημαινόμενα ἐπὶ νοητὰς οὐσίας καὶ θείας· δυνάμεις, ὧν πάντων πρωτότοκος σοφία καὶ μονογενὴς καὶ πρωτόγονος τοῦ θεοῦ προϋπέστη λόγος, ὅντινα Χριστὸν ἡμεῖς προσαγορεύομεν, διδασκάλῳ μαθητευόμενοι τῷ ἀποστόλῳ λέγοντι· «Χριστὸς θεοῦ δύναμις καὶ θεοῦ σοφία». Κέκληται δὲ ἐνταῦθα τῷ τῆς σοφίας εἰκότως προσρήματι, ὡς τοῦ μόνου σοφοῦ πατρὸς τὰς πανσόφους καὶ ἐπιστημονικὰς τῶν ὅλων θεωρίας τε καὶ δυνάμεις ἐν αὐτῷ καταβεβλημένου, καὶ τῶν γεννητῶν ἁπάντων τὰς φύσεις ὁμοῦ καὶ τὰς οὐσίας πανσόφως τοῖς ἐν αὐτῷ νοήμασιν ὑποστησαμένου, πάντα τε σοφῶς δι' αὐτοῦ δημιουργοῦντος καὶ ἀπευθύνοντος, τά τε ὄντα τά τε ἐσόμενα τά τε προόντα, ὡς