128

Why do you not understand that what is self-begotten happens to be also unbegotten, but what is begotten cannot be called the same things, not even if the one begotten were of the same substance as the one who begat ... but learn this also: the bodies of men have immortal souls, clothed in the breath of God. And having come forth from God, they are of the same substance, but they are not gods. But if they are gods, by this reasoning the souls of all men (both those who have died and are living and will be born) happen to be gods. But if, being contentious, you will say to me that they too are gods, what great thing is this then even for Christ, to be called God? For he has this, which all also have. We speak of a God, whose peculiar property is that which cannot belong to another. For just as, being infinite on all sides, for this reason he is called boundless, and it is altogether necessary, since another cannot be likewise infinite, that the name 'boundless' not belong to two (and if someone says it is possible, he lies; for two things infinite on all sides cannot coexist; for the one is limited by the other), so it is the nature of the unbegotten to be one. But if he is in a form, even so the incomparable is one. For this reason also he is called 'Most High', because being higher than all things, he has all things subject to himself. And Simon said: For is this his secret name, 'God', which all men say, that you insist so much even about a name, so that it might not be given to another? And Peter said: I know that this is not his secret name, but the one spoken by human convention, which if you give to another, you will also attach to another that which is not spoken, by the principle of your choice. The spoken name is a procession of the unspoken. By this reasoning, the insolence is also reckoned against that which has not yet been spoken, by which reasoning the honor toward what is known is referred to that which is not yet known. And Simon said: I would like to know, Peter, if you truly believe that the form of man has been fashioned after his form. And Peter: Truly, O Simon, I have been fully convinced that it is so. And Simon: How can death dissolve the body, which has been fashioned with the greatest seal? And Peter: It is the form of a just God. When, therefore, it begins to do wrong, the idea in it flees, and thus the body is dissolved, that the form may become invisible, so that an unjust body may not have the form of a just God. The dissolution, however, does not happen to the seal, but to the sealed body. But without the one who sealed, the sealed is not dissolved. Thus, without a judgment, it is not even possible to die. And Simon: What necessity was there, then, to give such a form to the man raised from the earth? And Peter: It happened because of the love for mankind of the God who made him. For since in essential reality all things happen to be superior to human flesh—I mean the aether, the sun, the moon, the stars, the air, the water, the fire, in a word all the rest—which, having come into being for the service of man and being essentially superior, gladly endure to serve that which is essentially inferior on account of the form of the superior one (for just as those who honor a clay statue of a king have the honor referred to him whose form the clay has

128

τί οὐ νοεῖς ὅτι τὸ μὲν αὐτογέννητον τυγχάνει ἢ καὶ ἀγέννητον, τὸ δὲ γεννητὸν Χν τὰ αὐτὰ λέγεσθαι οὐ δύναται, οὐδ' ἂν τῆς αὐτῆς οὐσίας ὁ γεγεννημένος τῷ γεγεννηκότι ... ἀλλὰ καὶ τοῦτο μάθε· τὰ ἀνθρώπων σώματα ψυχὰς ἔχει ἀθανάτους, τὴν τοῦ θεοῦ πνοὴν ἠμφιεσμένας. καὶ ἐκ τοῦ θεοῦ προελθοῦσαι τῆς μὲν αὐτῆς οὐσίας εἰσίν, θεοὶ δὲ οὔκ εἰσιν. εἰ δὲ θεοί εἰσι, τούτῳ τῷ λόγῳ πάντων ἀνθρώπων (τῶν τε ἀποθανόν- των καὶ ζώντων καὶ γεννηθησομένων) αἱ ψυχαὶ θεοὶ τυγχάνουσιν. εἰ δὲ προσφιλονεικῶν μοι ἐρεῖς καὶ αὐτὰς θεοὺς εἶναι, καὶ τί τοῦτο ἔτι μέγα καὶ Χριστῷ, τὸ θεῷ λέγεσθαι; τοῦτο γὰρ ἔχει, ὃ καὶ πάντες ἔχου- σιν. ἡμεῖς θεὸν λέγομεν, οὗ ἐστιν ἴδιον τὸ ἄλλῳ προσεῖναι μὴ δυ- νάμενον. ὥσπερ γὰρ ἄπειρος ὢν πανταχόθεν διὰ τοῦτο λέγεται ἀπέ- ραντος, καὶ ἀνάγκη πᾶσα, ἑτέρου μὴ δυναμένου ὡσαύτως ἀπείρου εἶναι, μὴ εἶναι δυῶν τὸ καλεῖσθαι ἀπέραντος (εἰ δέ τις λέγει δυνατὸν εἶναι, ψεύδεται· δύο γὰρ πανταχόθεν ἄπειρα συνυπάρχειν οὐ δύναται· πε- ραιοῦται γὰρ τὸ ἕτερον ὑπὸ τοῦ ἑτέρου), οὕτως φύσις ἐστὶν ἓν εἶναι τὸ ἀγέννητον. εἰ δὲ ἐν σχήματί ἐστιν, καὶ οὕτως ἕν ἐστιν τὸ ἀσύγκριτον. διὰ τοῦτο καὶ ὕψιστος λέγεται, ὅτι πάντων ἀνώτερος ὢν τὰ πάντα αὑτῷ ὑποκείμενα ἔχει. Καὶ ὁ Σίμων· Μὴ γὰρ τοῦτό ἐστιν αὐτοῦ ἀπόρρητον ὄνομα, τὸ «θεός», ὅπερ πάντες λέγουσιν, ὅτι τοσοῦτον καὶ περὶ ὀνόματος διισχυρίζῃ, ἵνα μὴ ἄλλῳ δοθῇ; καὶ ὁ Πέτρος ἔφη· Ἐπίσταμαι ὅτι τοῦτο οὐκ ἔστιν αὐτῷ τὸ ἀπόρ- ρητον ὄνομα, ἀλλὰ τὸ κατὰ συνθήκην ἀνθρώπων λεγόμενον, ὅπερ εἰ ἑτέρῳ δώσεις, καὶ τὸ μὴ λεγόμενον ἑτέρῳ προσάψεις, τῷ τῆς προαιρέσεως λόγῳ. τὸ λεγόμενον ὄνομα τοῦ μὴ λεγομένου πρόοδός ἐστιν. τούτῳ τῷ λόγῳ ἡ ὕβρις καὶ εἰς τὸ μήπω ·ηθὲν λογίζεται, ᾧ λόγῳ ἡ πρὸς τὸ ἐγνωσμένον τιμὴ εἰς τὸ μήπω ἐγνωσμένον ἀναφέρεται. καὶ ὁ Σίμων ἔφη· Ἤθελον εἰδέ- ναι, Πέτρε, εἰ ἀληθῶς πιστεύεις ὅτι ἡ ἀνθρώπου μορφὴ πρὸς τὴν ἐκείνου μορφὴν διατετύπωται. καὶ ὁ Πέτρος· Ἀληθῶς, ὦ Σίμων, οὕτως ἔχειν πεπλη- ροφόρημαι. καὶ ὁ Σίμων· Πῶς θάνατος τὸ σῶμα λύειν δύναται, σφραγῖδι μεγίστῃ διατετυπωμένον; καὶ ὁ Πέτρος· Θεοῦ δικαίου ἐστὶν μορφή. ἐπὰν οὖν ἀδικεῖν ἄρξηται, ἡ ἐν αὐτῷ ἰδέα φεύγει, καὶ οὕτως τὸ σῶμα λύεται, ἵνα ἡ μορφὴ ἀφανὴς γένηται, ὅπως μὴ δικαίου θεοῦ μορφὴν ἄδικον ἔχῃ σῶμα. ἡ μέντοι λύσις οὐ περὶ τὴν σφραγῖδα γίνεται, ἀλλὰ περὶ τὸ σφραγισθὲν σῶμα. ἄνευ δὲ τοῦ σφραγίσαντος τὸ σφραγισθὲν οὐ λύεται. οὕτως ἄνευ κρίσεως οὐδὲ τὸ ἀποθανεῖν ἔξεστιν. καὶ ὁ Σίμων· Τίς οὖν ἀνάγκη ἦν τὴν τοιούτου μορφὴν τῷ ἀπὸ γῆς ἐγερθέντι δοῦναι ἀνθρώπῳ; καὶ ὁ Πέτρος· ∆ιὰ τὴν τοῦ πεποιηκότος θεοῦ φιλαν- θρωπίαν γέγονεν. ἐπεὶ γὰρ τῷ κατ' οὐσίαν λόγῳ πάντα κρείττονα τυγ- χάνει τῆς ἀνθρώπου σαρκός, λέγω δὲ τὸν αἰθέρα, τὸν ἥλιον, τὴν σελή- νην, τοὺς ἀστέρας, τὸν ἀέρα, τὸ ὕδωρ, τὸ πῦρ, ἑνὶ λόγῳ καὶ τὰ λοιπὰ πάν- τα, ἅτινα εἰς ὑπηρεσίαν ἀνθρώπου γενόμενα καὶ κατ' οὐσίαν κρείττονα ὄντα ἡδέως ὑπομένει δουλεύειν τῷ κατ' οὐσίαν χείρονι διὰ τὴν τοῦ κρείτ- τονος μορφήν (ὡς γὰρ οἱ πήλινον ἀνδριάντα βασιλέως τιμῶντες τὴν τιμὴν ἀναφερομένην ἔχουσιν εἰς ἐκεῖνον, οὗπερ ὁ πηλὸς τὴν μορφὴν