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such as he appeared to the disciples on the mountain, or was shown forth, with the divinity overcoming the flesh".

"But that light," he says, "was perceptible and visible through the air, having come into being then for the sake of astonishment and immediately passing away, and is called divinity as a symbol of divinity." Such a strange utterance has been heard, a divinity for a day, perceptible and created, coming to be for a day and perishing for a day, like the so-called ephemeral creatures, or rather even more short-lived than these, coming into being and ceasing in an instant, or rather "having once come to be, but never being"? Such a divinity, then, is called a symbol of divinity." Did such a divinity, then, which never was a divinity, overcome that adorable and co-divine flesh? Rather, it did not overcome once, but overcomes continually; for he did not say 'having overcome,' but 'overcoming,' and not only in the present, but also in the age to come. What are you saying? Will the Lord be joined to and overcome by such a divinity (p. 588) for ages unending? And while God will be all in all for us there, according to the apostolic and patristic sayings, will Christ instead of divinity have a perceptible light? And while we will not need air and place and such things there, according to the same sayings, will we see the divinity through the air? And how can such symbols be there? Again mirrors, again enigmas, again the face-to-face vision in hopes? Rather, if even then there are such symbols and mirrors and enigmas, alas for the deceit and the trickery, we have been deceived in our hopes, we have been outwitted; expecting to possess divinity through promise, we are not even permitted to see divinity, but a perceptible light instead of it, a nature most foreign to divinity. And how could such a symbol - if indeed it were such - be called divinity? For neither is a man who is drawn humanity, nor is the symbol of an angel that has appeared angelness.

Which of the holy interpreters ever said that light was created? Gregory the Theologian says, "light, the divinity shown forth to the disciples on the mountain." If, therefore, it was not true and truly divinity, but a created symbol of it, he should not have said "light, the divinity shown forth," but "light which showed forth divinity," and not "which showed forth," but "which showed," since the attached "para" [prefix] clearly indicates a faint manifestation of the hiddenness of the divinity. Thus, then, did he who acquired theology as his own epithet. And Chrysostom the theologian says, "The Lord appeared brighter than himself, the divinity having shown forth its rays." See here too the appended "para," clearly manifesting the manifestation of the hidden, but do not overlook the addition of the article; for he did not say "of divinity," but "of the divinity," (p. 590) that is, the true one. And how could a symbol of divinity, existing from a foreign nature, be the rays of the divinity? And Basil the Great, showing that the God worshipped in three hypostases is one light, says, "God, dwelling in unapproachable light"; for the unapproachable is surely also true, and the true unapproachable; since the apostles even fell, unable to gaze at the glory of the Son's light because it was unapproachable light. And the Spirit is also light; "who," it says, "has shone in our hearts through the Holy Spirit." If, then, the unapproachable is true, and that was unapproachable, then that light was not a semblance of divinity, but truly the light of the true divinity, not of the Son alone, but also of the Spirit and of the Father. Therefore we all sing together to the Lord, celebrating the annual feast:

"in your light that appeared today on Tabor,

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οἷος ὤφθη τοῖς μαθηταῖς ἐν τῷ ὄρει, ἤ παρεδείχθη, ὑπερνικώσης τό σαρκίον τῆς θεότητος».

«Ἀλλ᾿ αἰσθητόν ἦν», φησί, «τό φῶς ἐκεῖνο καί δι᾿ ἀέρος ὁρατόν, τότε γεγονός πρός ἔκπληξιν καί εὐθύς ἀπογενόμενον, καί θεότης λέγεται ὡς σύμβολον θεότητος». Τῆς καινοφωνίας ἤκουσται καί αὐθημερινή θεότης, αἰσθητή καί γενητή, ἐφ᾿ ἡμέραν γινομένη καί ἐφ᾿ ἡμέραν φθειρομένη, κατά τά καλούμενα τῶν ζώων ἐφήμερα, μᾶλλον δέ καί τούτων ὀλιγοχρονιωτέρα, αὐθωρόν γινομένη τε καί λυομένη, μᾶλλον δέ «γενομένη μέν ποτε, οὖσα δέ οὐδέποτε»; Τοιαύτη οὖν θεότης λέγεται ὡς σύμβολον θεότητος». Τοιαύτη οὖν θεότης ὑπερενίκησε τήν προσκυνητήν ἐκείνην καί ὁμόθεον σάρκα, ἡ μή οὖσα θεότης οὐδέποτε; Μᾶλλον δέ οὐχ ὑπερενίκησέ ποτε, ἀλλ᾿ ὑπερνικᾷ διηνεκῶς˙ οὐ γάρ εἶπεν ὑπερνικησάσης, ἀλλ᾿ ὑπερνικώσης, καί οὐκ ἐπί τοῦ παρόντος μόνον, ἀλλά κἀπί τοῦ μέλλοντος αἰῶνος. Τί φῄς; Τοιαύτη θεότητι (σελ. 588) συνημμένος ἔσται καί ὑπερνικώμενος εἰς ἀπείρους αἰῶνας ὁ Κύριος; Καί ἀντί πάντων μέν ἡμῖν ἐκεῖ, κατά τάς ἀποστολικάς καί πατερικάς φωνάς, ἔσται ὁ Θεός, τῷ Χριστῷ δέ ἀντί θεότητος φῶς προσέσται αἰσθητόν; Καί ἀέρος μέν καί τόπου καί τῶν τοιούτων κατά τάς αὐτάς φωνάς οὐ δεησόμεθα ἐκεῖ, δι᾿ ἀέρος δέ ὀψόμεθα τήν θεότητα; Πῶς δέ καί τοιαῦτα σύμβολα ἐκεῖ; πάλιν ἔσοπτρα, πάλιν αἰνίγματα, πάλιν ἐν ἐλπίσιν ἡ πρός πρόσωπον θέα; Μᾶλλον δέ, εἰ καί τότε τοιαῦτα σύμβολα καί ἔσοπτρα καί αἰνίγματα, φεῦ τοῦ δόλου καί τῆς ἀπάτης, ἐψεύσθημεν τῶν ἐλπίδων, κατεσοφίσθημεν˙ θεότητα δι᾿ ἐπαγγελίας κτήσεσθαι προσδοκήσαντες, οὐδ᾿ ἰδεῖν θεότητα συγχωρούμεθα, φῶς δ᾿ αἰσθητόν ἀντ᾿ ἐκείνης, φύσιν ἀλλοτριωτάτην θεότητος. Πῶς δέ καί τό τοιοῦτο σύμβολον - εἴγε καί τοιοῦτον ἦν - θεότης ἄν κληθείη; Οὐδέ γάρ ἀνθρωπότης ὁ γεγραμμένος ἄνθρωπος, οὐδ᾿ ἀγγελότης τό φανέν σύμβολον ἀγγέλου.

Τίς ποτε τῶν ἁγίων συμβόλων κτιστόν τό φῶς ἐκεῖνο εἶπε; Γρηγόριος ὁ θεολόγος, «φῶς», φησίν, «ἡ παραδειχθεῖσα θεότης ἐπί τοῦ ὄρους τοῖς μαθηταῖς». Εἰ οὖν μή ἀληθινόν ἦν καί ἀληθῶς θεότης, ἀλλά κτιστόν σύμβολον αὐτῆς, οὐκ ἔδει φάναι φῶς ἡ παραδειχθεῖσα θεότης, ἀλλά φῶς τό παραδεῖξαν θεότητα, καί οὐδέ τό παραδεῖξαν, ἀλλά τό δεῖξαν, ἐπεί τό παρά συνηρτημένον ἀμυδράν ἔκφανσιν τοῦ κρυφίου τῆς θεότητος σαφῶς ἐπιδείκνυσιν. Οὕτω μέν οὖν ὁ τήν θεολογίαν οἰκείαν ἐπωνυμίαν κτησάμενος. Ὁ δέ Χρυσόστομος θεολόγος, «λαμπρότερος», φησίν, «ἑαυτοῦ ἐφαίνετο ὁ Κύριος, τῆς θεότητος παραδειξάσης τάς ἀκτῖνας αὐτῆς». Ὅρα κἀνταῦθα τό παρά προσκείμενον καί σαφῶς ἐκφαῖνον τοῦ κρυφίου τήν ἔκφανσιν, ἀλλά μηδέ τήν τοῦ ἄρθρου παραδράμῃς προσθήκην˙ οὐ γάρ θεότητος εἶπεν, ἀλλά τῆς θεότητος, (σελ. 590) ἐκείνης τῆς ἀληθινῆς. Πῶς δέ καί τό ἐξ ἀλλοτρίας φύσεως θεότητος σύμβολον ὑπάρχον˙ φῶς ἀκτῖνες ἄν εἶεν τῆς θεότητος; Ὁ δέ μέγας Βασίλειος, δεικνύς ἕν φῶς τόν ἐν τρισίν ὑποστάσεσι προσκυνούμενον Θεόν, «ὁ Θεός», φησί, «φῶς οἰκῶν ἀπρόσιτον»˙ τό γάρ ἀπρόσιτον πάντως καί ἀληθινόν, καί τό ἀληθινόν ἀπρόσιτον˙ ὁπότε καίπεπτώκασιν οἱ ἀπόστολοι τῇ δόξῃ τοῦ φωτός τοῦ Υἱοῦ ἀτενίσαι μή δυνηθέντες διά τό εἶναι αὐτόν ἀπρόσιτον φῶς. Φῶς δέ καί τό Πνεῦμα˙ «ὅς», φησίν, «ἔλαμψεν ἐν ταῖς καρδίαις ἡμῶν διά Πνεύματος ἁγίου». Εἰ τοίνυν τό ἀπρόσιτον ἀληθινόν ἀπρόσιτον δ᾿ ἐκεῖνο ὖν - οὐχ ὑπόκρισις ἦν θεότητος τό φῶς ἐκεῖν ο, ἀλλ᾿ ὡς ἀληθῶς φῶς ἀληθινῆς θεότητος, οὐ τῆς τοῦ Υἱοῦ μόνον, ἀλλά καί τοῦ Πνεύματος καί τοῦ Πατρός. ∆ιό κοινῇ πάντες τῷ Κυρίῳ ψάλλομεν τήν ἐπέτειον τελοῦντες ἑορτήν˙

«ἐν τῷ φανέντι φωτί σου, σήμερον ἐν Θαβωρίῳ,