139

Therefore the divinity by nature, the principle of deification, from which, as from an unparticipated cause, deification comes to those who are deified, this, then, this most God-ruling blessedness beyond all things is invisible in itself both to sense and to mind, both bodiless and bound together with a body; even if one of these should depart from itself to a higher state, having been deified; for only to the mind and body united hypostatically is it believed to be and to become visible, even if not according to their own nature. For they alone "by the presence of the whole anointer" were deified and assumed an energy equal to the deifying essence, containing all of it without deficiency and manifesting it through themselves; for indeed "in Christ all the fullness of the Godhead dwells bodily," according to the Apostle. This is why there are also saints who, after the sojourn of God in the flesh, saw that light like a boundless sea, from one disk, that is, from the adorable body, pouring forth wondrously, just as the apostles did on the mountain. Thus, then, the first-fruit of our lump has been deified. But the deification of deified angels and men is not the superessential essence of God, but the energy of the superessential essence of God, existing in those who are deified, not as art is in the thing made by art (for in this way the power that brought them forth is in things that have been creatively brought forth, appearing to all or even being manifest in them), but "as art is in him who has learned it," according to Basil the Great; (which is why the saints are instruments of the Holy Spirit, having received the same energy as He), and the faith of what is said is ready, the gifts of healing, the workings of powers, foreknowledge, the wisdom which cannot be contradicted, which the Lord also (p. 630) called the Spirit of our Father, and not only this, but also the sanctifying impartation of the Spirit, bestowed from them and through them upon those who are sanctified after them. "For I will take of the Spirit that is upon you and will put it upon them," God said to Moses, and when Paul laid his hands on the twelve Ephesians, "the Holy Spirit came upon them, and they immediately spoke with tongues and prophesied." Therefore, when we consider the proper dignity of the Spirit, we contemplate Him with the Father and the Son, but when we call to mind the grace that is at work in the partakers, we say that the Spirit is in us, "poured out upon us, not created; given to us, not made; bestowed as a gift, not fashioned"; existing in those who are still imperfect, as Basil the Great says again, like a certain disposition "because of the instability of their will," but in the more perfect as an acquired state, and in some it is rooted even more deeply than this; "For as the power," he says, "of seeing is in the healthy eye, so is the energy of the Spirit in the purified soul."

Therefore, the deifying gift of the Spirit is not the superessential essence of God, but the deifying energy of the superessential essence of God, and not even all of this, even though that energy is in itself indivisible. For who among created beings could contain the whole infinitely powerful power of the Spirit, except for Him who was conceived in a virgin's womb by the presence of the Holy Spirit and the overshadowing of the power of the Most High? This is why He contained "all the fullness of the Godhead," "and from His fullness we have all received." The essence of God is, then, everywhere; for the Spirit, it says, fills all things according to essence; and deification is also everywhere, (p. 632) existing inexpressibly in it and being inseparable from it, since it is its natural power. But just as fire is invisible when there is no matter present or a sense organ to receive its illuminating energy, so also is deification unperceivable when there is no matter present to receive the divine manifestation; but whenever suitable

139

Ἡ φύσει τοιγαροῦν θεότης, ἡ ἀρχή τῆς θεώσεως, ἐξ ἧς ὡς αἰτίας ἀμεθέκτου τό θεοῦσθαι τοῖς θεομένοις ἐστιν, αὕτη τοίνυν ἡ πάντων ἐπέκεινα θεαρχικωτάτη μακαριότης ἀόρατός ἐστι καθ᾿ ἑαυτήν αἰσθήσει τε καί νῷ, ἀσωμάτῳ τε καί σώματι συνδεδεμένῳ˙ κἄν ἐκστῇ ἑαυτοῦ τι τούτων ἐπί τό κρεῖττον θεωθέν˙ μόνῳ γάρ τῷ καθ᾿ ὑπόστασιν ἡνωμένῳ νῷ καί σώματι εἶναί τε καί γενέσθαι θεατή πιστεύεται, εἰ καί μή κατά τήν οἰκείαν φύσιν ἑαυτῶν. Μόνα γάρ ἐκεῖνα «παρουσίᾳ τοῦ χρίοντος ὅλου» ἐθεώθησαν καί τήν ἴσην ἐνέργειαν τῇ θεούσῃ οὐσίᾳ προσελάβοντο, πᾶσαν αὐτήν ἐνελλιπῶς χωρήσαντα καί δι᾿ ἑαυτῶν ἐκφήναντα˙ καί γάρ «ἐν τῷ Χριστῷ πᾶν τό πλήρωμα τῆς θεότητος σωματικῶς» κατά τόν ἀπόστολον «οἰκεῖ». ∆ιό καί τῶν ἁγίων εἰσίν οἵ μετά τήν διά σαρκός τοῦ Θεοῦ ἐπιδημίαν οἷόν τι πέλαγος ἀπεριόριστον τό φῶς ἐκεῖνο εἶδον, ἐξ ἑνός δίσκου, τοῦ προσκυνητοῦ δηλονότι σώματος, παραδόξως προχεόμενον, ὡς καί οἱ ἀπόστολοι ἐπί τοῦ ὄρους. Οὕτω μέν οὖν ἡ ἀπαρχή τεθέωται τοῦ ἡμετέρου φυράματος. Ἡ δέ τῶν τεθεωμένων ἀγγέλων καί ἀνθρώπων θέωσις οὐχ ἡ ὑπερούσιός ἐστιν οὐσία τοῦ Θεοῦ, ἀλλά τῆς ὑπερουσίας οὐσίας τοῦ Θεοῦ ἐνέργεια, τοῖς τεθεωμένοις ἐνυπάρχουσα, οὐχ ὡς ἡ τέχνη ἐν τῷ τεχνητῷ (οὕτω γάρ τοῖς δημιουργικῶς προηγμένοις ἔνεστιν ἡ προαγαγοῦσα ταῦτα δύναμις, ἐπιφαινομένη πᾶσιν ἤ καί ἐμφαινομένη), ἀλλ᾿ «ὡς ἡ τέχνη ἐν τῷ ἀναλαβόντι αὐτήν», κατά τόν μέγαν Βασίλειοιν˙ (διό καί ὄργανά εἰσι τοῦ ἁγίου Πνεύματος οἱ ἅγιοι, τήν αὐτήν ἐκείνῳ προσειληφότες ἐνέργειαν), καί ἡ τῶν λεγομένων πίστις ἑτοίμη, τά χαρίσματα τῶν ἰαμάτων, τά ἐνεργήματα τῶν δυνάμεων, ἡ πρόγνωσις, ἡ μή ἀντιλεγομένη σοφία ἥν καί (σελ. 630) Πνεῦμα τοῦ Πατρός ἡμῶν ὁ Κύροις προσηγόρευσεν, οὐ μόνον δέ, ἀλλά καί ἡ τοῦ Πνεύματος ἁγιαστική μετάδοσις, ἐξ αὐτῶν καί δι᾿ αὐτῶν χορηγουμένη τοῖς ἁγιαζομένοις μετ᾿ αὐτούς «λήψομαι γάρ ἀπό τοῦ Πνεύματος τοῦ ἐπί σέ καί θήσω ἐπ᾿ αὐτούς», πρός τόν Μωϋσῆν εἶπεν ὁ Θεός, καί τοῦ Παύλου τάς χεῖρας ἐπιθέντος τοῖς δεκαδύο Ἐφεσίοις «ἦλθε τό Πνεῦμα τό ἅγιον ἐπ᾿ αὐτούς, ἐλάλουν τε» πάραυτα γλώσσαις καί προεφήτευον». Οὐκοῦν ὅταν μέν τήν οἰκείαν ἀξίαν τοῦ Πνεύματος ἐννοῶμεν, μετά Πατρός αὐτό καί Υἱοῦ θεωροῦμεν, ὅταν δέ τήν εἰς τούς μετόχους ἐνεργουμένην χάριν ἐνθυμηθῶμεν, ἐν ἡμῖν εἶναι τό Πνεῦμα λέγομεν, «ἐκχεόμενον πρός ἡμᾶς, οὐ κτιζόμενον, διδόμενον ἡμῖν, οὐ ποιούμενν, χαριζόμενον, οὐ δημιουργούμενον»˙ ἐνυπάρχον τοῖς μέν ἀτελέσιν ἔτι, κατά τόν μέγαν αὖθις φάναι Βασίλειον, ὥσπερ τις διάθεσις «διά τό τῆς γνώμης ἀνίδρυτον», τοῖς δέ τελειωτέροις ὡς ἕξις ἐπίκτητος, ἔστι δ᾿ ἐφ᾿ ὧν ἐνερριζωμένη καί ταύτης μᾶλλον˙ «ὡς γάρ ἡ δύναμις», φησί, «τοῦ ὁρᾶν ἐν τῷ ὑγιαίνοντι ὀφθαλμῷ, οὕτως ἡ ἐνέργεια τοῦ Πνεύματος ἐν τῇ κεκαθαρμένῃ ψυχῇ».

Τοιγαροῦν οὐχ ἡ ὑπερούσιος οὐσία τοῦ Θεοῦ ἐστιν ἡ θεοποιός δωρεά τοῦ Πνεύματος, ἀλλ᾿ ἡ τῆς ὑπερουσίου οὐσίας τοῦ Θεοῦ θεοποιός ἐνέργεια, καί οὐδέ αὕτη πᾶσα, εἰ καί καθ᾿ ἑαυτήν ἀμέριστος ἐκείνη. Τίς γάρ τῶν κτιστῶν χωρῆσαι δύναιτ᾿ ἄν ὅλην τήν ἀπειροδύναμον δύναμιν τοῦ Πνεύματος, πλήν τοῦ κυηθέντος ἐν παρθενικῇ νηδύι, παρουσίᾳ Πνεύματος ἁγίου καί τῆς τοῦ ὑψίστου δυνάμεως ἐπισκιάσει; ∆ιό καί «πᾶν» μέν οὗτος ἐχώρησε «τό πλήρωμα τῆς θεότητος», ἐκ δέ τοῦ πληρώματος αὐτοῦ ἡμεῖς πάντες ἐλάβομεν». Πανταχοῦ μέν οὖν ἡ οὐσία τοῦ Θεοῦ˙ τό γάρ Πνεῦμα, φησί, πληροῖ πάντα κατά τήν οὐσίαν˙ πανταχοῦ δέ καί ἡ θέωσις, (σελ. 632) ἐνυπάρχουσα ἀφράστως ταύτῃ καί ἀχώριστος ἐκείνης οὖσα, ἅτε φυσική δύναμις αὐτῆς. Ἀλλ᾿ ὥσπερ τό πῦρ ἀφανές ἐστι μή προκειμένης ὕλης ἤ αἰσθητηρίου τοῦ χωροῦντος τήν φωτιστικήν ἐνέργειαν αὐτοῦ, οὕτω δή καί ἡ θέωσις ἀθεώρητός ἐστι μή προκειμένης ὕλης τῆς χωρούσης τήν θείαν ἐμφάνειαν˙ ἡνίκα δ᾿ ἄν ἐπιτηδείας