146

and ignorant of ourselves, where and how we are held, we who are buried in passions, we who are blind and dead and (261) Him who is truly without beginning, uncreated, God alone, who is immortal, invisible to all, we who are separated from God investigate and speak as if we know accurately about God. For if indeed they were united to Him, they would never dare to speak about Him, seeing that all His things are ineffable, incomprehensible; and not only His things, but also most of His works are unknown to all. For who could explain how He forms me from the beginning, with what hands the wholly incorporeal One, taking dust, having no mouth as we do, how He breathed into me, and how it became for me an immortal soul? But from clay, tell me, how do bones, and how nerves, how flesh, and how veins for me, how skin, how hairs, how eyes, and how ears, how lips, how tongue, how vocal organs, and the hardness of teeth, clearly produce articulate speech by the spirit? From dry and wet, hot and cold matter has He made me a living being by a mixture of opposites? How then is the mind bound to the flesh, how is the flesh blended with the immaterial mind unmixedly, unconfusedly, unmingledly, and how do mind and soul offer the indwelling word to the people, and yet remain likewise undivided, unalterable, unconfused for ever? Knowing these things therefore, brothers, that our own affairs are inexplicable and incomprehensible to all, how do we not shudder to investigate or to conceive or to speak of the One who made us such from things that are not, things that are beyond reason, beyond our mind? Being creatures, then, fear the Creator and investigate His commandments only, (262) and hasten to keep them with all your strength, if you wish also to become heirs of life. But if you despise His commands and overlook His will, as he said, and disobey Him in any one word, neither glory, nor rank, nor wealth from the world, nor even the foolish knowledge of external studies, nor arrangement, nor composition of fine words, nor any other of the things or possessions on earth will provide any benefit at all then, when my God will judge all things and all people. But the word of the Master overlooked by us will stand before the face of each one then and will condemn each one who has not kept it. For it is not an idle word, but a living word of God

146

καί ἀγνοοῦντες ἑαυτούς, ὅπου καί πῶς κρατοῦνται, οἱ τεθαμμένοι πάθεσιν, οἱ τυφλοί καί νεκροί τε (261) τόν ὄντα ὄντως ἄναρχον, ἄκτιστον, Θεόν μόνον, ἀθάνατον ὑπάρχοντα, ἀόρατον τοῖς πᾶσιν ἐξερευνῶντες λέγομεν ὡς ἀκριβῶς εἰδότες περί Θεοῦ, οἱ τοῦ Θεοῦ ὄντες κεχωρισμένοι. Εἰ γάρ δή καί ἥνωντο αὐτῷ, οὐκ ἄν ποτε ἐτόλμων περί αὐτοῦ λαλῆσαι βλέποντες, ὅτι πάντα ἄφραστα, ἀκατάληπτα πέλουσι τά ἐκείνου˙ οὐ μόνον τά ἐκείνου δέ, ἀλλά καί τῶν ἐκείνου ἔργων τά πλείω ἄγνωστα ὑπάρχουσι τοῖς πᾶσι. Τίς γάρ καί ἑρμηνεύσειε, πῶς ἐξ ἀρχῆς με πλάττει, ποίαις χερσί τόν χοῦν λαβών ὁ ἀσώματος πάντῃ στόμα μή ἔχων ὡς ἡμεῖς πῶς ἐνεφύσησέ μοι καί εἰς ψυχήν ἀθάνατον πῶς ἄρα γέγονέ μοι; Ἀπό πηλοῦ δέ, λέγε μοι, πῶς ὀστᾶ, πῶς δέ νεῦρα, πῶς κρέας, πῶς δέ φλέβες μοι, πῶς δερματίς, πῶς τρίχες, πῶς ὀφθαλμοί, πῶς ὦτα δέ, πῶς χείλεα, πῶς γλῶσσα, πῶς ὄργανα φωνητικά, ὀδόντως τε στερρότης, ἔναρθρον λόγον πνεύματι τρανῶς ἀποτελοῦσιν; Ἀπό ξηρᾶς δέ καί ὑγρᾶς, θερμῆς καί ψυχρᾶς ὕλης ζῴόν με ἀπετέλεσε μίξει ἐναντίων; Πῶς οὖν δεσμεῖται νοῦς σαρκί, πῶς σάρξ δέ τῷ ἀΰλῳ νοΐ συνανακέκραται ἀμίκτως, ἀσυγχύτως, ἀφύρτως τε νοῦς καί ψυχή προσφέρουσι τόν λόγον τόν ἐνδιάθετον λαῷ, καί μένουσιν ὡσαύτως ἄτμητα, ἀναλλοίωτα, ἀσύγχυτα εἰς ἅπαν; Ταῦτ᾿ οὖν εἰδότες, ἀδελφοί, ἀνερμήνευτα εἶναι καί πᾶσιν ἀκατάληπτα τά καθ᾿ ἡμᾶς ὑπάρχειν πῶς τόν ἡμᾶς ποιήσαντα τοιούτους ἐκ μή ὄντων ἐξερευνᾶν οὐ φρίττομεν ἤ ἐννοεῖν ἤ λέγειν τά ὑπέρ λόγον, ὑπέρ νοῦν τόν ἡμέτερον ὄντα; Κτίσματα ὄντες δέ λοιπόν φοβήθητε τόν κτίστην καί τάς ἐκείνου ἐντολάς μόνας ἐξερευνᾶτε, (262) τηρεῖν δέ ταύτας σπεύσατε ὑμῶν πάσῃ δυνάμει, εἰ βούλοισθε καί τῆς ζωῆς κληρονόμοι γενέσθαι. Εἰ δέ καταφρονήσετε τῶν αὐτοῦ προσταγμάτων καί τά θελήματα αὐτοῦ παρίδετε, ὡς εἶπε, καί ἀπειθήσετε αὐτῷ ἐν ἑνί πάντως λόγῳ, οὐ δόξα, οὐκ ἀξίωμα, οὐ πλοῦτος ἐκ τοῦ κόσμου, ἀλλ᾿ οὐδ᾿ ἡ γνῶσις ἡ μωρά τῶν ἔξω μαθημάτων, οὐ σύνταξις, οὐ σύνθεσις καλλιεπείας λόγων, οὐδ᾿ ἄλλο τι τῶν ἐπί γῆς πραγμάτων ἤ χρημάτων ὠφέλειαν τήν οἱανοῦν παρέξουσί γε τότε, ὅτε κρινεῖ τά σύμπαντα καί πάντας ὁ Θεός μου. Ἀλλ᾿ ὁ παροφθείς λόγος παρ᾿ ἡμῶν τοῦ ∆εσπότου στήσεται κατά πρόσωπον ἑνός ἑκάστου τότε καί ἕκαστον κατακρινεῖ μή φυλάξαντα τοῦτον. Οὐκ ἔστι λόγος γάρ ἀργός, ἀλλά ζῶν Θεοῦ λόγος