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But he does not say this by way of comparison; for he did not say, More beautiful, but, Beautiful in comeliness beyond the sons of men. This beauty, he says, is different from that one. And see how he first introduces the word concerning the economy. That this is about the economy is clear from what follows. For having said, Beautiful in comeliness beyond the sons of men, he added: Grace is poured out on your lips. But God does not have lips; rather, the word is of the economy. But another interpreter, saying, Grace was poured forth on your lips, made this clearer. What is, Was poured forth, if not as one might say, That which was within gushed forth, sprang up? How then does another prophet say: We saw him, and he had no form, nor comeliness, but his form was without honor, lacking beyond the sons of men? Not speaking of shapelessness, God forbid, but of his being easily despised. For having once deigned to become man, he passed through all humble things, neither claiming a queen for a mother, nor at the time of his swaddling clothes being placed on a golden bed, but in a manger, nor being raised in a magnificent house, but in the humble room of a carpenter. And again, taking disciples, he did not take orators and philosophers and kings, but fishermen, and tax collectors; and he pursued this simple life, having no house, nor being clothed in expensive garments, nor enjoying such a table, but being fed by others, being insulted, being despised, being driven out, being persecuted. And he did these things, out of his great abundance trampling on human pride. Since, therefore, he was clothed with neither any display nor pomp, nor did he have attendants and bodyguards, but there were times when he walked about alone, as one of the many, for this reason that one says: We saw him and he had no form, nor comeliness; but this one says, Beautiful in comeliness beyond the sons of men; indicating the grace, the wisdom, the teaching, the miracles. Then, describing his beauty, he says: Grace is poured out on your lips. Do you see that the discourse is about the economy? And what is this grace? That by which he taught, by which 55.186 he worked miracles. Here he speaks of the grace that came upon the flesh; Upon whom you see the Spirit, he says, descending like a dove, and remaining on him, this is the one who baptizes. For all grace was poured out into that temple. For he does not give the Spirit to him by measure; For we have received from his fullness; but that temple received the entire grace. Isaiah, indicating this, also said: The Spirit of wisdom and understanding will rest upon him, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and piety. The Spirit of the fear of God will fill him. But there is the whole grace; but upon men, a little something, and a drop from that grace. For this reason he did not say, I give the Spirit, but, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh. 3. This, at any rate, also came to pass. For the whole inhabited world received from that Spirit. For the gift began from Palestine; but it went forth to Egypt, to Phoenicia, the land of the Syrians, of the Cilicians, the Euphrates, Mesopotamia, the land of the Cappadocians, of the Galatians, of the Scythians, of the Thracians, Greece, the land of the Gauls, of the Italians, all of Libya, Europe, Asia, to the very Ocean. And why must one say many things? As much land as the sun looks upon, so much this grace has traversed; and this drop, and this sprinkling of the Spirit filled the whole inhabited world with knowledge. Through this the signs occurred, the sins of all were loosed. But nevertheless the grace given in so many regions is a part of the gift and a pledge. For 'having given,' he says, 'the pledge of the Spirit in our hearts;' he means the part of the working; for indeed the Paraclete is not divided. But see the spring, how great it is; for to one through the
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Τοῦτο δὲ οὐ κατὰ σύγκρισίν φησιν· οὐ γὰρ εἶπεν, Ὡραιότερος, ἀλλ', Ὡραῖος κάλλει παρὰ τοὺς υἱοὺς τῶν ἀνθρώπων. Ἄλλο τοῦτο, φησὶ, τὸ κάλλος παρ' ἐκεῖνο. Καὶ σκόπει πῶς τὸν περὶ τῆς οἰκονομίας πρῶτον κινεῖ λόγον. Ὅτι δὲ περὶ τῆς οἰκονομίας ἐστὶ τοῦτο, δῆλον ἐκ τῶν ἑξῆς. Εἰπὼν γὰρ, Ὡραῖος κάλλει παρὰ τοὺς υἱοὺς τῶν ἀνθρώπων, ἐπήγαγεν· Ἐξεχύθη χάρις ἐν χείλεσί σου. Χείλη δὲ ὁ Θεὸς οὐκ ἔχει, ἀλλὰ τῆς οἰκονομίας ἐστὶν ὁ λόγος. Ἕτερος δὲ ἑρμηνευτὴς εἰπὼν, Ἀνεχύθη χάρις τοῖς χείλεσί σου, σαφέστερον τοῦτο ἐποίησε. Τί δέ ἐστιν, Ἀνεχύθη, ἢ ὡς ἂν εἴποι τις, Ἡ ἔνδον οὖσα ἀνέβλυσεν, ἐπήγασε; Πῶς οὖν ἕτερος προφήτης λέγει· Εἴδομεν αὐτὸν, καὶ οὐκ εἶχεν εἶδος, οὐδὲ κάλλος, ἀλλὰ τὸ εἶδος αὐτοῦ ἄτιμον, ἐκλεῖπον παρὰ τοὺς υἱοὺς τῶν ἀνθρώπων; Οὐ περὶ ἀμορφίας λέγων, μὴ γένοιτο, ἀλλὰ περὶ τοῦ εὐκαταφρονήτου. Καταδεξάμενος γὰρ ἅπαξ γενέσθαι ἄνθρωπος, διὰ τῶν εὐτελῶν ἁπάντων διῆλθεν, οὔτε μητέρα βασιλίδα ἐπιγραψάμενος, οὔτε ἐν καιρῷ τῶν σπαργάνων ἐπὶ κλίνης τεθεὶς χρυσῆς, ἀλλ' ἐν φάτνῃ, οὔτε ἐν οἰκίᾳ τραφεὶς πολυτελεῖ, ἀλλ' ἐν εὐτελεῖ τέκτονος δωματίῳ. Καὶ λαβὼν μαθητὰς πάλιν, οὐ ῥήτορας καὶ φιλοσόφους καὶ βασιλέας ἔλαβεν, ἀλλ' ἁλιέας, καὶ τελώνας· καὶ τὸν βίον τὸν λιτὸν τοῦτον μετῄει, οὔτε οἰκίαν ἔχων, οὔτε ἱμάτια περιβεβλημένος πολυτελῆ, οὔτε τραπέζης ἀπολαύων τοιαύτης, ἀλλὰ παρ' ἑτέρων τρεφόμενος, ὑβριζόμενος, καταφρονούμενος, ἐλαυνόμενος, διωκόμενος. Ταῦτα δὲ ἐποίει, ἐκ πολλῆς τῆς περιουσίας τὸν τῦφον πατῶν τὸν ἀνθρώπινον. Ἐπεὶ οὖν οὔτε φαντασίαν τινὰ καὶ κόμπον περιεβέβλητο, οὔτε ἀκολούθους εἶχε καὶ δορυφόρους, ἀλλ' ἔστιν ὅτε καὶ μόνος περιῄει, ὡς εἷς τῶν πολλῶν, διὰ τοῦτο ἐκεῖνος μέν φησιν· Εἴδομεν αὐτὸν καὶ οὐκ εἶχεν εἶδος, οὔτε κάλλος· οὗτος δέ φησιν, Ὡραῖος κάλλει παρὰ τοὺς υἱοὺς τῶν ἀνθρώπων· τὴν χάριν δηλῶν, τὴν σοφίαν, τὴν διδασκαλίαν, τὰ θαύματα. Εἶτα ὑπογράφων τὴν ὡραιότητα, φησίν· Ἐξεχύθη χάρις ἐν χείλεσί σου. Ὁρᾷς ὅτι περὶ τῆς οἰκονομίας ὁ λόγος; Τίς δέ ἐστιν αὕτη ἡ χάρις; ∆ι' ἧς ἐδίδασκε, δι' ἧς 55.186 ἐθαυματοποίει. Τὴν χάριν ἐνταῦθα λέγει τὴν ἐλθοῦσαν ἐπὶ τὴν σάρκα· Ἐφ' ὃν ἂν ἴδῃς τὸ Πνεῦμα, φησὶ, καταβαῖνον ὡσεὶ περιστερὰν, καὶ μένον ἐπ' αὐτὸν, οὗτός ἐστιν ὁ βαπτίζων. Πᾶσα γὰρ ἡ χάρις ἐξεχύθη εἰς τὸν ναὸν ἐκεῖνον. Οὐ γὰρ ἐν μέτρῳ δίδωσιν ἐκείνῳ τὸ Πνεῦμα· Ἡμεῖς μὲν γὰρ ἐκ τοῦ πληρώματος αὐτοῦ ἐλάβομεν· ὁ δὲ ναὸς ἐκεῖνος ὁλόκληρον τὴν χάριν ἔλαβε. Τοῦτο καὶ ὁ Ἡσαΐας δηλῶν ἔλεγεν· Ἀναπαύσεται ἐπ' αὐτὸν Πνεῦμα σοφίας καὶ συνέσεως, Πνεῦμα βουλῆς καὶ ἰσχύος, Πνεῦμα γνώσεως καὶ εὐσεβείας. Πνεῦμα φόβου Θεοῦ ἐμπλήσει αὐτόν. Ἀλλ' ἐκεῖ μὲν ὁλόκληρος ἡ χάρις· ἐπὶ δὲ τῶν ἀνθρώπων μικρόν τι, καὶ ῥανὶς ἀπὸ τῆς χάριτος ἐκείνης. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο οὐκ εἶπε, ∆ίδωμι τὸ Πνεῦμα, ἀλλ', Ἐκχεῶ ἀπὸ τοῦ Πνεύματός μου ἐπὶ πᾶσαν σάρκα. γʹ. Τοῦτο γοῦν καὶ ἐξέβη. Πᾶσα γὰρ ἡ οἰκουμένη ἐκ τοῦ Πνεύματος ἐδέξατο ἐκείνου. Ἤρξατο μὲν γὰρ ἐκ Παλαιστίνης τὸ δῶρον· προῆλθε δὲ εἰς Αἴγυπτον, εἰς Φοινίκην, τὴν τῶν Σύρων, τὴν Κιλίκων, τὸν Εὐφράτην, τὴν Μέσην τῶν ποταμῶν, τὴν Καππαδοκῶν, τὴν Γαλατῶν, τὴν Σκυθῶν, τὴν Θρᾳκῶν, τὴν Ἑλλάδα, τὴν Γάλλων, τὴν Ἰταλῶν, τὴν Λιβύην ἅπασαν, τὴν Εὐρώπην, τὴν Ἀσίαν, εἰς αὐτὸν τὸν Ὠκεανόν. Καὶτί δεῖ τὰ πολλὰ λέγειν; Ὅσην ἥλιος ἐφορᾷ γῆν, τοσαύτην ἐπῆλθεν ἡ χάρις αὕτη· καὶ ἡ σταγὼν αὕτη, καὶ ἡ ῥανὶς τοῦ Πνεύματος τὴν οἰκουμένην ἅπασαν ἐνέπλησε τῆς γνώσεως. ∆ιὰ ταύτης τὰ σημεῖα ἐγίνετο, τὰ ἁμαρτήματα πάντων ἐλύετο. Ἀλλ' ὅμως ἡ ἐν τοσούτοις κλίμασι διδομένη χάρις, μέρος τι τῆς δωρεᾶς ἐστι καὶ ἀῤῥαβών. ∆οὺς γὰρ, φησὶ, τὸν ἀῤῥαβῶνα τοῦ Πνεύματος ἐν ταῖς καρδίαις ἡμῶν· τὸ μέρος λέγει τῆς ἐνεργείας· οὐ γὰρ δὴ ὁ Παράκλητος μερίζεται. Ὅρα δὲ τὴν πηγὴν, ὅση τίς ἐστιν· Ὧ μὲν γὰρ διὰ τοῦ