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and that man makes God, and that God is called and appears as man, because of the one and unchangeable will and motion of both according to the will, as we find in the case of Abraham, and of the other saints. And perhaps this is what was said on behalf of God: In the hands of the prophets I was likened; the formation of God toward each one, from the virtue inherent in each through action, on account of great love for mankind. For the hand of every righteous man is his practice according to virtue; in which and through which God accepts likeness to men.

Great, therefore, is the good of love, and of good things the first and most excellent good, as it joins God and men through itself to the one who has it, and as it prepares the maker of men to appear as a man, on account of the unchangeableness of the one being deified towards God according to the good, as is possible for man; which I understand to be put into effect by loving the Lord God with all one’s heart and soul and strength, and one’s neighbor as oneself. Which is, to speak comprehensively as in a definition, the indwelling disposition towards the first good with the whole providence of the whole genus according to nature; after which it is not possible for the God-loving man to be raised to anything higher, since all the ways of piety have been traversed by him; which love we both know and name, not assigning one and another dividedly to God and neighbor, but one and the same in its entirety; owed to God, and joining men to one another. For the activity and clear proof of perfect love for God is the genuine disposition through voluntary goodwill towards one's neighbor. (404) For he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, says the divine apostle John, cannot love God whom he has not seen. This is the way of truth, which the Word of God, naming Himself, presents to God the Father those who travel on it, having become pure from all passions. This is the door, through which the one entering into the Holy of Holies becomes one of the saints, and is made worthy to become a beholder of the unapproachable beauty of the holy and royal Trinity. This is the true vine, in which he who has firmly rooted himself is deemed worthy to become a partaker of the divine quality. For this, all teaching of the law and prophets and gospel, both exists and has been published, so that having received a desire for the ineffable goods, we might confirm our longing by our ways; honoring the creature on account of the longed-for creator so much, as is due to the creator, and as the principle of nature demands, legislating equality of honor, and cutting off from nature all inequality which appears concerning each one according to prejudice; and enclosing all within itself according to one power of identity.

For this reason, the very maker of nature; truly a fearful deed and report! puts on our nature, uniting it unchangeably to himself in his hypostasis, so that He might stop it from being carried away, and gather it to himself, divided as it was in itself according to its will; and might reveal the all-glorious way of love, which is truly divine and deifying, and leads to God; and let it be said that it is also God, which the thorns of self-love had covered from the beginning; and having prefigured it in himself by his sufferings for us, He might grant it to all, pure of hindrances; having cast out the stones from it through his disciples, as he himself announced beforehand in the prophets, saying, And cast out the stones from the way; and that he might duly persuade us to hold fast to himself and to one another, as much as he himself, taking the initiative, demonstrated, enduring to suffer for us. For this reason, all the saints resisted sin to the very end, taking no account of the present life, and the manifold

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καί Θεόν μέν τόν ἄνθρωπον ποιεῖν, ἄνθρωπον δέ τόν Θεόν χρηματίζειν καί φαίνεσθαι, διά τήν μίαν καί ἀπαράλλακτον ἀμφοτέρων κατά τό θέλημα βούλησίν τε καί κίνησιν, ὡς ἐπί τε τοῦ Ἀβραάμ, καί τῶν λοιπῶν ἁγίων εὑρίσκομεν. Καί τοῦτο ἴσως ἐστι, τό ἐκ προσώπου τοῦ Θεοῦ εἰρημένον· Ἐν χερσί προφητῶν ὡμοιώθην· ἡ τοῦ Θεοῦ πρός ἕκαστον, ἐκ τῆς ἐνούσης κατά πρᾶξιν ἀρετῆς ἑκάστῳ διά πολλήν φιλανθρωπίαν μορφοποιία. Χείρ γάρ παντός δικαίου, ἡ κατ᾿ ἀρετήν αὐτοῦ πρᾶξίς ἐστιν· ἐν ᾗ καί δι᾿ ἧς ὁ Θεός τήν πρός ἀνθρώπους ὁμοίωσιν δέχεται.

Μέγα οὖν ἀγαθόν ἡ ἀγάπη, καί τῶν ἀγαθῶν τό πρῶτον καί ἐξαίρετον ἀγαθόν, ὡς Θεόν καί ἀνθρώπους δι᾿ ἑαυτῆς περί τόν αὐτήν ἔχοντα συνάπτουσα, καί ὡς ἄνθρωπον τόν ποιητήν τῶν ἀνθρώπων φανῆναι παρασκευάζουσα, διά τήν τοῦ θεουμένου πρός τόν Θεόν κατά τόν ἀγαθόν ὡς ἐφικτόν ἀνθρώπῳ ἀπαραλλαξίαν· ἥν ἐνεργεῖν ὑπολαμβάνω, τό ἀγαπῆσαι Κύριον τόν Θεόν ἐξ ὅλης τῆς καρδίας καί ψυχῆς καί δυνάμεως, καί τόν πλησίον ὡς ἑαυτόν. Ὅπερ ἐστίν, ἵνα ὡς ἐν ὅρῳ περιλαβών εἴπω, ἡ καθ᾿ ὅλου πρός τό πρῶτον ἀγαθόν μετά τῆς ὅλης τοῦ ὅλου κατά τήν φύσιν γένους προνοίας ἐνδιάθετος σχέσις· μεθ᾿ ἥν πρός οὐδέν ἀνώτερόν ἐστιν ἀναβιβασθῆναι τόν φιλόθεον ἄνθρωπον, πάντων αὐτῷ δαβαθέντων τῶν κατ᾿ εὐσέβειαν τρόπων· ἥν ἀγάπην καί οἴδαμεν καί ὀνομάζομεν, οὐκ ἄλλην καί ἄλλην μεμερισμένως Θεῷ καί τῷ πλησίῳ προσνέμοντες, ἀλλά μίαν καί τήν αὐτήν ὅλην· Θεῷ μέν ὀφειλομένην, ἀνθρώπους δέ ἀλλήλοις ἐπισυνάπτουσαν. Ἐνέργεια γάρ καί ἀπόδειξις σαφής τῆς πρός τόν Θεόν τελείας ἀγάπης ἐστίν, ἡ γνησία δι᾿ εὐνοίας ἑκουσίου πρός τόν πλησίον διάθεσις. (404) Ὁ γάρ μή ἀγαπῶν τόν ἀδελφόν αὐτοῦ ὅν ἐώρακε, φησίν ὁ θεῖος ἀπόστολος Ἰωάννης, τόν Θεόν ὅν οὐχ ἐώρακεν, οὐ δύναται ἀγαπῆσαι. Αὕτη ἐστίν, ἡ τῆς ἀληθείας ὁδός, ἥν ἑαυτόν ὀνομάσας ὁ τοῦ θεοῦ Λόγος, τούς ἐν αὐτῇ ὁδεύοντας τῷ Θεῷ καί Πατρί καθαρούς παντοίων γενομένους παθῶν παρίστησιν. Αὕτη ἐστίν ἡ θύρα, δι᾿ ἧς ὁ εἰσερχόμενος εἰς τά Ἅγια γίνεται τῶν ἁγίων, καί τοῦ ἀπροσίτου κάλλους τῆς ἁγίας καί βασιλικῆς Τριάδος θεατής γενέσθαι καθίσταται ἄξιος. Αὕτη ἐστίν ἡ ἄμπελος ἡ ἀληθινή, ἐν ᾗ ὁ παγίως ἑαυτόν ἐνριζώσας, θείας καταξιοῦται μέτοχος γενέσθαι ποιότητος. ∆ιά ταύτην πᾶσα νομική τε καί προφητική καί εὐαγγελική, καί ἔστι, καί ἐκδέδοται διδασκαλία, ἵνα τῶν ἀῤῥήτων ἐπιθυμίαν λαβόντες ἀγαθῶν, τοῖς τρόποις τόν πόθον πιστώσωμεν· τοσοῦτον διά τόν ποθούμενον πλάστην τό πλάσμα τιμήσαντες, ὅσον τῷ πλάστῃ παρίσταται, καί ὁ τῆς φύσεως ἀπαιτεῖ λόγος, νομοθετῶν τό ἰσότιμον, καί πᾶσαν τήν περί ἕκαστον φαινομένην κατά πρόληψιν ἀνισότητα περιτέμνων τῆς φύσεως· καί ἑαυτῷ τούς πάντας κατά μίαν ταυτότητος δύναμιν περικλείων.

∆ιά ταύτην, αὐτός ὁ τῆς φύσεως ποιητής· τό φρικτόν ὄντως καί πρᾶγμα καί ἄκουσμα! τήν φύσιν ἐνδύεται τήν ἡμετέραν, ἑνώσας ταύτην ἀτρέπτως ἑαυτῷ καθ᾿ ὑπόστασιν, ἵνα στήσῃ τοῦ φέρεσθαι, καί πρός ἑαυτόν συναγάγῃ, καθ᾿ ἑαυτήν κατά τήν γνώμην διάφορον· καί φανεράν καταστήσῃ τήν πανένδοξον τῆς ἀγάπης ὁδόν, τῆς θείας ὄντως καί θεοποιοῦ, καί πρός Θεόν ἀγούσης· εἰρήσθω δέ ὅτι καί Θεός ὑπαρχούσης, ἥν αἱ ἄκανθαι κατ᾿ ἀρχάς τῆς φιλαυτίας ἐκάλυψαν· καί τοῖς ὑπέρ ἡμῶν παθήμασιν ἐν ἑαυτῷ προτυπώσας, καθαράν κωλυμάτων τοῖς πᾶσι χαρίσηται· τούς λίθους τούς ἐν αὐτῇ διά τῶν αὐτοῦ μαθητῶν διαῤῥίψας, ὡς αὐτός ἐν τοῖς προφήταις προανεφώνησεν, εἰπών, Καί τούς λίθους ἐκ τῆς ὁδοῦ διαῤῥίψατε· καί πείσῃ δεόντως ἡμᾶς ἑαυτοῦ τε καί ἀλλήλων τοσοῦτον ἀντέχεσθαι, ὅσον αὐτός δι᾿ ἑαυτοῦ προλαβών ἐπεδείξατο, ὑπέρ ἡμῶν παθεῖν ἀνασχόμενος. ∆ιά ταύτην πάντες οἱ ἅγιοι μέχρι παντός πρός τήν ἁμαρτίαν ἀντικατέστησαν, τῆς παρούσης ζωῆς οὐδένα λόγον ποιησάμενοι, καί τούς πολυειδεῖς