,

157

The Word, symbolically prefiguring from afar for the prophet the much-lighted and exceeding-bright magnificence of the holy Church, thus variegated this vision for him, teaching, I think, the power of the new mystery according to it. Therefore, the all-praised Church of God is a lampstand all of gold(1), pure and undefiled and unspotted and unadulterated and undiminished and receptive of the true light. For they say that unadulterated gold is neither blackened by being buried nor corrupted by any rust, nor indeed is it diminished when utterly refined by fire, and in addition that, by some natural operation, it is both strengthening and renewing for the optical power of those who gaze upon it. And such also has the all-glorious Church of God been revealed to be in truth through the facts themselves, according to the most pure nature of gold: unadulterated(2), as having (14Γ_260> nothing at all admixed and foreign to the mystery of theology according to faith; and pure(3), as being transparent and glorious in the splendor of virtues; and undefiled(4), as being stained by no filth of the passions; and unspotted(5), as being untouched by all wicked spirits, nor indeed blackened by material circumstances, as by some rust of evil; and undiminished and unreduced(6), as not even when refined in the furnace of persecutions from time to time and tested by the successive uprisings of heresies, enduring any remission whatsoever in doctrine or life, that is, faith and conduct, on account of the weight of temptations. Wherefore also according to grace it is strengthening for every mind of those who piously contemplate it; for it calls the impious, providing the light of true knowledge, and it preserves those who love to contemplate its mysteries, keeping the pupil of their mind dispassionate and steady, and it calls back those who have endured some agitation and by the word of consolation renews the suffering mind. Thus, therefore, in a single consideration, through what has been said, we have understood the lampstand seen by the prophet to have such a nature.

And the lamp upon it(7) is the paternal and true light, which enlightens every man coming into the world(8), our Lord Jesus Christ, having become and been named a lamp through the assumption of our flesh which is from us; that is, the hypostatic Wisdom and Word of God the Father by nature, who in the Church of God is preached according to the pious faith and exalted among the nations and made manifest in the life of virtue through the keeping of the commandments, and shining for all those in the house, I mean in this (14Γ_262> world, just as God the Word Himself somewhere says: "No one lights a lamp and puts it under a bushel, but on a lampstand, and it shines for all who are in the house," clearly calling Himself a lamp(9), as being God by nature and having become flesh by economy, like a light by essence, in the manner of a lamp, uncircumscribably held in the earthen vessel of the flesh through the medium of the soul, as fire through a wick. Which thing, I think, the great David also understood when he called the Lord a lamp, as being the Word of God the Father and the natural law, saying: "Your law is a lamp to my feet and a light to my paths"; for my Savior and God is the deliverer from the darkness of both ignorance and wickedness; wherefore He was also called a lamp in Scripture—for 'lychnos' (lamp) is so called from 'lyein to nychos' (to dissolve the night); and 'nychos' is what those diligent in words call the darkness; who alone, like a lamp, having dissolved the gloom of ignorance and the darkness of evil, has become for all a way of salvation, bringing to the Father through virtue and knowledge those who wish to walk in Him, as the way of righteousness, through the divine commandments. And the holy Church is the lampstand, upon which the Word of God, shining by the preaching, illuminates all who happen to be in this world, as in a certain house, filling the minds of all with divine knowledge by the rays of truth.

157

Τὴν πολύφωτον καὶ ὑπερφαῆ τῆς ἁγίας Ἐκκλησίας μεγαλοπρέπειαν πόρρωθεν τῷ προφήτῃ συμβολικῶς προδιαγράφων ὁ Λόγος ταύτην οὕτως αὐτῷ τὴν ὅρασιν διεποίκιλεν, διδάσκων, οἶμαι, τοῦ κατ᾽ αὐτὴν καινοῦ μυστηρίου τὴν δύναμιν. Λυχνία τοιγαροῦν ἐστιν ὁλόχρυσος(1) ἡ τοῦ Θεοῦ πανεύφημος Ἐκκλησία, καθαρὰ καὶ ἀμίαντος ἄχραντός τε καὶ ἀκίβδηλος καὶ ἀμείωτος καὶ τοῦ ἀληθινοῦ φωτὸς δεκτική. Φασὶ γὰρ τὸν ἀκίβδηλον χρυσὸν μήτε μελαίνεσθαι, καταχωννύμενον, ἰῷ τινι καὶ διαφθείρεσθαι, μήτε μὴν μειοῦσθαι, παντελῶς ἐκπυρούμενον, πρὸς δὲ καὶ τῆς ὀπτικῆς τῶν ἐνατενιζόντων αὐτῷ δυνάμεως κατά τινα φυσικὴν ἐνέργειαν εἶναι ῥωστικόν τε καὶ ἀνανεωτικόν. Τοιαύτη δὲ καὶ ἡ τοῦ Θεοῦ πανένδοξος Ἐκκλησία δι᾽ αὐτῶν κατ᾽ ἀλήθειαν τῶν πραγμάτων ὑπάρχουσα πέφηνε κατὰ τὴν τοῦ χρυσοῦ καθαρωτάτην φύσιν, ἀκίβδηλος μέν(2), ὡς μηδὲν (14Γ_260> ἔχουσα τὸ σύνολον τῷ κατὰ τὴν πίστιν μυστηρίῳ τῆς θεολογίας ἐπίμικτον καὶ ἀλλότριον, καθαρὰ δέ(3), ὡς τῇ λαμπρότητι τῶν ἀρετῶν διαυγὴς καὶ ἐπίδοξος, ἀμίαντος δέ(4), ὡς μηδενὶ ῥύπῳ μολυνομένη παθῶν, ἄχραντος δέ(5), ὡς πᾶσι τοῖς πονηροῖς ἀνέπαφος πνεύμασιν, μήτε μὴν ταῖς ὑλικαῖς περιστάσεσιν, ἰῷ τινι κακίας, μελαινομένη, ἀμείωτος δὲ καὶ ἀνελάττωτος(6), ὡς μηδὲ τῇ καμίνῳ τῶν κατὰ καιροὺς διωγμῶν πυρουμένη καὶ ταῖς ἀλλεπαλλήλοις τῶν αἱρέσεων ἐπαναστάσεσι βασανιζομένη, κατὰ λόγον ἢ βίον, ἤγουν πίστιν καὶ πολιτείαν, τὴν οἱανοῦν ὕφεσιν διὰ τὸ βάρος τῶν πειρασμῶν ὑπομένουσα. ∆ιὸ καὶ πάσης κατὰ τὴν χάριν ἐστὶ ῥωστικὴ διανοίας τῶν εὐσεβῶς αὐτὴν κατανοούντων· καλεῖ μὲν γὰρ τοὺς ἀσεβεῖς, παρεχομένη τὸ φῶς τῆς ἀληθοῦς ἐπιγνώσεως, συντηρεῖ δὲ τοὺς τῶν κατ᾽ αὐτὴν μυστηρίων φιλοθεάμονας, ἀπαθῆ καὶ ἀρευμάτιστον τὴν κόρην τῆς αὐτῶν διανοίας φυλάττουσα, τοὺς δὲ κατά τι σάλον ὑπομεμενηκότας ἀνακαλεῖται καὶ τῷ λόγῳ τῆς παρακλήσεως ἀνανεοῦται τὴν παθοῦσαν διάνοιαν. Οὕτως μὲν οὖν ἔχουσαν τὴν ὁραθεῖσαν τῷ προφήτῃ λυχνίαν κατὰ μίαν ἐπιβολὴν διὰ τῶν εἰρημένων κατενοήσαμεν.

Τὸ δὲ λαμπάδιον τὸ ἐπάνω αὐτῆς ἐστι(7) τὸ πατρικὸν φῶς καὶ ἀληθινόν, ὃ φωτίζει πάντα ἄνθρωπον ἐρχόμενον εἰς τὸν κόσμον(8), ὁ Κύριος ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦς Χριστός, διὰ τὴν πρόσληψιν τῆς ἐξ ἡμῶν καὶ ἡμετέρας σαρκὸς λαμπάδιον καὶ γεγενημένος καὶ προσηγορευμένος, ἤγουν ἡ κατὰ φύσιν τοῦ Θεοῦ καὶ Πατρὸς ἐνυπόστατος Σοφία καὶ Λόγος, ὁ ἐν τῇ Ἐκκλησίᾳ τοῦ Θεοῦ κηρυττόμενός τε κατὰ τὴν εὐσεβῆ πίστιν καὶ τῷ βίῳ τῷ κατ᾽ ἀρετὴν διὰ τῆς τῶν ἐντολῶν φυλακῆς ὑψούμενος ἐν τοῖς ἔθνεσι καὶ διαφαινόμενος, καὶ πᾶσι λάμπων τοῖς ἐν τῇ οἰκίᾳ, λέγω δὲ τῷδε (14Γ_262> τῷ κόσμῳ, καθά πού φησιν αὐτὸς ὁ Θεὸς καὶ Λόγος· «οὐδεὶς ἅπτει λύχνον καὶ τιθέασιν αὐτὸν ὑπὸ τὸν μόδιον, ἀλλ᾽ ἐπὶ τὴν λυχνίαν, καὶ λάμπει πᾶσι τοῖς ἐν τῇ οἰκίᾳ», λύχνον ἑαυτὸν δηλαδὴ λέγων(9), ὡς κατὰ φύσιν Θεὸς ὑπάρχων καὶ σὰρξ κατ᾽ οἰκονομίαν γενόμενος, οἷα δὴ φῶς κατ᾽ οὐσίαν, λύχνου δίκην, ἀπεριγράφως διὰ μέσης ψυχῆς, ὡς διὰ θρυαλλίδος τὸ πῦρ, τῷ τῆς σαρκὸς ὀστράκῳ κρατούμενος. Ὅπερ, οἶμαι, νοήσας καὶ ὁ μέγας ∆αβὶδ λύχνον κέκληκεν τὸν Κύριον, ὡς Λόγον τοῦ Θεοῦ καὶ Πατρὸς καὶ νόμον ὄντα φυσικόν, φήσας· «λύχνος τοῖς ποσί μου ὁ νόμος σου καὶ φῶς ταῖς τρίβοις μου»· σκότους γὰρ ἀγνοίας τε καὶ πονηρίας λυτήριος ὁ ἐμὸς ὑπάρχει Σωτὴρ καὶ Θεός· διὸ καὶ λύχνος τῇ Γραφῇ προσηγορεύθηλύχνος γὰρ παρὰ τὸ λύειν τὸ νύχος λέγεται· νύχος δὲ καλοῦσι τὸ σκότος οἱ περὶ λόγους σπουδάζοντες· ὃς δὴ μόνος, οἷα δὴ λύχνος, τὸν ζόφον τῆς ἀγνοίας καὶ τὸν σκότον τῆς κακίας διαλύσας, πᾶσιν ὁδὸς γέγονε σωτηρίας, δι᾽ ἀρετῆς καὶ γνώσεως πρὸς τὸν Πατέρα φέρων τοὺς αὐτόν, ὡς δικαιοσύνης ὁδόν, διὰ τῶν θείων ἐντολῶν ὁδεύειν βουλομένους. Λυχνίαν δὲ τὴν ἁγίαν Ἐκκλησίαν, ἐφ᾽ ἧς τῷ κηρύγματι λάμπων ὁ τοῦ Θεοῦ Λόγος πάντας τοὺς ἐν τῷδε τῷ κόσμῳ, ὡς ἐν οἰκίᾳ τινί, τυγχάνοντας καταφωτίζει, ταῖς ἀκτῖσι τῆς ἀληθείας τὰς πάντων διανοίας θείας πληρῶν ἐπιγνώσεως.