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A Dialogue of a Scholasticus with Symeon the New Theologian. (454) 1. Ἐρώτ. What was in the world before the world came to be? Ἀπάντ. God, who made the world. 2. Ἐρώτ. When the world was not yet, how was He in the world? Ἀπάντ. Because, even before it came to be, the world was in every way in God as though it had come to be,

just as also the people not yet brought forth in the world are as if already born before God. For in Him all things consist, even those not yet created, even if they are not comprehended by us.

3. Ἐρώτ. If then, as you say, God was in the world before the world was made by Him, what became of God when He brought forth this world? Was He separated from the world? Or is He again in the world?

Ἀπαντ. In place, God who made these things was not separated from His creations; for where will He who is present everywhere and who fills all things with His own divinity move? But in nature and essence and hypostasis and the other (455) properties He is above every created nature; and immeasurably and incomprehensibly He is separated from it.

4. Ἐρώτ. How, not being separated in place but, as you say, present everywhere, is He separated from all things?

Ἀπάντ. The question is difficult to understand, but not, however, difficult to express; But with God nothing is impossible; whence He is able to fully inform you about these things also. But listen with understanding: Just as our human mind is neither contained by walls nor is limited by place, but while the body is enclosed in a little house and is bound fast with bonds, it is outside of these and freely goes about everywhere, being neither separated from the body nor becoming distant from the house, but as it were is both with them while separated and is separated while united to them, so also God is everywhere and in all things and outside of all things; and nowhere is He in nature and in essence and in glory; for He is uncircumscribable.

5. Ἐρώτ. The uncircumscribable one, then, how does He fill all things? And He who fills all things, how is He uncircumscribable and nowhere?

Ἀπάντ. It is then confessedly so that God is everywhere and fills all things, but not at all mingled with visible things but separated in the manner we have described; but He is nowhere according to our way of thinking. For no one knows, not even the angels, where God is; for though you hear of them standing by, it is by the throne of glory; and not having the strength to look at the radiance sent forth, they cover their own faces in fear, and being amazed they send up the divine hymn always without silence; for being struck by the unbearable glory, they are not able either to come to a conception or to think where the Master is or of what sort He Himself is; for if they will not have the strength to look at the flashing splendor, how then could they investigate further? That God exists, then, and is everywhere and fills all things, both the angels (456) and the saints who have purified themselves, having been illumined and enlightened by the Holy Spirit, know; but where or how or of what sort He is, no one of all knows, except the Father the Son and the Son the Father and the Holy Spirit the Father and the Son, as being co-eternal with them and consubstantial; for these three, being as one, both know themselves and are known by one another. As He Himself, God by nature and Son of God, said, "no one knows the things of a man, except the spirit of the man that dwells in him; so also the things of God

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∆ιάλογος Σχολαστικοῦ πρός Συμεών τόν Νέον Θεολόγον. (454) 1. Ἐρώτ. Τί ἦν ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ πρό τοῦ τόν κόσμον γενέσθαι; Ἀπάντ. Θεός, ὁ τόν κόσμον ποιήσας. 2. Ἐρώτ. Μήπω ὄντος τοῦ κόσμου, πῶς ἦν ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ; Ἀπάντ. Ὅτι, καί πρό τοῦ γενέσθαι, ἐν τῷ Θεῷ πάντως ὡς γεγονώς ἦν ὁ κόσμος

καθό καί οἱ μήπω παραχθέντες ἄνθρωποι ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ, ὡς ἤδη γεγεννημένοι εἰσί παρά τῷ Θεῷ. Συνέστηκε γάρ ἐν αὐτῷ τά πάντα, καί τά μήπω κτισθέντα, εἰ καί μή καταλαμβάνονται παρ᾿ ἡμῶν.

3. Ἐρώτ. Εἰ οὖν, ὡς λέγεις, ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ ἦν ὁ Θεός πρό τοῦ τόν κόσμον γενέσθαι παρ᾿ αὐτοῦ, τί γέγονεν ὁ Θεός ὅτε τόν κόσμον τοῦτον παρήγαγεν; Ἆρα διέστη τοῦ κόσμου; Ἤ καί αὖθις ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ ἐστίν;

Ἀπαντ. Τόπῳ μέν οὐ διέστη τῶν αὐτοῦ ποιημάτων ὁ ταῦτα ποιήσας Θεός˙ ποῦ γάρ ὁ πανταχοῦ παρών καί τά πάντα τῆς ἰδίας πληρῶν θεότητος μεταστήσεται; Τῇ δέ φύσει καί οὐσίᾳ καί τῇ ὑποστάσει καί τοῖς λοιποῖς (455) ἰδιώμασι πάσης κτιστῆς ὑπέρκειται φύσεως˙ καί ἀμετρήτως καί ἀκαταλήπτως ταύτης διέστηκεν.

4. Ἐρώτ. Πῶς, τόπῳ μή διεστηκώς ἀλλά πανταχοῦ, ὡς λέγεις, παρών, ἀποκεχωρισμένος τῶν πάντων ἐστίν;

Ἀπάντ. ∆υσνόητον μέν τό ἐρώτημα, οὐ μέντοι γε δύσφραστον˙ Θεῷ δέ ἀδυνατεῖ οὐδέν˙ ὅθεν δυνατός ἐστι καί περί τούτων πληροφορῆσαί σε. Ἀλλ᾿ ἄκουε συνετῶς˙ καθάπερ ὁ νοῦς ἡμῶν τῶν ἀνθρώπων οὔτε συνέχεται ὑπό τοίχων οὔτε τόπῳ περιορίζεται, ἀλλά τό μέν σῶμα οἰκίσκῳ ἐγκλείεται καί δεσμοῖς περισφίγγεται, αὐτός δ᾿ ἐκτός ἐστι τούτων καί ἐλευθερίως πανταχοῦ περίεισιν, μήτε τοῦ σώματος χωριζόμενος μήτε τῆς οἰκίας μακράν γινόμενος, ἀλλ᾿ οἱονεί καί σύνεστι τούτοις κεχωρισμένος καί κεχώρισται ἡνωμένος αὐτοῖς, οὕτω καί ὁ Θεός πανταχοῦ καί ἐν πᾶσίν ἐστιν καί ἔξω πάντων˙ καί οὐδαμοῦ τῇ φύσει καί τῇ οὐσίᾳ καί τῇ δόξῃ ἐστίν˙ ἀπερίγραπτος γάρ.

5. Ἐρώτ. Ὁ οὖν ἀπερίγραπτος πῶς τά πάντα πληροῖ; Ὁ δέ τά πάντα πληρῶν, πῶς ἀπερίγραπτος καί οὐδαμοῦ ἐστιν;

Ἀπάντ. Ἔστι μέν οὖν ὁμολογουμένως πανταχοῦ ὁ Θεός καί τά πάντα πληροῖ, οὐ συγκεκραμένος δέ ὄλως τοῖς ὁρωμένοις ἀλλά κεχωρισμένος τῷ τρόπῳ ᾧπερ εἰρήκαμεν˙ οὐδαμοῦ δέ ἐστι τό καθ᾿ ἡμᾶς˙ οὐδείς γάρ οἶδεν, οὐδέ οἱ ἄγγελοι, ποῦ ἐστιν ὁ Θεός˙ εἰ γάρ ἀκούεις παρεστάναι, ἀλλά τῷ θρόνῳ τῆς δόξης˙ καί πρός τήν ἐκπεμπομένην λαμπρότητα ἀντιβλέπειν μή ἐξισχύοντες, φόβῳ τά ἑαυτῶν κατακαλύπτουσι πρόσωπα, καί ἐκθαμβούμενοι τόν θεῖον ὕμνον ἀσιγήτως ἀεί ἀναπέμπουσι˙ τῷ γάρ ἀστέκτῳ τῆς δόξης καταπληττόμενοι, οὐδέ ἐν περινοίᾳ γενέσθαι ἤ ἐννοῆσαι δύνανται, ποῦ ὁ δεσπότης ἤ ὁποῖος αὐτός ἐκεῖνός ἐστιν˙ εἰ γάρ πρός τήν ἀπαστράπτουσαν αἴγλην ἀντοφθαλμεῖν οὐκ ἰσχύσουσι, πῶς ἄρα πορρωτέρω περιεργάζεσθαι δύναιντ᾿ ἄν; Ὅτι μέν οὖν ἔστιν ὁ Θεός καί πανταχοῦ ἐστι καί τά πάντα πληροῖ, καί οἱ ἄγγελοι (456) καί οἱ καθάραντες ἑαυτούς ἅγιοι ἐλλαμφθέντες καί φωτισθέντες ὑπό τοῦ Ἁγίου Πνεύματος ἴσασι˙ τό δέ ποῦ ἤ πῶς ἤ ὁποῖός ἐστιν, οὐδείς τῶν ἁπάντων γινώσκει, εἰ μή ὁ Πατήρ τόν Υἱόν καί ὁ Υἱός τόν Πατέρα καί τό Πνεῦμα τό Ἅγιον τόν Πατέρα καί τόν Υἱόν, ὡς συναΐδιον τούτοις καί ὁμοούσιον˙ ταῦτα γάρ τά τρία, ὡς ἕν ὄντα, καί γινώσκουσιν ἑαυτά καί γινώσκονται ὑπ᾿ ἀλλήλων. Ὡς αὐτός εἶπεν ὁ φύσει Θεός καί Υἱός τοῦ Θεοῦ, «οὐδείς οἶδε τά τοῦ ἀνθρώπου, εἰ μή τό πνεῦμα τοῦ ἀνθρώπου τό οἰκοῦν ἐν αὐτῷ˙ οὕτω καί τά τοῦ Θεοῦ