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having according to its meaning, it is neither possible for all things to be placed in the definition of the substance, lest the divine be thought of as a mixture from different things, and it is not easy to find from those enumerated that which can be more properly applied to the subject at hand. The Lord is the door; "By me," he says, "if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and go out, and find pasture." Shall we say that He means the entrance in place of the substance, or the salvation of those entering, or the going out, or the pasture, or the finding? For each of these is peculiar in its meaning and does not agree with the other. For to be inside seems at first glance 3.8.8 to be contrary to going out, and the others likewise. For pasture is one thing by its own definition, and finding is something else besides this. What then of these is considered the substance of the Father? For surely one will not, by stating all things that do not agree with each other in meaning, indicate the simple and uncompounded substance through things that are discordant. But how could the saying be true that "No man has seen God at any time," and "Whom no man has seen, nor can see," and that "There is no man who shall see the face of the Lord and live," if either being inside the door or outside, or 3.8.9 the finding of the pasture were the substance of the Father? However, since this is not so, we will not suppose that the name of door is idle and meaningless in the case of the Lord. For truly He is Himself both a enclosing door and a house of refuge, as David names him, and through Himself receives those who enter, and in Himself saves those who are inside, and again through Himself leads them forth to the pasture of virtues, and becomes all things to those who are being saved, in order to make Himself suitable for each, both way and guide and enclosing door and house of refuge and water of rest and place of green pasture, which in the Gospel he calls pasture; but the new theologian says that the Lord was named door on account of the knowledge of the 3.8.10 substance of the Father. Why then does he not also draw the rock and the stone and the spring and the wood and the rest of the names to the same thought, so that by the multitude of strange testimonies he might confirm his own dogma, being able to apply to each of these the same reasoning which he went through concerning the way and the door and the light? But I, having been taught this by the God-inspired scripture, boldly declare that He who is above every name becomes for us many-named, being named according to the varieties of his benefits, light when He dispels the darkness of ignorance, life when He grants immortality, way when He leads from error to the truth; thus also tower of strength and walled city and spring and rock and vine and physician and resurrection and all such things he is named in relation to us, variously dividing himself among our benefits. 3.8.11 But those who are sharper-sighted than human nature, interpreting substances through names, who see the incomprehensible but overlook the comprehensible, He whom no man has seen nor can see, this one they affirm not only to see but also to measure, but they do not see faith with the eye of the soul, which is indeed the only thing commensurate with our understanding, placing the knowledge from 3.8.12 reasonings before it. Thus I have heard the history accusing the sons of Benjamin, who did not look to the law, but were shooting at a hair's breadth, the account showing, I think, their preoccupation with what is vain, that of things unprofitable and insubstantial they were some far-shooters and clever guessers, but of things clearly profitable, ignorant and unpracticed; for the history adds to what has been said the calamity that befell them, how, having raged into Sodomitical lawlessness, they were utterly destroyed when the whole army of the Israelite people took up arms against them. And it seems to me to be a philanthropic opinion to suggest to the young archers, not to wish to shoot at a hair's breadth while not seeing the door of faith, but, having left aside the vain labor concerning the incomprehensible, not to be deprived of the ready profit which is found through faith alone. 3.8.13

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κατὰ τὸ σημαινόμενον ἔχοντος, οὔτε πάντα δυνατόν ἐστιν τῷ τῆς οὐσίας ἐντίθεσθαι λόγῳ, ὡς ἂν μὴ σύμμικτον ἐκ διαφόρων νοηθείη τὸ θεῖον, καὶ τὸ μᾶλλον κυρίως ἐφαρμόσαι τῷ προκειμένῳ δυνάμενον οὐκ ἔστιν εὐκόλως ἐκ τῶν κατειλεγμένων εὑρεῖν. ἡ θύρα ὁ κύριος· ∆ι' ἐμοῦ, φησίν, ἐάν τις εἰσέλθῃ, σωθήσεται, καὶ εἰσελεύσεται καὶ ἐξελεύσεται, καὶ νομὴν εὑρήσει. τὴν εἴσοδον εἴπωμεν ἀντὶ τῆς οὐσίας λέγειν αὐτὸν ἢ τὴν σωτηρίαν τῶν εἰσιόντων ἢ τὴν ἔξοδον ἢ τὴν νομὴν ἢ τὴν εὕρεσιν; ἕκαστον γὰρ τούτων ἰδιάζει τῷ σημαινομένῳ καὶ οὐ συμφωνεῖ πρὸς τὸ ἕτερον. τὸ γὰρ ἐντὸς γενέσθαι τῷ ἐξελθεῖν ἐναντίον ἐκ τοῦ προχείρου 3.8.8 δοκεῖ καὶ τὰ ἄλλα ὡσαύτως. ἄλλο γάρ τι τῷ ἰδίῳ λόγῳ ἐστὶν ἡ νομή, ἕτερον δέ τι παρὰ τοῦτο ἡ εὕρεσις. τί οὖν ἐκ τούτων ἡ τοῦ πατρὸς οὐσία νομίζεται; οὐ γὰρ δὴ τὰ πάντα τις εἰπὼν μὴ συμφωνοῦντα τῇ σημασίᾳ πρὸς ἄλληλα τὴν ἁπλῆν τε καὶ ἀσύνθετον οὐσίαν διὰ τῶν ἀσυμφώνων ἐνδείξεται. πῶς δ' ἂν ἀληθεύοι ὁ λόγος ὅτι Θεὸν οὐδεὶς ἑώρακε πώποτε, καὶ Ὃν εἶδεν ἀνθρώπων οὐδεὶς οὐδὲ ἰδεῖν δύναται, καὶ ὅτι Οὐκ ἔστιν ὃς ὄψεται τὸ πρόσωπον κυρίου καὶ ζήσεται, εἴπερ ἢ τὸ ἐντὸς τῆς θύρας ἢ τὸ ἐκτὸς ἢ 3.8.9 τῆς νομῆς ἡ εὕρεσις οὐσία τοῦ πατρὸς εἴη; οὐ μὴν ἐπειδὴ τοῦτο οὐκ ἔστιν, ἀργόν τε καὶ ἄσημον ἐπὶ τοῦ κυρίου τὸ ὄνομα τῆς θύρας ὑπονοήσομεν. ἀληθῶς γὰρ ὁ αὐτός ἐστι καὶ θύρα περιοχῆς καὶ οἶκος καταφυγῆς, καθὼς ὁ ∆αβὶδ ὀνομάζει, καὶ δι' ἑαυτοῦ τοὺς εἰσιόντας δέχεται καὶ ἐν ἑαυτῷ τοὺς ἔνδον γενομένους σῴζει καὶ πάλιν δι' ἑαυτοῦ πρὸς τὴν νομὴν τῶν ἀρετῶν προάγει καὶ πάντα γίνεται τοῖς σῳζομένοις, ἵνα ἑκάστῳ πρόσφορον ἑαυτὸν ποιήσῃ, καὶ ὁδὸς καὶ ὁδηγὸς καὶ θύρα περιοχῆς καὶ οἶκος καταφυγῆς καὶ ὕδωρ ἀναπαύσεως καὶ τόπος χλόης, ἣν ἐν τῷ εὐαγγελίῳ νομὴν ὀνομάζει· ὁ δὲ καινὸς θεολόγος διὰ τὴν γνῶσιν τῆς 3.8.10 τοῦ πατρὸς οὐσίας θύραν φησὶν ὠνομάσθαι τὸν κύριον. τί οὖν οὐχὶ καὶ τὴν πέτραν καὶ τὸν λίθον καὶ τὴν πηγὴν καὶ τὸ ξύλον καὶ τὰ λοιπὰ τῶν ὀνομάτων πρὸς τὴν αὐτὴν ἕλκει διάνοιαν, ὡς ἂν τῷ πλήθει τῶν ἀλλοκότων μαρτυ ριῶν τὸ ἑαυτοῦ δόγμα πιστώσαιτο, δυνάμενος ἑκάστῳ τού των τὸν αὐτὸν ἐφαρμόσαι λόγον ὃν περὶ τῆς ὁδοῦ καὶ τῆς θύρας καὶ τοῦ φωτὸς διεξῆλθε; ἐγὼ δὲ τοῦτο παρὰ τῆς θεοπνεύστου γραφῆς διδαχθεὶς θαρσῶν ἀποφαίνομαι, ὅτι ὁ ὑπὲρ πᾶν ὄνομα ὢν ἡμῖν πολυώνυμος γίνεται κατὰ τὰς τῶν εὐεργεσιῶν ποικιλίας ὀνομαζόμενος, φῶς μὲν ὅταν ἐξαφανίζῃ τῆς ἀγνοίας τὸν ζόφον, ζωὴ δὲ ὅταν τὴν ἀθα νασίαν χαρίζηται, ὁδὸς δὲ ὅταν πρὸς τὴν ἀλήθειαν ἀπὸ τῆς πλάνης χειραγωγήσῃ· οὕτω καὶ πύργος ἰσχύος καὶ πόλις περιοχῆς καὶ πηγὴ καὶ πέτρα καὶ ἄμπελος καὶ ἰατρὸς καὶ ἀνάστασις καὶ πάντα τὰ τοιαῦτα πρὸς ἡμᾶς ὀνομάζεται, ποικίλως ἑαυτὸν ταῖς ἡμετέραις εὐεργεσίαις 3.8.11 καταμερίζων. τὰς δὲ οὐσίας διὰ τῶν ὀνομάτων ἑρμηνεύ οντες οἱ ὑπὲρ τὴν ἀνθρωπίνην φύσιν ὀξυωποῦντες, οἱ τὸ μὲν ἀκατάληπτον βλέποντες, τὸ δὲ καταληπτὸν παραβλέ ποντες, ὃν οὔτε εἶδέ τις ἀνθρώπων οὔτε ἰδεῖν δύναται, τοῦ τον οὐ μόνον ὁρᾶν, ἀλλὰ καὶ μετρεῖν διαβεβαιοῦνται, τὴν δὲ πίστιν οὐ βλέπουσι τῷ τῆς ψυχῆς ὀφθαλμῷ, ὅπερ δὴ μόνον σύμμετρόν ἐστι τῇ ἡμετέρᾳ κατανοήσει, τὴν ἐκ τῶν 3.8.12 λογισμῶν ἐπίγνωσιν ἐπίπροσθεν ταύτης ποιούμενοι. οὕτως ἤκουσα τῆς ἱστορίας τῶν υἱῶν Βενιαμὶν κατηγορούσης, οἳ πρὸς μὲν τὸν νόμον οὐκ ἔβλεπον, κατὰ δὲ τριχὸς ἐτοξά ζοντο, δηλοῦντος οἶμαι τοῦ λόγου τὴν περὶ τὸ μάταιον αὐτῶν ἀσχολίαν, ὅτι τῶν μὲν ἀνωφελῶν καὶ ἀνυποστάτων ἑκηβόλοι τινὲς ἦσαν καὶ εὐφυεῖς στοχασταί, τῶν δὲ προδήλως ὠφελούντων ἀμαθεῖς τε καὶ ἀμελέτητοι· ἐπάγει γὰρ τοῖς εἰρημένοις ἡ ἱστορία τὴν κατ' αὐτοὺς συμφοράν, ὅπως πρὸς τὴν Σοδομιτικὴν παρανομίαν λυσσήσαντες πανστρατιᾷ τοῦ Ἰσραηλίτου λαοῦ κατ' αὐτῶν ὁπλισθέντος ἐξεπορθήθησαν. καί μοι δοκεῖ φιλάνθρωπον εἶναι γνώμην εἰσηγή σασθαι τοῖς νέοις τοξόταις, μὴ κατὰ τριχὸς ἐθέλειν τοξά ζεσθαι, τὴν δὲ θύραν μὴ βλέπειν τῆς πίστεως, ἀλλὰ παρέν τας τὴν περὶ τὸ ἄληπτον ματαιοπονίαν μὴ ζημιοῦσθαι τὸ πρόχειρον κέρδος τὸ διὰ μόνης τῆς πίστεως εὑρισκόμενον. 3.8.13