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this controversy for them, just as for those around Audius, who contentiously define the "in the image" to be in the body. 6. And the same Audians also bring certain other testimonies from the divine scripture, saying that "the eyes of the Lord look upon the poor, and his ears are open to their prayer," and "the hand of the Lord made all these things," and "did not my hand make all these things, you stiff-necked people?"; and "heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool," and whatever such things have been written about God; and that "I saw the Lord Sabaoth sitting 3.238 upon a throne, high and lifted up," and "his head was like white wool and his garment like snow." And you see, he says, how the body is in the image of God? And in this they are also contradicting and forcing beyond human capacity the phrase "the Lord appeared to the prophets." And yet he appeared as he wished, being able in all things, and we do not deny that the prophets saw God, not only the prophets, but also the apostles. For Saint Stephen the first martyr says, "Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God the Father." But by his own power God, the all-good, showing love for his own creation, so that none of the unbelievers might think that the things said about God are by word alone and not in truth, and that the things concerning God stop at the level of word and that what was said by the apostle is not fulfilled, that "he who comes to God must believe that he exists and that he is a rewarder of those who love him"-in order, therefore, to encourage man who was fashioned by him, God reveals himself to his holy and worthy ones, so that they might see God by nature and be established in mind and hope in truth and preach him truly and make the faithful man believe, just as indeed the children of the Greeks have notions about God up to word and imagination, but we truly know God, a true and truly existing king in substance, incomprehensible, creator of all things, one God, and from him the only-begotten God, differing in nothing from the Father, and his Holy Spirit, differing in nothing from the Father and the Son, as we have also spoken at great length in every heresy concerning the faith in God. 7. And that God has appeared to men we have said many times, and we do not deny it. For if we deny the divine scriptures, we are not true and are found falling away from the truth; or, by rejecting the Old Testament, we are no longer of the catholic church. But the gospel said "no one has ever seen God; the only-begotten God himself has made him known," and again the same divine scripture says that "God appeared to Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia," and the Lord himself in the gospel that "their angels see the face of my Father who is in heaven." But someone will certainly say that the divine scripture has said that the prophets have seen 3.239 God in the mind, from the saying "and their angels see the face of my Father who is in heaven," and again from "blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God." And having understood this and yoked together the words according to his own thought, one might say that each one sees God in the mind, for not with the eyes. But the divine word contradicts this, saying through Isaiah the prophet, "Woe is me, for I am undone, because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips, and I have seen the Lord Sabaoth with my eyes"; and he did not say with the mind, nor in thought, but with the eyes, confirming the true and solid things of the faith. What then shall we say, when the gospel says that no one has ever seen God, but the prophets and apostles and the Lord himself say so? Is there then a contradiction in the divine scripture against itself? May it not be. But prophets and apostles saw, and it is true. They saw

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τούτους ἡ ἀντιλογία, ὥσπερ πρὸς τοὺς περὶ Αὔδιον, φιλονείκως ὁρίζοντας εἶναι ἐν τῷ σώματι τὸ κατ' εἰκόνα. 6. Φέρουσι δὲ καὶ ἄλλας τινὰς μαρτυρίας οἱ αὐτοὶ Αὐδιανοὶ ἀπὸ τῆς θείας γραφῆς, λέγοντες ὅτι «ὀφθαλμοὶ κυρίου ἐπὶ τὸν πένητα ἀποβλέπουσι καὶ τὰ ὦτα αὐτοῦ εἰς δέησιν αὐτῶν», καὶ «χεὶρ κυρίου ἐποίησε ταῦτα πάντα», καὶ «οὐχὶ ἡ χείρ μου ἐποίησε ταῦτα πάντα, σκληροτράχηλοι»; καὶ «ὁ οὐρανός μοι θρόνος, ἡ δὲ γῆ ὑποπόδιον τῶν ποδῶν μου», καὶ ὅσα τοιαῦτα περὶ θεοῦ γέγραπται· καὶ ὅτι «εἶδον τὸν κύριον Σαβαὼθ καθή3.238 μενον ἐπὶ θρόνου ὑψηλοῦ καὶ ἐπῃρμένου», καὶ «ἦν ἡ κεφαλὴ αὐτοῦ ὡσεὶ ἔριον λευκὸν καὶ τὸ περιβόλαιον αὐτοῦ ὡσεὶ χιών». καὶ ὁρᾷς, φησί, πῶς ἐστι τὸ σῶμα κατ' εἰκόνα θεοῦ; καί εἰσι κἀν τούτῳ ἀντιπίπτοντες καὶ βιαζόμενοι ὑπὲρ δύναμιν ἀνθρωπείαν καὶ τὸ «ὤφθη κύριος τοῖς προφήταις». καὶ ὤφθη μέντοι ὡς ἠθέλησε, δυνατὸς ὢν ἐν ἅπασι, καὶ οὐκ ἀρνούμεθα ὅτι εἶδον οἱ προφῆται θεόν, οὐ μόνον δὲ οἱ προφῆται, ἀλλὰ καὶ οἱ ἀπόστολοι. φησὶ γὰρ ὁ ἅγιος Στέφανος ὁ πρωτομάρτυς «ἰδού, ὁρῶ τὸν οὐρανὸν ἀνεῳγμένον, καὶ τὸν υἱὸν τοῦ ἀνθρώπου ἐκ δεξιῶν ἑστῶτα τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ πατρός». ἀλλὰ τῇ ἰδίᾳ δυνάμει θεὸς ὁ πανάγαθος, φιλανθρωπευόμενος τὸ ἴδιον πλάσμα, ἵνα μή τινες τῶν ἀπίστων νομίσωσι τὰ περὶ θεοῦ λεχθέντα εἶναι ἁπλῶς λόγῳ καὶ οὐκ ἀληθείᾳ, καὶ ἕως λόγου ἵστασθαι τὰ κατὰ τὸν θεὸν καὶ μὴ πληροῦσθαι τὸ παρὰ τῷ ἀποστόλῳ εἰρημένον, ὅτι «δεῖ τὸν προσερχόμενον θεῷ πιστεύειν ὅτι ἔστι καὶ τοῖς ἀγαπῶσιν αὐτὸν μισθαποδότης γίνεται»-ἵνα οὖν παραθαρσύνῃ τὸν ὑπ' αὐτοῦ πεπλασμένον ἄνθρωπον, τοῖς ἁγίοις αὐτοῦ καὶ ἀξίοις ἑαυτὸν ἀποκαλύπτει θεός, ἵνα ἴδωσι φύσει θεὸν καὶ θεμελιωθῶσι τὴν διάνοιαν καὶ ἐλπίσωσιν ἐν ἀληθείᾳ καὶ κηρύξωσιν αὐτὸν ἀληθῶς καὶ πιστοποιήσωσι τὸν πιστὸν ἄνθρωπον, ὡς ἀμέλει καὶ οἱ Ἑλλήνων παῖδες ἔχουσι περὶ θεοῦ ἕως λόγου τε καὶ φαντασίας, ἡμεῖς δὲ ἀληθῶς θεὸν ἐπιστάμεθα, ἀληθῆ καὶ ὄντα ἀληθῶς ἐνυπόστατον βασιλέα, ἀκατάληπτον, ποιητὴν τῶν ὅλων, ἕνα θεόν, καὶ ἐξ αὐτοῦ τὸν μονογενῆ θεόν, ἐν οὐδενὶ διαλλάττοντα τοῦ πατρός, καὶ τὸ ἅγιον αὐτοῦ πνεῦμα, μηδὲν ἀπὸ πατρὸς καὶ υἱοῦ διαλλάττον, ὡς καὶ ἐν πάσῃ αἱρέσει περὶ τῆς κατὰ θεὸν πίστεως διὰ πολλοῦ ἐποιησάμεθα τὸν λόγον. 7. Καὶ ὅτι μὲν ὤφθη θεὸς ἀνθρώποις πολλάκις εἴπομεν, καὶ οὐκ ἀρνούμεθα. ἐὰν γὰρ ἀρνησώμεθα τὰς θείας γραφάς, ἀληθεῖς οὐκ ἐσμὲν καὶ εὑρισκόμεθα ἐκπίπτοντες τῆς ἀληθείας· ἢ τὴν παλαιὰν διαθήκην ἐκβάλλοντες οὐκέτι ἐσμὲν τῆς καθολικῆς ἐκκλησίας. τὸ δὲ εὐαγγέλιον ἔφη «θεὸν οὐδεὶς πώποτε ἑώρακεν, ὁ μονογενὴς θεὸς αὐτὸς ἐξηγήσατο», καὶ πάλιν ἡ αὐτὴ θεία γραφή φησιν ὅτι «ὤφθη ὁ θεὸς τῷ Ἀβραὰμ ὄντι ἐν τῇ Μεσοποταμίᾳ», καὶ αὐτὸς ὁ κύριος ἐν τῷ εὐαγγελίῳ ὅτι «οἱ ἄγγελοι τούτων ὁρῶσι τὸ πρόσωπον τοῦ πατρός μου τοῦ ἐν οὐρανῷ». ἀλλὰ πάντως ἐρεῖ τις εἰρηκέναι τὴν θείαν γραφήν, τοὺς προφήτας ἑωρακέναι 3.239 τὸν θεὸν ἐν τῷ νῷ, ἀπὸ τοῦ ῥητοῦ τοῦ «καὶ οἱ ἄγγελοι τούτων ὁρῶσι τὸ πρόσωπον τοῦ πατρός μου τοῦ ἐν οὐρανῷ», καὶ πάλιν ἀπὸ τοῦ «μακάριοι οἱ καθαροὶ τῇ καρδίᾳ, ὅτι αὐτοὶ τὸν θεὸν ὄψονται». νοήσας δὲ τοῦτο καὶ παραζεύξας κατὰ τὴν αὐτοῦ ἔννοιαν τὰς λέξεις εἴποι τις ἂν ὅτι ἐν τῷ νῷ ἕκαστος ὁρᾷ τὸν θεόν, οὐ γὰρ ὀφθαλμοῖς. ἀντιπίπτει δὲ τούτῳ ὁ θεῖος λόγος φάσκων διὰ Ἠσαΐου τοῦ προφήτου «τάλας ἐγώ, ὅτι κατανένυγμαι, ὅτι ἄνθρωπος ἀκάθαρτα χείλη ἔχων ἐν λαῷ ἀκάθαρτα χείλη ἔχοντι ἐγὼ κατοικῶ, καὶ τὸν κύριον Σαβαὼθ εἶδον τοῖς ὀφθαλμοῖς μου»· καὶ οὐκ εἶπε τῷ νῷ, οὐδὲ ἐν τῇ ἐννοίᾳ, ἀλλὰ τοῖς ὀφθαλμοῖς, τὰ ἀληθῆ καὶ στερεὰ τῆς πίστεως βεβαιούμενος. τί οὖν εἴπωμεν, τοῦ εὐαγγελίου λέγοντος θεὸν μὴ ἑωρακέναι τινὰ πώποτε, τῶν δὲ προφητῶν καὶ ἀποστόλων φασκόντων καὶ αὐτοῦ τοῦ κυρίου; ἆρα ἀντίθετον ἐν τῇ θείᾳ γραφῇ πρὸς ἑαυτήν τι; μὴ γένοιτο. ἀλλὰ εἶδον προφῆται καὶ ἀπόστολοι, καὶ ἀληθὲς ὑπάρχει. εἶδον