494

a different nature, having in Himself alone the inconceivable, beginningless, infinite, and incomprehensible permanence, from which, according to an infinitely generous outpouring of goodness, He willed to bring forth beings from non-being and to (1289) give them substance, and to immaculately impart Himself analogously to all things and to each individual, granting to each the power to be and to remain, according to the holy and godlike great Dionysius the Areopagite, who says, the One is to be hymned by God, by being transcendent of all things, having brought forth into being by His goodness both the entire order of intelligible things and the comeliness of visible things, existing undiminished analogously in each of the created things according to some ineffable principle of wisdom, and in no way or manner being contained again by the whole, to some according to an abundant, good-giving outpouring, to others moderately, and to others the ability to represent him in at least some way. And this might be, perhaps, according to my foolishness, the pouring out of the good and its proceeding, that the one God is multiplied analogously to receptive things by the impartation of good things."

From the same discourse, on the text, "He partakes in a second communion, much more paradoxical than the first."

It was not so wondrous, I think, although it was so great, that at the first creation, when the nature of men was pure, inasmuch as it had been honored by the hand of God, God brought it to communion with Himself through the in-breathing, imparting to what was like Him the divine beauty according to His image, as that He deigned to associate with this nature when it was sullied and had fled from God, through the passions which it had taken on, and to partake of what is worse, and by the paradoxical union to intensify the wonder for Him who is in every way unmixed with things. For previously, our nature had received oneness with God in no way or principle of essence or hypostasis, among which all beings are universally considered, but now it has received oneness with Him according to hypostasis through the ineffable union, that is, preserving unaltered its own principle of being different in essence from the divine essence, to which it has, through the union, that which is one and different according to hypostasis, so that on the one hand, by the principle of its being, according to which it came to be and is, it might remain, properly having its own being undiminished in every way, and on the other hand, by the principle of its mode of being, having received its existence divinely, it might neither know nor admit at all the inclination of movement toward anything else. In this way, therefore, the Word made His communion with the nature of men much more paradoxical than the first, by uniting the nature itself essentially to Himself according to hypostasis.

From the same, on the text, "But now receive for me the conception, and leap for joy, and if not like John from the womb, then like David at the resting of the ark."

The great John is an image not only of repentance and of (1292) passionlessness according to practical philosophy and of gnostic contemplation, of the first as herald and baptist, of the second as a hermit and one completely separated from the world, of the third as a Levite and priest and forerunner of the Word of God, but also a symbol of immutability in these things according to habit, as one who from the womb and until death maintained the unyielding disposition of his soul in these things. And David himself is an image of confession, of action, and of contemplation, as one of the tribe of Judah and a shepherd before and a king after, and a slayer of foreigners, but not, however, also of immutability in these things according to habit

494

φύσιν διάφορον, ἐν ἑαυτῷ τε μόνον ἔχοντα τήν ἀπερινόητον ἄναρχόν τε καί ἄπειρον καί ἀκατάληπτον μονιμότητα, ἐξ ἧς κατα ἀπειρόδωρον χύσιν ἀγαθότητος τά ὄντα ἐκ τοῦ μή ὄντος παραγαγεῖν τε καί (1289) ὑποστήσασθαι, θελῆσαι καί ἑαυτόν ἀναλόγως τοῖς ὅλοις καί τῷ καθ᾿ ἕκαστον ἀχράντως μεταδοῦναι τήν πρός τό εἶναι καί διαμένειν ἑκάστῳ χαριζόμενον δύναμιν, κατά τόν ἅγιον καί θεοείκελον μέγαν ∆ιονύσιον τόν Ἀρεοπαγίτην φάσκοντα, τό ἕν ὑμνητέον ὑπό Θεοῦ, τῷ πάντων ὑπεξαιρεῖσθαι, εἰς τό εἶναι ἀγαθότητι παραγαγόντα τήν τε τῶν νοητῶν πᾶσαν διακόσμησιν καί τήν τῶν ὁρατῶν εὐπρέπειαν, ἀναλόγως ἑκάστῳ τῶν κτισμάτων κατά τινα λόγον ἀπόῤῥητον σοφίας ἀμειώτως ἐνυπάρχειν, καί μηδενί λόγῳ ἤ τρόπῳ τό σύνολον πάλιν κατέχεσθαι, τοῖς μέν κατά περιττήν ἀγαθόδωρον χύσιν, τοῖς δέ μέσως, τοῖς δέ τό κατά τι γοῦν ἐξεικονίζειν αὐτόν δύνασθαι. Καί τοῦτο ἄν εἴη τυχόν, κατά τήν ἐμήν ἀφροσύνην, τό χεῖσθαι τό ἀγαθόν καί ὁδεύειν, τό τόν ἕνα Θεόν ἀναλόγως πρός τά δεκτικά τῇ μεταδόσει τῶν ἀγαθῶν πληθύνεσθαι."

Ἐκ τοῦ αὐτοῦ λόγου, εἰς τό, "∆ευτέραν κοινωνεῖ κοινωνίαν, πολύ τῆς προτέρας παραδοξοτέραν."

Οὐκ ἦν θαυμαστόν, ὡς οἶμαι, τοσοῦτο, καίπερ ὅν τηλικοῦτο, τό κατά τήν πρώτην πλάσιν καθαράν οὖσαν τήν φύσιν τῶν ἀνθρώπων, ἅτε δή χειρί Θεοῦ τιμηθεῖσαν, πρός κοινωνίαν ἑαυτοῦ διά τῆς ἐμπνεύσεως ἀγαγεῖν τόν Θεόν, τῷ ὁμοίῳ μεταδιδόντα τῆς κατ᾿ εἰκόνα θείας ὡραιότητος, ὅσον τό ῥυπωθεῖσαν ταύτην καί Θεοῦ δραπετεύσασαν, δι᾿ ὧν ἀνεμάξατο παθῶν, ταύτῃ προσομιλῆσαι καταδέξασθαι, καί τοῦ χείρονος μετασχεῖν, καί τῷ πάντη τῶν πραγμάτων ἀμίκτῳ τῇ παραδόξῳ ἑνώσει προσεπιτεῖναι τό θαῦμα. Πρότερον μέν γάρ κατ᾿ οὐδέν τρόπον ἤ λόγον οὐσίας ἤ ὑποστάσεως, τῶν ἐν οἷς τά ὄντα πάντα καθολικῶς θεωρεῖται, τό ἕν πρός τόν Θεόν ἡ φύσις εἰλήφει, νῦν δέ τό καθ᾿ ὑπόστασιν ἕν πρός αὐτόν διά τῆς ἀφράστου ἑνώσεως ἔλαβε, τόν οἰκεῖον δηλαδή κατά τήν οὐσίαν ἀναλλοιώτως πρός τήν θείαν οὐσίαν διάφορον διαφυλάττουσαν λόγον, πρός ἥν ἔχει διά τῆς ἑνώσεως τό καθ᾿ ὑπόστασιν ἕν καί διάφορον, ἵνα τῷ μέν τοῦ εἶναι λόγῳ, καθ᾿ ὅν γεγένηται καί ἔστι, διαμένοι τό ἑαυτῆς ὅν κυρίως ἔχουσα κατά πάντα τρόπον ἀμείωτον, τῷ δέ τοῦ πως εἶναι λόγῳ τό ὑφεστάναι θεϊκῶς λαβοῦσα τῆς περί τι ἄλλο κινήσεως τήν ῥοπήν παντελῶς μήτε γινώσκῃ, μήτε προσίηται. Ταύτῃ γοῦν πολύ τῆς προτέρας παραδοξοτέραν τήν πρός τήν φύσιν τῶν ἀνθρώπων ὁ λόγος ἐποιήσατο κοινωνίαν, αὐτήν τήν φύσιν οὐσιωδῶς ἑαυτῷ καθ᾿ ὑπόστασιν ἑνώσας.

Ἐκ τοῦ αὐτοῦ, εἰς τό, " Νυνί δέ μοι δέξαι τήν κύησιν, καί προσκίρτησον, καί εἰ μή ὡς Ἰωάννης ἀπό γαστρός, ἀλλ᾿ ὡς ∆αβίδ ἐπί τῇ καταπαύσει τῆς κιβωτοῦ."

Ἰωάννης ὁ μέγας οὐ μόνον μετανοίας καί τῆς (1292) κατά τήν πρακτικήν φιλοσοφίαν ἀπαθείας καί γνωστικῆς θεωρίας ἐστίν εἰκών, τῆς μέν ὡς κῆρυξ καί βαπτιστής, τῆς δέ ὡς ἐρημίτης καί τοῦ κόσμου πάντη κεχωρισμένος, τῆς δέ ὡς Λευίτης καί ἱερεύς καί Θεοῦ Λόγου πρόδρομος, ἀλλά καί τῆς ἐν τούτοις κατά τήν ἕξιν ἀτρεψίας σύμβολον, ὡς ἀπό γαστρός καί μέχρι θανάτου τόν ἐν τούτοις τῆς ψυχῆς τόνον ἐμείλικτον διατηρήσας. Ὁ δέ ∆αβίδ ἐξομολογήσεως πράξεώς τε καί θεωρίας καί αὐτός ἐστιν εἰκών, ὡς τῆς Ἰουδαϊκῆς φυλῆς καί ποιμήν πρότερον καί ὕστερον βασιλεύς, καί τῶν ἀλλοφύλων ἀναιρέτης, οὐ μήν δέ καί τῆς τούτων κατά τήν ἕξιν ἀτρεψίας