Fragments on the Epistle to the Ephesians (in catenae) 611 Eph 1,3-13 He who blessed us. He blessed through the Son, He chose through the Son, He adopted through the Son, He graced through the Son. And how through the Son? O wonder; through His blood, he says. Have you seen the riches of grace? Or rather, the abundance and ineffable mercy? And not only these things, but He also made known to us the mystery of His will. Through whom was this? This too was through the Son; all things through the Son, with the good pleasure of the Father being present in all things; for in nothing is the Father's will separated from the beloved Son. But since he spoke about the mystery being made known to us, he again mentions the adoption, through whom, he says, we have also obtained an inheritance; for those who are adopted are deemed worthy of adoption in order to inherit, which came to be through the Son and was predestined with the good pleasure and will of the Father being present. And this has happened so that we too might live in such a way as to be to the praise of His glory, that is, so that our life and conduct might be seen by all as a praised glory of His and well-pleasing; for "that they may see," he says, "your good works," the Lord says in the Gospels, "and glorify our Father who is in heaven." For He blessed us not only with every spiritual blessing, but also in spiritual and heavenly matters. Through whom? Through Jesus Christ. How? As He chose us before the foundation of the world; so ancient is our election and blessing. And for what did He choose us? To be holy and blameless, honorable and pure in life. Moved to this from where? From love alone. So that what might happen? So that He might adopt us to Himself through Christ; for this was also predestined. From what work of ours? From none, except through the good pleasure of His will; for He was pleased and willed this, with us contributing nothing at all. For how could those contribute who had not yet even received the beginning of existence? And what is the gain from this? An ineffable praise and encomium arises of His glorious grace with which He graced us. Through whom? It is clear that this too is through His beloved Son. How? Because He himself effected our redemption; for we were captives because of our trespasses, but by giving His blood as a ransom for us, He redeemed us from the tyranny in which we were held. And how did this awesome thing happen? It cannot be said, except that it is the riches of grace, an abundance of grace, an excess; there is nothing else to say. And this ineffable mystery concerning us He not only worked, but also revealed it to us. How? By making us prudent and wise 612 for its comprehension. All things are of His beneficence, the working of that ineffable mystery concerning us, the making it known to us again; for this too is of great and ineffable affection and care, to make known to us the mystery of His will, that is, His heartfelt and hidden counsel. Do you see of what things He deems us worthy? And this was the mystery of His will in His Son, that is, predestined to come to be through His Son according to His good pleasure. And reasonably he again said "according to His good pleasure," and that it was purposed to come to be through the Son; for since, having said it at the beginning, and joining cause to cause in the meantime, he drew the hearer far from the argument, again as if reminding and repeating to him that all things came to be through the Son by the good pleasure of the Father, he suitably adds and places this. Then these things, he says, are for the administration, that is, for the ineffable providence and management of the times of the consummation, that is, of the things concerning the consummation; for as many things as were done, were done for the sake of the glory that would then be revealed to us. Therefore Christ is also revealed then through the outcome of events, summing up all things in Himself. Or that not only was the mystery concerning us predestined to be accomplished through the Son according to the good pleasure of the Father's will, but also our being deemed worthy to learn this, was likewise through

Fragmenta in epistulam ad Ephesios (in catenis) 611 Eph 1,3-13 Ὁ εὐλογήσας ἡμᾶς. εὐλόγησε διὰ τοῦ υἱοῦ, ἐξελέξατο διὰ τοῦ υἱοῦ, υἱοθέτησε διὰ τοῦ υἱοῦ, ἐχαρίτωσε διὰ τοῦ υἱοῦ. πῶς δὲ διὰ τοῦ υἱοῦ; ὦ θαῦμα· διὰ τοῦ αἵματος αὐτοῦ, φησίν. εἶδες πλοῦτον χάριτος; μᾶλλον δὲ περισσείαν καὶ ἄφατον ἔλεος; οὐ μόνον δὲ ταῦτα, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐγνώρισεν ἡμῖν τὸ μυστήριον τοῦ θελήματος αὐτοῦ. διὰ τίνος τοῦτο; καὶ τοῦτο διὰ τοῦ υἱοῦ· πάντα διὰ τοῦ υἱοῦ τῆς εὐδοκίας συμπαρούσης ἐν ἅπασι τοῦ πατρός· οὐδὲ γὰρ ἔν τινι ἀπέσχισται τὸ πατρικὸν βούλημα τοῦ ἠγαπημένου υἱοῦ. ἐπειδὴ δὲ περὶ τοῦ γνωρισθῆναι ἡμῖν τὸ μυστήριον διέλαβε, πάλιν τῆς υἱοθεσίας μέμνηται, δι' οὗ, λέγων, καὶ ἐκληρώθημεν· οἱ γὰρ υἱοθετηθέντες ἐπὶ τῷ κληρονομῆσαι τῆς υἱοθεσίας ἀξιοῦνται, ἥτις γέγονε διὰ τοῦ υἱοῦ καὶ προώρισται τῆς εὐδοκίας καὶ τοῦ πατρικοῦ βουλήματος συμπαρόντος. γέγονε δὲ τοῦτο εἰς τὸ καὶ ἡμᾶς οὕτω πολιτεύσασθαι, ὥστε εἰς ἔπαινον γενέσθαι τῆς δόξης αὐτοῦ, τοῦτ' ἔστιν εἰς ἐπαινουμένην δόξαν αὐτοῦ καὶ εὐάρεστον τὸν βίον ἡμῶν καὶ τὴν πολιτείαν ὁρᾶσθαι παρὰ πάντων· ὅπως γὰρ ἴδωσιν, φησί, τὰ καλὰ ὑμῶν ἔργα, ὁ κύριος ἐν Εὐαγγελίοις, καὶ δοξάσωσι τὸν πατέρα ἡμῶν τὸν ἐν οὐρανοῖς. Εὐλόγησε γὰρ ἡμᾶς οὐ μόνον ἐν πάσῃ πνευματικῇ εὐλογίᾳ, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐν πνευματικοῖς πράγμασι καὶ ἐπουρανίοις. διὰ τίνος; διὰ Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ. πῶς; καθὼς ἐξελέξατο ἡμᾶς πρὸ καταβολῆς κόσμου· οὕτως ἀρχαία ἡ ἡμῶν ἐκλογὴ καὶ εὐλογία. ἐπὶ τί δὲ ἡμᾶς ἐξελέξατο; ἐπὶ τὸ εἶναι ἁγίους καὶ ἀμώμους, τιμίους καὶ καθαροὺς ἐν τῷ βίῳ. πόθεν εἰς τοῦτο κινηθείς; ἐξ ἀγάπης μόνης. ἵνα τί γίνηται; ἵνα υἱοθετήσῃ ἡμᾶς διὰ τοῦ Χριστοῦ ἑαυτῷ· τοῦτο γὰρ καὶ προώριστο. ἐκ ποίας ἡμῶν ἐργασίας; ἐξ οὐδεμιᾶς, πλὴν ὅτι δι' εὐδοκίαν τοῦ θελήματος αὐτοῦ· ηὐδόκησε γὰρ καὶ ἠθέλησε τοῦτο ἡμῶν ὅλως μηδὲν συνεισενεγκόντων. πῶς γὰρ ἦν συνεισενεγκεῖν τοὺς μηδ' ἀρχήν που τοῦ εἶναι λαβόντας; καὶ τί τὸ ἐκ τούτου κέρδος; ἄφατος ἀνακύπτει ἔπαινος καὶ ἐγκώμιον τῆς δεδοξασμένης αὐτοῦ χάριτος ἐν ᾗ ἐχαρίτωσεν ἡμᾶς. διὰ τίνος; ἢ δῆλον ὅτι καὶ τοῦτο διὰ τοῦ ἠγαπημένου αὐτοῦ υἱοῦ. πῶς; ὅτι αὐτὸς ἐποίησε τὴν ἀπολύτρωσιν ἡμῶν· ἦμεν γὰρ αἰχμάλωτοι διὰ τὰ παραπτώματα ἡμῶν, δοὺς δὲ τὸ αἷμα αὐτοῦ λύτρον ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν ἐλυτρώσατο τῆς ἐν ᾗ κατειχόμεθα τυραννίδος. καὶ πῶς τοῦτο τὸ φρικτὸν γέγονεν; οὐκ ἔστιν εἰπεῖν, πλὴν ὅτι πλοῦτος ἐστὶ χάριτος, περισσεία χάριτος, ὑπερβολή· οὐκ ἔστιν ἄλλο εἰπεῖν. τοῦτο δὲ τὸ περὶ ἡμᾶς ἄφατον μυστήριον οὐ μόνον ἐνήργησε, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐφανέρωσεν ἡμῖν αὐτό. πῶς; φρενώσας καὶ σοφίσας 612 ἡμᾶς εἰς κατάληψιν αὐτοῦ. πάντα τῆς ἐκείνου εὐεργεσίας, τὸ ἐνεργῆσαι περὶ ἡμᾶς τὸ ἄφατον ἐκεῖνο μυστήριον, τὸ γνωρίσαι αὐτὸ πάλιν ἡμῖν· καὶ γὰρ καὶ τοῦτο μεγάλης καὶ ἀφάτου στοργῆς καὶ κηδεμονίας, τὸ γνωρίσαι ἡμῖν τοῦ θελήματος αὐτοῦ τὸ μυστήριον, οἷον τὸ ἐγκάρδιον αὐτοῦ καὶ ἀπόκρυφον βούλημα. ὁρᾷς τίνων ἡμᾶς ἀξιοῖ; καὶ τοῦτο ἦν τὸ μυστήριον τοῦ θελήματος αὐτοῦ ἐν τῷ υἱῷ αὐτοῦ, τοῦτ' ἔστι διὰ τοῦ υἱοῦ αὐτοῦ προωρισμένον κατ' εὐδοκίαν γενέσθαι. εὐλόγως δὲ πάλιν εἶπεν τὸ κατ' εὐδοκίαν, καὶ ὅτι διὰ τοῦ υἱοῦ ἦν προτεθειμένον γενέσθαι· ἐπειδὴ γὰρ εἰπὼν αὐτὸ κατ' ἀρχάς, καὶ αἰτίας αἰτίαις ἐν τῷ μεταξὺ συναίρων ἀπέστησε πολὺ τὸν ἀκροατὴν τοῦ λόγου, πάλιν ὥσπερ ἐπαναμιμνήσκων αὐτὸν καὶ ἐπαναλαμβάνων, ὅτι πάντα διὰ τοῦ υἱοῦ γέγονεν εὐδοκίᾳ τοῦ πατρός, τοῦτο προσφόρως ἐπισυνάπτει καὶ τίθησιν. εἶτα ταῦτα δέ, φησίν, εἰς οἰκονομίαν, τοῦτ' ἔστιν ἐπὶ ἀφάτῳ προνοίᾳ καὶ διοικήσει τῶν τῆς συντελείας καιρῶν, τοῦτ' ἔστι τῶν κατὰ τὴν συντέλειαν πραγμάτων· ὅσα γὰρ ἐπράχθη, διὰ τὴν τότε ἡμῖν ἀποκαλυφθησομένην δόξαν ἐπράχθη. διὸ καὶ ὁ Χριστὸς τότε διὰ τῆς ἐκβάσεως τῶν πραγμάτων φανεροῦται, ἀνακεφαλαιούμενος τὰ πάντα ἐν αὐτῷ. Ἢ ὅτι οὐ μόνον τὸ πραχθῆναι τὸ περὶ ἡμᾶς μυστήριον διὰ τοῦ υἱοῦ προωρίσθη γενέσθαι κατ' εὐδοκίαν τοῦ θελήματος τοῦ πατρός, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὸ ἀξιωθῆναι ἡμᾶς μαθεῖν τοῦτο, ὁμοίως διὰ