Πρός τά ἀντικείμενα κράσεως: Κρᾶσιν ἐνταῦθα νοητέον οὐ τήν ὡς ἐπί τοῦ ὑγροῦ φύρασιν, καί τήν ἀφανίζουσαν τά ὑποκείμενα, ἀλλά τήν σύμπνοιαν καί ἀλληλουχίαν, τήν ἐν ἁρμονίᾳ ( 14 _346 φυλάττουσαν τά ἐφεστῶτα καί τά ὑποτεταγμένα, νοητά φημι καί αἰσθητά, τουτέστι τά ἐν γενέσει, καί αὐτά δέ τά ἐναντία, οἷον εἰρηνεύοντα πρός ἄλληλα, ὡς τό ὕδωρ καί τήν γῆν, ᾧ περιβεβλημένη ἡ γῆ οὐ λύεται, καί ὁ οὐρανός ἐξ ὕδατος ὤν, καί ὁ αἰθήρ οὐ λύων τόν οὐρανόν· καί οὗτός ἐστιν ὁ ἐμφύλιος πόλεμος, ὅν οὐ μόνον ὁ δημιουργός σοφῶς ἐξεῦρεν, ἀλλά καί σοφωτέρως εἰς φιλίαν καί ἁρμονίαν ἄγει τά πάντα δι' αὐτῶν τῶν ἁπλῶν στοιχείων, κατά τό εἰρημένον, «θέρος καί ἔαρ σύ ἐποίησας». Καί ἀμιγῆ: Ἀμιγῆ καί συγκεκραμένα εἶπε κατά τήν προτεθεῖσαν ἐκδοχήν. Δι' ἥν οἱ θεῖοι νόες ἑνούμενοι: Εἴπομεν καί ἄνω τούς θείους νόας καί ἑαυτούς νοεῖν, καί τούς ἐπαναβεβηκότας, καί τά ὑποδεέστερα· καί μένειν μέν ἐν ἑαυτοῖς, ὅταν τά ἑαυτῶν ἐνεργῶσι ταῖς ἑαυτῶν ἑνούμενοι νοήσεσιν, εἰς δέ τά ἔξω δοκεῖν προϊέναι, ὅταν δέ τά ὑποβεβηκότα νοῶσι καί τά ὑπερκείμενα, καί οὕτως ὡς ἐφικτόν εἰς τό νοεῖν, καί τῶν πάντων αἴτιον ἐπανίωσιν. Οὕτω δέ νοοῦντες οἱ θεῖοι νόες, ὁμολογουμένως ἑνοῦνται τοῖς νοουμένοις· τό γάρ νοοῦν τῇ γνώσει ἑνοῦται τῷ γνωσθέντι καί νοηθέντι, ὡς καί ὁ ἀγνοῶν σκεδάννυται, μή καταλαβών ὅ ἠγνόησε. Νοῶν οὖν ὁ τοιοῦτος νοῦς εἰς ἑαυτόν ἀνακάμπτει, οὐ σκεδαζόμενος ἔξω ἑαυτοῦ, ἀλλ’ ἑνούμενος ἑαυτῷ, δι' ὧν εἰς ἑαυτόν ἀνέστρεψεν. Ἄλλη δέ παρά τούς ἁγίους νόας, ἥτις ψυχῆς ἐστι νοητική ἕνωσις·
Against the objections concerning mixture: Here "mixture" must be understood not as the blending that occurs in the case of liquid, and that destroys the underlying substances, but as the concord and mutual coherence that in harmony preserves both the things above and the things below—I mean things intelligible and things perceptible, that is, the things in generation—and even the opposites themselves, as it were, at peace with one another, such as water and earth, with which the earth, being wrapped about, is not dissolved, and the heaven, which is from water, and the aether, which does not dissolve the heaven. And this is the civil war which the Creator wisely devised, and which He even more wisely leads all things into friendship and harmony through the simple elements themselves, according to what is said, "Summer and spring you have made." And unmixed: He spoke of things unmixed and things commingled according to the interpretation set forth above. Through which the divine minds being united: We said above that the divine minds both understand themselves and the things that have advanced beyond them and the things that are inferior; and that they remain in themselves when they are active in their own matters, being united to their own thoughts, but appear to go forth to things outside when they understand things inferior and things superior, and thus, as far as is attainable, return to the understanding of the cause of all things. And understanding in this way, the divine minds are confessedly united to the things understood; for the thing that understands is united by knowledge to the thing known and understood, just as the one who is ignorant is scattered, not having grasped what he was ignorant of. Such a mind, therefore, when it understands, turns back upon itself, not being scattered outside itself, but being united to itself through the things by which it returned to itself. But there is another union, besides that of the holy minds, which is the noetic union of the soul.
οἱ μέν γάρ νοητοί, ἡ δέ νοερά, πάντων ὑποβεβηκυῖα τῶν ἀγγέλων. Νοερά δέ μόνον ἐστί, δι' ἅς εἰρήκαμεν ἀνωτέρω αἰτίας, ἔνθα καί πλατέως διεξήλθομεν περί τῶν ἐνταῦθα λεγομένων ἐν κεφαλαίῳ πρώτῳ. ( 14 _348 Διά τῆς ἀΰλου καί ἀμεροῦς: Ὅτι καί ἐπί τῶν ἡμετέρων ψυχῶν ἐνδέχεται ἀμερῆ καί ἄϋλον εὑρεθῆναι νόησιν, ὅταν τούς παντοδαπούς αὐτῶν λογισμούς πρός μίαν νοεράν καθαρότητα συνάγωσι· τότε γάρ καί ἐπί τήν ὑπέρ νόησιν ἕνωσιν οἰκείως ἑαυταῖς ὁδῷ τινι καί τάξει προβαίνουσι. Συμφωνίᾳ παντελεῖ καί ὁμονοίᾳ: Παντελῆ εἰρήνην λέγει τήν πάντων τελείαν τῶν ἀγαθῶν, τουτέστι τόν Θεόν.
Καί συνδέουσα τά ἄκρα: Ἄκρα φησί τάς ἄνω δυνάμεις καί τάς κάτω, καί μέσα, ὡς προέφημεν, τά ἐκ τῆς καθαρωτάτης ὕλης, οἷον οὐρανούς, καί ἀστέρας, καί τά ἕτερα ἄκρα τά ἐπίγεια καί γεώδη αὐτά· ἄκρα μέν γάρ ἀπό τῶν ἄνω ἐπί τά κάτω τά νοητά· πάλιν δέ ἄκρα κάτωθεν ἐπί τά ἄνω τά γήϊνα ταῦτα, ἅ καί συνάπτονται τοῖς μέσοις. Ὁμόγνια δέ τά συγγενῆ καί ἐκ τοῦ πάντων αἰτίου προελθόντα. Καί ταῖς ἐσχάταις; Ἐσχάταις τοῦ παντός ἀποπερατώσεις τάς ἀψύχους οὐσίας φησί, τουτέστιν ἐν αἷς οὐδεμία κίνησις αὐξητική ἤ θρεπτική ἤ τῶν ἄλλων τις θεωρεῖται. Ὁμόγνια δέ τά ἀδελφά καί ὁμόστοιχα. Διαφέρει δέ ἑνότης ἑνώσεως· ἡ μέν γαρ τό ἰδιάζον καί ἀμιγές τῆς καθ' ἕκαστον δείκνυσι φύσεως, ἡ δέ ἕνωσις τήν πρός ἕτερα σύγκρασιν, ἥ ἁπλῶς μετουσίαν.
For the intelligible beings are one thing, but the noetic soul is another, inferior to all the angels. It is noetic only, for the reasons we stated above, where we also treated at length the matters here discussed in the first chapter. (14, 348) Through the immaterial and partless: That even in the case of our souls it is possible for noetic thought to be found partless and immaterial, whenever they gather their manifold reasonings into one noetic purity; for then they advance in a fitting way, by some path and order, toward the union that is beyond thought. With complete concord and unanimity: He calls complete peace the perfect peace of all good things, that is, God.
And binding the extremes: By "extremes" he means the powers above and those below, and, as we said, the middle things that come from the purest matter, such as the heavens and the stars, and the other extremes, the earthly and terrestrial things themselves; for the extremes are, on the one hand, the intelligible things from above down to the things below; and again, extremes from below up to the things above are these earthly things, which are also joined to the middle things. And "kindred" means those of the same kin and those that proceeded from the cause of all things. And the last? By "last" he means the extremities of the whole, the soulless substances, that is, those in which no growth, no nutritive movement, nor any of the others is observed. And "kindred" means those that are brothers and of the same rank. Unity differs from union: the former shows the distinctive and unmixed character of each nature, while the latter shows the commingling with other things, or simply participation.
Ὅλη πρός ὅλην: Καί νῦν τήν οἰκείαν ἀκρίβειαν φυλάττει· εἰπών γάρ ὁμόγνια, τουτέστι συγγενῆ, καί τοῦ αὐτοῦ γένους, ἅτε παρά τοῦ παντός γενάρχου Θεοῦ προεληλυθότα, κατά τόν χρησάμενον τῷ ρήματι Ἀπόστολον, «τοῦ γάρ καί γένος ἐσμέν», λέγει δέ καί τήν αἰτίαν, καθ' ἥν ὁμόγνια τά πάντα· καί φησιν, ὅτι τέως τά νοητά ταῖς ἑνότησι, τουτέστι κατά τό ἁπλοῦν καί ( 14 _350 ἀσύνθετον τῶν οὐσιῶν, καί κατά τήν ἀθανασίαν, ἥν ταυτότητα λέγουσιν οἱ περί τούτων διαλεχθέντες, συγγενῆ ποιεῖ ὁ Θεός καί ὁμόστοιχα. Ὥσπερ οὖν καί τά αἰσθητά ταῖς ἐκ τῶν διαφόρων στοιχείων ἑνώσεσιν, ἤτοι συγκρίμασι, καί ταῖς συναγωγαῖς τῶν τοιούτων μιγμάτων εἰς γένεσιν ἄγων τάς ἀλληλουχίας, οἷόν τινας συγγενείας ἀποτελεῖ.
§ 3. Πῶς δέ, φαίη τις: Ἀντίθεσις πρός τούς λέγοντας, μή ἐφίεσθαι πάντα εἰρήνης, καί τί ἐστιν ἑτερότης.
Τῶν ὄντων ἰδιότητα: Σημείωσαι, τί φησιν ἰδιότητα· ὅτι τό εἶναι ἕκαστον, ὡς ἔχει φύσεως, καί κατά τό αὐτό ὡς γέγονε. Ταῦτα κατά Ἀκεφάλων, τῶν καί ἀγνοούντων, τί ἐστιν ἰδιότης. Ἐπί πολύ δέ κατεξετάζει τήν περί τῆς ἰδιότητος κυριολεξίαν, σαφηνίζων αὐτήν.
Whole to whole: And now he preserves his own exactness; for having said “of the same kin,” that is, kindred, and of the same race, as having come forth from God the universal progenitor, according to the Apostle who used the phrase, “for we are also his offspring,” he also states the reason according to which all things are of the same kin; and he says that for the present the intelligible things, by their unities, that is, according to the simplicity and non-composite nature of their essences, and according to immortality, which those who have discoursed on these matters call identity, God makes kindred and of the same rank. Just as, then, he also brings the sensible things, by the unions of the different elements, that is, by their compounds, and by the gatherings of such mixtures into generation, producing their interconnections, forms, as it were, certain kinships.
§ 3. How, someone might say: A contradiction against those who say that not all things desire peace, and what otherness is.
The property of beings: Note what he says “property” means: that each thing is, as it has by nature, and in the same way as it has come to be. These things are against the Acephali, who are also ignorant of what property is. And at length he examines the strict usage concerning property, making it clear.
Ἀλλά καί ταύτην εἰρήνης ἔφεσιν: Ἐντεῦθεν ἡ λύσις. Τῶν ἑαυτῶν δέ φησιν ἀντί τοῦ τῶν ἰδιωμάτων.
Ἀκινησίαν: Ἀκινησίαν φησί τό μή μεταπίπτειν τῆς οἰκείας φύσεως καί κινήσεως.
§ 4. Καί εἰ τά κινούμενα πάντα: Καλῶς εἶπε τά πάντα κινεῖσθαι οὐ μίαν κίνησιν, ἀλλ' ἰδίαν τινά καί κατάλληλον κίνησιν· τά μέν γάρ νοητά καί νοερά ἄλλως, τά δέ αἰσθητά τήν εἰς γένεσιν, ἤ καί ποιάν τινα κίνησιν κινεῖται, περί ὧν ἐν τῷ ἐνάτῳ κεφαλαίῳ διεξήλθομεν τελειότερον. Καί τήν πάντων τῶν κινουμένων ἰδιότητα: Ὅτι ἰδιότης ἐστί καί ἡ κινητική ζωή τοῦ καθ ' ἕκαστον.
§ 5. Εἰ δέ τήν κατ' ἔκπτωσιν: Πρός τούς λέγοντας ἑτερότητα εἶναι τήν κατ' ἔκπτωσιν τῆς εἰρήνης, καί ἐντεῦθεν ἰσχυριζομένους, μή πᾶσιν ἐραστήν εἶναι τήν εἰρήνην. Σημείωσαι τάς δύο ἑτερότητας μίαν μέν τήν κατ' ἔκπτωσίν εἰρήνης, καί ἑτέραν τήν τῶν ὄντων ἑκάστου ἰδιότητα.
( 14 _352 Τό γάρ πάντῃ ἄστατον: Θαυμασίως ἀθετεῖ τάς τῶν Ἑλλήνων καί τῶν τοιούτων αἱρετικῶν γνώμας, οἷον Οὐαλεντινιανῶν καί Μανιχαίων, τῶν τήν ὕλην ὑποθεμένων ἀρχήν, τά ἐναντία φέρουσαν ἐν ἑαυτῇ τοῖς τοῦ Θεοῦ· ἀστασίαν γάρ καί περιφοράν καί ἀπειρίαν καί ἀορτιστίαν, καί ταῦτα πάντα διηνεκῆ τήν ὕλην ἔφησαν, ὅπερ ἀποδείκνυται ψευδές ἀληθῶς παντελῶς. Οὐδέν γάρ ἐστιν, οὐδέ γέγονεν, ὅ μή ἀφ' οὗ παρήχθη καί διακεκοσμημένον ὑπό Θεοῦ παρήχθη εἰς εἶδος καί τοῦ ὄντως ἔχειν ὡς παρήχθη, προνοίας ἔτυχεν ἀπό Θεοῦ. Ἀμαυροῖς εἰδώλοις: Ἀντί τοῦ ἀμυδροῖς εἰκονίσμασιν· ἐφίενται γάρ τῆς πρός τάς ρεούσας καί φθειρομένας ἡδυπαθείας, ἀπολαύσεως καί συναφείας, καί τό πρός
But also this desire for peace: Hence the resolution. And “of their own,” he says, instead of “of the properties.”
Immovability: He calls immovability the not falling away from one’s own nature and motion.
§ 4. And if all things that are moved: He well said that all things are moved, not by one motion, but by some proper and fitting motion; for intelligible and intellectual things are moved otherwise, while sensible things are moved toward generation, or also by some sort of motion, about which we went through more perfectly in the ninth chapter. And the peculiarity of all things that are moved: That the motive life of each individual is also a peculiarity.
§ 5. But if the one according to fall: Against those who say that the one according to fall from peace is otherness, and from this maintain that peace is not desired by all. Note the two othernesses: one, the one according to fall from peace, and the other, the peculiarity of each of existing things.
(14_352 For the wholly unstable: He wonderfully sets aside the opinions of the Greeks and of such heretics, such as the Valentinians and Manichaeans, who supposed matter to be a first principle, bearing in itself things contrary to those of God; for they said that matter is instability and revolution and infinity and unsettledness, and all these things continually, which is shown truly to be wholly false. For there is nothing, nor has anything come to be, which, after it was produced and ordered by God, was not produced into form and did not obtain providence from God to have being as it was produced. By dim images: Instead of “by faint likenesses”; for they strive for enjoyment and union with flowing and corruptible pleasures, and the toward
ταύτας ἀστασιάστως ὁρᾷν αἱρούμενοι, ἤγουν τούτων μετέχειν, διά τό μή τοῦτο αὐτοῖς, φησί, κατά νοῦν χωρεῖν, ἐκταράσσονται, Καί ταῦτα ἱστᾷν: Οὕτω δεῖ τό ρητόν τοῦτο συνθεῖναι, ὅτι καί οἱ φιλέριδες καί ἄστατοι ἀμαυροῖς καί αὐτοί εἰδώλοις τοῦ ἀγαπᾷν εἰρήνην κατέχονται· ὑπό γάρ παθῶν ἐνοχλούμενοι, καί τά πάθη κατά ἄγνοιαν, ὡς καλά θέλοντες ἱστᾷν, δοκοῦσιν εἰρήνης ὀρέγεσθαι, ἐφιέμενοι ἀδεῶς ἑαυτούς ἀπολαύειν τῶν ρευστῶν καί κακῶν παθῶν, ἐκταραττομένους, ἐάν ἀποτύχωσι τοῦ ἀπολαύειν τῶν νομιζομένων καλῶν, ὄντων δέ παθῶν. Κατά κοινοῦ οὖν τό ἑαυτούς τακτέον, ἵνα ἦ, ἐφιέμενοι ἑαυτούς, ἅτε ἐκταραττομένους, ἐάν ἀποτύχωσι τῶν παθῶν, δοκοῦσιν εἰρηνεύειν ἑαυτούς εἰς τό ἀπολαύειν τῶν παθῶν. Οὕτω νόησον καί τό 'πάντας ἐφίεσθαι εἰρήνης', τουτέστι τοῦ ἀγαθοῦ.
Τί ἄν τις εἴποι περί τῆς κατά Χριστόν: Πῶς εἰρήνη Ἰησοῦς Χριστός ἡμῶν καί ἀγγέλων, παύσας τόν πόλεμον, καί τό μεσότοιχον τοῦ φραγμοῦ λύσας, καί εἰρήνην μεταξύ ἡμῶν βραβεύσας, ( 14 _354 σας, καί ποιήσας τά ἀμφότερα ἕν, ὡς ὁ θεῖος Ἀπόστολος ἐν τῇ πρός Ἐφεσίους φησίν.
Choosing to see these things without faction, that is, to partake of them, because this, he says, does not enter their mind, they are thrown into confusion. And “to establish these things”: This saying must be composed thus, that both the contentious and the unstable are themselves held by dim images of loving peace; for being troubled by passions, and wishing through ignorance to establish the passions as though they were good, they seem to desire peace, eagerly seeking to enjoy without fear the fluxive and evil passions, being thrown into confusion if they fail to enjoy the things thought to be good, though they are passions. Therefore “themselves” must be placed in common, so that it may be: eagerly seeking themselves, inasmuch as they are thrown into confusion if they fail of the passions, they seem to make peace for themselves, to the end of enjoying the passions. Understand thus also the phrase “all desire peace,” that is, of the good.
What could one say about the peace according to Christ? How Jesus Christ is our peace and that of angels, having stopped the war, and having broken down the middle wall of partition, and having arbitrated peace between us, and having made both one, as the divine Apostle says in the Epistle to the Ephesians.
Καθ' ἥν οὐ μή μάθωμεν ἔτι πολεμεῖν: Ἐκεῖνός ἐστιν ὁ μή ἑαυτῷ πολεμῶν, ὁ θυμόν καί ἐπιθυμίαν καθυποτάξας τῷ λόγῳ. Εἰρηνεύει δέ καί πρός ἀνθρώπους ὁ τήν γνώμην μίαν πρός πάντας κτησάμενος. Ὁ δέ τόν ἑαυτοῦ νοῦν πρός τά διά τῶν ἀγγέλων κινούμενα παρασχών πειθήνιον, οὗτος καί μετά τῶν ἀγγέλων τήν εἰρήνην ἐκτήσατο.
Ἀλλά καί αὐτοῖς τά θεῖα: Τουτέστι τήν αὐτήν αὐτοῖς περί τό Θεῖον σέβας λατρείαν καί προσκύνησιν ἐπιτελέσωμεν.
Ἐν ταῖς θεολογικαῖς: Σημείωσαι, ὅτι ἐστίν αὐτοῦ καί θεολογικῶν ὑποτυπώσεων σύνταγμα· τοῦτο καί ἐν ἀρχῇ τοῦ πρώτου κεφαλαίου φησι: § 6. Δι' ἐπιστολῆς ἐπύθου: Πῶς νοεῖ τόν Θεόν αὐτοζωήν εἶναι καί τῆς αὐτοζωῆς ὑποστάτην, καί τά ὅμοια. Καλῶς δέ αὐτό φησι καί κατά τό ἐν ταῖς ἐπιστολαῖς, μάλιστα τῇ δευτέρα. Σημείωσαι, ὅτι καί ἐκ τῶν ὄντων καί ἐξ αὐτοῦ παραχθέντων ὁ Θεός ὀνομάζεται, ὡς αἴτιος αὐτῶν ὑπάρχων, Ἐκ τῶν πρώτως ὄντων: Πρώτως ὄντα, οἶμαι, αὐτόν εἰρηκέναι τάς ὑπερκοσμίους φύσεις, ὡς πρώτως καί ἀκραιφνῶς τῶν θείων δωρεῶν μετεχούσας, ζωῆς καί τῶν λοιπῶν. Ἐκ τῶν ὄντων τοίνυν, τουτέστι τῶν ἐν τοῖς οὖσι θεωρουμένων, λέγεται ὁ Θεός τῆς αὐτοζωῆς, ἤγουν τοῦ αὐτοῦ πράγματος καί τοῦ εἴδους αὐτῆς ὑποστάτης καί παραγωγεύς· ἐξ ἑνός γάρ τοῦ τῆς ζωῆς καί περί τῶν ὁμοίων ἡμᾶς ὁμοίως νοεῖν δεῖ. Ὅταν δέ ὁ Θεός αὐτός λέγηται αὐτοζωή καί τά παραπλήσια, ὡς ταῦτα ὑπάρχων ὑπέρ φύσιν πᾶσαν λέγεται, ἤγουν καί ὑπέρ ἀγγέλους καί πᾶσαν νοεράν οὐσίαν.
By which we shall no longer learn to make war: This is the one who does not war against himself, who has subjected anger and desire to reason. And he is at peace also with men who has acquired a single disposition toward all. And he who presents his own mind as obedient to the things moved by the angels—this man has obtained peace also with the angels.
But also to them the divine things: That is, let us perform the same service and worship toward the Divine as they do.
In the theological: Note that there is also a compilation of his theological outlines; this he also says at the beginning of the first chapter: § 6. You inquired by letter: How he understands God to be auto-life and the hypostasis of auto-life, and similar things. And he says this well also in the letters, especially the second. Note that God is named both from the things that exist and from what has been produced from him, as being their cause. From the things primarily existing: I think he has called the supramundane natures "primarily existing," as partaking primarily and purely of the divine gifts—life and the rest. From the things that exist, therefore—that is, from the things contemplated in existing things—God is said to be the hypostasis and producer of auto-life, that is, of the thing itself and its form; for from one of life and concerning similar things we must think similarly. But when God himself is called auto-life and the like, he is said to be these things as existing above all nature, that is, above angels and every noetic essence.
Ἐκ τῶν πρώτως: Πρώτως ὄντα τάς νοητάς φησι δημιουργίας, τάς καί ἀσωμάτους, τουτέστι τούς ἀγγέλους. Σημείωσαι τό ἀρχηγικῶς, ὅτι πρώτως ὑφέστηκε, φησί, τό ὑπερούσιον ( 14 _356 ἀντί τοῦ, ὁ Θεός· μόνος γάρ ποιητής νοητῶν καί αἰσθητῶν· οὐ γάρ δεῖ πείθεσθαι τοῖς λέγουσι τάς δημιουργικάς δυνάμεις τοῦ Θεοῦ, θεούς εἶναι, ὅπερ οὐκ ἔστι· μόνος γάρ ὁ Θεός δημιουργός. Σημείωσαι, ὅτι μόνος ὁ Θεός ποιητής πάντων νοητῶν καί αἰσθητῶν. Ἀγκύλον: Ἐπικαμπές.
Καί θεούς τῶν ὄντων: Ὅτι οὔκ εἰσι θεοί ἤ δημιουργοί ἄγγελοι, οὐδέ ἄλλο τι παρά τόν Θεόν.
Ἀληθῶς καί κυρίως: Σημείωσαι, ὅτι οὐδέ οὗτος ὁ θεῖος ἀνήρ διαφοράν οἶδε τοῦ κυρίως καί ἀληθῶς.
Τήν αὐτοουσίωσιν: Ἐν τούτοις σαφέστερον τήν λύσιν ἐποιήσατο τοῦ προτεθέντος προβλήματος, ὅπως χρή λαβεῖν τό, ποτέ λέγεσθαι μέν αὐτόν αὐτοζωήν
καί τά σύν αὐτῷ τόν Θεόν, ποτέ δέ τούτων ὑποστάτην, ἤγουν ταῦτα ὑποστήσαντα· ὅτι ὁ μέν, ὡς αἴτιος τούτων καί ἀρχή ὑπεράρχιος, οὕτω ταῦτα λέγεται· τά δε ὄντα τούτων μετέχοντα, καλοῦνται ἐξ αὐτῶν ζῶντα καί ὄντα καί ἔνθεα. Τήν ζώωσιν γοῦν, τήν οὐσίωσιν ἀντί τοῦ τά πράγματα, ὑπέστησεν ὁ Θεός. Πρώτως οὖν ἐννοούμεθα αὐτό τό πρᾶγμα, εἶθ' οὕτω τήν καθολικήν αὐτοῦ ἔννοιαν, οἷον τήν παντοίως θεωρουμένην ζωήν ἤ οὐσίαν, καί τότε τά μερικά, τουτέστι τήν τοῦ καθ' ἕκαστον εἶδος ἔννοιαν λαμβάνομεν, οἷον τῆς ἀγγελικῆς ἤ τῆς ἀνθρωπίνης ζωῆς, καί τῶν λοιπῶν οἷς συνεισβάλλει, καί αὐτῶν τῶν μετεχόντων ἡ μνήμη. Ἐπαγαγών δέ εἶτα τῶν ὅλων αὐτῶν μετεχόντων, ἐδήλωσεν ὡς οὐ πάντα πάντων μετέχουσι·
From the first: He says that the first existing intelligible creations, which are also incorporeal, are the angels. Note the word "originally," that the supersubstantial one subsisted first, he says (that is, God; for he alone is the maker of intelligible and sensible things; for one must not be persuaded by those who say that the creative powers of God are gods, which is not the case; for God alone is the creator). Note that God alone is the maker of all intelligible and sensible things. "Crooked": bent.
And gods of beings: That the angels are not gods or creators, nor is anything else besides God.
Truly and properly: Note that not even this divine man knows a distinction between "properly" and "truly."
The self-substantiation: In these words he made the solution of the proposed problem more clearly, namely how one should understand the statement that he is sometimes called Life itself and God along with him, and sometimes the substantiator of these things, that is, the one who substantiated them; because the one, as the cause of these things and a super-original principle, is thus called these things; but the beings that participate in these things are called from them living and being and divine. Therefore God substantiated the living-making, the substantiation, in place of the things themselves. First, then, we conceive the thing itself, then its universal concept, such as life or essence contemplated in every way, and then we take the particular things, that is, the concept of each individual species, such as angelic or human life, and of the rest with which it enters, and the memory of the participants themselves. Then, having brought in the participants of all these things, he showed that not all things participate in all things.
τά μέν γάρ οὐσίας μόνης, τά δέ ζωῆς, τά δέ καί νοήσεως ἤ καί νοερότητος, τά δέ πρός τούτοις καί θεώσεως.
Ὅν τά ὄντα οἰκειως ἑαυτοῖς: Τό δοκοῦν ἀσαφέστερον σαφηνιστέον οὕτως· ὁ Θεός πάντα εἰς σωτηρίαν ἐν ἑαυτῷ προέχων ὑπερηνωμένως καί ἀσυνθέτως, καί ὡς πηγαία ἀρχή δι' ἀγαθότητος ὑπερβολήν, καί τοῖς ἐξ αὐτοῦ δημιουργικῶς ὑποστᾶσι, ( 14 _358 καθάπερ ἀκτῖνάς τινας ἀφιείς, μένων ὅλως ἐν ἑαυτῷ μεταδίδωσι μεθεκτῶς ἑκάστῳ οἰκείως τῶν μεγάλων αὐτοῦ προτερημάτων· αἱ οὖν ἐκ τῶν ἐνόντων αὐτῷ ἀγαθῶν εἰς μετάδοσιν ἐλλάμψεις πρωτοτύπως λέγονται καί αὐτοεῖναι καί αὐτοζωώσεις καί αὐτοθεώσεις καί ὅσα τοιαῦτα κατά μίμησιν τῶν ἀρχῶν, τουτέστιν τῶν αὐτοῦ δή τοῦ Θεοῦ ὄντων, φημί τῆς αὐτοθεότητος καί αὐτοαγαθότητος καί αὐτοζωῆς· δευτέρως δέ καί ὅλα αὐτά ὑποστῆναι λέγεται, διά τῶν κατά πρόοδον ὑποστασῶν ὑπ' αὐτοῦ οὐσιῶν, ζωῶν οὐσῶν οὐσιωδῶς καί διδομένων μεθεκτῶς τοῖς ἀξίοις· τρίτως δέ τῶν μερικῶν τούτων μεταδόσεων· τινά γάρ μετέχει ζωώσεως μόνης, τινά δέ καί θεώσεως, τινά δέ καί τῶν ὅλων ὁμοῦ τούτων, ὡς αἱ ἀνώταται νοηταί δυνάμεις.
For some are of essence only, others of life, others also of thought or intelligence, and others besides these of deification.
"He who is [all things] to beings in a manner proper to themselves": What seems rather unclear must be clarified thus: God, pre-possessing all things in himself for salvation in a supremely unified and uncomposed manner, and as a source-origin through the excess of his goodness, also to the things that have come to subsist from him by creation—as it were sending forth certain rays, while remaining wholly in himself—imparts in a participated manner to each according to its own capacity his great prerogatives. The illuminations, then, that come from the good things present in him for impartation are called primarily "self-existing" and "self-living" and "self-deifying" and whatever else of this kind, in imitation of the principles, that is, of the things that are his, God's own—I mean his self-deity and self-goodness and self-life. Secondarily, all these things are said to have subsisted through the essences that have come to subsist from him by procession, which are lives in an essential way and are given in a participated manner to those who are worthy. Thirdly, [they are said to subsist] through the particular impartations of these; for some partake of living only, others also of deification, others also of all these together, as do the highest intelligible powers.
Τῶν μερικῶν: Μερικά φησι τάς διαδοχάς τῶν γενῶν. Καί τῆς αὐτοαγαθότητος: Ὅτι καί τῆς αὐτοαγαθότητος καί θεότητος ὑποστάτης ἐστίν ὁ ὑπεράγαθος καί ὑπέρθεος. Σημείωσαι οὖν ὅτι οὐκ ἔστιν οὐσία Θεοῦ τά τοιαῦτα. Ἀνάγνωθι ἐν τῇ β ' πρός Γάϊον ἐπιστολῇ. Προνοίας καί ἀγαθότητας: Προνοίας καί ἀγαθότητάς φησιν, ἅπερ προεΐπεν οὐσίωσιν, ζώωσιν, ἀγαθότητα, θεότητα, κάλλος, καί τά ὅμοια. Ἐκ Θεοῦ τοῦ ἀμεθέκτου: Πρό βραχέος εἰπών μεθεκτόν τόν Θεόν, νῦν ἀμέθεκτον αὐτόν φησιν εἶναι· μεθεκτός μέν οὖν ὁ Θεός κατά τάς φιλοδώρους αὐτοῦ μεταδόσεις, ἀμέθεκτος δέ κατά τό αὐτόν αἴτιον ὄντα, καί τοῦτο ὑπέρ πάντα ἔχειν ἰδίως, ὧν πάντα προσφόρως μετέχει· ὅμοιον γάρ ἐστι τοῦτο τῷ εἰρημένῳ ἄνω ἐν κεφαλαίῳ πέμπτῳ, ὅτι τό ὄν καί ἐν τοῖς πᾶσίν ( 14 _360 ἐστι, καί οὐδέν τῶν πάντων ἐστί· διά γάρ τό συνέχειν καί ζωοῦν καί φυλάττειν λέγεται ἐν τοῖς πᾶσιν εἶναι, οὐδέν δέ τῶν ὄντων ἐστί· καθ' ὅ αἴτιον τῆς πάντων παραγωγῆς, οὐκ ἄν δέ τό αἴτιον ἐκ τῶν αἰτιατῶν εἴη. Οὕτω καί ἐνταῦθα, μεθεκτός μέν ὁ Θεός καθ' ὅ πάντα τά ὄντα αὐτοῦ μετέχει, καί δι' αὐτοῦ συνέστηκε· τό γάρ αὐτοῦ μή μετέχον, οὔτε ἔστιν, οὔτε ἔσται, οὔτε ἦν. Ἀμέθεκτος δέ πάλιν, ἐπειδή τῆς αὐτοῦ οὐσίας οὐδέν τῶν ὄντων μετέχει· ὑπέρ τά ὄντα γάρ ὁ Θεός κατά τήν ἰδίαν φύσιν. ΕΙΣ ΤΟ ΚΕΦΑΛΑΙΟΝ ΙΒ' § 1. Τῷ διπλασιασμῷ τῶν ὀνομάτων: Διπλασιασμόν ὀνομάτων φησί τό πρός τό ἁπλοῦν ὑπερθετικόν, οἷον Ἅγιον ἁγίων, Κύριον κυρίων, Θεόν θεῶν, καί Βασιλέα βασιλέων, καί τά ὅμοια τούτων.
On the Particular: He calls the successions of the genera "particular." And of Self-Goodness: [He means] that the Supremely Good and Supremely Divine is the very subsistence of self-goodness and divinity. Note, then, that such things are not the essence of God. Read the second letter to Gaius. Providences and goodnesses: He says "providences and goodnesses," which he previously called essentialization, vivification, goodness, divinity, beauty, and the like. From God who is unparticipated: Having shortly before called God participated, he now says that he is unparticipated. God is participated, then, according to his gift-loving communications, but unparticipated according to his being himself the Cause, and having this uniquely beyond all things of which all things participate in a fitting manner. For this is similar to what was said above in the fifth chapter, that Being is in all things and is none of all things. For because he contains, vivifies, and preserves, he is said to be in all things, yet he is none of existing things; insofar as he is the Cause of the production of all things, the Cause would not be from among the effects. So also here: God is participated insofar as all existing things participate in him and have their constitution through him—for that which does not participate in him neither is, nor will be, nor was. But he is again unparticipated, since none of existing things participates in his essence; for God is beyond existing things according to his own nature. ON CHAPTER 12 § 1. By the doubling of the names: He calls the superlative relative to the simple a "doubling of names," for example Holy of Holies, Lord of Lords, God of Gods, and King of Kings, and the like to these.
§ 2. Διό καί κυριότης: Ταῦτά φασιν οἱ δύο Γρηγόριοι, ὅ τε Θεολόγος καί ὁ Νύσσης.
§ 3. Ἀπολύτως ὑμνητέον: Ἀπολύτως, τουτέστιν οὐ κατά τι μέν, κατά τι δέ οὔ, ἤ ὡς πρός τι ἕτερον, ἀλλά κατά ἁπλῆν ἔννοιαν, τουτέστι κυρίως. Καί ἀνισότητα: Αὕτη ἐστίν ἡ ἑνότης, τό τῆς ἰσότητος καί ταυτότητος λέγω· τοῦτο γάρ ἐστι τό αἴτιον τῆς συμπνοίας καί τῆς συμπαθείας καί τῆς σωτηρίας τῶν ὅλων· ὁ γάρ τῆς ἑνότητος λόγος, ὁ κατά τά αὐτά καί ὡσαύτως ἔχων, ἕν εἰκότως ἄν προσαγορεύοιτο· καί γάρ τό ἐν τοῖς κατά μέρος ἕν τοιοῦτον ὑπάρχει, ἡνωμένον τοῖς μέρεσι, καί σύμπνουν κατά μετουσίαν τοῦ πρώτου αἰτίου. Κατά τοῦτον τόν λόγον καί ὁ Κύριος ὑπό τῶν μαθητῶν αἰτεῖ, «ἵνα ὦσι καί αὐτοί ἕν, ὡς καί ἡμεῖς ἕν ἐσμεν, ἵνα ὦσι τετελειωμένοι εἰς τό ἕν», ὅ δηλοῖ τήν ἁγιότητα, ( 14 _362 ὅ δηλοῖ τήν βασιλείαν, γάννυται δέ, ἤτοι εὐφραίνεται ἐπί τοῖς ἰδίοις ποιήμασιν ὁ Θεός, κατά τό ἐν ψαλμοῖς· «εὐφρανθήσεται Κύριος ἐπί τοῖς ἔργοις αὐτοῦ», ὅ δηλοῖ τήν κυριότητα. § 4. Ὁ ἀμέθεκτος αἴτιος: Ἀμέθεκτος ὁ Θεός κατά τόν τῆς φύσεως λόγον. Ἅγιος ἁγίων ὑμνεῖται: Πῶς Ἅγιος ἁγίων καί τά τοιαῦτα ὑμνεῖται ὁ Θεός, θαυμασίως ἐτράνωσε, καί φησι, καθ' ὅσον διαφέρει φύσις ἀκραιφνής καί αἰτία ποιότητος καί αἰτιατοῦ· τοῦτο γάρ ἐστι τό ὄν πρός τό μή κυρίως ὄν, καί καθ' ὅσον τούτου μετέχοντος αὐτό τό μετεχόμενον, κατά τοσοῦτον διαλλάττει ὁ Θεός ταῦτα λεγόμενος τῶν κατά μέθεξιν τοῦτο ἐσχηκότων· τά γάρ πάντα ἐκ Θεοῦ ἐστι καί λέγεται καί ἔχει, ὁ Θεός ἐξ οὐδενός.
§ 2. Therefore also "lordship": The two Gregories say these things, both the Theologian and the one of Nyssa.
§ 3. "Absolutely to be hymned": Absolutely, that is, not in one respect and not in another, nor in relation to something else, but according to a simple conception, that is, properly. And "inequality": This is the unity, I mean that of equality and identity; for this is the cause of the concord and the sympathy and the salvation of all things; for the principle of unity, which holds in the same respects and in the same way, would reasonably be called one; for even the one in things that are in part is of this sort, united in its parts, and concordant by participation in the first cause. According to this principle the Lord also asks of the disciples, "that they too may be one, as we also are one, that they may be perfected into the one," which signifies holiness, (14_362) which signifies the kingdom; and God rejoices, that is, is glad, over his own works, according to what is in the Psalms: "The Lord will rejoice over his works," which signifies the lordship. § 4. "The unparticipated cause": God is unparticipated according to the principle of nature. "Holy of holies is hymned": How God is hymned as Holy of holies and the like, he has wonderfully made clear, and says, inasmuch as a pure nature differs from the cause of quality and of the thing caused; for this is the difference of that which is from that which is not properly; and inasmuch as the participated itself differs from that which participates in it, to that extent God, being called these things, differs from those who have this by participation; for all things are from God and are said and have [their being], but God is from nothing.
Διά τί Ἅγιος ἁγίων, καί Βασιλεύς βασιλευόντων, καί Κύριος τῶν κυρίων, καί Θεός θεῶν λέγεται. Ἁγίους δέ καί βασιλεῖς: Θείας ἐπινοίας ὁ μακάριος οὗτος ἠξιωμένος, εὐσεβῶς τά παρά τισιν εἰς πολυθεΐαν ἐκπεσόντα φιλοθέως μυσταγωγεῖ καί τάς ἐφεστηκυίας τῶν ὑποβεβηκότων ἀρχάς κατά ἐξοχήν ἁγίους καί βασιλεῖς καί κυρίους καί θεούς λέγεσθαί φησιν, ὥσπερ καί ἐν ἀνθρώποις οἱ ἐξοχώτατοι οὕτω προσαγορεύονται, καί ὥσπερ ἐν ἡμῖν οἱ ἐν ἀρετῇ προὔχοντες διδάσκαλοι τήν ἀρετήν ἐν τῇ ψυχῇ ἑνιαίως συνηθροισμένην ἔχουσι, διά δέ τῆς διδασκαλίας ἑτέροις τάς ἀρετάς μεταδιδόντες πρός τήν διαφοράν τοῦ πλήθους τῶν διδασκομένων πληθύνεται καί ἡ μεταδιδομένη παρ' αὐτῶν ἀρετή· οὕτως ἰσχυροτέρῳ τινί καί θειοτέρῳ τρόπῳ ἐστί τῶν ἀσωμάτων τάξεων θεωρητόν· καί διά τῶν ἀνωτέρων καί πλησιαιτέρων Θεῷ αἱ ὑποβεβηκυῖαι τάξεις μετέχουσι τῶν δωρεῶν τοῦ Θεοῦ, ὥσπερ ἐκ κρατῆρος ὑπερβλύζοντος καί πηγάζοντος, τά μέν πλησιάζοντα ( 14 _364 σκεύη πρῶτα πληροῦνται, δεχόμενα τό ἐπί τά αὐτά φερόμενον, εἶτα, καί αὐτῶν ὑπερβλυζόντων, διαχεῖται εἰς ἕτερα ὑποκείμενα σκεύη, καί πρός τό πλῆθος τῶν δεχομένων καί τήν διαφοράν εἴτε μικρῶν εἴτε μεγάλων, οἷον διαρραντίζεται τό ἐκ τοῦ κρατῆρος ἀναβλῦζον τῶν πρώτων σκευῶν ἐν ἑαυτοῖς ἐχόντων κατά τήν ἑνότητα τοῦ πληρώματος τό πρώτως ἐκ τοῦ κρατῆρος ἐνεχθέν· οὕτω παχυτέρῳ λόγῳ τήν ἀφθονίαν τῆς μεταδόσεως τῶν θείων δωρεῶν μεριζομένην εἰς ἅπαντας διά τῶν πρώτων διακόσμων νοητέον. Καί ὁ Ἀπόστολος «σκεῦος γάρ ἐκλογῆς» ὠνομάσθη.
Why is He called Holy of Holies, and King of kings, and Lord of lords, and God of gods? And "holy" and "kings": This blessed man, having been deemed worthy of divine conceptions, piously and God-lovingly initiates into the things that have fallen among some into polytheism, and he says that the presiding principalities of the subordinate orders are called "holy" and "kings" and "lords" and "gods" by way of pre-eminence, just as among men those who are most eminent are so addressed, and just as among us the teachers who excel in virtue have virtue gathered in the soul in a unified way, but through teaching they impart the virtues to others, and the virtue imparted by them is multiplied according to the difference of the multitude of those taught; so too in some stronger and more divine manner is it contemplated in the incorporeal orders; and through the higher and nearer to God, the subordinate orders partake of the gifts of God, as from a bowl overflowing and gushing forth: the vessels nearest are filled first, receiving what is borne upon them, then, when these too overflow, it is diffused into other vessels placed beneath, and according to the number of those receiving and the difference whether small or great, the water bubbling up from the bowl is, as it were, sprinkled abroad, while the first vessels contain in themselves, according to the unity of the fullness, what was first carried from the bowl; so too, in a coarser account, one must understand the abundance of the distribution of the divine gifts as divided among all through the first orders. And the Apostle was called "a vessel of election.
Σημείωσαι δέ, ὅτι ἀμέθεκτον νῦν τόν Θεόν κατά τόν τῆς φύσεως λόγον φησί.
Διαφοράς πληθύουσι: Τουτέστι πλείους δεικνύουσιν· ὅσον γάρ διάφορα τά μετέχοντα, τοσοῦτον καί αἱ δωρεαί πολυειδεῖς διαφαίνονται. ΕΙΣ ΤΟ ΚΕΦΑΛΑΙΟΝ ΙΓ' § 1. Ὑφ' ἑαυτοῦ μονοειδῶς ἀφοριζόμενον: Ὁ Θεός ἑαυτοῦ καί ὅρος καί τόπος, καί οὐδέν ὑπερεκτείνεται τοῦ Θεοῦ, ἀλλά καί τά ἄπειρα αὐτός περατοῖ· τούς γάρ αἰῶνας ἀπείρους ὄντας (οὐδέ γάρ ἔχουσι πέρας) αὐτός τῷ ἀπείρῳ μεγέθει ὑπερέχων τῷ ἑαυτοῦ ἀπειροπλασίῳ περιέχει, καί πᾶσαν ἀοριστίαν ζωῆς, ὡς ἐπί τῶν νοητῶν· οὐ γάρ ὥριστα τούτοις ὁ βίος, ὡς ἐπί ἀνθρώπων, ἀλλ’ ἀθάνατοι ἐκτίσθησαν. Ὁ δέ Θεός ἐν τῷ ὑπεραιωνίῳ ἑστώς, τῆς ἰδίας ἀϊδίτητος ὁρίζεται.
§ 2. Ἕν δέ, ὅτι πάντα: Πολλά τῷ ἀριθμῷ, ἕν δέ τῷ εἴδει, ( 14 _366 τά νομίσματα καί τά ἀργύρια καί οἱ ὀβολοί· τό γάρ εἶδος ἕν, ἤ χαλκός ἤ χρυσός ἤ ἄργυρος, τό δέ πολλά ταῖς δυνάμεσιν, ὡς αἱ πόαι, ἕν δέ τῷ εἴδει· πᾶσαι γάρ χόρτος· τό δέ πολλά τοῖς εἴδεσιν, οἷον ἵππος, βοῦς, ἄνθρωπος, καί τά νοητά, ἕν δέ τῷ γένει, ὅτι ταῦτα ζῶόν εἰσι· τό δέ πολλά ταῖς προόδοις, αἱ δημιουργίαι, ἕν δέ τῇ ἀρχῇ· Θεός γάρ αἴτιος πάντων.
Note that he now says God is unparticipated according to the principle of nature.
They abound in differences: that is, they show them to be more numerous; for to the extent that the things which participate are different, to that same extent the gifts also appear manifold in form. ON CHAPTER 13 § 1. Bounded by itself in a single form: God is His own boundary and place, and nothing extends beyond God, but He also sets limits to the infinite; for the ages, being infinite (for they have no limit), He, surpassing them by His infinite magnitude, contains by His own infinitely-multiplied [magnitude], and [He contains] every indefiniteness of life, as in the case of intelligible beings; for their life is not delimited, as in the case of humans, but they were created immortal. And God, standing in the super-eternal, is bounded by His own eternity.
§ 2. One, because all things: Many in number, but one in species (the coins and the silver and the obols; for the species is one, either bronze or gold or silver), but many in powers, as the grasses, but one in species; for all are grass; but many in species, such as horse, ox, human, and the intelligible beings, but one in genus, because these are living things; but many in processions, the creations, but one in principle; for God is the cause of all.
Ἀλλ' ὥσπερ ἅπας ἀριθμός: Καλῶς ἀποδείκνυσιν ὅπερ καί βούλεται. Σκοπός γάρ τῷ θείῳ τούτῳ ἀνδρί καί ἀπό τῆς ἀριθμητικῆς συστῆσαι τά ἑαυτοῦ. Λέγει γοῦν, ὅτι οὐδέν ἐστι τῶν ὄντων ἀμέτοχον τοῦ ἑνός, τουτέστι τοῦ Θεοῦ· διότι καί πᾶς ἀριθμός μονάδος μετέχει· εἰ γάρ ἐκ τῶν δύο ἄρξεταί τις, μίαν δυάδα πρώτην ἀριθμεῖ, καί ἐκ τῶν δέκα ὁμοίως, τό πλέον φησίν, ὅτι, κἄν ἐν τῶν λεγομένων πολλοστημορίων ἄρξηταί τις πρῶτον, ἀριθμεῖ ἥμισυ ἕν, καί τρίτον ἕν, δέκατον ἕν, καί οὕτως ἐφεξῆς, ὥστε μή εἶναι ἀριθμόν μή μετέχοντα τοῦ ἑνός, ἤτοι τῆς μονάδος· κἄν γάρ μορίου ἐπιμνησθῇς, ἐρεῖς ἥμισυ ἕν, καί τρίτον ἕν, καί δέκατον ἕν, καί ἐφεξῆς· καί ὅτι μία δυάς, καί μία δεκάς λέγεται, ὡς καί τούτων ἐξ αὐτῆς συμπληρουμένων.
Τόο πάντων αἴτιον ἕν: Ὁ σκοπός δῆλος, ὅτι 'ἕν' λεγόμενος ὁ Θεός, οὐχ ὁμοίως τοῖς ἀριθμητοῖς ἕν λέγεται· ὁ μέν γάρ Θεός ἕν ἐστι, καθό ἁπλοῦς τε καί ἀμερής καί τῆς κατ' εἶδος διαφορᾶς ἄμοιρος καί πάντων παθημάτων καί συμβεβηκότων ἀλλότριος· λέγεται καί ἕν, ἀρχή τις ὥσπερ καί στοιχεῖον τῶν ἐσομένων νοούμενος. Τό δέ ταὐτόν, ἤ ἕτερον, ἤ μεῖζον, ἤ ἔλαττον, ἔτι δέ ἄρτιον ἤ περιττόν, ἤ ἶσον ἤ ἄνισον, ὅπερ ἐν τοῖς ἀριθμοῖς θεωρεῖται, οὐκ ἄν τις εὐλόγως ἐπί τήν ἀρχήν ἀναφέροι, ἀρχήν αὐτά ποιούμενος· τά γάρ τοιαῦτα πάθη καί συμβεβηκότα ἐξ ἀνάγκης εἰσί. Τῶν μέν οὖν ἐν ἀριθμοῖς διαιρέσεων εἰς πλῆθος τό πέρας ( 14 _368 εἰς μονάδα ἀνάγεται, ἡ δέ ἀρχή ἐν ἑκάστῳ γένει ἁπλούστατόν ἐστι·
But just as every number: He well demonstrates what he also intends. For it is the aim of this divine man to establish his own points also from arithmetic. He says, then, that nothing among existing things is without a share in the one, that is, in God; because every number also partakes of the monad. For if one begins from two, he counts one dyad as first, and likewise from ten—he says the more, that even if one begins from one of the so-called fractions first, he counts one half, one third, one tenth, and so on in order, so that there is no number that does not partake of the one, that is, of the monad. For even if you mention a fraction, you will say one half, one third, one tenth, and so on; and that one dyad and one decad are spoken of, as these too being completed from it.
The one cause of all things: The aim is clear—that God, being called "one," is not called one in the same way as things that are counted. For God is one inasmuch as he is simple and indivisible and shares in no specific difference and is alien to all passions and accidents; he is also called one, being conceived as a kind of principle and element of things that are to be. But the same or other, or greater or less, and further even or odd, or equal or unequal—which is observed in numbers—no one would reasonably refer to the principle, making these the principle; for such things are necessarily passions and accidents. Now the limit of the divisions in numbers into plurality is reduced to the monad, and the principle in each genus is the simplest.
καί ἐν τοῖς οὖσιν οὖν, εἴτε τό ἕν πολλά ἐστιν, εἴτε τά πολλά ἕν, ἀρχή τις καί στοιχεῖον τό ἁπλούστατόν ἐστι, καί πάντων ἀμέτοχον ἕν, ἐξ οὗ ὥσπερ ἐκ παραδείγματος καί ἰδέας καί τό ἐν τοῖς οὖσιν ἕν, οἷον κἄν τό αἰσθητόν φῶς πολλά ᾖ τοῖς μέρεσιν, ἀντί τοῦ τοῖς ἄστροις πᾶσιν, ἀλλ’ ὅλον συλλεγόμενον, ἕν φῶς ἐστι· καί πολλά τοῖς συμβεβηκόσιν, οἷον τό ταώς· ἔχει γάρ καί χρυσίζοντα καί κυάνεα καί λευκά, ἕν τῷ ὑποκειμένῳ σώματί ἐστιν· οὕτω καί τά ἑξῆς νοητέον. Οὑδέ γάρ ἐστι πλῆθος: Ὧδε ἐξ ἀριθμητικῆς περιγίνεται τοῦ λεγομένου. Σημείωσαι δέ, ὅτι καί πρό τοῦ ἑνός λέγει εἶναι τόν Θεόν εἰκότως, ἐπειδή πάντων ὑπάρχει, ὅθεν καί τοῦ ἀριθμοῦ δημιουργός, ἤτοι ἐφευρέτης ἐστίν. Ἀλλά τό μέν πολλά: Προσυπακουστέον ἐφ' ἑκάστου τούτων τό 'ὑπάρχον', ἵνα ἦ τό λεγόμενον τοιοῦτον, τό ὑπάρχον τοῖς μέρεσι πολλά ἕν ἐστι τῷ ὅλῳ, οἷον τό σῶμα, οὕτω καί τά λοιπά ἕν τῷ ὑποκειμένῳ ἐστίν, ἤτοι οὐσίᾳ· ἀλλά πολλά τοῖς συμβεβηκόσιν, οἷον ὁ ἄνθρωπος. Συμβεβηκότα δέ τά μέν χωριστά, ὡς τό καθέζεσθαι, περιπατεῖν, καί τά ὅμοια, τά δέ ἀχώριστα, ὡς τό γλαυκόν ἤ γρυπόν καί τά ὅμοια, καί πάλιν, ἕν μέν εἶδος, ἵππος ἤ βοῦς, ἀλλά τοῦτο πολλά ὑπάρχει τῷ ἀριθμῷ· πολλοί γάρ ἵπποι, καί πολλοί βόες. Ἀλλά καί ταῖς δυνάμεσι ταῖς φυσικαῖς πολλά ὑπάρχει· καί αὗθις τά πολλά εἴδη, οἷον ἄνθρωπος, ἵππος, κύων καί τά ἄλλα, ἕν εἰσι τῷ γένει· ζῶον γάρ τούτων ἕκαστον· οὕτω γοῦν καί τό πολλά ὑπάρχον ταῖς περιόδοις, ἤγουν τοῖς βουλεύμασιν, ἤ καί τοῖς ἔργοις ἕν εἰσι τῇ ἀρχῇ.
And so among existing things, whether the one is many or the many are one, there is a certain principle and element, the most simple, and a one sharing in nothing, from which, as from a paradigm and idea, the one among existing things also derives—for example, even if sensible light is many in its parts, that is, in all the stars, yet when gathered as a whole it is one light; and it is many in its accidents, like the peacock: for it has golden and dark-blue and white colors, yet it is one in the underlying body; and so one must understand the following things as well. For it is not a multitude: Here the point is established from arithmetic. Note also that he reasonably says God is before the one, since He exists before all things, whence He is also the creator, that is, the inventor, of number. But the many: In each of these one must supply the word "existing," so that what is said is of this sort: what exists in its parts is many, yet is one in the whole, for example the body; and so the rest are one in the underlying subject, that is, in substance; but many in their accidents, for example man. Accidents are some separable, like sitting, walking, and the like, and some inseparable, like being grey-eyed or hook-nosed and the like; and again, one in species, a horse or an ox, but this is many in number: for many horses and many oxen. But it is also many in natural powers; and again, the many species, for example man, horse, dog and the others, are one in genus: for each of these is an animal; so then also what is many in its circuits, that is, in its counsels, or even in its works, are one in their principle.
Πάντα καί ὅλα πάντα: Πάντα λέγεται, ὅταν εἴδη καί μέρη καί διαφοραί ἐν ταῖς διαιρέσεσιν ὦσιν, ὅλον δέ, ὅταν τά μέρη ( 14 _370 συλλεγόμενα ἕν ὁλόκληρον ἀποτελῶσιν, ἤ τά εἴδη ἕν γένος, ἤ καί τά ἐναντία καί ἀντικείμενα εἰς σύμπνοιαν καί συμπάθειαν ἡσυχάζῃ, ὡς ὕδωρ ὁμοῦ, καί γῆ, καί ἀήρ, καί τά πυρώδη ἄστρα, καί οὐρανός· λέγεται γάρ ὅλα ταῦτα κόσμος.
Καί ἄνευ μέν τοῦ ἑνός: Ἐπειδή τό ἕν δοκεῖ πως ἔχειν σχέσιν πρός ἀριθμόν, ἄνευ ἑνός οὑκ ἄν εἴη πλῆθος· σύνθεσις γάρ μονάδος εἰσίν οἱ εἰς πλῆθος ἀριθμοί, ὅπερ εἶπεν ἄνω, ὅτι πολλαπλασιάζεται ὁ Θεός, ὡς ἀπό ἀριθμητικῆς νοούμενος. Τό δέ ἕν καί καθ' ἑαυτό ὑφέστηκε καί ἔστι.
Καί εἰ πᾶσι τά πάντα: Τό 'ὑποθοῖτό τις', καί τό 'καθ' ὑπόθεσιν' λαμβάνεται ἐπί τῶν πραγματικῶς οὐκ ὄντων, ἀλλά λόγῳ τυπουμένων· ἐνταῦθα μέντοι οὐχ οὕτω ληπτέον, ἀλλά τό κατά ἐπίνοιαν λόγῳ τοῦτο θετέον, διά τήν τοῦ ἐκτίσθαι ταυτότητα, καί τό ὅλον ἐν τοῖς μέρεσι θεωρεῖσθαι, καί ἐν τῷ ὅλῳ τά μέρη. Ὅτι κατά τό ἑνός ἑκάστου προεπινοούμενον: Εἰ μή προεπινοηθείη, φησί, τό τοῦ ἀνθρώπου εἶδος, ἤγουν ἡ φύσις, οὐκ ἄν τις εἴποι τούς ἀνθρώπους ἡνῶσθαι ἀλλήλους· δῆλον δέ ὅτι κατ’ αὐτόν τόν τῆς φύσεως λόγον. § 3. Καί εἰ ἀνέλοις τό ἕν: Οὕτω τό ρητόν συνθετέον, ὅτι ἡνῶσθαι λέγεται τά ἡνωμένα κατ' εἶδος προεπινοούμενον ἑνός ἑκάστου· προείπομεν γάρ, ὅτι τά εἴδη καί τά πολλά στοιχεῖόν τι ἀρχήν τό ἕν ἐπιγράφονται, εἰς γένος ἕν ἀναγόμενα, οὗ γένους εἴδη εἰσί· ταῦτα γάρ ἡνωμένα αὐτῷ τῷ εἴδει, οἷον ἵπποι, βόες, καί τά ἑξῆς, ἅπερ εἰς ἕν γένος ἀνάγονται, τό καλεῖσθαι ζῶον.
All things and all wholes: "All things" is said when species and parts and differences exist in divisions, but "a whole" when the parts, gathered together, constitute one complete whole, or the species constitute one genus, or even contraries and opposites rest together in harmony and sympathy, as water together, and earth, and air, and the fiery stars, and heaven; for all these are called a cosmos.
And without the one: Since the one seems somehow to have a relation to number, a multitude would not exist without a one; for the numbers that go to make a multitude are a composition of the monad, which he said above, that God is multiplied, understood as it were from arithmetic. But the one also subsists by itself and exists.
And if all things are in all: The phrase "one might suppose" and "by hypothesis" are taken of things that do not really exist but are formed by reason; here, however, it must not be taken thus, but this must be posited by way of conception in reason, because of the identity of what has been constituted, and because the whole is contemplated in the parts, and the parts in the whole. Because according to the one preconceived of each: If, he says, the species of man, that is, his nature, were not preconceived, no one would say that men are united to one another; and it is clear that this is according to the very principle of nature. § 3. And if you remove the one: The saying must be composed thus, that things united are said to be united according to the species, the one of each being preconceived; for we said before that the species and the many inscribe as their element a certain principle, the one, being reduced to one genus, of which genus they are the species; for these are united to the species itself, as horses, cattle, and the rest, which are reduced to one genus, that of being called an animal.
Τήν ὅλην θεαρχίαν: Ὅλη θεαρχία ἡ παναγία καί προσκυνητή Τριάς, διά δέ τήν ἀνέκφραστον τῆς φύσεως ἕνωσιν, ὁ εἷς καί ἕν χρηματίζει. ( 14 _372 Ὑφ' ἧς καί ἐξ ἧς: Τῷ 'ὑφ' ἧς' σύνταξον τό 'ἐστί', καί τῷ 'ἐξ ἧς' τό 'συντέτακται', καί τῷ 'δι' ἧς' τό 'μένει', καί τῷ 'ἐν ἧ' τό 'συνέχεται', ἤγουν φυλάττεται, καί τῷ 'εἰς ἥν' τό 'ἐπιστρέφεται', εἰ καί ὁ πατήρ ἰδίως καί ὑφ' ἕν τά ρήματα ἔταξε, καί τό 'πάντα' δέ ἀπό κοινοῦ. Καλῶς δέ εἶπεν, ὅτι, ἐάν ἀνέλῃς τό ἕν, οὔτε ὁλότης, οὔτε πολλοστημόριον, οὔτε ἄλλο οὐδέν· τοῦτο γάρ προῃνίξατο καί ἄνω εἰπών, καί ἡμισυ ἕν, καί τρίτον, καί δέκατον, δηλονότι καί τά μόρια τοῦ ἑνός μετέχουσι. Τό πάντων αἴτιον ἕν: Οὐκ ἀπολύτως ἑνί παντί τά πάντα συνέστηκεν, ἀλλ ' ἐκείνῳ μόνῳ τῷ ἑνί, καθ' ὅ ἕν, ὁ Θεός καί εἷς καί ἕν ὀνομάζεται· τούτῳ γάρ μόνῳ τῷ ἑνί τά ὄντα ἐστίν· αὐτό γάρ τό ὄνομα τό ἕν ὁ λέγων κατά ἀπόφασιν τοῦ πολλαπλοῦ τοῦτο σημαίνει· τό μέντοι ἕν αὐτοαρχή καί πρῶτόν ἐστι τῷ πρός τί πως ἔχειν· τῶν γάρ ἐξ αὐτοῦ πολλῶν ἔννοιαν εἰσάγει. Ταῦτα δέ οὐκ ἐπιτήδεια ἐπί Θεοῦ· τοιοῦτον δέ ὄν μόνον τό ἕν, παντελῶς ἀπαθές καί ἀδιαίρετον καί αὐταρκέστατόν ἐστι· κατά γάρ τήν αὐτοῦ φύσιν ἑτέρῳ συμπλέκεσθαι οὐ πέφυκεν, ὥσπερ τό ἐν ἀριθμοῖς ἕν· ἀπωθεῖται γάρ τό πλῆθος καί πᾶσαν σύνθεσιν καί διαίρεσιν αὐτό τό κυρίως ἕν, καί πρό παντός ἑνός. Τοῦτο γάρ οὔτε μικρόν, οὔτε μέτριον καλεῖται εἰ δέ δεῖ καί τολμῆσαι, οὔτε καλόν, οὔτε ἀγαθόν· ταῦτα γάρ πάθη πως, οἷόν εἰσι καί σχέσεις καί συμβεβηκότα.
The whole divine order: The whole divine order is the all-holy and worshipful Trinity, but because of the inexpressible union of its nature, it is called one and one thing. (14_372) By which and from which: Attach "is" to "by which," and "has been constituted" to "from which," and "remains" to "through which," and "is held together," that is, is preserved, to "in which," and "is turned" to "into which," even if the Father has arranged the words individually and under one [construction], and "all things" is [to be taken] in common. And well did he say that if you remove the one, there is neither wholeness, nor a fraction, nor anything else; for he hinted at this beforehand also when he said above, "a half one, and a third, and a tenth," clearly that the parts also partake of the one. The one cause of all things: Not by any one whatsoever have all things been constituted, but by that one alone, insofar as it is one, which is named God and one and one thing; for to this one alone do beings belong; for the very name "one," when one speaks it by negation of the many, signifies this; the one, however, is self-originate and first by having a certain relation to something; for it introduces the notion of the many that come from it. But these things are not suitable in the case of God; but the one, being such only, is wholly impassible and indivisible and most self-sufficient; for according to its own nature it is not naturally entwined with another, as is the one in numbers; for the properly one, and before every one, rejects multitude and all composition and division. For this is called neither small, nor moderate—and if one must dare [to say it], neither beautiful nor good; for these are in some way affections, such as are relations and accidents.
Αὐτό δέ τό ἕν καί ὑπέρ πάντα νοεῖται, τά δέ πάθη, ὡς τό μικρόν καί μέτριον, καί σύν ἄλλῳ νοοῦνται, καί οὔτε ἁπλᾶ διά τοῦτο, οὔτε στοιχειώδη. Τό ἕν οὖν, ὡς εἴρηται, ὅπερ ἁπλοῦν καί ἀπαθές, μή ἔχον τά λεχθέντα, οὔτε ὡς γένος θετέον τῶν ὄντων· τά δέ γένη πάντως διαιρεῖται εἰς τά εἴδη, ἀλλ’ οὔτε στιγμήν ἤ μονάδα κυρίως· σχέσιν γάρ ἔχει ( 14 _374 ταῦτα πρός τά ἐφεξῆς. Τό δέ ἐστιν ἁπλούστατον, καί οὔτε μίαν διαφοράν ἔχον· οὔτε γάρ κίνησίν τινα καί στάσιν, οἷον ἠρεμίαν ἔχει, ἀλλ’ οὔτε ὄν θετέον αὐτό τό ἕν, ἀλλά ἀρχήν ὄντος καί σπέρμα. Τῷ δέ ὄντι πλῆθος ἐξ ἀνάγκῃς παρέπεται, τῷ πλήθει τό ὄν προσγίνεται, ὅπερ οὐκ ἔστιν ἐπί Θεοῦ. Τό γάρ ὄν οὐσία ἐστίν, ἀπό τοῦ εἶναι. Ὁ δέ Θεός καί ὑπερούσιος, καί ὑπέρ τό ὄν, καί ἑνικῶς ἀντί τοῦ ἐξαιρέτως καί ἀμιμήτως ὑπέρ τό ὄν· ὁ γάρ Θεός τά πάντα ἐστί καί ὑπέρ πάντα. Θαυμασίως οὖν τά περί ἀριθμῶν φυσιολογήσας. Κἄν τριάς, ἐπάγει, κἄν μονάς ὑμνεῖται ἡ ὑπέρ πάντα θεότης, οὔτε τριάς οὔτε μονάς ἐστιν, ἡ παρ' ἡμῶν δι' ἀριθμῶν γνωριζομένη, ἤ παρ' ἑτέρου, ἀλλ' ὑπέρ πάντα νοῦν καί ἔστι καί ὀνομάζεται ὁ Θεός· διά γάρ τοῦ εἰπεῖν 'ὅπερ οὐκ ἔστι', νοοῦμεν ὅ,τί ἐστιν ὁ Θεός.
The one itself is also conceived as beyond all things, while the affections, such as the small and the moderate, are conceived in conjunction with something else, and for this reason they are neither simple nor elemental. The one, then, as has been said, insofar as it is simple and passionless, not having the things mentioned, is not to be posited as a genus of beings—for genera are altogether divided into species—nor indeed is a point or a monad [to be so posited] in the strict sense; for these have a relation to what follows. But that which is is most simple and has not even a single difference; for it has neither any motion and rest, such as tranquility, nor is the one itself to be posited as being, but rather as the principle and seed of being. But plurality necessarily accompanies being, and being is added to plurality, which is not the case with God. For being is substance, from the fact of existing. But God is also supersubstantial and beyond being, and "singularly" is used instead of "transcendently and inimitably beyond being"; for God is all things and beyond all things. Wonderfully, then, has he discoursed on the nature of numbers. And whether a triad, he adds, or a monad is hymned, the divinity beyond all things is neither a triad nor a monad—the one known by us through numbers, or by another—but beyond all mind God both is and is named; for by saying "that which is not," we understand what God is.
Καί αὐτό τό ἕν ὄν ὁρίζον: Ὅτι καί ὑπέρ τό ὄν ὁ Θεός, ὡς πάντα ὑπάρχων, καί αὐτός τοῦ ἀριθμοῦ ποιητής καί ἐφευρετής ὑπάρχων. Ἐνάριθμόν ἐστι: Σημείωσαι, ὅτι τό ἐνάριθμον ἀριθμοῦ δήλωσιν σημαίνει· ἐπί τῶν ὄντων τοίνυν, τουτέστι τῶν κτισμάτων, τό ἕν ἐντιθέμενον, κατά ἀριθμοῦ ἔννοιαν τίθεται.
Οὐκ ἔστιν οὐδέ μονάς: Μή ἁπλῶς τό 'οὐκ ἔστι μονάς, οὐδέ τριάς' ἐξακούσῃς, ἀλλά πρός τό, 'διεγνωσμένη', σύνταξον τό 'οὐκ ἔστιν'· οὐ γάρ ἀνελεῖν τά τῆς τοιαύτης ὁμολογίας, ἀλλά τό ἀνεξιχνίαστον ὁ λόγος διδάξαι βούλεται. Καί τό θεογόνον ἀληθῶς: Τό θεογόνον φησί δηλοῦσθαι ἐκ τῆς ὀνομασίας τῆς Τριάδος· ἵνα γάρ παραστῇ τῶν ἀνεκλαλήτων ὑποστάσεων ἡ προσκυνητή ἔκφανσις, ὁ ἀριθμός ἐπενοήθη, καθά φησι Βασίλειος, καί οἱ θεῖοι Γρηγόριοι. Γόνιμον δέ τόν Πατέρα καταχρηστικῶς ὠνόμασεν, ἅτε καί προσκυνητοῦ Υἱοῦ ( 14 _376 Πατέρα, καί τοῦ συμπροσκυνητοῦ αὐτοῖς παναγίου Πνεύματος πηγήν. Γονιμότης οὖν, ἤ ἕτερόν τι ὄνομα τῶν συνεγνωσμένων ἀνθρώποις, ἤ καί αὐταῖς ταῖς νοηταῖς δυνάμεσιν, οὐκ ἄν παραστήσει τρανῶς τά ὥς εἰστιν ἐκ πάντων ἀποκεκρυμμένα τοῦ Θεοῦ· πῶς γάρ δυνατόν ὀνομάσαι ἀπό τινος τῶν ὄντων τόν Θεόν, μήτε τι τῶν πάντων ὄντα, ἀλλά καί ὑπέρ πάντα τά ὄντα;
And defining the one itself as being: That God is also beyond being, as existing all things, and himself being the maker and inventor of number. It is numbered: Note that "numbered" signifies a declaration of number; in the case of beings, therefore, that is, of created things, the one, when placed in, is set according to the concept of number.
He is neither a monad: Do not simply hear "he is not a monad, nor a triad," but join "he is not" to "distinguished"; for the word wishes to teach not the destruction of such a confession, but the unsearchable. And truly God-begotten: He says that "God-begotten" is made clear from the name of the Trinity; for in order that the adorable manifestation of the ineffable hypostases might be presented, number was devised, as Basil says, and the divine Gregories. He called the Father "fruitful" by catachresis, since he is the source of the adorable Son and of the all-holy Spirit who is co-adored with them. Fruitfulness, therefore, or some other name of those known to men, or even to the intellectual powers themselves, could not clearly present the things of God that are hidden from all as they are; for how is it possible to name God from any of beings, when he is not any of all things, but is also beyond all beings?
Οὐδέ ὄνομα αὐτῆς ἐστι: Καλῶς ὁ θεῖος οὗτος ἀνήρ λέγει, ὅτι οὐδέ τό ὄνομα αὐτῆς ἐστιν, οὐδέ λόγος, ἀλλά ἐν ἀβάτοις ἐξήρηται, οὐ τόποις, μή γένοιτο! ἀλλά λογισμοῖς καί ἐνθυμήσεσιν· ἄβατος γάρ παντί νῷ καί ἐνθυμήσει ὁ περί Θεοῦ λόγος. Τό δέ μήτε ὄνομα αὐτοῦ εἶναι, καλῶς καί εὐαπαλλάκτως νόησον· τά γάρ ὄντα πάντα καί δι' ὀνομάτων καί διά πραγμάτων γνωστικῶν σημαίνονται. Ποῖον τοίνυν ὄνομα ἤ πρᾶγμα δυνατόν ἐπιθεῖναι τῷ Θεῷ, τῷ ὑπέρ πάντα τά ὄντα ἐξηρημένῳ καί πεποιηκότι τά πάντα καί αἰτίῳ τῶν πάντων; Διό καί τήν ἀγαθότητα αὐτήν ἤ τό καλόν φησιν ὁ θεῖος οὗτος Διονύσιος μή κυρίως ἐφαρμόσαι αὐτῷ τῷ Θεῷ, ἐπειδή καί ἐν τοῖς οὖσιν εὑρίσκονται ταῦτα. Καί ἀνωτέρω οὕτως εὑρήσεις, ὅτι ταῦτα τά πάθη καί συμβεβηκότα λογίζοντα ἐν τοῖς οὖσιν, ὅπερ ἔστιν ἐπί Θεοῦ τοῦ ὑπεραναβεβηκότος πάντων.
Ἀλλά πόθῳ τοῦ νοεῖν: Σημείωσαι, ὡραῖόν φησιν, ὅτι διά τό ὅλως νοεῖν τι καί λέγειν περί Θεοῦ, τῷ περί αὐτόν πόθῳ κατεχόμενοι, τό τῆς ἀγαθότητος ὄνομα ἐπέβαλον τῷ Θεῷ οἱ θεολόγοι, ἐπεί κυρίως καί ὑπεράγαθος καί ὑπερούσιός ἐστιν ὁ Θεός, ἡ δέ ἀγαθότης, ὥς φησιν οὗτος, σεμνότατον ὄνομα τῶν πάντων. Αἱ δέ ἀποφάσεις, ἤτοι ἀρνήσεις καί στερήσεις, ἐπί Θεοῦ οὐχ ἁπλῶς εἴρηνται τοῖς θεολόγοις· οὐ γάρ, ὡς λέγονται, νοοῦνται, ἀλλά ὑπεραναβεβηκότως θεωροῦνται· τό γάρ ἀθάνατος, καί ἀόρατος, καί ἄφθαρτος, καί ἀνενδεής, καί ἀναμάρτητος, οὐκ ἄν τις, σοφίας μετέχων, δημωδέστερον ὑπολάβοι, οὔτε ( 14 _378 ὅσα ἐπί Θεοῦ τοιαῦτα λέγεται, ἀλλά τῶν δηλουμένων ἐξιστάμενος ἐπί τάς σεσιγημένας καί θειοτέρας ἐννοίας ἀνανεύσει·
Neither is there a name for it: This divine man rightly says that there is neither a name for it nor a word, but it is set apart in inaccessible realms—not places, may it not be!—but in thoughts and conceptions; for the word concerning God is inaccessible to every mind and conception. And understand well and easily that there is neither a name for him: for all things that exist are signified both by names and by knowable realities. What name, then, or reality can be applied to God, who is set apart beyond all things that exist, who made all things and is the cause of all things? Therefore this divine Dionysius says that even goodness itself, or the beautiful, does not properly apply to God himself, since these are also found among things that exist. And above you will find it stated thus, that these affections and accidents are reckoned among things that exist, which is not the case with God, who has transcended all things.
But out of longing to understand: Note, he says something fine, that because they wholly understood and spoke something concerning God, being possessed by longing for him, the theologians applied the name of goodness to God, since God is properly both super-good and super-essential, and goodness, as he says, is the most august name of all. The negations, that is, the denials and privations, are not spoken of God by the theologians in a simple sense; for they are not understood as they are spoken, but are contemplated in a transcendent manner. For "immortal," "invisible," "incorruptible," "without need," and "without sin"—no one who partakes of wisdom would suppose these in a vulgar way, nor whatever else of this kind is said of God, but, standing outside the things signified, he will turn upward to the silent and more divine conceptions.
διό καί θειοτέρας θεωνυμίας ἐφεξῆς αὐτάς καλῶς προσαγορεύει. Ἐξισταμένη γάρ ἡ ψυχή τῶν σωματικῶν πασῶν αἰσθήσεων καί κοσμικῶν, ταῦτα γάρ ἑαυτῇ ἐποίησε σύμφυλα· οὕτω συνάπτεται τῷ ἀκραιφνεῖ τῆς γνώσεως τοῦ Θεοῦ, καθ' ὅσον δυνατόν ἐστιν ἀνθρωπίνῃ φύσει, ὡς καί ὁ Ἀπόστολος αἰνίττεται λέγων· «καί οὕτω πάντοτε σύν Κυρίῳ ἐσόμεθα»· καί πάλιν· «νῦν ὡς ἐν αἰνίγματι καί ἐν ἐσόπτρῳ ὁρῶμεν, τότε δέ τό πρόσωπον πρός πρόσωπον ὀψόμεθα». Τό τῶν ὀνομάτων σεπτότατον: Σημείωσαι, ὅτι πάντων ὀνομάτων σεπτότατον ἡ ἀγαθότης· διό καί πρώτως τῷ Θεῷ ἀφιέρωται. Τῶν ἑαυτῇ συμφύλων: Συμφύλων φησί τῶν συμφυῶν καί γνωρίμων καί τῆς κτίσεως ἰδίων.
§ 4. Τοῦτο γάρ ἀληθῶς καί ἄγγελοι: Ὅτι καί ἀγγέλοις τά περί Θεοῦ ἀκατάληπτα, καί ὅτι καί ὁ κατώτατος τῶν ἀγγέλων μείζων πάντων τῶν ἐν τῇ Ἐκκλησίᾳ θεολόγων περί Θεοῦ θεωρεῖ, οὐκοῦν καί τῶν ἀποστόλων. Καί εἴ τι τῶν ὁμοδυνάμων. Ὅτι, κἄν ἕτεραι ὁμοδύναμοι θεωνυμίαι ἐν τῇ Γραφῇ εὑρεθῶσι, χρή καί ταύτας κατά τάς αὐτάς ἐκφαντορικάς μεθόδους προσυπακούειν.
Therefore he rightly next calls them more divine names of God. For the soul, standing outside all bodily and worldly senses—for it has made these things akin to itself—is thus united to the pure knowledge of God, insofar as it is possible for human nature, as the Apostle also hints when he says: "And so we shall always be with the Lord"; and again: "Now we see as in a riddle and in a mirror, but then we shall see face to face." The most revered of names: Note that the most revered of all names is goodness; therefore it is also dedicated first to God. Of things akin to itself: He means "akin" as things connatural and familiar and proper to creation.
§ 4. For this truly even angels: That even to angels the things concerning God are incomprehensible, and that even the lowest of the angels contemplates greater things concerning God than all the theologians in the Church—and therefore also than the apostles. And if any of equal power: That even if other names of God of equal power are found in Scripture, one must also understand these in accordance with the same manifestive methods.
Καί ὑμῖν καί ἑτέροις ἱεροῖς ἀνδράσιν: Ὅτι οὐ πᾶσιν ἀζητήτως μεταδοτέον τῶν μυστικῶν, ἀλλά τοῖς ἱκανοῖς καί ἱεροῖς ἀνδράσιν, ὅπερ καί ὁ θεῖος Παῦλος τούτῳ τῷ ἱερῷ ἀνδρί Τιμοθέῳ γράφει.
Ἡμεῖς τε εἰπεῖν ἱκανοί: Ταῦτα ἁγιοπρεπῶς μετριάζων φησίν ὁ πατήρ, ὡσαύτως καί τά ἑξῆς πάντα. ( 14 _380 Ἐπί δέ τήν συμβολικήν θεολογίαν: Ὅτι θεολογίαν συμβολικήν λέγει τέως μή φερομένην, ὡς καί ἐν ἄλλῳ κεφαλαίῳ φησίν· εἰ δέ βούλει τήν διαφοράν εἰδέναι τῆς θεολογικῆς ὑποτυπώσεως καί τῆς συμβολικῆς θεολογίας, ἀνάγνωθι τό τρίτον κεφάλαιον τοῦ Περί μυστικῆς θεολογίας λόγου. ΕΙΣ ΤΟ ΠΕΡΙ ΜΥΣΤΙΚΗΣ ΘΕΟΛΟΓΙΑΣ ΕΙΣ ΤΟ ΚΕΦΑΛΑΙΟΝ Α' ( 14 _384 § 1. Ἔνθα τά ἁπλᾶ: Ἁπλᾶ καί ἀπόλυτά εἰσι τά δίχα συμβόλων νοούμενα καί ἐποπτευόμενα ὡς ἔχουσιν, οὐ μήν παραβολικῶς. Ἀπόλυτα οὖν ἔφη τά μή κατά ἀνάπτυξιν ὀνομάτων ἤ συμβόλων λεγόμενα, ἀλλά τῇ ἐκ πάντων τῶν ὄντων καί τῇ τῶν νοήσεων ἀποπαύσει καί ἀπολύσει συναγόμενα, ἥντινα ἀνενεργησίαν τῆς ἱερᾶς κινήσεως ἐν μέν τοῖς πρό τούτου ἀνοησίαν ἐκάλεσεν, ἐνταῦθα δέ σκοτεινότατον γνόφον καί ἀόρατον κατά τόν Ψαλμῳδόν, «νεφέλη καί γνόφος κύκλῳ αὐτοῦ», καί, «ἔθετο σκότος ἀποκρυφήν αὑτοῦ». Τούς ἀνομμάτους νόας: Οὐ γάρ αἰσθητῶν ὀφθαλμῶν εἰσι μεστοί, ἀλλ’ ἐστίν αὐτῶν ἡ οὐσία, ἅτε ζῶν νοῦς, ὅλη ὀφθαλμός ὀξυδερκέστατος, ὅθεν καί πολυόμματοι λέγονται ἐν τῇ Γραφῇ.
And to you and to other sacred men: That the mystical things must not be imparted to all without inquiry, but to those who are fit and sacred men, which indeed the divine Paul also writes to this sacred man Timothy.
And we are able to speak: The father says these things with holy moderation, and likewise all that follows. (14_380 On symbolic theology: That for the present he calls it symbolic theology, not yet borne along, as he also says in another chapter; but if you wish to know the difference between the theological outline and symbolic theology, read the third chapter of the discourse On Mystical Theology. ON MYSTICAL THEOLOGY, ON CHAPTER 1 (14_384 § 1. Where the simple things are: Simple and absolute are those things which are understood and contemplated without symbols, as they are, and not by way of parable. He called them absolute, then, as being spoken not by the unfolding of names or symbols, but gathered together by the cessation and release from all beings and from thoughts—which inactivity of sacred movement he called in the preceding a lack of understanding, but here the darkest and invisible gloom, according to the Psalmist, "cloud and darkness are round about him," and, "he made darkness his hiding place." The unblemished minds: For they are not full of sensory eyes, but their essence, being a living mind, is wholly an eye, most keen-sighted, whence also they are called many-eyed in Scripture.
Καί τάς αἰσθήσεις ἀπόλειπε: Εκ παραλλήλου τό αὐτό δηλοῦται· τά γάρ αἰσθητά αὐτά καλοῦσιν οἱ παλαιοί μή ὄντα, ἅτε μεταβολῆς ἁπάσης μετέχοντα καί μή ὡσαύτως ἀεί ὄντα· τά δέ νοητά, ὡς ἀεί ὄντα ἀθάνατα βουλήσει τοῦ ποιήσαντος καί τήν οὐσίαν μή μεταβάλλοντα, λέγουσιν ὄντα. Ταῦτα δέ πολλάκις παρατεθείκαμεν ἐν τῷ Περί θείων ὀνομάτων λόγῳ.
Ὑπέρ πᾶσαν οὐσίαν: Τήν ἁπλότητα καί ὑπέρ πᾶσαν ἑνάδα. Πῶς δέ ἀγνώστως ἀνατείνεταί τις πρός Θεόν καί ἐν τῷ ( 14 _386 Περί θείων ὀνομάτων κεφαλαίῳ πέμπτῳ εἴρηται, καί ἐνταῦθα μετά βραχέα εὑρήσεις. Ἀσχέτῳ καί ἀπολύτῳ: Ἄσχετον ἔκστασίν φησι τήν ἀναχώρησιν πάσης σχέσεως, ἀντί τοῦ, ἵνα μηδεμιᾷ κατέχοιτο σχέσει, μήτε πρός αὐτόν, μήτε πρός τι τῶν κτισμάτων.
Σκότους ἀκτῖνα: Καί ἐνταῦθα σκότος τήν παντελῆ ἀκαταληψίαν ἔφη. § 2. Μηδείς τῶν ἀμυήτων: Σημείωσαι, ὅτι ἀμυήτους φησί τούς μέν τῶν μυστικῶν ἀμετόχους, τοῖς δέ αἰσθητοῖς ἐνειλουμένους καί οὐδέν ὑπέρ τά ὄντα εἶναι φανταζομένους. Ἀμέλει περί τῶν καθόλου ἀμυήτων εὐθύς παρακατιών φησι. Καί σημείωσαι, ὅτι ἄλλους τούς ἀμυήτους λέγει καί ἄλλους τούς ἀμύστους, ἤγουν ἀμυσταγωγήτους.
And leave the senses behind: The same thing is made clear by parallel statement; for the ancients call the sensible things themselves non-beings, inasmuch as they partake of all change and are not always in the same state; but the intelligible things, as being always, immortal by the will of the Maker, and not changing their essence, they call beings. And these things we have often set forth in the discourse On the Divine Names.
Above every essence: The simplicity and above every unity. And how one is stretched upward toward God in an unknowing manner is also stated in the fifth chapter of On the Divine Names, and here you will find it shortly after. Unattached and absolute: He calls unattached ecstasy the withdrawal from every relation, instead of, that he might be held by no relation, neither toward himself nor toward any of created things.
A ray of darkness: And here he called darkness the complete incomprehensibility. § 2. Let no one of the uninitiated: Note that he calls uninitiated those who are without a share in the mystical things, and who are entangled in sensible things and imagine nothing to be above the things that are. Indeed, concerning the wholly uninitiated he says this immediately following. And note that he calls some uninitiated and others uninitiate, that is, not initiated into the mysteries.
Εἰ δέ ὑπέρ τούτους εἰσί: Τά μέν πρό τούτων ἔφη περί τῶν πιστευσάντων μέν τῷ ὀνόματι τοῦ Χριστοῦ, μή μήν ἐπί τήν τελειοτέραν ἐλθόντων γνῶσιν, ἀλλά
συμμετρούντων τῇ οἰκείᾳ δόξῃ τήν ἀλήθειαν καί μή εἰδότων διαφοράν ὄντων κυρίως καί ὁμωνύμων ὄντων, οὐσιῶν καί αὐτοῦ τοῦ ὑπέρ τά ὄντα, διό καί ὑπερουσίου. Οἱ γοῦν τοιοῦτοι, ὡς ἀμύητοι, τῶν ὑψηλοτέρων ὑπολαμβάνουσι κατά ἀλήθειαν σκότος εἶναι τό ἀφεγγές τοῦτο τό παρ' ἡμῖν σκίασμα καλύπτον τόν Θεόν καί ἀποκρύπτον αὐτόν τῆς ἁπάντων θέας, ὅπερ ὡς ἀληθῶς νοσοῦσι πολλοί καί ἐν ἡμῖν, ἅτε μή γινώσκοντες τό ἀνυπέρβλητον φῶς πᾶσαν ὅψιν σκοτίζειν. Εἰ οὖν εἰσι, φησίν, ἐν ἡμῖν τοιοῦτοι, τί ἄν εἴποιμεν περί εἰδωλολατρῶν τῶν παντάπασι πάντων μυστικῶν ἀμετόχων καί πρός ξόανα τεθηπότων; Κυρίως μέν οὖν ὄντα τά νοητά, ὁμωνύμως δέ τά αἰσθητά. Τό δέ ὑπέρ τούτους, τούς πιστούς δηλονότι, τούς ἐν τοῖς φθαρτοῖς ἐνισχημένους.
Δέον ἐπ' αὐτῇ: Ὡς πάντα οὔσης θεοπρεπῶς καί μηδέν οὔσης ὑπερουσίως· αὕτη γάρ καί θέσις ἐστί καί ἀπόφασις, ἐπεί καί κυρίως ἀμφότερα ἐπί τῆς θείας λέγονται μεγαλειότητος. Τί δέ εἰσιν αἱ ἀποφάσεις τῶν ἀφαιρέσεων καί αἱ καταφάσεις τῶν ( 14 _388 θέσεων, καί τί αἱ στερήσεις, καί ἐνταῦθα σαφηνίζεται, καί μάλιστα ἐν τῷ τρίτῳ κεφαλαίῳ, καί ἐν τῷ Περί θείων ὀνομάτων λόγῳ διαφόρως καί πλατέως παραθέμεθα.
If he says "if they are above these": what he said before this concerned those who believed in the name of Christ but did not attain the more perfect knowledge, but measured the truth by their own opinion and did not know the difference between things that are properly beings and things that are homonyms, between essences and Him who is above beings, and therefore is also supra-essential. Such people, then, as uninitiated, suppose that the higher things are in truth the darkness—this lightless shadowing that is with us, which covers God and hides Him from the sight of all—which many even among us truly are sick with, inasmuch as they do not know that the insuperable light darkens every vision. If, then, he says, there are such people among us, what should we say about idolaters who have no share at all in any of the mystical things and who gape at carved images? Properly, then, the intelligible things are beings, and the sensible things are homonyms. And what is above these—namely the faithful—those who are entangled in corruptible things.
"It must be upon it": as being all things in a God-befitting way and being nothing supra-essentially; for this is both position and negation, since both are properly said of the divine majesty. What the negations of the abstractions are, and the affirmations of the positions, and what the privations are, is made clear here too, and especially in the third chapter, and in the discourse On the Divine Names we have set them out in various ways and at length.
Ἀντικειμένας εἶναι: Ὅτι ἐπί Θεοῦ οὐκ ἀντίκεινται αἱ ἀποφάσεις ταῖς καταφάσεσιν· ὑπέρ πᾶσαν γάρ ἐστιν ὁ Θεός καί ἀφαίρεσιν καί θέσιν. Ἀνάγνωθι καί ἐν τοῖς Περί τῆς οὐρανίας ἱεραρχίας μετ ' ὀλίγον τῆς ἀρχῆς. § 3. Οὕτω γοῦν ὁ θεῖος Βαρθολομαῖος: Σημείωσαι καί ἐντεῦθεν τό ἄπλαστον τοῦ εἶναι ταῦτα τά θεῖα συντάγματα τοῦ μεγάλου Διονυσίου. Πρός οἶς γάρ ἐν τοῖς προτέροις λόγοις τινῶν τῶν συνόντων τοῖς ἀποστόλοις μνήμην χρήσεων ἐποιήσατο, νῦν παραπλησίως τοῦ θείου Βαρθολομαίου χρῆσιν ἄγει, ὡς δηλοῖ τό «φησίν»· εἰ γάρ ἀγράφως ἦν διδάξας, εἰρήκει ἄν, 'ἔφη'. Σημείωσαι δέ ὅτι τοῦ ἁγίου Βαρθολομαίου χρῆσιν προφέρει, πῶς πολλή καί ἐλαχίστη ἡ θεολογία. Ὅτι καί πολυλόγος: Πολυλόγος παροξυτόνως ὁ πολλά λέγων, πολύλογος δέ προπαροξυτόνως ὁ πολλῶν λόγων δεόμενος· ὡς καί πρωτότοκος προπαροξυτόνως ὁ πρώτως τεχθείς, πρωτοτόκος δέ παροξυτόνως ἡ πρώτως τεκοῦσα γυνή, ὡς καί Ὅμηρος.
«Πρωτότοκος Κινύρη, οὐ πρίν εἰδυῖα τόκοιο». Ὅς οὔτε λόγον: Δηλαδή τῆς οἰκείας φύσεως παραστατικόν ἐν τοῖς ἔξωθεν. Ὁμοίως καί περί νοήσεως νοητέον.
That the negations are not opposed to the affirmations in the case of God: for God is beyond every both removal and positing. Read also in the work On the Heavenly Hierarchy a little after the beginning. § 3. Thus, then, the divine Bartholomew says: Note also from this the unplagiarized character of these divine treatises of the great Dionysius. For in the earlier discourses he made mention of certain usages of some of those who were with the apostles; now in like manner he brings forward a usage of the divine Bartholomew, as the "he says" makes clear; for if he had taught without writing, he would have said "he said." Note also that he cites a usage of Saint Bartholomew, how great and how very small is the theology. That he is also wordy: "Wordy" with acute accent on the penult is the one who says many things; "verbose" with acute accent on the antepenult is the one who needs many words; just as "first-born" with acute accent on the antepenult is the one born first, while "first-bearing" with acute accent on the penult is the woman who first gives birth, as also Homer says:
"First-bearing to Cinyras, not previously knowing of childbirth."
Who neither word: that is, of his own nature, indicative in external things. One must understand the same way also concerning thought.
Πάντα θεῖα φῶτα καί ἤχους: Ἤχους καί λόγους οὐρανίους φησί τά περί Θεοῦ ἐν ταῖς Γραφαῖς εἰρημένα, ὡς μή κατά τήν ἀνθρωπίνην καί γηΐνην ἐπίνοιαν, ἀλλά κατά θείαν ἐπίνοιαν λεχθέντα καί παραδοθέντα. Ὁ θεῖος Μωϋσῆς: Σημείωσαι, πῶς διεξέρχεται τά περί ( 14 _390 Μωϋσέως, ὅτι, ἐν τῷ ὄρει ἀνελθών καί εἰσελθών εἰς τόν γνόφον εἶδεν, ὡς ἐφικτόν ἀνθρώπῳ, τόν Θεόν. Σημείωσαι καί τήν τάξιν τῶν τελεσθέντων ἐπί Μωσεῖ, πρίν ἀξιωθῆναι εἰσελθεῖν εἰς τόν θεῖον γνόφον.
Ἀλλά τόν τόπον οὗ ἔστη: Τίς ὁ τόπος ἐν ᾧ ἔστη ὁ Θεός ἐπί Μωϋσέως, καί τί ἐστιν ἀκρότητος νοητῶν, καί τί ὁρατῶν, ἐν τῷ Περί τῆς ἐν οὐρανοῖς ἱεραρχίας εἰς τό τέλος τοῦ πρώτου κεφαλαίου διεξήλθομεν.
Ὑποθετικούς: Ὑποθετικούς λόγους φησί τούς ὑπογραφικούς, ἤ ὡς θεωρητικούς τῶν ὄντων, ἅπερ ὑποβεβλημένα ἔφη τῷ Θεῷ εἶναι· δι' αὐτῶν γάρ, ἤγουν τῆς τούτων διαμονῆς καί συντηρήσεως, τοῖς πᾶσιν αὐτόν παρεῖναι διδασκόμεθα, οὐ μεταβατικῶς, ἀλλά προνοητικῶς· νοητάς δέ ἀκρότητας τάς οὐρανίας καί νοεράς οὐσίας τάς περί Θεόν οὔσας καλεῖ, ἅς καί τόπους αὐτοῦ ἁγιωτάτους ὠνόμασεν, ὧν καί αὐτῶν ὑπέρκειται, ἤ ὡς ἀπολύεται, κατά μηδέν αὐτοῖς ὅλως προσεοικώς.
All divine lights and sounds: he calls "sounds and heavenly words" the things said about God in the Scriptures, as spoken and handed down not according to human and earthly conception but according to divine conception. The divine Moses: Note how he goes through the things concerning Moses, that, having gone up the mountain and entered into the darkness, he saw God, as far as is attainable by man. Note also the order of the things accomplished in Moses before he was deemed worthy to enter the divine darkness.
But the place where he stood: What is the place in which God stood in the case of Moses, and what is the summit of intelligible things, and what of visible things, we have gone through in On the Heavenly Hierarchy at the end of the first chapter.
Hypothetical: he calls "hypothetical words" the descriptive ones, or as it were the contemplative ones of the things that exist, which he said were submitted to God; for through them, that is, through their permanence and preservation, we are taught that he is present to all things, not by transition but by providence. And he calls "intelligible summits" the heavenly and intellectual essences that are around God, which he also named his most holy places, and he himself is above them too, or as being released, in no way at all resembling them.
Καί τότε καί αὐτῶν ἀπολύεται: Τήν κατά σύνθεσιν τοῦ ρητοῦ ἐξήγησιν οὕτω νοητέον, ὅτι ὁ Μωϋσῆς, θεωρήσας τόν τόπον οὗ εἰστήκει ὁ Θεός, καί τότε ἀπολυθείς τῶν τε ὁρωμένων, τουτέστιν αἰσθητῶν ἁπάντων, καί τῶν ὁρώντων, ἀντί τοῦ λογικῶν ἁπάντων, νοητῶν τέ φημι καί νοερῶν οὐσιῶν, μεθ' ὧν καί τῶν ἡμετέρων ψυχῶν, τηνικαῦτα εἰς τόν γνόφον εἰσῆλθε, τουτέστιν εἰς τήν περί Θεοῦ ἀγνωσίαν, ἔνθα, πάσας ἀπομύσας τάς γνωστικάς ἀντιλήψεις, ἐγένετο ἐν τῷ ἀναφεῖ τῷ νῷ καί ἀοράτῳ πασῶν ἀντιλήψεων γνωστικῶν τοῦ πέρα πάντων Θεοῦ, καί ἑνωθείς διά τοῦ τοιούτου τρόπου τῇ ἀγνωσίᾳ καί ἀνενεργησίᾳ, οὐ λέγω τῇ περί αὐτοῦ ἀνενεργησίᾳ τοῦ ἰδίου νοῦ, οὔτε τῇ ἑτέρου ἀνενεργησίᾳ ἐν τῷ μήτε αὐτόν μήτε ἕτερόν τι νοεῖν, ἀλλ’ ἑνωθείς τῷ παντελῶς ἀγνώστῳ πάσης γνώσεως ( 14 _392 τοῦ πάντων ἐπέκεινα τότε τῇ ἀγνοίᾳ τό πᾶν ἔγνω. Σημείωσαι δέ, ὡς γνόφον τήν ἀγνωσίαν ἐνόησε. Πῶς δι' ἀγνωσίας ὁ Θεός γινώσκεται, καί ὧδέ φησι, καί ἐν τῷ Περί θείων ὀνομάτων λόγῳ πλατύτερον διεξήλθομεν ἐν κεφαλαίῳ β'. Χρή δέ εἰδέναι, ὡς ἐν τῇ Ἐξόδῳ, ἔνθα γέγρᾳπται, ὅτι «εἰσῆλθε Μωϋσῆς εἰς τόν γνόφον οὗ ἦν ὁ Θεός», τό μέν Ἑβραϊκόν ἔχει ἀραφέλ, οἱ δέ Ἑβδομήκοντα καί Ἀκύλας καί Θεοδοτίων τό ἀραφέλ γνόφον ἐξέδωκαν. Σύμμαχος μέντοι ὁμίχλην τό ἀραφέλ ἑρμήνευσεν. Ὁ δέ Ἑβραῖος λέγει τό 'άραφέλ' ὄνομα εἶναι στερεώματος, εἰς ὅ ἔφθασε Μωϋσῆς· ἑπτά γάρ στερεώματά φασιν, ἅ καί οὐρανούς καλοῦσι, καί τά ὀνόματα λέγουσιν, ὧν μνημονεῦσαι νῦν οὐκ ἀναγκαῖον.
And then he is released even from these things. The explanation of the saying according to its composition must be understood thus: that Moses, having contemplated the place where God stood, and then released from both the things seen—that is, from all sensible things—and from the things seeing—that is, from all rational things, I mean both intelligible and intellectual essences, together with which are also our souls—at that time entered into the darkness, that is, into the ignorance concerning God, where, having closed off all cognitive apprehensions, he came to be in the mind that is devoid of activity and invisible to all cognitive apprehensions of the God who is beyond all things, and having been united through such a manner to ignorance and inactivity—I do not mean the inactivity of his own mind concerning him, nor the inactivity of another in not thinking either himself or anything else, but having been united to the wholly unknown beyond all knowledge—then, in ignorance, he knew the whole of him who is beyond all things. Note that he understood the darkness as ignorance. How God is known through ignorance, he also says here, and we have set forth more fully in the second chapter of the work On the Divine Names. But one must know that in Exodus, where it is written, "Moses entered into the darkness where God was," the Hebrew has araphel, while the Seventy and Aquila and Theodotion rendered araphel as darkness. Symmachus, however, interpreted araphel as mist. The Hebrew says that araphel is the name of a firmament, to which Moses arrived; for they say there are seven firmaments, which they also call heavens, and they give their names, which it is not necessary to mention now.
Ἀνέγνων δέ τοῦτο ἑπτά οὐρανούς καί ἐν τῇ συγγεγραμμένῃ Ἀρίστωνι τῷ Πελλαίῳ διαλέξει Παπίσκου καί Ἰάσονος, ἥν Κλήμης ὁ Αλεξανδρεύς ἐν ἕκτῳ βιβλίῳ τῶν Ὑποτυπώσεων τόν ἅγιον Λουκᾶν φησιν ἀναγράψαι. Ὅμως τό περί τοῦ γνόφου, εἰς τήν θείαν ἀγνωσίαν θεωρούμενον, θειότερον πεφιλοσόφηται καί ἐν ταῖς ἐπιστολαῖς αὐτοῦ· ἐν τῇ πέμπτῃ δέ τελείως περί τούτου γράφει.
Τῆς πάσης γνώσεως ἀνενεργησίᾳ: Σημείωσαι, ὅτι τῇ πάσης γνώσεως ἀνενεργησίᾳ τῷ ἀγνώστῳ ἑνούμεθα.
ΕΙΣ ΤΟ ΚΕΦΑΛΑΙΟΝ Β' Κατά τοῦτον ἡμεῖς: Καί ἐνταῦθα περί θείου γνόφου καί τῆς ἀγνωσίας λέγει. Καί σημείωσαι, ὅτι τοῦτό ἐστι τό ὑπό τόν θεῖον γνόφον γενέσθαι, τό δι' ἀβλεψίας καί ἀγνωσίας ἰδεῖν καί ( 14 _394 γνῶναι τό ὑπέρ θέαν καί γνῶσιν, κατ' αὐτό τό μή ἰδεῖν μηδέ γνῶναι· τοῦτο γάρ ἐστι, φησί, τό ὄντως ἰδεῖν καί γνῶναι· οὐδαμοῦ δέ οὕτω σαφηνιζει τήν ἐν ἀγνωσίᾳ γνῶσιν. Ἀνάγνωθι δέ καί τήν ε' πρός Δωρόθεον ἐπιστολήν.
Διά τῆς πάντων τῶν ὄντων: Τουτέστι διά τοῦ μηδέν τῶν ὄντων προσφυές αὐτῷ νοεῖν· τοῦτο γάρ ἀφαίρεσιν ὠνόμασεν. Αὐτοφυές δέ ἄγαλμά φησιν, ὅ γίνεται ἐν ὕλῃ ἀτμήτῳ, οἷον ἐν πέτρᾳ ὁλοκλήρῳ, ἐν ὅσῳ ἕστηκεν, ὅταν γλύψη τις ζῶόν τι, ὡς δηλοῖ καί Εὑριπίδης ἐν Ἀνδρομέδᾳ·
I have read this also in the seven heavens and in the written dialogue of Papiscus and Jason composed by Aristo of Pella, which Clement of Alexandria says in the sixth book of the Hypotyposes that the holy Luke recorded. Nevertheless, what is said about the darkness, understood as referring to the divine unknowing, has been more divinely philosophized also in his letters; and in the fifth letter he writes perfectly about this.
On the inactivity of all knowledge: Note that by the inactivity of all knowledge we are united to the unknowable.
ON CHAPTER 2, "According to him we": And here he speaks about the divine darkness and unknowing. And note that this is what it means to come under the divine darkness—to see and know what is beyond sight and knowledge through blindness and unknowing, precisely by not seeing or knowing; for this, he says, is truly to see and know. Nowhere else does he clarify so clearly the knowledge that is in unknowing. Read also the fifth letter to Dorotheus.
Through all things that exist: That is, through understanding nothing of existing things as attached to him; for this he called abstraction. And he calls a self-grown statue what comes to be in unhewn material, such as in a whole stone, for as long as it stands, when someone carves some living creature, as Euripides also makes clear in the Andromeda:
Παρθένου τ'εἰκόνα τινά Ἐξ αὐτομόρφων λαΐνων τειχισμάτων, Σοφῆς ἄγαλμα χειρός.
Αὐτόμορφον γάρ ἄγαλμα τῆς πέτρας τό αὐτοφυές εἶπεν· ἀλλά καί ὅταν μέρος τι τοῦ δένδρου γλύψῃ ἑστῶτος καί ἀνθοῦντος, καί μέρος κλίνης ποιήσῃ, ὅπερ, ὥς φησιν Ὅμηρος, ἐν Ὀδυσσείᾳ ἐποίησεν Ὀδυσσεύς· ἤ καί ἐν τῷ τοιούτῳ δένδρῳ ἔγλυψε τρόπαιον νίκης. Φησί δέ καί τιμίας λίθου ἀγάλματα, οἷον ὅταν ἡ σμάραγδος, ἀποκαθαρθεῖσα τοῦ περιέχοντος γεώδους, αὐτή ἀναφανῇ ἄγαλμα, τουτέστιν ἀγλάϊσμα· πρός ὅ μάλιστα νῦν βλέπων εἶπε τό προκείμενον, ὡς Διονύσιος ὁ ποιητής ἐν β' βιβλίῳ Λιθικῶν·
Τῆς βαθυχλοάοντος ἰάσπιδος, ἤ ἀμεθύστου Πορφυρόεντος ἄγαλμα, μελαγκρατέτης ὑάκινθος. Ταῦτα γάρ πάντα δείκνυσι τό πολυμαθές τοῦ ἁγίου τούτου ἀνδρός. Χρή δέ, ὡς οἶμαι, τάς ἀφαιρέσεις: Τό παρόν χωρίον ἐν τοῖς ἑξῆς αὐτός ὁ πατήρ σαφηνίζει. Θέσεις μέν οὖν εἰσιν ὅσα οἰκείως ἐπί Θεοῦ λέγεται ὅτι ἐστίν, οἷον τό ὤν, τό ζωή, τό ( 14 _396 φῶς, καί τά ἄλλα, ἀφαιρέσεις δέ ὅσα ὡς ἀλλότρια Θεοῦ ἀποφάσκεται· οἷον ὅτι οὐ σῶμα ὁ Θεός, οὐ ψυχή, οὐδέ τι τῶν γνωστῶν ἤ τῇ νοήσει ὑποπιπτόντων. Ἄλλως· Τί εἰσι θέσεις καί αἱ ἀφαιρέσεις, ἐν τῷ Περί θείων ὀνομάτων λόγῳ διαφόρως ἔγνωμεν.
A certain image of a virgin, from self-formed stone walls, a statue of wise hand. For he called the self-grown work of the stone a self-formed statue; but also whenever he carves a part of a tree that is standing and blooming, and makes a part of a bed, which, as Homer says, Odysseus made in the Odyssey; or also in such a tree he carved a trophy of victory. He also speaks of statues of precious stone, as when the emerald, purified of the earthy matter surrounding it, reveals itself as a statue, that is, an ornament; with reference to which especially, now looking, he spoke the present passage, as Dionysius the poet in the second book of the Lithica: Of the deep-green jasper, or a statue of purple amethyst, the dark-blue hyacinth. For all these things demonstrate the great learning of this holy man. But it is necessary, as I think, [to explain] the abstractions: The present passage the father himself clarifies in what follows. Now, positions are all things that are said fittingly of God that he is, such as being, life, light, and the others; but abstractions are all things that are denied as alien to God; such as that God is not a body, not a soul, nor any of the things knowable or falling under thought. Otherwise: What positions and abstractions are, we have learned variously in the discourse On the Divine Names.
Ἐν πᾶσι τοῖς οὖσιν: Αἱ τῶν ὄντων γνώσεις, φησί, τό περί Θεοῦ ἄγνωστον οὐκ ἐκκαλύπτουσι καί εἰς φανέρωσιν ἄγουσιν, ἀλλά μᾶλλον συγκαλύπτουσι καί ἀποκρύπτουσι. Τό δέ ἐν τοῖς οὖσι φῶς ὑποληπτέον τό γνῶναι τά ὄντα ᾖ ὄντα ἐστί, καθώς καί ἐν τοῖς ἑξῆς εὑρίσκομεν.
ΕΙΣ ΤΟ ΚΕΦΑΛΑΙΟΝ Γ' Πῶς ἡ θεία καί ἀγαθή φύσις: Τί περιέχει ὁ λόγος τῶν Θεολογικῶν ὑποτυπώσεων. Ἰδού θεολογίας ὑποθῆκαι καί ἀφορμαί, πάσης ἐχόμεναι θείας καί πεφωτισμένης γνώσεως καί ὀρθοδοξίας· τό εἰδέναι, πῶς ἑνική ἡ θεία φύσις, οἱ νεώτεροι Πατέρες τινές ὁμοούσιον προσεῖπον· πῶς τριαδική, ὅ φαμεν τρισυπόστατον, καί τό εἰδέναι τῶν προσώπων τάς ἰδιότητας, καί τί δηλοῦσιν, οἷον πατρότητα καί υἱότητα, καί τίς ἡ τοῦ θείου Πνεύματος ἁγιαστική δύναμις καί θεολογία· καί πῶς εἴρηται τό, «ἐξηρεύξατο ἡ καρδία μου λόγον ἀγαθόν», καί πῶς περί τοῦ προσκυνητοῦ Πνεύματος εἴρηται, ὅπερ ἐκ τοῦ Πατρός ἐκπορεύεται· καί πῶς ἐν τῷ Πατρί καί ἐν αὐτοῖς καί ἐν ἀλλήλοις ὁ Υἱός καί τό Πνεῦμα συναϊδίως καί ἀσχίστως καί ἀδιαιρέτως ἐν μονῇ εἰσιν ἀνεκφοιτήτῳ. Δεῖ δέ εἰδέναι, ὅτι μονή καί στάσις ( 14 _398 ταὐτόν εἰσι, κίνησις δέ ἕτερόν ἐστι τῆς μονῆς. Φησίν οὖν ὅτι, καί ἐν μονῇ ἀκινήτῳ, ἀεί οὖσα ἡ θεία φύσις, δοκεῖ κινεῖσθαι ἐν τῇ ἐν ἀλλήλοις χωρήσει. Καί τῆς ἐν αὐτῷ καί ἐν αὐτοῖς: Οὗτος ὁ νοῦς τῶν εἰρημένων· συναΐδιος, φησίν, ἡ ὕπαρξις τῆς ἁγίας Τριάδος, καί οὐχ ἑτέρως μέν ὑπῆρξεν, ἑτέρως δέ μετά ταῦτα κατέστη, ἤ χωρισμόν τινα ἤ μεταβολήν ἔσχηκεν, ἀλλ’ ἅμα καί κατά ταυτόν τό τε ἐκ τοῦ Πατρός εἶναι τόν Υἱόν καί τό Πνεῦμα τό ἅγιον, καί οὐ μετ' αὐτόν.
In all things that exist: The knowledges of beings, he says, do not uncover the unknowability concerning God and bring it into manifestation, but rather conceal and hide it. And the light in beings must be understood as knowing beings insofar as they are beings, just as we also find in what follows.
ON CHAPTER 3: How the divine and good nature: What the discourse of the Theological Outlines contains. Behold the foundations and starting points of theology, which depend on all divine and illumined knowledge and orthodoxy: to know how the divine nature is single, which the more recent Fathers called consubstantial; how it is triadic, which we call three-hypostatic, and to know the properties of the persons, and what they signify, such as paternity and filiation, and what is the sanctifying power and theology of the divine Spirit; and how it is said, "My heart has uttered a good word," and how it is said concerning the adorable Spirit, which proceeds from the Father; and how in the Father and in themselves and in one another the Son and the Spirit are coeternally and inseparably and indivisibly in an un departing abiding. But one must know that abiding and rest are the same, while motion is other than abiding. He says, then, that even in unmoved abiding, the divine nature, being always, seems to be moved in its containment in one another. And of that in himself and in themselves: This is the meaning of what has been said: coeternal, he says, is the existence of the Holy Trinity, and it did not exist in one way and then come to be in another, nor has it had any separation or change, but at once and together both the Son's being from the Father and the Holy Spirit, and not after him.
Πῶς ὁ ὑπερούσιος Ἰησοῦς: Σημείωσαι κατά Νεστοριανῶν καί Ἀκεφάλων. Πῶς ἀγαθός: Τί περιέχει ὁ Περί θείων ὀνομάτων λόγος. Καί γάρ ἐχρῆν: Διά τί αἱ θεολογικαί Ὑποτυπώσεις καί ὁ Περί θείων ὀνομάτων λόγος ὁλιγόστιχοί εἰσι μᾶλλον ἤ ἡ Συμβολική θεολογία. Τῆς συμβολικῆς: Τῶν πρώτων τά τῆς Συμβολικῆς θεολογίας φησί. Ταῖς συνόψεσι τῶν νοητῶν: Συνόψεις τῶν νοητῶν τάς τῇ ἀΰλῳ αὐτῶν ἁπλότητι πρεπούσας θεωρίας ἐκάλεσε, τό δέ «περιστέλλονται» ἀντί τοῦ 'συστέλλονται' τέθεικεν.
Ἀλλ' ἀλογίαν παντελῆ: Ἀλογίαν φησί τό μή δύνασθαι λόγῳ παραστῆσαι τά ὑπέρ λόγον, καί ἀνοησίαν οὖν τό ἀνεννόητον καί ὅ μή δύναταί τις νοῆσαι, ὡς ὑπέρ νοῦν.
Κακεῖ μέν ἀπό τοῦ ἄνω: Ἐπειδή τά νοητά καί ὑπέρ νοῦν τοῦ Θεοῦ ἑνάδες εἰσί, καί ἕν ὁ Θεός, μᾶλλον δέ καί ὑπέρ τό ἕν, εἰκότως συνέσταλται, ἅτε καί ἀμερές καί ἀπλήθυντον. Τά δέ μετά Θεόν, ὅσῳ μᾶλλον κάτεισιν ἐπί τά αἰσθητά, τοσούτῳ μᾶλλον ὁμιλοῦνται τοῖς μεριστοῖς καί σκεδαστοῖς, καί πεπληθυσμένοις συμπληθύεται αὐτοῖς πρός τόν μερισμόν καί τό πολυσχιδές τῶν αισθητῶν. Πρός τά ἔσχατα δέ, τουτέστιν ἀπό τῆς θεολογικῆς ὑποτυπώσεως. ( 14 _400 Ἀπό τοῦ
How the supersubstantial Jesus: Note this against the Nestorians and the Acephali. How the good: What the discourse On the Divine Names contains. For it was necessary: Why the Theological Outlines and the discourse On the Divine Names are more brief than the Symbolic Theology. Of the symbolic: He says these things of the first [principles] of the Symbolic Theology. In the summaries of intelligible things: He called the summaries of intelligible things the contemplations befitting their immaterial simplicity, and he used "they are wrapped around" in place of "they are contracted."
But utter irrationality: He calls irrationality the inability to express in speech things beyond speech, and folly therefore the unthinkable and what one cannot think, as being beyond mind.
And there on the one hand from above: Since the intelligible unities of God are beyond mind, and God is one, or rather even beyond the one, it has reasonably been contracted, as being both indivisible and not multiplied. But the things after God, the more it descends to sensible things, the more it is conversed with by the divided and scattered, and is multiplied together with the multiplied things toward the division and the multifariousness of sensible things. But toward the last things, that is, from the theological outline.
πρωτίστου: Πρωτίστου φησί τοῦ μᾶλλον οἰκειοτέρου καί τῇ ἐννοίᾳ προεισβάλλοντος, οἷον ὅτι ὤν ὁ Θεός, ὅπερ ἑαυτόν ὠνόμασεν. Ὅτι τό ὑπέρ πᾶσαν: Πῶς δεῖ κεχρῆσθαι ταῖς θέσεσι καί ταῖς ἀφαιρέσεσιν ἐπί Θεοῦ, καί ὅτι τάς μέν θέσεις ἀπό τοῦ πρωτίστου καί μᾶλλον συγγενοῦς τῷ Θεῷ ποιούμεθα, τάς δέ ἀφαιρέσεις ἀπό τῶν ἐσχάτων καί μᾶλλον αὐτοῦ διεστηκότων. Τήν ὑποθετικήν κατάφασιν: Κατάφασίς ἐστι λόγος ἀποφαντικός ἤ τοῦ καθόλου, ἤ τοῦ μαχομένου, ἤ συμπλεκομένου τινός, ἤ συγκρινομένου, οἷον 'ὁ Θεός ζωή ἐστιν', 'ὁ Θεός ἀγαθότης ἐστίν'. Ὑποθετική δέ ἐστι λόγος ἀποφαντικός ἤ τοῦ καθόλου, ἤ μαχομένου τινός, ἤ συμπλεκομένου δηλωτικός. Ἡ οὖν ὑποθετική κατάφασις ἐπί Θεοῦ, ὅτι 'ὁ Θεός ζωή ἐστι καί ἀγαθότης' μᾶλλον ἤ ἀήρ καί λίθος· αἱ δέ ἀφαιρέσεις κατά ἀπόφασιν λέγονται ἐναντίως τῇ θέσει· ἡ μέν γάρ θέσις κατά ὑποθετικήν, ὡς εἴρηται, κατάφασιν λέγεται, ὅτι ζωή ὁ Θεός ἤ ἀήρ, ἡ δέ ἀποφατική ἀφαίρεσις 'οὐ μεθύσκεται ὁ Θεός', 'οὐκ ὀργίζεται'· καί ἐπί τῶν θέσεων ἐκ τῶν συγγενεστέρων ἀρχόμεθα· οἰκειότερον γάρ Θεῷ ζωή καί ἀγαθότης μᾶλλον, ἤ ἀήρ καί λίθος. Ἐπί δέ τῶν ἀφαιρέσεων ἀπό τῶν ἐσχάτων ἄνιμεν, οἷον τό μή λόγῳ δηλοῦσθαι τόν Θεόν, καί τό μή νοεῖσθαι, οἰκειότερον μᾶλλον τῷ Θεῷ, ἤ τό μή κραιπαλᾶν, μηδέ ὀργίζεσθαι, καί ὅλως ἐκ τοῦ δευτέρου τῆς ἀφαιρέσεως ἀρχόμεθα· οἷον, οὐ μεθύει μᾶλλον ὁ Θεός ἤ οὐ λέγεται· καί οὐ μηνιᾷ μᾶλλον ὁ Θεός ἤ οὐ νοεῖται. Κραιπάλη μέν οὖν ἐστι ἡ πολλή καί σφοδροτάτη μέθη, οἱονεί καραπάλη τις οὖσα, ὅ ἐστιν ἡ τό κάρα, ἤτοι τήν κεφαλήν, πάλλουσα καί πάνυ κινοῦσα.
Of the first: He means the first, the more proper and that which enters in beforehand in thought, for example that God is being, which he named himself. That which is above all: How one must use affirmations and negations concerning God, and that we make the affirmations from the first and more akin to God, but the negations from the last and more distant from him. The hypothetical affirmation: An affirmation is a declarative statement either of the universal, or of something conflicting, or combined, or compared, for example 'God is life', 'God is goodness'. A hypothetical statement is a declarative statement either of the universal, or declarative of something conflicting, or combined. Therefore the hypothetical affirmation concerning God, that 'God is life and goodness' rather than air and stone; but the negations are spoken by way of denial in the opposite manner to affirmation; for the affirmation is spoken according to hypothetical, as has been said, affirmation, that God is life or air, but the negative removal 'God is not drunk', 'he is not angry'; and in the case of affirmations we begin from the more akin; for life and goodness are more proper to God rather, than air and stone. But in the case of negations we ascend from the last, for example that God is not declared by reason, and that he is not thought, is more proper to God rather, than not to be in a stupor, nor to be angry, and generally we begin from the second of the removal; for example, God is not drunk rather than he is not spoken; and God is not wrathful rather than he is not thought. Now a stupor is much and most vehement drunkenness, as it were a certain head-tossing, that is, tossing and greatly moving the head.
Μῆνις δέ οὐχ ἡ τυχοῦσα ὀργή, ἀλλ' ἡ ἐπίμονος. Ἀπό γοῦν τῶν αἰσθητῶν ἀνιόντας ἐπί τά νοητά, πάσας ταύτας τάς ἀσωμάτους ἀφαιρέσεις μή ταπεινῶς νοεῖν χρή, ( 14 _402 ἀλλ' ἐφ' ἑκάστῳ τῶν εἰρημένων προσυπακούειν, ὅπερ αὐτός ὁ μακάριος Διονύσιος εἶπεν· οὐδέν γάρ ἐστιν ὁ Θεός τῶν εἰρημένων, ὧν ἡμεῖς γινώσκομεν ἤ νοοῦμεν, ἀλλ’ οὔτε ὧν γινώσκουσιν αἱ νοηταί δυνάμεις πᾶσαι· πάντα γάρ τά εἰρημένα καθάπαξ ἐκ Θεοῦ εἰσι καί αὐτοῦ δωρεαί· καί πῶς αὐτός ἐξ αὐτῶν ὁ προνοούμενος αὐτῶν κυρίως; Πάντα δέ διαφόρως διεξήλθομεν ἐν τῷ Περί θείων ὀνομάτων· πάντα γάρ ταῦτα, ὡς συμβεβηκότα, καί ἐν οὐσίαις τῶν μετά Θεόν, ὁ δέ Θεός καί ὑπέρ οὐσίαν, καί τούτων αἴτιος, οὐκοῦν καί ὑπέρ αὐτά, Ἄλλως· Ζωή καί ἀγαθότης, ἰδού κατάφασις, ἤτοι θέσις· οὐ κραιπαλᾷ, οὐδέ μηνιᾷ, ἰδού ἀπόφασις, ἤτοι ἀφαίρεσις. Ἤ ἀήρ καί λίθος: Ἀήρ μέν, κατά τό ἐν Βασιλείαις εἰρημένον, ἐν αὔρᾳ λεπτῇ· λίθον δέ ὁ προφήτης εἶδε. Τούτων οὖν οἰκειότερον μᾶλλον θέσεις καί δηλώσεις ἐπί Θεοῦ ἡ ζωή καί ἡ ἀγαθότης. Ὥσπερ οὖν καί ἐκ τῆς ἀφαιρέσεως ἐπί τοῦ ἐναντίου, οἷον τό κραιπαλᾷν καί μηνιᾷν, πόρρω Θεοῦ καί ἀλλότρια, τό δέ μήτε λέγεσθαι μᾶλλον πρέπον Θεῷ καί ἐγγυτέρω, διά τό ὑπέρ πάντα νοῦν τε καί λόγον. ΕΙΣ ΤΟ ΚΕΦΑΛΑΙΟΝ Δ' Οὐδέ ἐν τόπῳ ἐστίν: Ἀναγκαίως ὁ πατήρ διά τούτων προσησφαλίσατο τόν ἀκροατήν, ὥστε μή ταῖς ἑξῆς ἀποφάσεσιν ( 14 _404 οἴεσθαι ὅλως μή εἶναι τό Θεῖον, ἀλλ’ ἐν τούτοις μέν τό εἶναι αὐτό ὑπέθετο, ἐν ἐκείνοις δέ τό καί μηδέν τῶν ὄντων εἶναι, ἀλλ’ ὑπερούσιον.
Wrath means not any ordinary anger, but persistent anger. So then, as we ascend from sensible things to intelligible things, we must not think all these incorporeal negations in a lowly way, but in each of the things said we must also understand what the blessed Dionysius himself said: for God is none of the things said, of which we know or conceive, nor even of those which all the intelligible powers know; for all the things said are once for all from God and are his gifts; and how is he who provides for them from them properly? We have gone through all these things in various ways in the work On the Divine Names; for all these things, as accidents, are also in the essences of things after God, but God is also above essence, and is the cause of these things, and therefore also above them. Otherwise: Life and goodness—behold an affirmation, that is, a position; he does not get drunk, nor is he wrathful—behold a negation, that is, a removal. Or air and stone: air, according to what is said in the Kingdoms, in a gentle breeze; and the prophet saw a stone. Of these, then, life and goodness are more properly positions and declarations concerning God. Just as, then, from the removal to the opposite, namely getting drunk and being wrathful, these are far from God and alien, while not even being said is more fitting to God and nearer, because he is above all mind and reason. ON CHAPTER 4: Nor is he in a place: Necessarily the father by these things secured the hearer, so that he would not by the following negations think that the Divine altogether does not exist, but in these things he supposed that it exists, while in those things that it is also none of existing things, but supersubstantial.
ΕΙΣ ΤΟ ΚΕΦΑΛΑΙΟΝ Ε' Ὡς οὔτε ψυχή ἐστιν, οὔτε νοῦς: Διαφέρει ταῦτα ἀλλήλων, ὡς ἐν τοῖς ἀνωτέρω δεδήλωται, φαντασία, δόξα, λόγος, νόησις, ἅ κατά τόν νοῦν θεωρεῖται. Προσεπινοητέον δέ τό κατά τόν ἡμέτερον λόγον μή ἔχειν λόγον· ὁμοίως καί νόησιν κατά τήν ἐν τοῖς νοεροῖς κτίσμασι· καί τά ἑξῆς δέ οὕτως ἐκδέχεσθαι χρή. Ἄλλως· Καί
ἐπί τούτων ὁμοίως τό ὡς ἡμᾶς εἰδέναι θετέον· τῶν μετ' αὐτήν δέ, δηλαδή τήν θείαν φύσιν, τουτέστι τῶν κτισμάτων τάς θέσεις ποιεῖσθαί φησίν ἐν τῷ λέγειν ζωήν ἤ φῶς κατά τά ἐν τοῖς γεννητοῖς θεωρούμενα, ἐξ ὧν τό ταῦτα ὑποστήσαντα ἐννοοῦμεν καί οὐ τῆς αὐτοῦ φύσεως διά τούτων θέσιν τινά εἰσάγομεν· καί πάλιν ἀφαίρεσιν ποιοῦμεν τῷ κατά μηδέν τούτων εἶναι λέγειν τό Θεῖον. Οὐδέ ἕν οὐδέ ἑνότης: Διαφέρουσιν ἀλλήλων ἕν καί ἑνότης· τό μέν γάρ δηλοῖ τό ὑπερκείμενον, τό δέ τήν τοιαύτην ποιότητα, ὥσπερ λευκόν καί λευκότης, ἀγαθόν καί ἀγαθότης. Σημείωσαι δέ ὅτι οὔτε ἡ θεότης οὐσία ἐστί τοῦ Θεοῦ, ὥσπερ οὐδέ ἕν τι τῶν εἰρημένων οὐδέ τῶν ἐναντίων αὐτοῖς διό οὐδέν αὐτῶν ἐστιν. Οὐ γάρ ἐστι ταῦτα οὐσία αὐτοῦ, ἀλλά δόξα περί αὐτόν· Οὕτω καί Σέξτος ὁ ἐκκλησιαστικός φιλόσοφος εἶπε, καί ὁ Θεολόγος Γρηγόριος ἐν τῷ τρίτῳ τῶν Θεολογικῶν αὐτοῦ, ὡς οὔτε ἡ θεότης, οὔτε τό ἀγέννητον, οὔτε ἡ πατρότης οὐσίαν σημαίνουσι Θεοῦ. Οὐδέ θεότης ἤ ἀγαθότης: Σημείωσαι δέ καί ὅτι οὐδέ ( 14 _406 Πνεῦμά ἐστιν, ὡς ἡμᾶς εἰδέναι, οὔτε υἱότης, οὔτε πατρότης. Καί τό 'ὡς ἡμᾶς εἰδέναι' ἐπί πάσης τῆς ἐν τοῖς προκειμένοις ἀποφάσεως λαβέ· δηλοῖ δέ τό κατά τήν ἡμετέραν εἴδησιν.
ON CHAPTER 5: That He is neither soul nor mind. These differ from one another, as has been shown in what precedes: imagination, opinion, reason, understanding, which are contemplated by the mind. But one must additionally conceive that according to our reason He has no reason; likewise no understanding according to that which is in the intelligible creatures; and the following things must be taken in the same way. Otherwise: And
in these matters likewise one must posit "as we know"; but concerning those after it—that is, the divine nature—he says that one makes the affirmations of the created things, in calling it life or light according to what is contemplated in generated things, from which we conceive Him who established these things, and we do not introduce any affirmation of His own nature through these; and again we make a negation by saying that the Divine is none of these. Neither one nor unity: one and unity differ from one another; for the one indicates that which is transcendent, while the other indicates such a quality, just as white and whiteness, good and goodness. Note that neither is the Godhead the essence of God, just as neither is any one of the things said, nor of their opposites; therefore He is none of them. For these are not His essence, but glory concerning Him. Thus also Sextus the church philosopher said, and Gregory the Theologian in the third of his Theological Orations, that neither the Godhead, nor the unbegotten, nor the fatherhood signify the essence of God. Nor Godhead or goodness: Note also that neither (14_406) is He Spirit, as we know, nor sonship, nor fatherhood. And take "as we know" in the case of every negation in what lies before us; it indicates that which is according to our knowledge.
Οὐδέ τά ὄντα γινώσκει: Μή σε ταρασσέτω τό κέφάλαιον τοῦτο καί νομίσῃς βλασφημεῖν τόν θεῖον τοῦτον ἄνδρα· σκοπός γάρ αὐτῷ δεῖξαι τόν Θεόν μηδέν τῶν ὄντων ὄντα, ἀλλ' ὑπέρ τά ὄντα· εἰ γάρ τά πάντα αὐτός δημιουργήσας παρήγαγε, πῶς ἔχει εὑρεθῆναι ἕν τι τῶν ὄντων; Εἶπε γάρ, ὅτι οὐδέ τά ὄντα γινώσκει τόν πάντων αἴτιον Θεόν· τοῦτο δέ ἀπώλεια σαφής, τό μή γινώσκειν Θεόν· ἀλλά ταχέως αὐτό ἐσαφήνισεν, εἰπών, ᾖ αὐτός ἐστι, τουτέστιν, οὐδέν τῶν ὄντων γινώσκει Θεόν, καθ' ὅ αὐτός ἐστιν, ἀντί τοῦ τήν ἀνεννόητον καί ὑπερούσιον οὐσίαν αὐτοῦ, ἤ ὕπαρξιν καθ' ἥν ὑπάρχει· εἴρηται γάρ· «οὐδείς γινώσκει τόν Υἱόν, εἰ μή ὁ Υἱός». Καί ἐκ τοῦ ἐναντίου ἐπάγει ὁ μέγας Διονύσιος καί φησιν, καί ὅτι «οὐδείς γινώσκει τόν Θεόν ἦ ἐστιν», οὐδέ αὐτός ὁ Θεός γινώσκει τά ὄντα ᾖ ὄντα ἐστί, τουτέστιν οὐκ οἶδεν ἐπιβάλλειν τοῖς αἰσθητοῖς αἰσθητῶς, ἤ ταῖς οὐσίαις ὡς οὐσίαις. Ἀνοίκειον γάρ τοῦτο Θεῷ· οἱ γάρ ἄνθρωποι τά αἰσθητά ἤ διά θέας ἤ γεύσεως ἤ ἁφῆς νοοῦμεν τί εἰσί, τά δέ νοητά ἀπό μαθήσεως ἤ διδασκαλίας ἤ ἐλλάμψεως καταλαμβάνομεν. Ὁ δέ Θεός οὐδέ ἐξ ἑνός τρόπου τοιούτου οἶδε τά ὄντα, ἀλλά γνῶσιν ἔχει τήν αὐτῷ πρέπουσαν· τοῦτο γάρ αἰνίττεται τό ρητόν τό λέγον, «ὁ εἰδώς τά πάντα πρίν γενέσεως αὐτῶν», ὅπερ δηλοῖ ὅτι οὐ κατά τόν λόγον τῆς γενέσεως τῶν ὄντων οἶδεν ( 14 _408 αὐτά ὁ Θεός, ὅπερ ἐστίν αἰσθητῶς, ἀλλά καθ' ἕτερον γνώσεως τρόπον. Οἱ ἄγγελοι δέ γνωστικῶς αὐτά καί ἀΰλως γινώσκουσιν, οὐχ ὡς ἡμεῖς αἰσθητῶς. Οὕτως οὖν καί ὁ Θεός ἀσυγκρίτως καί ὑπεραναβεβηκότως, οὐ μήν ταῖς οὐσίαις ἐπιβάλλων οἶδε τά ὄντα. Ἄλλως·
He does not know the things that are: let this chapter not disturb you, nor let you think that this divine man is blaspheming; for his aim is to show that God is none of the things that are, but is above the things that are. For if he himself created and brought forth all things, how could he be found to be one of the things that are? For he said that the cause of all things does not know the things that are; but this—not to know God—is manifest destruction. Yet he quickly clarified it, saying, "as he is," that is, he does not know God as any of the things that are, in the sense of his unthinkable and supersubstantial essence, or the existence by which he exists. For it has been said: "No one knows the Son except the Son." And from the opposite side the great Dionysius adds and says that "no one knows God as he is," nor does God himself know the things that are as they are—that is, he does not know how to apply himself to sensible things sensibly, or to essences as essences. For this is unfitting for God. For we humans understand what sensible things are through sight or taste or touch, and we grasp intelligible things from learning or teaching or illumination. But God does not know the things that are in any such way, but has the knowledge that befits him. For this is what the saying hints at which says, "He who knows all things before their generation," which makes clear that God does not know them according to the principle of the generation of things, which is sensible, but according to another mode of knowledge. But the angels know them in a knowing and immaterial way, not as we do sensibly. So then God also knows in an incomparable and transcendent way, not indeed applying himself to essences, does he know the things that are. Otherwise:
Τά ὄντα, ἤγουν τά κτίσματα, ὑπέρ τήν ἑαυτῶν φύσιν ἐκταθεῖναι ταῖς νοήσεσιν οὐ δύναται· εἰκότως οὖν εἰς ἑαυτά βλέποντα ἀγνοεῖ τήν θείαν φύσιν, καθ' ὅ αὐτή ἐστιν. Οὕτως οὖν καί ἡ θεία φύσις, εἰς ἑαυτήν βλέπουσα, οὐκ οἶδεν ἐν ἑαυτῇ εἶναι τά ὄντα κατά τόν τῆς οὐσίας αὐτῶν λόγον· τοῦτο γάρ ἐδήλωσεν εἰπών, «ᾖ ὄντα ἐστίν», ἐπειδή ὑπέρ πάντα τά ὄντα καί αὐτό τό εἶναι κέκτηται ὑπερουσίως· ἑτέρως γάρ οὐκ ἄν τις εἴποι ἀγνοεῖν τόν Θεόν τά ἑαυτοῦ κτίσματα. Εἰς τό αὐτό. Ὅτι οὐδείς γινώσκει τήν ἄχραντον Τριάδα, καθ' ὅ αὐτή ἐστιν, ἀντί τοῦ, οὐδέν ἐστιν ὡς αὐτή, ἵνα καί γινώσκῃ αὐτήν ὡς αὐτή ἐστιν· ἡμεῖς ἄνθρωποί ἐσμεν, τήν δέ ὑπαρξιν τῆς ἀχράντου Τριάδος οὐκ ἴσμεν τί ἐστιν· οὐ γάρ ἐσμεν ἐκ τῆς οὐσίας αὐτῆς· οὕτως οὐδέ ὁ Θεός εἶδε τά ὄντα ἦ ἐστί, καθώς ἡμεῖς οὐ γάρ ἐστί τι τῶν ὄντων ἤ κατ' αὐτά· κἄν γάρ αὐτός Πνεῦμα ὁ Θεός, καί τό ἅγιον μέντοι Πνεῦμα οὕτως ὠνόμασται, ἀλλ' οὐκ ἔστι Πνεῦμα γνώριμον ἡμῖν ἤ ἀγγέλοις. Τί δέ ἀνωτέρω εἰπών, 'οὐκ ἔστι φῶς, οὐδέ ἀλήθεια', ὑποκαταβάς πάλιν λέγει, 'οὐκ ἔστι σκότος, οὐδέ φῶς, οὐδέ πλάνη, οὐδέ ἀλήθεια'; Δυνατόν οὖν ἐπιχειροῦντα εἰπεῖν,
The things that are, that is, the created things, cannot be stretched out in their thoughts beyond their own nature; and so, reasonably, looking upon themselves, they are ignorant of the divine nature as it is in itself. Thus, then, the divine nature also, looking upon itself, does not know the things that are to be in itself according to the principle of their essence; for this is what he indicated when he said, "insofar as they are," since it possesses being itself superessentially above all the things that are; for otherwise no one would say that God is ignorant of his own creatures. On the same point. That no one knows the undefiled Trinity as it is in itself, which means, nothing is as it is, so that it might also know it as it is; we are men, and we do not know what the subsistence of the undefiled Trinity is; for we are not of its essence; thus neither has God seen the things that are as they are, just as we have not; for he is not any of the things that are, nor according to them; for even if God himself is Spirit, and the Holy Spirit is indeed so named, yet he is not a Spirit knowable to us or to angels. But what did he say above, "he is not light, nor truth," and then, descending again, he says, "he is not darkness, nor light, nor error, nor truth"? It is possible, then, for one attempting to say,
ὅτι τό μέν πρῶτον περί τοῦ ἀπολύτως φωτός λέγει, οὐδέ πλάνη ὡς ἐν οὐσίαις τῶν ἀγγέλων, καί ἀλήθειαν τήν αὐτοαπολελυμένως καί ἀναιτίως ἀλήθειαν· τά δέ ἐφεξῆς, ὅτι οὔτε τῶν πρός τι, οἷον ἐκ σκότους μεταβάλλων φῶς, ( 14 _410 ὡσανεί ἐκ τοῦ δυνάμει φωτός εἰς τό ἐνεργείᾳ φῶς μεταβάλλων ἐκ τῶν σχετικῶν εἰς ἄλληλα φῶς καί σκότος· οὔτε γάρ γνόφος ἐστίν, οὔτε πολύ φῶς, οὕτως οὔτε ἐκ τοῦ ἐναντίου, ἐκ τοῦ κατά δύναμιν πλάνην εἶναι εἰς ἀλήθειαν ἐνεργείᾳ μετέβαλε· πάντα γάρ ταῦτα, δεύτερα αὐτοῦ, ἐξ αὐτοῦ προνοητικῶς ἐκφοιτήσαντα. Οὐδέν οὖν ἐστι τῶν ἐξ αὐτοῦ.
ΣΧΟΛΙΑ ΕΙΣ ΤΑΣ ΕΠΙΣΤΟΛΑΣ ΤΟΥ ΑΓΙΟΥ ΔΙΟΝΥΣΙΟΥ ΑΡΕΟΠΑΓΙΤΟΥ
Because he first speaks of the light that is absolute, not error as in the essences of the angels, and truth that is truth in an absolutely independent and uncaused way; and the things that follow, because neither of things relative, as when he changes light out of darkness, (14.410 as it were changing from potential light to actual light, from things relative to one another, light and darkness; for neither is he darkness, nor much light, so neither from the opposite, from error being in potential to truth in actuality did he change; for all these things are secondary to him, having proceeded from him by providence. Nothing, therefore, is of the things that are from him.
SCHOLIA ON THE LETTERS OF SAINT DIONYSIUS THE AREOPAGITE