De Theologia (Orat. 28)

Ἡλία δὲ οὔτε πνεῦμα βίαιον, οὔτε πῦρ, οὔτε συσσεισμός, ὡς τῆς ἱστορίας ἀκούεις, ἀλλ’ ἡ αὔρα τις [*](3 ἀλειφθέντα] αλειφεντα aedf: αλιφεντα e || 4 Ειδος] οἶκος El: ἴσω f || 9 γενητης] γεννήτης def ǁ I4 η ὄψιν ὅλην] ὅλην ὄψις (om 77) e: om ὅλην df) [*](1. κλίμακα] Gen. xxviii 12. ib. ἐφαντάσθη] ‘saw in a vision.’) [*](3. λίθον] Is. xxviii 16 etc.; ἀλειφθ. Is. lxi 1 ἔχρισεν) etc.) [*](4. Εἶδος Θ] Gen. xxxii 30 (31). This reading has better authority than οἶκος θ., i.e. Bethel. On the other hand τοῦ ὀφθ. seems more like a reminiscence of Gen. xxxv 1,9 (in u. 7 the word is ἐπεφάνη); and perh. it might have been more natural to mention the name of Penuel after the mention of the wrestling.) [*](6. ἥτις π. ἐ.] The whole clause forms a cogn. ace. after προσπαλ., ‘wrestles whatever wrestling that of God with man may be.’) [*](7. ἢ τάχα] ‘or perhaps (it would be best to say) the trial,’ etc. He this turn, because God was not ’wrestling’ for the mastery, but to try the ἀρετή of Jacob.) [*](8. σύμβολα] Gen. xxxii 31 (32).) [*](12. ἐκεῖνο δέ] refers to what follows, lows, ὅτι θ. φύσιν κτλ. The δὲ the apodosis to κλίμακα μέν.) [*](ib. ὑπὲρ αὐτόν] Jacob was excelled by some of his descendants, but none of them could ’make room for’ (χωρεῖν), ‘take in,’ or perh. ‘bear,’ the whole of God.) [*](19. Elias, Esaias, Ezekiel, and others, were unable to receive the revelation of the Divine nature in itself.) [*](16. ἢ αὔρα τις ὁ] 1 Kings xix 12 φωνὴ αὔρας λεπτῆς. The τις hints that there was something more than usual in ‘that breeze.’ Gr.’s agrument implies that if the presence had been discerned in the mightier movements of nature, God might have been thought to manifest self wholly in them, but that it was impossible to imagine this in connexion with the ‘small breeze.’)

ὀλίγη τὴν τοῦ θεοῦ παρουσίαν, καὶ ταῦτα οὐ φύσιν, ἐσκιαγράφησεν· Ἠλίᾳ τίνι; ὃν καὶ ἅρμα πυρὸς ἀνάγει πρὸς οὐρανόν, δηλοῦν τοῦ δικαίου τὸ ὑπὲρ ἄνθρωπον. Μανωὲ δὲ τὸν κριτὴν πρότερον, καὶ Πέτρον τὸν μαθητὴν ὕστερον, πῶς οὐ τεθαύμακας; τὸν μὲν οὐδὲ ὄψιν φέροντα τοῦ φαντασθέντος θεοῦ, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο, Ἀπολώλαμεν, ὦ γύναι, λέγοντα, θεὸν ἑωράκαμεν· ὡς οὐ χωρητῆς οὔσης ἀνθρώποις οὐδὲ φαντασίας θείας, μὴ ὅτι γε φύσεως· τὸν δὲ καὶ τὸν φαινόμενον χριστὸν τῷ πλοίῳ μὴ προσιέμενον, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο ἀποπεμπόμενον. καίτοιγε θερμότερος τῶν ἄλλων εἰς ἐπίγνωσιν Χριστοῦ Πέτρος, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο μακαριζόμενος, καὶ τὰ μέγιστα πιστευόμενος. τί δ’ ἂν εἴποις περὶ Ἠσαίου, καὶ Ἰεζεχιὴλ τοῦ τῶν μεγίστων ἐπόπτου, καὶ τῶν λοιπῶν προφητῶν; ὧν ὁ μὲν τὸν κύριον Σαβαὼθ εἶδε καθήμενον ἐπὶ θρόνου δόξης, καὶ τοῦτον ὑπὸ τῶν ἑξαπτερύγων σεραφὶμ κυκλούμενον καὶ αἰνούμενον καὶ ἀποκρυπτόμενον, ἑαυτόν τε τῷ ἄνθρακι καθαιρόμενον, καὶ πρὸς τὴν προφητείαν καταρτιζόμενον· ὁ δὲ καὶ τὸ ὄχημα τοῦ θεοῦ τὰ Χερουβὶμ διαγράφει, καὶ τὸν ὑπὲρ αὐτῶν θρόνον, καὶ τὸ ὑπὲρ αὐτοῦ στερέωμα, καὶ τὸν ἐν τῷ [*](19. 2 ἐσκιαγράφησεν] εσκιογρ. a || 6 om καὶ f || 10 καίτοιγε] καίτοι c || 16 om ἑξαπτερύγων d || 17 ἀποκρυπτόμενον] κρυπτομένων c: κρυπτόμενον f ‘Colb. 1 Or. I’ || 19 ἀυτῶν] αὐτοῦ ‘Reg. Cypr.’) [*](1. καὶ ταῦτα] used like καὶ τοῦτο, ‘and that without shadowing forth His nature.’ If Gr. had meant ταῦτα = τὴν παρουσίαν, he must have said ταύτην.) [*](2 Ἠλ. τίνι;] ‘and what Elias?’ i.e. what was he?) [*](4. τὸν κριτήν] M. is not so styled in the book itself.) [*](6. ἀπολώλαμεν] Judg. xiii 22—a a free version. But as Gr. quotes the words in precisely the same form in Or. ix 1, it is possible that he may have found them so in some text.) [*](8. μὴ ὅτι] Cp. ἑ 11.) [*](9. τῷ πλοίῳ μὴ προσι.] Luke v 8. Gr. seems to have forgotten that Christ was in the boat.) [*](11. μακαριζόμενος] Matt, xvi 17 foil.) [*](15 καθήμενον ἐπὶ θ. δ] Is. vi 1 (δόξης seems to come from Matt. xxv 31).) [*](17. ἀποκρυπτόμενον.] This is Gr.'s addition to the narrative, unless he means ‘hidden from themselves’ the Seraphim. It is indeed possible that he understood πρόσωπον, πόδας, in Isaiah, to be those of the Lord.’) [*](ib. ἑαυτόν τε] ‘and saw himself.’) [*](18. τὸ ὄχημα] Ezek. i 4. It is not actually described by that name.) στερεώματι φανταζόμενον, καἰ φωνὰς δή τινας, καὶ ὁρμάς, καὶ πράξεις, καὶ ταῦτα εἴτε φαντασία τις ἢν ἡμερινή, μόνοις θεωρητὴ τοῖς ἁγίοις, εἴτε νυκτὸς ἀψευδὴς ὄψις, εἴτε τοῦ ἡγεμονικοῦ τύπωσις συγγινομένη τοῖς μέλλουσιν ὡς παροῦσιν, εἴτε τι ἄλλο προφητείας εἶδος ἀπόρρητον, οὐκ ἔχω λέγειν· ἁλλ’ οἶδεν ὁ τῶν προφητῶν θεός, καὶ οἱ τὰ τοιαῦτα ἐνεργούμενοι. πλὴν οὔτε οὗτοι περὶ ὧν ὁ λόγος, οὔτε τις ἄλλος τῶν κατ’ αὐτούς, ἔστη ἐν ὑποστήματι καὶ οὐσία κυρίου, κατὰ τὸ γεγραμμένον, οὐδὲ θεοῦ φύσιν ἢ εἶδεν ἢ ἐξηγόρευσεν.

Παύλῳ δὲ εἰ μὲν ἔκφορα ἦν ἃ παρέσχεν ὁ τρίτος οὐρανός, καὶ ἡ μέχρις ἐκείνου πρόοδος ἢ ἀνάβασις ἢ ἀνάληψις, τάχα ἄν τι περὶ θεοῦ πλέον ἔγνωμεν, εἴπερ τοῦτο ἢν τὸ τῆς ἁρπαγῆς μυστήριον. ἐπεὶ δὲ ἄρρητα ἦν, καὶ ἡμῖν σιωπῇ τιμάσθω. τοσοῦτον δὲ ἀκούσωμεν αὐτοῦ Παύλου λέγοντος, ὅτι ἐκ μέρους γινώσκομεν, καὶ ἐκ μέρους προφητεύομεν. ταῦτα καὶ τὰ τοιαῦτα ὁμολογεῖ ὁ μὴ ἰδιώτης τὴν γνῶσιν, ὁ δοκιμὴν ἀπειλῶν τοῦ ἐν αὐτῷ [*](4 συηινομενη] συγγενομένη def: συγγενομένου ‘Or. ’ ǁ 8 κατ’ αυτους] κάτα τούτους ac ‘duo Reg. Or. I’ 20. 11 α παρεσχεν] ἅπερ ἔσχεν d || 15 ακουσωμεν] σομεν f) [*](1. φωνάς] Ezek. i 24, 28; ὁρμάς, i 19 foil.; πράξεις, ii 9.) [*](3. τοῦ ἥγ’. τύπωσις] ‘an impres- sion upon the rational ’ Ἡγμε., i 3. Συγγινομένη by a very natural hyperbaton for νου.) [*](6. οἱ τὰ τ. ἐνεργ] ‘those upon whom such effects are ’ wrought.) [*](8. τῶν κατ’ αὐτούς] ‘those of their sort.) [*](ib. ἵστη ἐν ὑποστ.] Jer. xxiii 18. Ὑπόστ. is ‘an establishment’ of some kind; in 2 Sam. xxiii 14 of ‘a garri- son’; in Jer. prob. ‘a court,’ or ‘familiar circle.’ Gr. however curiously misunderstood the word to = ὑπόστασις in the sense of οὐσία (cp. § 9).) [*](20. St Paul only saw through α glass] in α riddle.) [*](11. ἔκφορα] ‘capable of being di- vulged’; cp. Plat. Lack. 201 A ῾Ο τρ. οὐρ., 2 Cor. xii 2.) [*](12. πρόοδος] nom. to ἢν, not to παρέσχεν. He calls it a πρόοδος to signify that it represented a progress in St P.'s spiritual experience, and not merely an incidental privilege. Cp. v 26.) [*](13. etirtp τοῦτο] Gr. will not even admit that we can be sure that St P. thereby became acquainted with the Divine nature. The ἁρπαγῆ was in the strictest sense a μυστήριον.) [*](16. ἐκ μέρους] 1 Cor. xiii 9.) [*](17. μὴ ἰδ’. τὴν γνῶσιν] 2 Cor. xi 6.) [*](18. δοκιμὴν ἀπ.] 2 Cor. xiii 3.)

λαλοῦντος χριστοῦ, ὁ μέγας τῆς ἀληθείας προαγωνιστὴς καὶ διδάσκαλος· καὶ πᾶσαν τὴν κάτω γνῶσιν οὐδὲν ὑπὲρ τὰ ἔσοπτρα καὶ τὰ αἰνίγματα τίθεται, ὡς ἐν μικροῖς τῆς ἀληθείας ἱσταμένην ἰνδάλμασιν. εἰ δὲ μὴ λίαν δοκῶ τισὶ περιττὸς καὶ περίεργος τὰ τοιαῦτα ἐξετάζων, οὐδὲ ἄλλα τινὰ τυχὸν ἢ ταῦτα ἦν, ἃ μὴ δύναται νῦν βασταχθῆναι, ἅπερ ὁ Λόγος αὐτὸς ὑπῃνίσσετο, ὥς ποτε βασταχθησόμενα καὶ τρανωθησόμενα· καὶ ἃ μηδ’ ἂν αὐτὸν δυνηθῆναι χωρῆσαι τὸν κάτω κόσμον Ἰωάννης ὁ τοῦ Λόγου πρόδρομος ἡ μεγάλη τῆς ἀληθείας φωνή, διωρίζετο.

Πᾶσα μὲν οὖν ἀλήθεια καὶ πᾶς λόγος δυστέκμαρτός τε καὶ δυσθεώρητος· καὶ οἷον ὀργάνῳ μικρῷ μεγάλα δημιουργοῦμεν, τῆ ἀνθρωπτίνῃ σοφίᾳ τὴν τῶν ὄντων γνῶσιν θηρεύοντες, καὶ τοῖς νοητοῖς προσβάλλοντες μετὰ τῶν αἰσθήσεων, ἢ οὐκ ἄνευ αἰσθήσεων, ὑφ’ ὧν περιφερόμεθα καὶ πλανώμεθα, καὶ οὐκ ἔχομεν γυμνῷ τῷ νοὶ γυμνοῖς τοῖς πράγμασιν ἐντυγχάνοντες μᾶλλόν τι προσιέναι τῇ ἀληθείᾳ, καὶ τὸν νοῦν τυποῦσθαι ταῖς καταλήψεσιν. ὁ δὲ περὶ θεοῦ λόγος, ὅσῳ τελεώτερος, τοσούτῳ δυσεφικτότερος, καὶ πλείους τὰς ἀντιλήψεις ἔχων καὶ τὰς λύσεις ἐργωδεστέρας. [*](2 καὶ πάσαν] διὸ καὶ πάσαν e: ο καὶ ‘Reg. a duo Colb.’ || 4 ἱσταμένην] e ǁ 7 om ἅπερ d || ὡς] ισως ‘Reg. Cypr.’ || 8 α] ἅπερ d ΙΙ 9 om κάτω def 21. 14 προσβάλλοντες] προβ. c2 || 15 περιφερομεθα και πλανώμεθα] περιπλανωμεθα καὶ περιφερόμεθα f) [*](3. ἔσοπτρα κ. τ. αἰν.] 1 Cor. xiii 12.) [*](4. ἰνδάλμασιν] ‘figures,’ ‘repre- sentations.’) [*](5. περιττὸς κ. περίεργ.] Cp. i 1.) [*](7. ὑπῃνίσσετο ‘darkly intimated’; in John xvi 12.) [*](8. τρανωθησόμενα] Cp. § 4.) [*](9. χωρῆσαι τὸν κ.] John xxi 25. By a strange oversight, Gr. confounds the Forerunner with the Divine. φωνή, perh. with ref. to John i 23.) [*](10. διωρίζετο] ‘to define’; so ‘to affirm.’) [*](21. All abstract ruth is hard to attain with such instruments as we possess, but above all the truth about God. So Solomon and St Panl confessed; and David, who despaired of knowing even himself.) [*](14. προσβάλλοντες] Cp. § 16. Μετὰ τῶν αἰ., cp. §§ 12 § 26.) [*](18. τὸν νοῦν τυπ. τ. κατ.] ‘to have our minds fashioned by what we perceive.’) [*](19. δυσεφικτ.] ‘harder to come at’ (ἐφικνεῖσθαι).) [*](20. ἀντιλήψεις] From the general notion of ‘catching hold’ of a thing come the opposite meanings of ’helping’ (e.g. 1 Cor. xii 28), and (as here) of ‘objections,’ ‘difficulties.’ Plut. de Def. Orac. (11 438 D) has the expression ὡς ἔχοντα πολλὰς ἀντιλήψεις καὶ ὑπονοίας πρὸς τοὐναντίον.)

πᾶν γὰρ τὸ ἐνιστάμενον, κἂν βραχύτατον ἦ, τὸν τοῦ λόγου δρόμον ἐπέσχε καὶ διεκώλυσε, καὶ τὴν εἰς τὸ πρόσω φορὰν διέκοψεν· ὥσπερ οἱ τοὺς ἵππους τοῖς ῥυτῆρσιν ἀθρόως μεθέλκοντες φερομένους, καὶ τῷ ἀδοκήτῳ τοῦ τιναγμοῦ περιτρέποντες. οὕτω Σολομὼν μέν, ὁ σοφισάμενος περισσὰ ὑπὲρ πάντας τοὺς γενομένους ἔμπροσθεν καὶ καθ’ ἑαυτόν, ᾧ τὸ τῆς καρδίας πλάτος δῶρον θεοῦ, καὶ ἡ ψάμμου δαψιλεστέρα χύσις τῆς θεωρίας, ὅσῳ πλέον ἐμβατεύει τοῖς βάθεσι, τοσούτῳ πλέον ἰλιγγιᾷ, καὶ τέλος τι ποιεῖται σοφίας εὑρεῖν ὅσον διέφυγεν. Παῦλος δὲ πειρᾶται μὲν ἐφικέσθαι, οὔπω λέγω τῆς τοῦ θεοῦ φύσεως, τοῦτο γὰρ ᾔδει παντελῶς ἀδύνατον ὄν, ἀλλὰ μόνον τῶν τοῦ θεοῦ κριμάτων· ἐπεὶ δὲ οὐχ εὑρίσκει διέξοδον οὐδὲ στάσιν τῆς ἀναβάσεως, οὐδὲ εἴς τι φανερὸν τελευτᾷ πέρας ἡ πολυπραγμοσύνη τῆς διανοίας, ἀεί τινος ὑποφαινομένου τοῦ λείποντος· ὢ τοῦ θαύματος ἵνα καὶ αὐτὸς πάθω τὸ ἴσον)· ἐκπλήξει περιγράφει τὸν λόγον, καὶ πλοῦτον θεοῦ καὶ [*](11 οὔπω] + δε e || 12 om ὂν c || μόνον] μόνων c2e ǁ 14 πολυπραγμοσύνη] + τῃ e) [*](1. ἐνιστάμενον] ‘obstruction.’) [*](2. ἐπέσχε κτλ.] ‘gnomic’ aorists: ‘it lets and hinders.’) [*](3. ῥυτῆρσιν] ‘reins’: ἀθρόως, suddenly, cp § 2.) [*](5. σοφισάμενος] 1 Kings iv 31 (LXX. 111 Kings iv 27 Swete) ascent never stops,’ i.e. i ἐσοφίσατο virkp π.) [*](6. τοὺς γεν. ἔμπροσθεν] 1 Kings iii 12. Καθ’ ἑαυτόν might be (as in § 19) ‘after his pattern’; but the connexion is in favour of ‘in his time.’) [*](7. καρδίας πλάτος] 1 Kings iv 29 (iv 25 Swete). Sw. reads χύμα καρδίας; and Gr.'s χύσις directly after seems to show that he read the same, πλάτος being his interpretation. Χύσις, ‘spread,’ ‘expanse.’) [*](9. ἰλιγγιᾷ] ‘reels.’) [*](ib. τέλος τι π. σοφίας] ‘makes it as it were the end (perfection) of wisdom to find henv far it ὁ περὶ θ. λόγος) has escaped him.’ Gr. refers to such passages as Eccl. vii 23 foll., viii 17, and perh. xii 12 foll.) [*](13. κριμάτων] Rom. xi 33.) [*](ib. στάσιν τῆς ἀν.] ‘that the ascent never stops,’ i.e. is endless.) [*](15. ἀεί τινος ὑποφ. τ. λ.] lit. ‘something remaining ever dimly disclosing itself.’) [*](16. ἴνα κ. αὐτός] By his exclamation, Gr. has dramatically put himself beside St P.) [*](17. περιγράφει τὸν λ.] ‘He concludes his discourse with astonishment.’) βάθος τὸ τοιοῦτο καλεῖ, καὶ ὁμολογεῖ τῶν τοῦ θεοῦ κριμάτων τὸ ἀκατάληπτον, μονονουχὶ τὰ αὐτὰ τῷ Δαβὶδ φθεγγόμενος, ποτὲ μὲν ἄβυσσον πολλὴν ὀνομάζοντι τὰ τοῦ θεοῦ κρίματα, ἦς οὐκ ἔστι τὴν ἕδραν ἢ μέτρῳ ἢ αἰσθήσει λαβεῖν, ποτὲ δὲ τεθαυμαστῶσθαι τὴν γνῶσιν ἐξ ἑαυτοῦ καὶ τῆς ἑαυτοῦ συστάσεως λέγοντι, κεκραταιῶσθαί τε πλέον ἢ κατὰ τὴν ἑαυτοῦ δύναμιν καὶ περίδραξιν.