On the Incarnation of the Word 14
14 Thus the Word condescended to man's engrossment in corporeal things, by even taking a body. All man's superstitions He met halfway; whether men were inclined to worship Nature, Man, Demons, or the dead, He shewed Himself Lord of all these
For as a kind teacher who cares for His disciples, if some of them cannot profit by higher subjects, comes down to their level, and teaches them at any rate by simpler courses; so also did the Word of God. As Paul also says: “For seeing that in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom knew not God, it was God’s good pleasure through the foolishness of the word preached to save them that believe.” 2. For seeing that men, having rejected the contemplation of God, and with their eyes downward, as though sunk in the deep, were seeking about for God in nature and in the world of sense, feigning gods for themselves of mortal men and demons; to this end the loving and general Saviour of all, the Word of God, takes to Himself a body, and as Man walks among men and meets the senses of all men half-way, to the end, I say, that they who think that God is corporeal may from what the Lord effects by His body perceive the truth, and through Him recognize the Father. 3. So, men as they were, and human in all their thoughts, on whatever objects they fixed their senses, there they saw themselves met half-way, and taught the truth from every side. 4. For if they looked with awe upon the Creation, yet they saw how she confessed Christ as Lord; or if their mind was swayed toward men, so as to think them gods, yet from the Saviour’s works, supposing they compared them, the Saviour alone among men appeared Son of God; for there were no such works done among the rest as have been done by the Word of God. 5. Or if they were biassed toward evil spirits, even, yet seeing them cast out by the Word, they were to know that He alone, the Word of God, was God, and that the spirits were none. 6. Or if their mind had already sunk even to the dead, so as to worship heroes, and the gods spoken of in the poets, yet, seeing the Saviour’s resurrection, they were to confess them to be false gods, and that the Lord alone is true, the Word of the Father, that was Lord even of death. 7. For this cause He was both born and appeared as Man, and died, and rose again, dulling and casting into the shade the works of all former men by His own, that in whatever direction the bias of men might be, from thence He might recall them, and teach them of His own true Father, as He Himself says: “I came to save and to find that which was lost.”
Ὣς γὰρ τῆς γραφείσης ἐν ξύλῳ μορφῆς παραφανισθείσης ἐκ τῶν ἔξωθεν ῥυπων, πάλιν χρεία τοῦτον παραγενέσθαι, οὗ καὶ ἔστιν ἡ μορφή, ἵνα ἀνακαινισθῆναι ἡ εἰκὼν δυνηθῇ ἐν τῇ αὐτῇ ὕλῃ· δία γὰρ τὴν ἐκείνου γραφὴν καὶ αὐτὴ ἡ ὕλη ἐν ἦ καὶ γέγραπται, οὐκ ἐκβάλλεται, ἀλλ’ ἐν αὐτῇ ἀνατυ
κατὰ τοῦτο καὶ ὁ πανάγιος τοῦ Πατρὸς Υἱός, εἰκὼν ὦν τοῦ Πατρός, παρεγένετο ἐπὶ τοὺς ἡμετέρους τόπους, ἵνα τὸν κατ’ αὐτὸν πεποιημένον ἄνθρωπον ἀνακαινίσῃ, καὶ ὡς ἀπολόμενον εὕρῃ διὰ τῆς τῶν ἁμαρτιῶν ἀφέσεως, ᾖ φησι καὶ αὐτὸς ἐν τοῖς Εὐαγγελίοις· Ἦλθον τὸ ἀπολόμενον εὑρεῖν καὶ σῶσαι. ὅθεν καὶ πρὸς τοὺς ἰδίους ἔλεγεν, Ἐὰν μή τις ἀναγεννηθῇ· οὐ τὴν ἐκ γυναικῶν γέννησιν σημαίνων ὥσπερ ὑπενόουν ἐκεῖνοι, ἀλλὰ τὴν ἀναγενωμένην καὶ ἀνακτιζομένην ψυχὴν ἐν τῷ κατ’ εἰκόνα δηλῶν.
Ἐπειδὴ δὲ καὶ εἰδωλομανία καὶ ἀθεότης κατεῖχε τὴν οἰκουμένην, καὶ ἡ περὶ Θεοῦ γνῶσις ἐκέκρυπτο· τίνος ἦν διδάξαι τὴν οἰκουμένην περὶ Πατρός; ἀνθρώπου φαίη τις ἄν; ἀλλ’ οὐκ ἦν ἀνθρώπων ἐνὸν τὴν ὑφήλιον πᾶσαν ὑπελθεῖν, οὔτε τῇ φύσει τοσοῦτον ἰσχυόντων δραμεῖν, οὔτε ἀξιοπίστων περὶ τούτου δυναμένων γενέσθαι, οὔτε πρὸς τὴν τῶν δαιμόνων ἀπάτην καὶ φαντασίαν ἱκανῶν δι’ ἑαυτῶν ἀντιστῆναι.
Πάντων γὰρ κατὰ ψυχὴν πληγέντων καὶ ταραχθέντων παρὰ τῆς δαιμονικῆς ἀπάτης καὶ τῆς τῶν εἰδώλων ματαιότητος, πῶς οἷόν τε ἦν ἀνθρώπου ψυχὴν καὶ ἀνθρώπων νοῦν μεταπεῖσαι, ὅπουγε οὐδὲ ὁρᾶν αὐτοὺς δύνανται; ὃ δὲ μὴ ὁρᾷ τις, πῶς δύναται μεταπαιδεῦσαι.
Ἀλλ’ ἴσως ἄν τις εἴποι τὴν κτίσιν ἀρκεῖσθαι· ἀλλ’ εἰ ἡ κτίσις ἤρκει οὐκ ἂν ἐγεγόνει τὰ τηλικαῦτα κακά. ἦν γὰρ καὶ ἡ κτίσις, καὶ οὐδὲν ἧττον οἱ ἄνθρωποι ἐν τῇ αὐτῇ περὶ Θεοῦ πλάνῃ ἐκυλίοντο.
Τίνος οὖν ἦν πάλιν χρεία τοῦ Θεοῦ Λόγου τοῦ καὶ ψυχὴν καὶ νοῦν ὁρῶντος, τοῦ καὶ τὰ ὅλα ἐν τῇ κτίσει κινοῦντος, καὶ δι’ αὐτῶν γνωρίζοντος τὸν Πατέρα; τοῦ γὰρ διὰ τῆς ἰδίας προνοίας καὶ διακοσμήσεως τῶν ὅλων διδάσ περὶ τοῦ Πατρὸς, αὐτοῦ ἦν καὶ τὴν αὐτὴν διδασκαλίαν ἀνανεῶσαι.
Πῶς οὖν ἄν ἐγεγόνει τοῦτο; ἴσως ἄν τις εἴποι ὅτι ἐξὸν ἦν διὰ τῶν αὐτῶν, ὥστε πάλιν διὰ τῶν τῆς κτίσεως ἔργων τὰ περὶ αὐτοῦ δεῖξαι. ἀλλ’ οὐκ ἦν ἀσφαλὲς ἔτι τοῦτο. οὐχί γε· παρεῖδον γὰρ τοῦτο πρότερον οἱ ἄνθρωποι, καὶ οὐκέτι μὲν ἄνω, κάτω δὲ τοὺς ὀφθαλμοὺς ἐσχήκασιν.
Ὅθεν εἰκότως ἀνθρώπους θέλων ὠφελῆσαι, ὡς ἄνθρωπος ἐπιδημεῖ, λαμβάνων ἑαυτῷ σῶμα ὅμοιον ἐκείνοις, καὶ ἐκ τῶν κάτω λέγω δὴ διὰ τῶν τοῦ σώματος ἔργων· ἵνα οἱ μὴ θελήσαντες αὐτὸν γνῶναι ἐκ τῆς εἰς τὰ ὅλα προνοίας καὶ ἡγεμονίας αὐτοῦ, κἂν ἐκ τῶν δ’ αὐτοῦ τοῦ σώματος ἔργων γνώσωνται τὸν ἐν τῷ σώματι τοῦ Θεοῦ Λόγον, καὶ δέ’ αὐτοῦ τὸν Πατέρα.