Jacob's Ladder and the Uncomparable Father
That the one existing before all things and supremely ruling over every nature is nothing of the all, nor is any creature to be understood by comparison of those things having come from him, and having received from him every change. And otherwise: if anyone were to call the maker of every creature the one bearing all creation and the image of God and naming him Son, paying attention to the truth and being informed by the divine oracles, how could he confess this one to be a creature or something smaller than the one bearing all things to be God or having existed before, unless he were mad?
Concerning the prophecy of calling God and angel, Malachi says thus: 'The Lord whom you seek shall come into his temple, and the angel of the covenant whom you desire. Behold, the Lord comes, and who will endure the day of his entrance? Or who will stand at his appearing?' (Malachi 3:1-2). The beginning of the word signifies the economy, but the following signifies his fearsome and philanthropic second appearance. And Isaiah cries out in the manner of those who rejoice, announcing to those who have not yet perceived what has come to pass: 'A child was born to us, a son was given, and his name is called the angel of great counsel, wonderful counselor, mighty God, authority, prince of peace' (Isaiah 9:6).
Jacob calls this God 'the angel' when, having slept while traveling to Mesopotamia, he saw a dream. For he says: 'And behold, a ladder standing upon the earth, the head of which reached into heaven. And the angels of God were ascending and descending upon it, and the Lord stood upon it and said: I am the Lord the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac. Do not fear; the land upon which you lie, I will give to you and to your seed. And I will be with you and will deliver you in every way that you go, and I will turn you back with safety to the house of your father. And your seed shall be multiplied upon l—' (Genesis 28:12-13).
...sea, and north, and east." The cross was prophesied through the ladder, upon which the faithful ascend to the heavenly dwellings, while God Himself, having voluntarily been nailed to the cross for our sake, stands upon the ladder. And with other things: "Jacob said, 'If God is Lord with me and preserves me in the way that I go, and gives me bread to eat and clothing to wear, and turns me back with safety to the house of my father, and he shall be Lord to me; and this stone which I have set as a pillar shall be a house of God. And from all things which you shall give me, I will give to you a tenth'" (Gen 28:20-22).
Then, having become many possessions with Laban, he saw in a vision again the God seen above him in the greenery of the pastures. And he recounted thus: "The angel of God said to me in a dream: 'Jacob, lift up your eyes and see the rams and the goats ascending to the sheep and the goats; for I know what Laban will do to you. I am the God who was seen to you in the way that you were going, where you set a pillar for me and made a vow to me there'" (Gen 31:11-13).
And in Egypt, the same Jacob asks the sons of Joseph this angel and the blessing of the "great God," saying: "The God in whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac were pleased, the God who has nourished me from my youth until this day, the angel who delivers me from all my evils" (Gen 48:15-16).
Concerning those saying, that "the Father of the Son is incomparable and greater," and that "one is an image and another is God," and that "and man was written as an image of God and glory," and concerning the testimony that the Father does not differ at all from the Son. And they attribute the incomparable and the greater to the Father because of the unbegotten, but to the Son the dissimilar because of having the begotten, drawing again the things concerning the most unspeakable divinity into the results of our own nature and the...
Greek
τὸν πρὸ πάντων ὄντα καὶ πάσης φύσεως ὑπερφυῶς ἐπιτροπεύοντα μηδὲν εἶναι τῶν πάντων, 15.97 μηδὲ κτίσμα κατὰ σύγκρισιν νοεῖσθαι τῶν παρ' αὐτοῦ παροισθέντων 13 καὶ πᾶσαν εἰληχότων πρὸς αὐτὸν ἐξαλλαγήν. 15.98 καὶ ἄλλως· ὃν ἄν τις παντὸς ποιήματος ποιητὴν ἀποφήναιτο καὶ πᾶσαν βαστάζοντα τὴν κτίσιν καὶ εἰκόνα τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ υἱὸν ὀνομάσοι, τῇ τε ἀληθείᾳ προσέχων καὶ ὑπὸ τῶν θείων λογίων πληροφορούμενος, τοῦτον πῶς ἂν ποίημα ἢ μικρότερον τοῦ φέροντος τὰ πάντα θεοῦ ἢ προγενέστερον ἔχοντα, εἰ μὴ μαίνοιτο, προσομολογήσοι; 15.99 Περὶ δὲ τοῦ θεὸν καὶ ἄγγελον κεκλῆσθαι προφητεύουσιν Μαλαχίας μὲν οὕτως εἰπών· «ἥξει εἰς τὸν ναὸν αὐτοῦ κύριος, ὃν ὑμεῖς ζητεῖτε, καὶ ὁ ἄγγελος τῆς διαθή κης, ὃν ὑμεῖς θέλετε. ἰδοὺ ἔρχεται κύριος, καὶ τίς ὑπομενεῖ ἡμέραν εἰσόδου αὐτοῦ; ἢ τίς ὑποστήσεται ἐν τῇ ὀπτασίᾳ αὐτοῦ;» 15.100 ἡ ἀρχὴ τοῦ ῥητοῦ τὴν οἰκονομίαν, τὸ δὲ ἑπόμενον τὴν φοβερὰν καὶ φιλάνθρωπον αὐτοῦ δευτέραν παρουσίαν δηλοῖ. 15.101 Ἠσαΐας δὲ βοῶν τρόπῳ ᾧ εἰώθασιν οἱ συγχαίροντες ἀγγέλλειν τοῖς οὔπω τοῦ γενομένου ᾐσθημένοις· «παιδίον ἐγεννήθη ἡμῖν, υἱὸς καὶ ἐδόθη, καὶ καλεῖται τὸ ὄνομα αὐτοῦ μεγά λης βουλῆς ἄγγελος, θαυμαστὸς σύμβουλος, θεὸς ἰσχυρός, ἐξουσιαστής, ἄρχων εἰρήνης». 15.102 Τοῦτον τὸν θεὸν λόγον καὶ Ἰακὼβ ἄγγελον καλεῖ, ὅτε πορευόμενος εἰς Μεσοποταμίαν κοιμηθεὶς εἶδεν ὄναρ. φησὶν γάρ· «καὶ ἰδοῦ κλίμαξ ἐστηριγμένη ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς, ἧς ἡ κεφαλὴ ἐφικνεῖτο εἰς τὸν οὐρανόν. καὶ οἱ ἄγγελοι τοῦ θεοῦ ἀνέβαινον καὶ κατέβαινον ἐπ' αὐτῆς, ὁ δὲ κύριος ἐπεστήρικτο ἐπ' αὐτῆς καὶ εἶπεν· ἐγὼ κύριος ὁ θεὸς τῶν πατέρων σου, ὁ θεὸς Ἀβραὰμ καὶ ὁ θεὸς Ἰσαάκ. μὴ φοβοῦ· ἡ γῇ, ἐφ' ἧς σὺ καθεύδεις, σοὶ δώσω αὐτὴν καὶ τῷ σπέρματί σου. καὶ ἐγὼ ἔσομαι μετά σου καὶ διαφυ λάξω σε ἐν τῇ ὁδῷ πάσῃ. ᾗ ἐὰν πορευθῇς, καὶ ἀποστρέψω σε μετὰ σωτηρί ας εἰς τὸν οἶκον τοῦ πατρός σου. καὶ πλατυνθήσεται τὸ σπέρμα σου ἐπὶ λίβα καὶ θάλασσαν καὶ βορρᾶν καὶ ἀνατολάς». 15.103 Προεφητεύετο δὲ διὰ μὲν τῆς κλίμακος ὁ σταυρός, δι' οὗ οἱ πιστοὶ ἐπὶ τὰς οὐρανίους ἀναβαίνουσιν σκηνάς, ὁ δὲ ἐπὶ τῇ κλίμακι ἐπεστηριγμένος θεὸς αὐτὸς ὁ ἑκουσίως τῷ σταυρῷ ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν προσηλωθείς. 15.104 Καὶ μεθ' ἕτερα· «ηὔξατο», φησίν, «Ἰακώβ· ἐὰν ᾖ κύριος ὁ θεὸς μετ' ἐμοῦ καὶ διαφυλάξῃ με ἐν τῇ ὁδῷ, ᾖ πορεύομαι, καὶ δῷ μοι ἄρτον φαγεῖν καὶ ἱμάτιον περιβαλέσθαι καὶ ἀποστρέψῃ με μετὰ σωτηρίας εἰς τὸν οἶκον τοῦ πατρός μου, καὶ ἔσται μοι κύριος εἰς θεόν· καὶ ὁ λίθος οὗτος, ὃν ἔστησα στήλην, ἔσται μοι οἶκος θεοῦ. καὶ ἀπὸ πάντων, ὧν ἄν μοι δῷς, δεκάτην ἀποδεκατώσω σοι». 15.105 Εἶτα πληθυνθεὶς παρὰ τῷ Λάβαν εἶδεν ἐν τῇ κισσήσει τῶν θρεμμάτων πάλιν ἐν ὀπτασίᾳ τὸν ἀνωτέρω ὀφθέντα αὐτῷ θεὸν 15.106 καὶ διηγήσατο οὑτωσί· «εἶπέν μοι ὁ ἄγγελος τοῦ θεοῦ καθ' ὕπνον· Ἰακώβ, ἀνάβλεψον τοῖς ὀφθαλ μοῖς σου καὶ ἰδὲ τοὺς κριοὺς καὶ τοὺς τράγους ἀναβαίνοντας ἐπὶ τὰ πρόβατα καὶ τὰς αἶγας· οἶδα γάρ, ὅσα σοι Λάβαν ποιήσει. ἐγώ εἰμι ὁ θεὸς ὁ ὀφθείς σοι ἐν τῇ ὁδῷ, ᾗ ἤρχου, οὗ ἔστησάς μοι στήλην καὶ ηὔξω μοι ἐκεῖ εὐχήν». 15.107 Καὶ ἐν Αἰγύπτῳ δὲ ὁ αὐτὸς Ἰακὼβ τοῖς υἱοῖς Ἰωσὴφ τούτου τοῦ ἀγγέλου καὶ «μεγάλου θεοῦ» τὴν εὐλογίαν αἰτεῖται εἰπών· «ὁ θεός, ᾧ εὐηρέστησαν οἱ πατέρες μου Ἀβραὰμ καὶ Ἰσαάκ, ὁ θεὸς ὁ τρέφων με ἐκ νεότητός μου ἕως τῆς ἡμέρας ταύτης, ὁ ἄγγελος ὁ ῥυόμενός με ἐκ πάν των τῶν κακῶν μου». 16.ν Περὶ τῶν λεγόντων, ὅτι «ἀσύγκριτος καὶ μείζων ὁ πατὴρ τοῦ υἱοῦ» καὶ ὅτι «ἄλλο εἰκὼν καὶ ἄλλο θεὸς» καὶ ὅτι «καὶ ἄνθρωπος εἰκὼν θεοῦ ἐγράφη καὶ δόξα». καὶ περὶ τοῦ μαρτυρεῖσθαι κατ' οὐδὲν διαφέρειν τοῦ υἱοῦ τὸν πατέρα. 16.1 Καὶ τὸ ἀσύγκριτον δὲ καὶ μεῖζον τῷ πατρὶ διὰ τὸ ἀγέννητον ἀπονέμουσιν, τῷ δὲ υἱῷ τὸ ἀνόμοιον διὰ τὸ ἔχειν τὸ γεννητόν, καθέλκοντες πάλιν τὰ περὶ τῆς ἀρρητοτάτης θεότητος εἰς τὰ τῆς ἡμετέρας φύσεως ἀποτελέσματα καὶ τὰ
About this text
Didymus the Blind defends the full divinity of Father, Son, and Spirit against those who rank them.
Catalogue & scope
Khazarzar scan
Witnesses
- Copy-text PG (Khazarzar) (Greek)
This is an AI-assisted study translation. Source fidelity and completeness have not been independently certified. Open Greek on each section for the source text. This is not a complete critical edition.