The Word's Incarnation and Iconicity
If the Word has taken the beginning of generation, entering a mother's womb to take on physical form, it is established that he became from a woman. But if the Word was God from above with the Father, and we say that all things came through him, then he who is was not become from a woman, being the cause of all who are born, rather God's nature is self-sufficient, infinite, and beyond understanding; but from a woman a man became, having been frozen in the Holy Spirit in the virgin womb.
For the pure and spotless one is truly a temple, a tabernacle for the Word, where God has pitched his tent. And we do not say these things from images; for he, the Son of the nature of God, announcing the release and resurrection of the new, is undoubtedly supplying and teaching us, saying to the hybrid Jews: 'destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up' (John 2:19). Thus the Word, having worked the man as a sailor, while visiting men in body, was showing all kinds of unseen miracles, and he sent out the apostles as heralds of the eternal kingdom.
For Paul did not say 'conformed to the Son's form,' but 'conformed to the Son's image', showing something else regarding the Son being, and something else regarding his image. For the Son, bringing the recognitions of the divine attributes of the Father, is an icon of the Father; since also being born similar from similar ones, those giving birth appear to be true icons of the begetters. But the man whom he carried is an icon of the Son, who is even sketched as an image of colors from dissimilar ones; some formed by human hands, others by nature and likeness. Furthermore, the Truth himself teaches this by law. For the incorporeal Spirit of Wisdom is not conformed to bodily men, but the man having been embodied by the Spirit is a character, wearing equal members to all others, and having been clothed with the same idea for each.
That the body is said to be conformed to human beings, he teaches us more clearly, writing to the Philippians: 'Our citizenship is in the heavens, from which we also await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform the body of our humiliation, so as to become like the body of his glory' (Phil 3:20-21). If, then, transforming the humble body of men, he fashions it conformed to his own body, the slander of opposites is proven from every side. But just as the man, having been born from the virgin, is said to have come from a woman, so also it is written to have become under the law by means of the legal things...
Greek
Oratio in illud: Dominus creavit me initium viarum suarum (fragmenta) Ο ΛΟΓΟΣ Ο ΕΙΣ ΤΟ· ΚΥΡΙΟΣ ΕΚΤΙΣΕ ΜΕ ΑΡΧΗΝ Ο∆ΩΝ ΑΥΤΟΥ 18 Εἰ μὲν οὖν ἀρχὴν τῆς γεννήσεως εἴληφεν ὁ Λόγος, ἀφ' οὗ διὰ τῆς μητρῴας διοδεύσας γαστρὸς τὰς σωματικὰς ἐφόρεσεν ἁρμονίας, συνέστηκεν ὅτι γέγονεν ἐκ γυναικός. Εἰ δὲ Λόγος καὶ Θεὸς ἦν ἀνέκαθεν παρὰ τῷ Πατρὶ καὶ τὰ σύμπαντα δι' αὐτοῦ γεγενῆσθαί φαμεν, οὐκ ἄρα γέγονεν ἐκ γυναικὸς ὁ ὢν, καὶ τοῖς γεννητοῖς ἅπασιν αἴτιος ὤν· ἀλλ' ἔστι τὴν φύσιν Θεὸς αὐτάρκης, ἄπειρος, ἀπερινόητος· ἐκ γυναικὸς δὲ γέγονεν ἄνθρωπος, ὁ ἐν τῇ παρθενικῇ μήτρᾳ Πνεύματι παγεὶς ἁγίῳ. 19 Ναὸς γὰρ κυρίως ὁ καθαρὸς καὶ ἄχραντος, ἡ κατὰ τὸν ἄνθρωπόν ἐστι περὶ τὸν Λόγον σκηνὴ, ἔνθα προφανῶς σκηνώσας ᾤκησεν ὁ Θεός. Καὶ ταῦτα οὐκ ἐκ τῶν εἰκότων φαμέν· τούτου γὰρ ὁ φύσει τοῦ Θεοῦ Υἱὸς, τὴν λύσι καὶ ἀνάστασιν προαγορεύων τοῦ νεὼ, ἀναμφιβόλως ἡμᾶς διδάσκων ἐφοδιάζει, τοῖς μιαιφόνοις φάσκων Ἰουδαίοις· λύσατε τὸν ναὸν τοῦτον, καὶ ἐν τρισὶν ἡμέραις ἐγερῶ αὐτόν. 20 Ὁπηνίκα οὖν τὸν ἄνθρωπον ναουργήσας ἐφόρεσεν ὁ Λόγος, σώματι μὲν τοῖς ἀνθρώποις ἐπιφοιτῶν, παντοδαπὰς ἀοράτως θαυματουργίας ἐπεδείκνυτο, τοὺς δὲ ἀποστόλους κήρυκας τῆς ἀϊδίου βασιλείας ἐξέπεμπε. 21 Οὐ γὰρ εἶπεν ὁ Παῦλος συμμόρφους τοῦ Υἱοῦ τοῦ Θεοῦ, ἀλλὰ συμμόρφους τῆς εἰκόνος τοῦ Υἱοῦ αὐτοῦ, ἄλλο μέν τι δεικνύων τὸν Υἱὸν εἶναι, ἄλλο δὲ τὴν εἰκόνα αὐτοῦ. Ὁ μὲν γὰρ Υἱὸς, τὰ θεῖα τῆς πατρῴας ἀρετῆς γνωρίσματα φέρων, εἰκών ἐστι τοῦ Παρτός· ἐπειδὴ καὶ ὅμοιοι ἐξ ὁμοίων γεννώμενοι, εἰκόνες οἱ τικτόμενοι φαίνονται τῶν γεννητόρων ἀληθεῖς. Ὁ δὲ ἄνθρωπος ὃν ἐφόρεσεν, εἰκών ἐστι τοῦ Υἱοῦ, τοῦ καὶ ἐξ ἀνομοίων κηρογραφεῖσθαι χρωμάτων εἰκόνας· καὶ τὰς μὲν εἶναι θέσει χειροτεύκτους, τὰς δὲ φύσει καὶ ὁμοιότητι γεγενημένας. Ἄλλως τε καὶ αὐτὸς ὁ τῆς ἀληθείας τοῦθ' ὑπαγορεύει θεσμός. Οὐ γὰρ τὸ ἀσώματον τῆς Σοφίας Πνεῦμα σύμμορφον τοῖς σωματικοῖς ἀνθρώποις ἐστίν, ἀλλ' ὁ τῷ Πνεύματι σωματοποιηθεὶς ἄνθρωπος χαρακτὴρ, ὁ τοῖς· ἄλλοις ἅπασι ἰσάριθμα μέλη φορῶν, καὶ τὴν ὁμοίαν ἑκάστοις περιβεβλημένος ἰδέαν. 22 Ὅτι δὲ τὸ σῶμα λέγει σύμμορφον τοῖς ἀνθρωπίνοις εἶναι, σαφέστερον ἡμᾶς διδάσκει Φιλιππησίοις ἐπιστέλλων· Ἡμῶν τὸ πολίτευμα, φησίν, ἐν οὐρανοῖς ὑπάρχει, ἐξ οὗ καὶ σωτῆρα ἀπεκδεχόμεθα Κύριον Ἰησοῦν Χριστὸν, ὃς μετασχηματίσει τὸ σῶμα τῆς ταπεινώσεως ἡμῶν, εἰς τὸ γενέσθαι αὐτὸ σύμμορφον τῷ σώματι τῆς δόξης αὐτοῦ. Εἰ δὲ τὸ ταπεινὸν μετασχηματίζων τῶν ἀνθρώπων σῶμα, σύμμορφον τῷ ἰδίῳ σώματι κατασκευάζει, ἕωλος πανταχόθεν ἀποδέδεικται ἡ τῶν ἐναντίων συκοφαντία. 23 Ἀλλ' ὥσπερ ἐκ τῆς παρθένου τεχθεὶς ὁ ἄνθρωπος ἐκ γυναικὸς λέγεται γεγονέναι, οὕτω δὴ καὶ ὑπὸ νόμον γεγενῆσθαι γράφεται τῷ διὰ τῶν νομικῶν ἔσθ'
About this text
Eustathius on Proverbs 8:22 against Arian misuse.
Catalogue & scope
Khazarzar scan
Witnesses
- Copy-text PG 18 (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.