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That the Nature of Man is Invisible
Patrologia Graeca 44.153-6 * Greek Fonts
But I find the solution of these difficulties by recourse to the very
utterance of God; for He says, "Let us make man in our image, after
our likeness ." The image is properly an image so long as it fails in
none of those attributes which we perceive in the archetype; but where
it falls from its resemblance to the prototype it ceases in that
respect to be an image; therefore, since one of the attributes we
contemplate in the Divine nature is incomprehensibility of essence, it
is clearly necessary that in this point the image should be able to
show its imitation of the archetype. |
Ἀλλ' ἔγνων τῶν ἠπορημένων τὴν λύσιν ἐπ' αὐτὴν ἀναδραμὼν τοῦ Θεοῦ τὴν φωνήν· Ποιήσωμεν γάρ͵ φησίν͵ ἄνθρωπον κατ' εἰκόνα καὶ καθ' ὁμοίωσιν ἡμετέραν. Ἡ γὰρ εἰκὼν ἕως ἂν ἐν μηδενὶ λείπηται τῶν κατὰ τὸ ἀρχέτυπον νοουμένων͵ κυρίως ἐστὶν εἰκών· καθ' ὃ δ' ἂν διαπέσῃ τῆς πρὸς τὸ πρωτότυπον ὁμοιότητος͵ κατ' ἐκεῖνο τὸ μέρος εἰκὼν οὐκ ἔστιν. Οὐκοῦν ἐπειδὴ ἓν τῶν περὶ τὴν θείαν φύσιν θεωρουμένων ἐστὶ τὸ ἀκατάληπτον τῆς οὐσίας· ἀνάγκη πᾶσα καὶ ἐν τούτῳ τὴν εἰκόνα πρὸς τὸ ἀρχέτυπον ἔχειν τὴν μίμησιν.Εἰ γὰρ ἡ μὲν τῆς εἰκόνος φύσις κατελαμβάνετο͵ τὸ δὲ πρωτότυπον ὑπὲρ κατάληψιν ἦν, ἡ ἐναντιότης τῶν ἐπιθεωρουμένων τὸ διημαρτημένον τῆς εἰκόνος διήλεγχεν. Ἐπειδὴ δὲ διαφεύγει τὴν γνῶσιν ἡ κατὰ τὸν νοῦν τὸν ἡμέτερον φύσις͵ ὅς ἐστι κατ' εἰκόνα τοῦ κτίσαντος͵ ἀκριβῆ πρὸς τὸ ὑπερκείμενον ἔχει τὴν ὁμοιότητα͵ τῷ καθ' ἑαυτὸν ἀγνώστῳ χαρακτηρίζων τὴν ἀκατάληπτον φύσιν. |
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