II. Therefore now also, when He had finished
these sayings He departed from Galilee and came into the coasts of
Judea beyond Jordan; He dwelleth well in Galilee, in order that the
people which sat in darkness may see great Light. Isa. ix. 1. He removeth to Judea in order that He
may persuade people to rise up from the Letter and to follow the
Spirit. He teacheth, now on a mountain; now He discourseth on a
plain; now He passeth over into a ship; now He rebuketh the
surges. And perhaps He goes to sleep, in order that He may bless
sleep also; perhaps He is tired that He may hallow weariness also;
perhaps He weeps that He may make tears blessed. He removeth from
place to place, Who is not contained in any place; the timeless, the
bodiless, the uncircumscript, the same Who was and is; Who was both
above time, and came under time, and was invisible and is seen.
He was in the beginning and was with God, and was God. John i. 1. The word Was occurs the third time to
be confirmed by number. What He was He laid aside; what He was
not He assumed; not that He became two, but He deigned to be One made
out of the two. For both are God, that which assumed, and that
which was assumed; two Natures meeting in One, not two Sons (let us not
give a false account of the blending). He who is such and so
great—but what has befallen me? I have fallen into human
language. For how can So Great be said of the Absolute, and how
can That which is without quantity be called Such? But pardon the
word, for I am speaking of the greatest things with a limited
instrument. And That great and long-suffering and formless and
bodiless Nature will endure this, namely, my words as if of a body, and
weaker than the truth. For if He condescended to Flesh, He will
also endure such language.