BOOK ONE.

A 3

We find that theologians have disputed concerning this theophany original: "theophania"; a visible manifestation of God to humanity in the most profound and brilliant manner. For they say that a theophany is brought about from no other source than God; yet it occurs through the "condescension" of the Divine Word—that is, the only-begotten Son who is the Wisdom of the Father—as if reaching downward toward the human nature which He created and purified; and by the "exaltation" upward of human nature toward the aforementioned Word through divine love. By "condescension" here, I do not mean that which has already taken place through the Incarnation, but that which occurs through theosis original: "theosin"; the process of a creature being transformed into the likeness of God; that is, through the deification of the creature. Therefore, from the very condescension of God to human nature through grace, and the exaltation of that same nature to Wisdom itself through love, a theophany is made. Saint Father Augustine seems to support this view when explaining that passage of the Apostle: Who has become for us righteousness and wisdom. For he explains it thus:

For the Wisdom of the Father, in which and through which all things were made, which is not created but creating, comes to be in our souls by a certain ineffable condescension of His mercy, and joins our intellect to Himself, so that in an ineffable way a kind of "composite wisdom" is formed from Him descending to us and dwelling in us; and from our intelligence being assumed by Him through love toward Himself, and formed within Himself.

Similarly, regarding righteousness and the other virtues, he explains that they come to be in no other way than from divine wisdom and a certain wonderful and ineffable conforming of our intelligence. For in as much as—as Maximus Maximus the Confessor, a 7th-century Byzantine theologian says—the human intellect ascends through charity, so much does divine wisdom descend through mercy. And this is the cause of all virtues and of substance. Therefore, every theophany—that is, every virtue—is effected both in this life (in which it begins in those worthy to be formed) and in the future life (by those about to receive the perfection of divine blessedness); it is produced not outside themselves, but within themselves, both from God and from their own selves. D. The Disciple Therefore, theophanies in angelic and human nature—illuminated, purified, and perfected through grace—occur from the descent of divine wisdom and the ascent of human and angelic intelligence. M. The Master Exactly: for this agrees with what the same Maximus says: Whatever the intellect is able to comprehend, that very thing it becomes. In as much, therefore, as the soul comprehends virtue, so much does it itself become virtue.

10. If you seek examples of these things, they are most clearly set forth by the same Maximus, who says:

Just as air illuminated by the Sun seems to be nothing other than light—not because it loses its own nature, but because light prevails in it so that it is judged to be light itself—so human nature joined to God is said to be "God" in all things; not because it ceases to be human nature, but because it receives a participation in divinity so that God alone appears to be in it.

Likewise, when light is absent, the air is dark; but the light of the Sun, subsisting through itself, is not grasped by any bodily sense. When the solar light is mixed with the air, then it begins to appear: yet in such a way that while in itself it is incomprehensible to the senses, when mixed with the air it can be grasped by the senses. By this, understand that the divine essence is incomprehensible through itself, but when joined to an intellectual creature, it appears in a wonderful way; so that the divine essence itself, I say, appears only in the intellectual creature. For its ineffable excellence surpasses every nature that participates in it, so that nothing else is encountered in all thinking beings except itself; while through itself, as we said, it appears in no way. D. I see well enough what you wish to persuade me of; but whether these things can agree with the words of Father St. Augustine, I do not clearly perceive. M. Be more attentive then, and let us return to his words which we first cited; they are found, I believe, in the twenty-second book of The City of God:

Through the bodies we shall carry, in every body whatsoever we shall see, wherever we direct the eyes of our body, we shall contemplate God Himself with clear clarity.

Look at the force of the words. For he did not say "through the bodies we shall carry, we shall contemplate God Himself" (because He cannot be seen through Himself); rather he said "through the bodies we shall carry, in every body whatsoever we shall see, we shall contemplate God Himself." Therefore, He will be seen through bodies in bodies, not through Himself. Similarly, through the intellect in intellects, through reason in reasons, the divine essence will appear, not through itself. For such a great excellence of divine power will manifest itself in the future life to all who shall be worthy of the contemplation of Him, that nothing else besides Him will shine forth to them, whether in bodies or in intellects. For God will be all in all: as if the Scripture were openly saying, God alone shall appear in all things. Hence Saint Job says: And in my flesh I shall see God. As if he had said: in this flesh of mine which is afflicted by many temptations, there will be such future glory that, just as now nothing appears in it but death and corruption, so in the future life nothing will appear to me but God alone, who is truly life, and immortality, and incorruption. But if he promised such glory regarding the happiness of his body, what must be thought regarding the dignity of his Spirit? Especially since, as the great Gregory the Theologian Gregory of Nazianzus, a 4th-century Archbishop says, the bodies of the Saints [pass] into reason, and reason into intel-