Miscellanies 5.12.80

But in the Letter of the Romans to the Corinthians too it is written: “an ocean boundless to human beings, and the worlds beyond it.” Consistently, then, the noble apostle again exclaims: “O the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God!” And was not this what the prophet hinted at when he ordered cakes of unleavened bread to be made hidden in the ashes, showing that the truly sacred word, initiated into the mysteries of the Unbegotten and his powers, must be kept hidden? Confirming this, the apostle said openly in the letter to the Corinthians: “But we speak wisdom among the perfect, yet not the wisdom of this age, nor of the rulers of this age, who are being brought to nothing; but we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom.” And again elsewhere he says: “to the knowledge of the mystery of God in Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.” Our Savior himself sets his seal on these things, saying: “To you it has been given to know the mystery of the kingdom of heaven.” And again the Gospel says that our Savior spoke the word to the apostles in a mystery; for the prophecy too says of him: “He will open his mouth in parables and will utter things hidden from the foundation of the world.” And the Lord also shows the concealment through the parable of the leaven; for he says: “The kingdom of heaven is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal, until the whole was leavened.” For either the three-part soul is saved through obedience, by the spiritual power hidden in it through faith; or the strength of the Word given to us, being intense and powerful, draws to itself, secretly and invisibly, everyone who has received it and taken it within himself, and gathers his whole being into unity.