# On the Seals - Author: [Severian of Gabala](https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/authors/severian-of-gabala/) - Latin title: *De sigillis sermo* - Date: ca. 400 (approximate) - Source: J.-P. Migne, ed., Patrologia Graeca 63 (Paris, 1862), cols. 531-544 (among the spuria of Chrysostom) - Translation: Claude, from the original text, unless a passage says otherwise; each passage below gives the translator - Editions and translations: J.-P. Migne, ed., Patrologia Graeca 63 (Paris, 1862) - Work page: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/severian-sigillis/ - Passages: 6 ## Sigil. 1 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/severian-sigillis/1/#p-1 - Source: PG 63:531 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-11-12 Summary: The word of God is the soul’s food and true wisdom, unlike the world’s sophistry; the Gospel is the good news of God’s coming among human beings, and Christ takes many names—according to his benefits, not his nature—to meet the famine of the divine word. ### Greek text Μέγα τῆς ψυχῆς ἐφόδιον εἰς σωτηρίαν τὰ ἱερὰ μαθήματα. Σίδηρος μὲν γὰρ σίδηρον ὀξύνει, λόγος δὲ θεῖος ψυχὴν ἀχονᾷ " καὶ ἄρτῳ μὲν σῶμα τρέφεται, λόγῳ δὲ θείῳ ψυχὴ στηρίζεται" καθὼς καὶ ὁ μακάριος Μωῦἧς, τὸ τρόφιμον τῆς θείας διδασκαλίας ὑποτιθέμενος, φησίν" Οὐκ ἐπ᾽ ἄρτῳ μόνῳ ζήσεται ἄνθρωπος, ἐν παντὶν ῥήματι ἐκπορευομένῳ διὰ στόματος Θεοῦ. Τροφὴ τοίνυν ψυχῆς λόγο; Θεοῦ. Τῇ γὰρ κατ᾽ εἰκόνα τοῦ κοσμοποιοῦ γενομένῃ Λόγου, καὶ λόγῳ τετιμη μένῃ, καὶ λογιχῆῇς ἐλευθερίας ἐξιωμένῃ, τί ἂν οἰκειότερον γένοιτο λόγου τρέφοντος αὐτὴν καὶ παιδεύοντος καὶ πρὸς «ὃ οἰκεῖον ἀξίωμα ταχέως ἑπανάγοντος; Λόγον δὲ, ἀδελφοὶ, φαμὲν ἡμεῖς, οὐ τὸν σοφιστικῇ δεινότητι χεχομψευμένον εἰς πιθανότητα, ἀλλὰ τὸν ἀπλότητι πίστεως ἃ μεμαρτυρημένον εἰς ἀλήθειαν. Νόθον γὰρ ἡγεῖσθαι δεῖ πᾶσαν ἀρετὴν καὶ βίου καὶ λόγου, ἥτις μὴ παρὰ τοῦ θείου διδασκάλου τὰς ἀπαρχὰς ὑπεδέξατο᾽ καὶ καθ᾽ ὅσον σκιὰ σώματος, καὶ. ὄναρ τῆς ἀληθείας ἀπεσχοίνισται, τοσοῦτον διέστηκε τῆς ἀληθινῆς τοῦ Θεοῦ σοφίας ἡ νεγομιτμένη τοῦ κόσμου σοφία. Ὅθεν καὶ ὁ μακάριος Παῦλος, τὸ σχεῦο: τῆ: ἐκλογῆς, ὁ ποτὲ μὲν ἐξελθὼν κακῶς ἐπὶ θήρᾳ τῶν ἁγίων, θηραθεὶς δὲ καλῶς ἐπὶ σωτηρίᾳ ἀνθρώπων, διαῤῥήδην πρὸς τὸν νόθον τὸν εὑσεδῇ καὶ ἀληθῆ λόγον ἐπεισάγων ἔλεγε " Σοῤίαν δὲ λοῦμεν ἐν τοῖς τελείοις, σοφίαν δὲ οὐ τὴν τοῦ αἰῶ-᾽ ἀργόντων τοῦ αἰῶνος τούτον τῶν πλγδογθη νων, ἀγ)ὰ, οἷς. γος τούτου, ἀλλὰ Θεοῦ σοφίαν ἐν μυστηρίῳ. Σοφία τοίνυν ἡμῖν ἡ προφητικὴ γλῶττα, καὶ ἢ ἀποστολικὴ διδασκαλία, καὶ τὸ εὐαγγέλιον τῆς βασιλείας, ἣ κορυφὴ τῆς λογικῆς ἐξουσίας, Εὐαγγέλιον δὲ, ἀδελφοὶ, ὅταν ἀκούσωμεν, ἀξίαν τῆς προσηγορία; τὴν ἔννοιαν ἀναλάὄωμεν. Πολλοὶ γὰρ πολλάκις τῇ συνηθείᾳ τῶν ὀνομάτων ἐμμελετήσαντες, τὴν δύναμιν αὐτῶν τῶν πραγμάτων ἠγνόησαν. Ἔστι δὲ εὐαγγέλιον ἑρμηνεία τοῦ πράγματος " εὐαγγελίζεται γὰρ ἡμᾶς ὁ τὴν πολυύμνητον τοῦ Σωτῆρος οἰκονομίαν, ὅτι ὁ Θεὸς ἐν ἀνθρώποις ἐγένετο διὰ φιλανθρωπίαν, οὐ τὴν προαιώνιον ἀξίαν προχποθέμενος. ἀλλὰ πὴἣν σωτήριον οἰκονομίαν ἐνδυσάμενος ἴ " εὐαγγελίξεται ἡμᾶς τὸ εὐαγγέλιον, ὅτι τοῖς κάμνουσιν ἰατρὸς ἐπεδὲ μῆσεν, οὐ φαρμάκοις θεραπεύων, ἀλλὰ νεύματι φιλανθρωπίας ἰώμενος " εὐαγγελίζεται ἡμᾶς, ὅτι τοῖς νημένοις ὁδὸς ἀνεδείχθη, τοῖς ἐσχοτισμένοις τὸ φῶς ἔλαμψε, τοῖς ἀπεγνωσμένοις ἣ σωτηρία. Ἐπειδὴ γὰρ νόμῳ παιδευθέντες οὐκ ἐπεστράφημεν, καὶ προφητείαις ὁδηγηθέντες οὐκ ἀνεχλήθημεν πρὸς τὴν ἐπίγνωσιν τῆς ἀληθείας, καὶ ἐχινδυνεύετο τῇ ἡμετέρᾳ ἀγνωμοσύνῃ φθαρῆναι τὰ πάντα, καὶ λυθῆναι τὰ ἀνθρώπινα, ὡς εἶδεν ἡμᾶς ἡ τοῦ Θεοῦ φιλανθρωπία, χεὶ πρὸς τὴν τοῦ νόμου παιδείαν ἀπειρηκότας, καὶ πρὸς τὴν τῶν προφττῶν ὁδηγίαν ὀχλάσαντας, ἀγαθότητι πολλῇ καὶ ἀμέτρῳ τὴν ἀγνωμοσύνην ἑνίχησς, καὶ τὸ εὐαγγέλιον τῆς βασιλείας, οἷόν τινα βασιλικὴν δωρεὰν εἰς πᾶσαν “προθεὶς τὴν οἰκουμένην, πάντα τοῖς ἀναξίοις ἐχαρίσατο διὰ φιλανθρωπίαν. Προῆλθε γοῦν ἡ σωτήριος χάρις; διαφόρως πάντας εὐεργετοῦσα,, τοὺς δούλους ἐλευθεροῦσα, τοὺς πτωχοὺς πλουτίζουσα, τοὺς ἐξορίστους ἀναχαλουμένη, τοὺς αἰχμαλώτους ἐξαγοράζουσα, πάντα τοῖς πᾶσιν ἐγένετο, οὐ διὰ τὴν ἡμετέραν ἀξίαν, ἀλλὰ διὰ τὴν αὑτὴν τῷ εὐεργέτῃ. πρέπουσαν ἀγαθότητα, ὃ; ἀπλοῦς { (ἀθη; ἀναδεξάμενος. ἐδ ὧν τὴν φύσιν καὶ ἀμέριστος καὶ ἀσχημάτιστος, αὑτὸς εὐεὸς" ἐκ Θεοῦ, εἰκὼν τοῦ ἀοράτου, Ἀπαύγασμα τῆς δόξης καὶ χαραχεὴρ ὑποστάσεως, διαφόρους ἐνδύεται προσηγορία;, οὐ πρὸς τὴν φύσιν ἁρμοζούσας, ἀλλὰ τῇ εὐεργεσίᾳ πρεπούσας. Ἐπειδὴ γὰρ πάντα διέπεσε τὰ ἀνθρώπινα, εἰς ἑαυτὸν ἀναλαμβάνει τὰ πάντα οἰκειότητι τῇ τὰ πάντα ἀναχαινιζούσῃ χάριτι τὰς προσηγορίας, διχόμενος. Λιμὸς ἣν πολὺς, λιμὸς θείου λόγου, λιμὸς ὃν ἡ πείλησεν ὁ Θεὸς τῇ συναγωγῇ. λέγων" Ἀποστειῶ αὖτοῖς οὐ λιμὸν ἄρτου, οὐδὲ δίψαν ὕδατος, ἀ.1.1ὰ λιμὸν τοῦ ἀκοῦσαι.16γον Κυρίου. ### English translation (Claude) The sacred teachings are a great provision for the soul’s journey to salvation. For iron sharpens iron, and the divine word whets the soul; and the body is nourished by bread, but the soul is strengthened by the divine word, as blessed Moses too, setting forth the nourishing power of divine teaching, says: “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.” The food of the soul, then, is the word of God. For to the soul that came into being according to the image of the Word who made the world, that is honored with reason and counted worthy of rational freedom, what could be more fitting than a word that nourishes it, instructs it, and swiftly leads it back to its own dignity? And by “word,” brothers, we mean not the word dressed up by sophistical cleverness for plausibility, but the word attested by the simplicity of faith for truth. For every virtue of life and of speech that has not received its first-fruits from the divine teacher must be held spurious; and as far as a shadow is removed from a body, and a dream from the truth, so far is the reputed wisdom of the world separated from the true wisdom of God. Hence blessed Paul too, the vessel of election, who once went out wickedly to hunt the saints but was well caught for the salvation of human beings, plainly bringing the godly and true word in against the spurious, said: “Yet we speak wisdom among the perfect, but not the wisdom of this age, nor of the rulers of this age, who are passing away, but … the wisdom of God in a mystery.” Our wisdom, then, is the prophetic tongue, the apostolic teaching, and the Gospel of the kingdom, the summit of rational authority. And when we hear “Gospel,” brothers, let us take up a sense worthy of the name. For many, often occupied with the habit of names, have not known the force of the things themselves. A gospel is an announcement of the event; for it brings us the good news of the much-hymned dispensation of the Savior: that God came to be among human beings out of love for humankind, not laying aside his eternal dignity, but putting on the saving dispensation. The Gospel brings us the good news that a physician has come to dwell among the sick, healing not with medicines but with the nod of his love for humankind; it brings us the good news that for those who had strayed a road has been shown, for those in darkness the light has shone, for those despaired of, salvation. For since, trained by the law, we did not turn back, and, guided by the prophecies, we were not called back to the knowledge of the truth, and there was danger that through our ingratitude all things would be destroyed and human affairs dissolved, when the love of God for humankind saw us both weary of the training of the law and wearied of the guidance of the prophets, it conquered our ingratitude with great and measureless goodness, and setting forth the Gospel of the kingdom like a royal gift to the whole inhabited earth, it bestowed everything on the unworthy out of love for humankind. So saving grace went forth benefiting all in various ways: freeing slaves, enriching the poor, recalling exiles, ransoming captives; it became all things to all, not because of our worth, but because of the goodness that befits the benefactor, who … taking up …; being in nature indivisible and without shape, he is God from God, “the image of the invisible,” “the radiance of the glory and the exact imprint of the substance,” and he puts on various names, not fitting his nature, but befitting his benefaction. For since all human affairs had collapsed, he takes all things up into himself, receiving the names by a kinship that renews all things by grace. There was a great famine, a famine of the divine word, a famine that God threatened against the synagogue, saying: “I will send upon them not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but a famine of hearing the word of the Lord.” ### Scripture references - Prov 27:17: quotation, high confidence - Deut 8:3: quotation, high confidence - Matt 4:4: quotation, high confidence - Gen 1:26: allusion, medium confidence - Acts 9:15: quotation, medium confidence - Acts 9:1: allusion, medium confidence - 1 Cor 2:6: quotation, high confidence - 1 Cor 2:7: quotation, high confidence - 1 Cor 9:22: allusion, medium confidence - Col 1:15: quotation, high confidence - Heb 1:3: quotation, high confidence - Amos 8:11: quotation, high confidence ### Translation notes - Printed by Migne among the spuria of John Chrysostom (PG 63); the first and last lines show no stray text from the neighbouring piece. Prov 27:17; Deut 8:3 / Matt 4:4; Acts 9:15; 1 Cor 2:6–7; 1 Cor 9:22; Col 1:15; Heb 1:3; Amos 8:11. A marginal number and a block of a footnote, read by the OCR as Greek, were removed by logged corrections; part of the quotation of 1 Cor 2:6–7 and a clause describing the Son (“who … taking up …”) are damaged in the scan (“…”). ### Citation (SBL) Severian, Sigil. 1 (PG 63:531; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/severian-sigillis/1). ## Sigil. 2 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/severian-sigillis/1/#p-2 - Source: PG 63:531 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-11-12 Summary: Christ answers every human need with his own names—bread, drink, clothing, way, resurrection, rod, door, gate, priest and Lamb—as David foresaw in “the gate of the Lord”; Severian rejects the heretics’ claim that the Son, as mediator, is a servant standing between created and uncreated nature: he stands as priest out of love, but sits with the Father by right. ### Greek text Ἐπεὶ οὖν ἔδει πεινῶσαν τὴν οἰκουμένην, καὶ λιμῷ φθειρομένην" ὃ γάρ ἔστιν ἀτροτία τῷ σώματι, τοῦτο ἀπαιδευσία Ῥ τῇ ψυχῇ " βοᾷ διὰ τῶν Εὐαγγελίων ἡ πηγὴ τῶν ἀγαθῶν Ἐγώ εἰἶμε ὁ ἄρτος ο ἐξ οὐρανοῦ καταδὰς, καὶ ζωὴν διδοὺς τῷ κόσμῳ. Ὁ μὲν γὰρ αἰσθητὸς ἀπὴ γῆς προέρχεται, κατὰ τὸ εἰρημένον, Τοῦ ἐξαγαγεῖν ἄρτον ἐκ τῆς γῆς" ὁ δὲ οὐράνιος ἐξ οὐρανοῦ πηγάτει' Ἐγὼ γάρ εἶμι ὁ ἄρτος ὁ ἐξ οὐρανοῦ καταδάς. Ἔρημος ἣν γῆ διψῶσα, καὶ ἐστερημένη τοῦ θείου λόγου, καὶ οὐκ ἔχουσα τῆς πνευματικῆς ἁρδείας τὴν ἀπόλαυσιν. Τί οὖν; ἡ αὐτὴ πάλιν χάρις βοᾷ, τὴν εὐεργεσίαν πηγάζουσα" Εἴ τις διψᾷ, ἐρχέσθω πρός 48, καὶ πιγέτω. Ἐπειδὴ γὰρ διαφόρως ἑδόων οἱ προφῆται, καὶ πᾶς ὁ τῶν ἀγίων χορὸς ἐδίψα ἀὐτοῦ τὴν παρουσίαν, λέγων' Ὁ Θεὸς, ὁ Θεός μου, πρὸς σὲ ὀρ- (ρίζω" ἐδίψησεν ἡ ψυχή μου πρὸς τὸν Θεὸν ζῶντα" βουλόμενος δεῖξαι, ὅτι αὐτός ἔστιν ὃν ἐδίψων οἱ προφῆκαι, βοᾷ διὰ τῶν Εὐαγγελίων " Εἴ τις διψᾷ, ἐρχέσθω πρός μὲ, καὶ πινέτω. ἘΠ τις ἐστὶ κατὰ τὸν λέγοντα" ᾿Εδίψησέ σε ἡ ψυχή μου, ἐρχέσθω πρός με. Εἶδε πάλιν τὴν οἰκουμένην γυμνὴν, οὐ τῷ σώματι γυμνὴν, ἀλλ᾽ ἀρετῆς γεγυμνωμένην" εἶδε τὸ πλάσμα ὃ ἔπλασεν, καὶ ἠλέησεν ὃ ἐποίησε, καὶ δίδωσιν ἔνδυμα τοῖς γυμνοῖς αὐτὸ; ἑαυτὸν, καθὼς καὶ ἤδη πρότερον ἔφθημεν εἰπόντες πότε " Ὅσοι εἰς Χριστὸν ἐδαπτίσθητε, Χριστὸν ἐνεδύσασθε. Πεπλάνητο ἡ γῆ ὁδὸν ζητοῦσα, καὶ μὴ εὖ- Ρίσχουσα " πᾶσα γὰρ ψυχὴ ἔχει ἐν ἑαυτῇ τὸ σπέρμα τῆς θεολογία:, καὶ ἔχουσα οὐκ ἤδει, πῶς δεῖ θηράσαι « τὸ ποθούμενον. Ἐπειδὴ οὖν οὐκ εὕρισκον ὁδὸν οἱ πεπιανημένοι" Ἐγώ εἶμι, φησὶν, ἡ ὁδύς. ᾿Αλλὰ νεκρὸς εἶ; Ἐγώ εἰμι ἡ ἀγάστασις. ᾿Αλλ ἀσθενὴς εἶ χειραγωγίας δεόμενος; Ἐγώ εἰμι ἡ ῥάδδος ἡ ἐκ «ἧς ῥίζης ᾿Ιεσσαὶ στηρίζουσα τοὺς ἀσθενοῦντας, περὶ ἧς ἔλεγεν ὁ: προφήτης" Ἡ ῥάδδος σου καὶ ἡ βακτηρία σου αὗταί μι παρεκάλεσαν. Διὰ τί ῥάδδος, διὰ τί βακτηρία; Ἐπειδὴ πρὸς πᾶσαν ἡλικίαν ἁρμόττει" νέου; παιὸατγωγεῖ, γέροντας στηρίζει. ᾿Αλλ᾽, ὦ δέσποτα, Πειγῶγτά 4.8 ἔθρεψας, διψῶντά μὲ ἐπότισας, γυμγὸν «ας, πεπλανημένον ὡδήγησας, ἀσθενοῦντα ἐθαχτηρίασας φθάσας ἐπὶ τὴν ὁδὸν, χατέλαδον τὰ ἴχνη τῆς εὐτεδείας " ζητῶ τὴν ἃ θύραν τῆς ἀληθείας - τίς ὁ δεικνύς; Ἐγώ εἶμι ἡ θύρα, δι' ἐμοῦ πᾶ; εἰσέρχεται πρὸς τὸν Πατέρα. Διὰ σοῦ, διὰ τί; Πύλη γάρ εἰμι σωτηρίας ἠνεῳγμένη, ἣν ἐπιζητεῖ ὁ μακάριος Δαυϊδ, πολλὰς μὲν ἐπινοήσας 6, μίαν δὲ εὑρών ' τὰ μὲν γὰρ πρῶτα λέγει, Ἀγοίξατέ μοι πύλας δικαιοσύνης " εἰσελθὼν ἐν σὑταῖς ἐξομολογήσομαι τῷ Κυρ᾽ῳ. Ἐπεὶ ὁ δἰς θετὰ αὶ ΤΣ δ να Μογεὶ. πῶ ᾶ δὲ [ ἔτυχε τῆς αἰτέσεως, καὶ εὗρεν ὃ μὴ προτεδόχησεν, οὐ πολλὰς, ἀλλὰ μίαν, ἀνακαλεσάμενος τὴν ἑαυτοῦ φωνὴν, λέγει" Αὕτη ἡ πύ.1η τοῦ Κυρίου, δίκαιοι εἰσε.ἰεύσονται ἐν αὐτῇ. Εἶτα τῇ προφητικῇ ὄψει, καὶ τῷ πόθῳ τῆς ψυχῆς ἔσω παρελθὼν, καὶ ὥσπερ ἐντὸς τῶν βασιλείων γενόμενος, Ἑξομολογήσομαί σοι, φησὶν, ὅτι ἐπήκουσάς μου. Εἰπὲ, ὦ προφῆτα καὶ θεολόγε, ἐξομολογῇ καὶ εὐχαριστεῖς τῷ Θεῷ; τί ἄξιον τῆ; προσδοκίας εὑρών; Οἱ γὰρ ἐπιθυμοῦντες παρελθεῖν εἰς οἶκον βασιλείας, ἀναμένουσιν ἑστιᾶσαι τὰς ὄψεις τοῖ; τοῖς ποικίλοις ἄνθεσι τοῦ πλούτου, τῇ δορυφορίᾳ τῇ 5 περὶ τὸν βασιλέα, τῷ θρόνῳ τῷ βασιλικῷ, ταῖς δωρεαῖ; τῶν βασιλέων ταῦτα προσδοκῶν ἔκαστος ἰδεῖν, διψᾷ τὰ βατίλεια, καὶ πρὸς τὸν πόθον ἐπείγεται" σὺ δὲ τί ποθεῖς ὧν εὗρες εἰσελθὼν ἔσω τῆς πύλης; ὑπὲρ τίνος εὖχαριστεῖς; τί μέγα χαταλαθὼν, τί εὑρὼν τῆς ἐπιθυμία; ἄξιον; ἐρμήένευσον τὸν πόθον, ἵνα μήποτε ἡ Ἰουδαϊκὴ ἀναισχυντία συχοφαντήσῃ τὴν ἀλήθειαν, Τί εὗρες; τέ χηρύττεις; τί θαυμάζεις; Χριστὸν, φησὶν, εὗρον. Χριστοῦ τὴν οἰκονομίαν εἶδον, τὴν καινὴν χάριν, τὴν ξέγὴν εὐεργεσίαν, τὸ ἔνδοξον πάθος, τὴν ἀπόῤῥητον μυσταγωγίαν " ταῦτα βλέπω, ταῦτα θαυμάζω, ὑπὲρ τούτων εὐχαριστῶν λέγω" ᾿Εξομο.ιϊἰογήσομαί σοι, ὅτι ἑπήκουσάς μου, καὶ ἐγέγου μοι εἰς σωτηρίαν. Οὐ κρύπτω τὴν εὐεργεσίαν, οὐ ταμιεύομαι τὴν σωτηρίαν, ἀλλ᾽ εὐαγγελίζομα:. τὴν οἰκονομίαν. Λίθον ὃν ἀπεδοκίμασαν οἱ οἰκοδομοῦντες, οὗτος ἐγενήθη εἰς κεφαιλὴν γωνίας. Ὁρᾷς ὅπως ἡ εὐχαριστία τὴν ἱστορίαν ἐγύμνωσεν; Ἐξομοιλοβήσομαί σοι, ὅτι ἑπήκουσάς μου καὶ ἐγένου μοι εἰς σωτηρίαν. ΛΑίθον ὃν ἀπδδοκίμασαν οἱ οἰκοδομοῦντες, οὗτος ἐγεγήθη εἰς καφαιλὴν γωνίας. Ὁρᾷς ὅπως ὅἄπασα τῶν προφητῶν ἡ προσδοκία πρὸς αὐτὴν ἔδλεπε τὴν οἰκονομίαν, καὶ Χριστὸν ἐπόθει τὸν ἐν τῇ συναγωγῇ ἐξουθενημένον, ἐν δὲ «οἷς ἔθνεσι δοξαζόμενον. Οὐκοῦν ἵνα εἰς τὸ προκείμενον ἐπανέλθωμεν, κἂν τὴν πύλην ζητήσῃς, Χριστὸν εὑρήσεις. Καὶ ναὶ, φησὶ, θύρα διὰ φιλανθρωπίαν. ᾿Αλλ᾽ ἐπειδὴ δεῖ πάντως τῷ εἰσελθόντι Β εἰς βασιλείαν καὶ ναὸν Θεοῦ ἔχειν τὸν ὁδηγοῦντα πρὸς τὴν ἐπιθυμίαν (οὐδεὶς γὰρ καθ᾽ ἑαυτὸν παραστῆναι τολμᾷ τῷ θυσιαστηρίῳ, μὴ ἔχων τὸν ἱερατεύοντα)" ὅταν ἔλθῃς ἔσω τῆς πύλης, εὑρίσκεις αὐτὸν ἱερέα προσάγοντά σε" Σὺ γὰρ εἶ ἱερεὺς δἰς τὸν αἰῶνα κατὰ τὴν τάξιν Μειλχισὲδέκ. ᾿Αλλὰ χρεία τῷ ἱερεῖ καὶ θύματος καὶ ἱερείου πρὸς τὸ τὸν Θεὸν ἐξιλεώσασθαι. Ὁ αὐτός σοι πάλιν γένεται" Ἴδε ὁ ἀμνὸς τοῦ Θεοῦ ὁ αἴρων τὴν ἁμαρτίαν τοῦ κόσμου. "χουδας ταῦτα πάντα διὰ σέ; ἄχουτον τῶν δι᾽ αὐτόν. Μὴ γὰρ ἐν τῇ τοῦ ἱερέως τάξει στήσῃς τὴν θεωρίαν, μὴ ἴδῃς αὐτὸν ὡς ἱερέα παρεστηχότα, ἀλλὰ βλέπε αὑτὸν διὰ τὴν αὐτοῦ ἀξίαν τῷ Πατρὶ συγχαθήμενον. ᾿Αλλὰ μὴ ἐχθρὸς ἔστω τι; τῆς ἀληθείας, τὰ μὲν ἀρπάζων, τὰ δὲ κρύπτων. Οἶδα ὅτι πολλάκις αἱρετικός τις ἐχθρὸς τῆς ἀληθείας ἔστη ἱ λέγων. Ὁρᾷς, ὡς οὐκ ἔστι προσελθεῖν τῷ Πατρὶ ἄνευ τοῦ Υἱοῦ; μεσίτου γὰρ, φησὶν, ἐπέχει τάξιν καὶ ὑπηρέτου, προσάγων τῷ Πατρὶ τοὺς σωζομένους. Ἐπειδὴ γάρ φησιν, ὅτι καινὴ σοφία καινοῖ τὴν ἀλὴθειαν, ἐπειδὴ μὴ ἐχώρει ἢ ἀνθρωπίνη φύσις δι᾽ ἑαντῆς προσελθεῖν τῷ Θεῷ, μεθόριον γίνεται τῆς κτιστῆς καὶ «τῆς ἀκτίστον φύσεως ὁ Υἱὸς προσάγων τὴν οἰκουμένην. Ὦ τῆς καινῆς μανίας ἱ ὦ τοῦ καινοῦ δράματος ἱ ἢ ὑπερδολὴ τῆς τοῦ Πατρὸς αΑ ἀγαθότητος κινδυνεύει παρὰ τοῖς αἱρετικοῖς, ἀμδλύνει τὴν ἀξίαν τῆς θεότητος. ᾿Αλλ᾽ ἡ μὲν αἱρετικὴ μανία θρασύνεται, ἡ δὲ τοῦ Σωτῆρος δύνᾶμις οὐκ ἀμθλύνεται, ἡ δόξα οὐ σδέννυται, ἡ χάρις οὗ καθαιρεῖται. Ἐὰν, φησὶν, ἡμεῖς ἀρνησώμεθα, ἐκεῖνος πιστὸς μένει" ἀρνήσασθαι γὰρ ἑμευτὸν οὐ δύναται" συγχάθηται μὲν διὰ τὴν οἰκείαν ἀξίαν, ἕστηκε δὲ ὡς ἱερεὺς διὰ τὴν πρέπουσαν αὐτῷ φιλανθρωπίαν. ### English translation (Claude) Since, then, the inhabited earth was hungry and wasting away with famine—for what lack of food is to the body, lack of instruction is to the soul—the fountain of good things cries out through the Gospels: “I am the bread that came down from heaven and gives life to the world.” For the bread of the senses comes up from the earth, as it is said, “to bring forth bread from the earth”; but the heavenly bread springs from heaven: “For I am the bread that came down from heaven.” The earth was a thirsty desert, deprived of the divine word and without the enjoyment of spiritual watering. What then? The same grace cries out again, pouring forth its benefaction: “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink.” For since the prophets cried out in various ways, and the whole choir of the saints thirsted for his coming, saying, “O God, my God, I rise early to you; my soul has thirsted for the living God,” he, wishing to show that he is the one for whom the prophets thirsted, cries out through the Gospels: “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink.” If anyone is like the one who says, “My soul has thirsted for you,” let him come to me. He saw the inhabited earth naked again—not naked in body, but stripped of virtue; he saw the creature he had formed, and had pity on what he had made, and gives himself as clothing to the naked, as we have already said before: “As many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.” The earth had strayed, seeking a road and not finding it; for every soul has in itself the seed of the knowledge of God, and having it, did not know how to hunt down what it longed for. Since, then, those who had strayed did not find the road: “I am,” he says, “the way.” But are you dead? “I am the resurrection.” But are you weak, needing to be led by the hand? “I am the rod from the root of Jesse,” which supports the weak, of which the prophet said: “Your rod and your staff, they have comforted me.” Why a rod, why a staff? Because it suits every age: it trains the young and supports the old. “But, O Master, you fed me when I was hungry, you gave me drink when I was thirsty, you clothed me when I was naked, you guided me when I had strayed, you gave me a staff when I was weak; having reached the road, I have found the tracks of godliness; I seek the door of truth: who will show it?” “I am the door; through me everyone enters to the Father.” “Through you—why?” “For I am the gate of salvation, standing open,” which blessed David seeks, having thought of many but found one. For at first he says: “Open to me the gates of righteousness; I will enter through them and give thanks to the Lord.” But when … he obtained his request and found what he had not expected—not many, but one—calling back his own words he says: “This is the gate of the Lord; the righteous shall enter through it.” Then, having passed within by prophetic sight and the longing of his soul, and as though having come inside the palace, he says: “I will give thanks to you, for you have heard me.” Tell me, O prophet and theologian, do you give thanks and praise to God? What have you found worthy of your expectation? For those who desire to enter a royal house expect to feast their eyes on the many-coloured flowers of wealth, on the bodyguard around the king, on the royal throne, on the gifts of kings; each, expecting to see these things, thirsts for the palace and hastens toward his longing. But what do you long for among the things you found when you entered within the gate? For what do you give thanks? What great thing have you grasped, what have you found worthy of your desire? Explain your longing, lest Jewish shamelessness slander the truth. What did you find? What do you proclaim? What do you admire? “I found Christ,” he says. “I saw the dispensation of Christ, the new grace, the strange benefaction, the glorious passion, the ineffable initiation; these I see, these I admire, for these I give thanks and say: I will give thanks to you, for you have heard me and have become my salvation. I do not hide the benefaction, I do not store up the salvation, but I proclaim the good news of the dispensation: The stone that the builders rejected has become the head of the corner.” Do you see how the thanksgiving laid bare the history? “I will give thanks to you, for you have heard me and have become my salvation. The stone that the builders rejected has become the head of the corner.” Do you see how the whole expectation of the prophets looked to the dispensation itself, and longed for Christ, despised in the synagogue but glorified among the nations? So, to return to what is before us: even if you seek the gate, you will find Christ. “And yes,” he says, “a door, out of love for humankind.” But since the one who enters into a kingdom and a temple of God must by all means have someone to lead him to what he desires—for no one dares to stand at the altar by himself without having the one who serves as priest—when you come inside the gate you find him as a priest, bringing you near: “For you are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.” But the priest needs a victim and an offering to propitiate God. The same one again becomes this for you: “Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.” You have heard all these things that are for your sake; hear also those that are for his own. Do not stop your contemplation at the rank of priest; do not see him standing as priest, but see him, because of his own dignity, seated with the Father. But let no one be an enemy of the truth, snatching some things and hiding others. I know that often a heretic, an enemy of the truth, has stood up saying: “Do you see that it is not possible to approach the Father without the Son? For he holds the rank,” he says, “of a mediator and a servant, bringing to the Father those who are saved.” For he says that new wisdom makes truth new: “Since human nature could not approach God by itself, the Son becomes a boundary between the created and the uncreated nature, bringing the inhabited earth near.” O the new madness! O the new drama! The excess of the Father’s goodness is endangered among the heretics; it blunts the dignity of the Godhead. But though heretical madness grows bold, the Savior’s power is not blunted, his glory is not quenched, his grace is not pulled down. “If we deny him,” it says, “he remains faithful; for he cannot deny himself.” He sits together with the Father because of his own dignity, but stands as priest because of the love for humankind that befits him. ### Scripture references - John 6:33: quotation, high confidence - John 6:51: quotation, high confidence - Ps 104:14 (103:14 LXX): quotation, high confidence - John 6:41: quotation, high confidence - John 7:37: quotation, high confidence - Ps 63:1 (62:2 LXX): quotation, high confidence - Ps 42:2 (41:3 LXX): quotation, high confidence - Gal 3:27: quotation, high confidence - John 14:6: quotation, high confidence - John 11:25: quotation, high confidence - Isa 11:1: quotation, high confidence - Ps 23:4 (22:4 LXX): quotation, high confidence - Matt 25:35: allusion, medium confidence - Matt 25:36: allusion, medium confidence - John 10:9: quotation, high confidence - Ps 118:19 (117:19 LXX): quotation, high confidence - Ps 118:20 (117:20 LXX): quotation, high confidence - Ps 118:21 (117:21 LXX): quotation, high confidence - Ps 118:22 (117:22 LXX): quotation, high confidence - Ps 110:4 (109:4 LXX): quotation, high confidence - John 1:29: quotation, high confidence - Heb 8:1: allusion, low confidence - 1 Tim 2:5: allusion, medium confidence - 2 Tim 2:13: quotation, high confidence ### Translation notes - John 6:33, 41, 51; Ps 104:14 (103:14 LXX); John 7:37; Ps 63:1 (62:2 LXX); Ps 42:2 (41:3 LXX); Gal 3:27; John 14:6; 11:25; Isa 11:1; Ps 23:4 (22:4 LXX); Matt 25:35–36; John 10:9; 14:6; Ps 118:19–22 (117:19–22 LXX); Ps 110:4 (109:4 LXX); John 1:29; 2 Tim 2:13. The heretics who make the Son a mediating “servant,” a boundary between created and uncreated nature, are those who denied the Son’s full divinity (Arians or Anomoeans); translated as written, as is the remark about “Jewish shamelessness.” A block of Migne’s footnotes and Latin column, read by the OCR as Greek, was removed by a logged correction; a damaged clause before “he obtained his request” is translated by sense. ### Citation (SBL) Severian, Sigil. 2 (PG 63:531; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/severian-sigillis/2). ## Sigil. 3 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/severian-sigillis/1/#p-3 - Source: PG 63:531 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-11-12 Summary: Against heretics who take “No one comes to the Father except through me” as a servant’s role, Severian shows that the Father also brings people to the Son: the Son revealed the Father’s name to the nations, while the Father revealed the Son to Paul and to Peter among the Jews; “standing” and “sitting” are said of God only figuratively. ### Greek text Καὶ ὄρα τὸ θαυμαστὸν, ἀδελφέ. Ἐπειδὴ ἐν ὑπηρέτου τάξει καὶ σχήματι διακονοῦντος ἐχλαμδάνουσι τὸ ῥὀΐμα, ὅτι Οὐδεὶς ἔρχεται πρὸς τὸν Πατέρα, εἰ μὴ ἐμοῦ" ἀναγκαῖον πρὸς τοὺς αἱρετικοὺς ἀποτεῖναι τὸν ἔλεγχον τῆς ἀσεδείας Ἀ. Εἰ τὸ προσάγειν τῷ Πατρὶ τὸν Υἱὸν καθαιρεῖ τὴν ἀξίαν τοῦ προσάγοντος, ἐὰν ἴδῃς πὸν Πατέρα τῷ Υἱῷ προσάγοντα, ἐκχτείνεις ἐκεῖ τὴν ἀσέδειαν. Μάλιστα μὲν οὖν εἰς Υἱὸν ἁσεδῶν, τὸν Παπέρα βλασφημεῖς. Ἵνα τοίνυν, ἀδελφοὶ, ἐν τῷ λόγῳ τῆς εὑσεδείας καὶ τῆς ἀληθείας καὶ τὴν κακίαν ἐπιστομίσωμεν, καὶ τὴν εὐσεδῇ δόξαν γνωρίσωμεν (Ζῶν γὰρ ὁ «Ἰόγος τοῦ Θεοῦ καὶ ἐγεργὴς, καὶ τομώτερος ὑπὲρ πᾶσαν μάχαιραν δίστομον" δίστομον δὲ καλεῖ τὴν μάχαιραν, ἐπειδὴ διπλῷ κέχρηται τῷ λόγῳ, τῷ μὲν στη: ρίζοντι, τῷ δὲ χαθαιροῦντι " χαθαιροῦντι μὲν τοὺς ἑναν- «ἰους, στηρίξοντι-δὲ τοὺς οἰκείους τῆς πίστεως) " ἄκουε αὐτοῦ τοῦ Κυρίου λέγοντος: Οὐδεὶς δύναται πρός με, ἐάν μὴ ὁ Πατήρ μου ὁ οὐράνιος ἑδλχύσῃ αὑτόν. ᾿Αναγκαῖον δὲ, ἀδελφοὶ, τὰ εἰκότα πρὸς τοὺς αἱρετικοὺς εἰπεῖν, καὶ τὰ περὶ τούτου τοῦ νοήματος τοὺς υἱοὺς τῆς πίστεως πληροφορῇσαι. Τίνος ἕνεκεν χαταδιεῖλεν ὁ μονογενὴς τοῦ Θεοῦ Λόγος τὴν προσαγωγὴν, πὴ μὲν παρ᾽ αὐτοῦ λέγων προσάγεσθαι τῷ Πατρὶ, πῆ δὲ παρὰ τοῦ Πατρὸς πρὸς αὐτόν; οὐ γὰρ συγκέχυται τὰ “ἧς θείας φύσεως, ἀλλ᾽ εὐχρινής ἔστι καὶ εὐδιόριστος ὁ λόγος τῆς ἀληθείας, οὐδὲν σχολιὸν ἔχων, οὐδὲν στραγγαλιῶδὲς - Πᾶσαι γὰρ αἱ ὁδοὶ Κυρίου εὐθεῖαι. ἾΑρα γὰρ, ἀδελφοὶ, ὁ Πατὴρ ποτὲ μὲν τὴν βασιλικὴν προεδρίαν ἐπέχων δέχεται τοὺς προσαγομένους, ποτὲ δὲ τῷ Υἱῷ ἐν βασιλικῷ σχήματι προχαθίσαντι δίδωσι τὴν ὁφειλὴν, καὶ ἐν ὑπηρέτου τάξει παριστάμενος προσάγει τῷ Υἱῷ; Μὴ γένοιτο" ἐπὶ γὰρ Θεοῦ οὔτε καθέδραν εἰπόντα ἔστι τι ἀνθρώπινον ἐννοῆσαι, οὐδὲ στάσιν ἀκούσαντα πάλιν ἔστι νοῆσαί τι τῶν καθ᾽ ἡμᾶς. Ἐὰν ἀκούσῇς περὶ Θεοῦ ὅτι ἕστηκεν, τὸ ἀχλινὲς καὶ τὸ ὄρθιον νόει τῆς θείας οὐσίας " κἂν πάλιν ἀναγνῷς ἣ ἀκούσῃς “, ὅτι κάθηται, τὸ ἑδραῖον καὶ ἀσάλευτον ἐχλάμθανε τῆς βαχαρίας φύπεως. Αὐτὸς λέγει ἑαυτὸν ἑστάναι καὶ καθῆσθαι" τῷ Μωῦσεξ λέγει, Σὺ στῆθι ὧδε μετ᾽ ἐμοῦ. Καὶ ἦν ὁ τόπος, οὗ εἱστήκει ὁ Θεὸς Ἰσραὴ., ὡς λέγει, καὶ ὁ Θεὸς τῷ Μωῦσεϊ, ὡς ἰστάμενός φησι, Στῆθι μετ' ἐμοῦ. Τί οὖν ποιοῦμεν Ἱερεμίου λέγοντος, Σὺ καθήμενος εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα, καὶ ἡμεῖς ἀπολλύμενοι εἰς. τὸν αἰῶνα; Καθέδρα καὶ στάσις ἀνθρώπινα ῥήματα, ἀλλὰ θεῖα νοήματ τα διὰ τὸν ἄστατον καὶ ὧδε κἀκεῖσε περιαγόμενον τὸν ἀνθρώπινον βίον, θεὸς λέγεται ἐστάναι, καὶ διὰ τὴν ἀστήρικτον καὶ πανταχόσε περιτρεπομένην τῶν καθ' ἡμᾶς κατάστασιν λέγεται καθῆσθαι διὰ τὸ ἑδραῖον τὸ γὰρ καθήμενον ἥδρασται. Φύγε τὰ ἀπὸ τῆς λέξεως ὑποδαλλόμενα, καὶ νόει τὰ διὰ τῆς πίστεως θεωρούμενα. Πῶς οὖν προσάγει τῷ Πατρὶ Υἱός; πῶς Πατὴρ τῷ ΥἹῷ; οὐ γὰρ δεῖ καταλιπεῖν τὸν λόγον ἀνεξἐταστον. Ὁ Πατὴρ φανερούς τινας καὶ ὁμολογουμένους προσάγει τῷ Υἱῷ, ὁ Υἱὸς πάλιν φανερούς τινας καὶ ὁμολογουμένους προσάγει τῷ Πατρί. Μὴ προλαδὼν ζῃς τὸ ῥῆμα εἰς διαδολὴν, ἀλλ᾽ ἀνάμεινον τὸ τέλος, καὶ κρῖνον τὸ λεγόμενον" μὴ γίνον δικαστὴς δυσμενὴς, ἀλλὰ συναγωνιστὴς εὐμενής. Ἐν τῷ Ἰσραὴλ ἐγνώσθη μὲν ὁ Θεὸς καὶ Πατὴρ, ἠγνοεῖτο δὲ ὁ Υἱός " ἐν δὲ τοῖς ἔθνεσ: καὶ ὁ Πατὴρ ἠγνοεῖτο, καὶ ὁ Υἱός" τῇ γὰρ πολυθέῳ πλάνῃ δεδούλωτο τὰ ἔθνη. "Ὅπου οὖν Πατὴρ μὲν γνωρίζεται, Υἱὸς δὲ οὐ γνωρίζεται, ἑρμηνεὺς γίνεται τοῦ ἀγνοουμένου Υἱοῦ ὁ Πατήρ. Ἐπαναλήψομαι τὸν λόγον, ἵνα στήσω τὸ νόημα. Ὅπου Πατὴρ γνωρίζεται, καὶ Υἱὸς ἀμφιδάλλεται, ἑρμηνεὺς γίνεται ὁ γνωριζόμενος τοῦ ἀγνοουμένου“ ὅπου Πατὴρ ᾿γνόηται, κήρυξ τοῦ ἀγνοουμένου ὁ Υἱὸς γίνεται. Διὰ τοῦτο, ἵνα λάδῃς ἀχριδῆ τῶν εἰρημένων τὴν ἐξέτασιν, ἔγγυόν σοι παρέχω τὸ Εὐαγγέλιον. Λέγει ὁ Σωτὴρ περὶ τῶν ἐθνῶν " Τὸ ὄνομά σον ἐξφαγέρωσα τῷ κόσμῳ" μᾶλλον, ὅτι τῷ ἀγνοοῦντι ἐφανέρωσά σου τὸ ὄνομα τῷ κόσμῳ. Ποῖον ὄνομα ἐφανέρωσε; Ὅτι Ψεός. ᾿Αλλὰ προειλέφει ἡ γνῶσις τὸ ὄνον μα" καὶ οἱ πλανώμενοι τὰρ λέγουσι θεὸν, καὶ οἱ ἀπεἐσχοινισμένοι τῇς εὐσεδείας οὐκ ἀρνοῦνται τὴν προῦηγορίαν" ποῖον οὖν ὄνομα ἐγνώρισεν; Ὅτι Πατὴρ καλεῖται- Ἐφανέρωσά σου τὸ ὄνομω τῷ κόσμῳ. Ὁρᾷς ὅτι ὅπου ἡγνόηταὶ ὁ Πατὴρ, ἑρμηνεὺς γίνεται ὁ Υἱὸς. τῷ εὐαγγελικῷ κηρύγματι σαφηνίζων τὴν ἀλήθειαν" ὅπου δὲ ὁ Πατὴρ ἑνομίξετο γνωρίζεσθαι, ὁ δὲ γίὸς μὴ γνωρίζεσθαι, ἑρμηνεὺς γίνεται αὐτὸς τοῦ ἀγνοουμένην. Οἷον, ἵνα ἐπ᾽ αὐτῶν δείξω τῶν πραγμάτων τὴν ἀλήθειαν: Παῦλος ἤδει τὸν Θεὸν, οὐκ ἤδει τὸν Υἱόν᾽ ἔδει Θεὸν, οὐκ ἔδει δὲ Πατέρα ὄντα τ΄ Χριστοῦ τὸν Θεόν’ καὶ ἣν ξηλωτὴς εὐσεδείας ὑπὲρ το) νόμου μαχόμενος" ὁ Θεὸς ἀπέδλεπεν εἰς τὸν ζήλον, ἀγν ας μὲν πεπληρωμένον, πόθη. δὲ γέμοντα᾽ καὶ τὶ ποιεῖ; γνωρίζε: τῷ ἀγνοοῦντι τὸν ἀγνοούμενον. Τίς ἡμῖν ταῦτα σαφηνίζει; Αὐτὸς ὁ ποτὲ ἀγνοήσας, καὶ ὕστερον γνωρίσας, αὐτὸς ὁ ποτὲ διώξας, καὶ ὕστερον εὐαγγελισάμενος. Τἰ γάρ φησι; Καὶ ἤμην ζηλωτὴς τοῦ πατρῴου νόμου, καθ' διώκων» τὴν ᾿Εχκιϊησίαν τοῦ Θεοῦ. Ὅτε δὲ ηὑδόχηκαλέσας διὰ τῆς χώριτος αὐτοῦ ἀποκιύψαι τὸν γιὸν αὐτοῦ ἐν ἐμοί" καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς, Ἢ γὰρ μαρτυρία τὸ δεῖξαι τὸ ζητούμενον, οὐκ ἡ θεωρία τοῦ νοήματος. Πάλιν ἐρωτᾷ ὁ Σωτὴρ τοὺς ἀποστόλους, Τίνα μὲ «1έγουσιν οἱ ἄνθρωποι εἶναι τὸν Υἱὸν τοῦ ἀνθρώπου; Ἔρωτῇ οὐκ ἵνα μάθῃ, ἀλλ᾽ ἵνα τὴν ὑπόνοιαν ἑξορίσας, τὴν ἀλήθειαν στηρίξῃ. Τίνα μ8 λέγουσιν οἱ ἄνιρωποι; Οἱ ἀπόστολοι πρῶτον τὰ; τῶν πολλῶν ὑπονοίας ἀντιδάλλου σιν" Οἱ μὲν γχο, φασὶν, ] 1ίαν,, οἱ δὲ Ἱερεμία», ἣ ἕνα τῶν προ:ητῶν. Τί οὖν ὁ Συυτήρ; Πρὸς μὲν πὰς ψευδεῖς δόξας οὐδεμίαν ἀπόκρισιν ποιεῖται, ἀναξίας ἀποκρίσεως κρίνων τὰς ψευδεῖς ὑπονοίας, “Ὑμεῖς δὲ τίνά με λέγετε εἶναι; οὐ τῶν πολλῶν μοι λόγος τῶν πεπλανημένων, ἀλλ᾽ ὑμῶν τῶν χηρυττόντων. Ἐπειδὴ γὸρ ὑμεῖς ἔστε οἱ μέλλοντες διαγγέλλειν τὸν λαμπτῆρα τῆς ἀληθείας, τὸ κήρυγμα τῆ; εὐσεδείας εἰς πᾶσαν φέρτιν τὴν ὑπ᾽ οὐρανόν" ἐν ὑμῖν σαλεύει τὰ ἀνθρώπινα, ἐν ὑμῖν κινδυνεύει τὰ «ἧς ἀληθείας" καὶ ὥσπερ ἢ ὑμετέρα γνῶσις κοινὴ τῶν ἀνθρώπω" εὐεργεσία, οὔτως ἢ ὑμετέρα ἄγνοια κοινὴ τῆς οἰκουμένης ζημία" διὰ τοῦτο, Ὑμεῖς τίγα μα λέγετε; Ἰότε ἀποκριθεὶς Πέτρος εἶπε, Σὺ εἶ ὁ Χριστὸς, ὁ Υἱὸς τοῦ Θοοῦ τοῦ ζῶντος. Οὗτος πίστεως ὄρος, οὗτος ἀληθείας λόγος, αὕτη τῆς ὀρθῆς δόξης ἡ ὁμολογία. ᾿Αλλ᾽ ἐπειδὴ ἐνεδέχετο καὶ ταύτην τὴν φωνὴν εἰς τὰς ἄλλα; ἰσονοεῖσθαι, τὰς μὲν ἀποκρίσεως οὖκ ἠξίου, τῇ δὲ τὴν ψῆφον φέρει, καὶ τέ φησιν; Ἵνα μὴ καὶ τοῦτο ἐξ ἀνθρωπίνης νομισθῇ ὑπονοίας εἶναι τὸ ῥῆμα, ἐπισφραγίδας, καὶ σήμαντρον αὐτῷ ἐπιθεὶς τῆς ἀληθείας, φησί" Μακάριος εἴ, Σίμων βὰρ Ἰωνᾶ. Ἕνταῦθα μνημόνευσον, ὅτι Πατὴρ καὶ τῷ γινώσκοντι αὑτὸν ἀποκαλύπτει τὸν ἀγνοούμενον. Μακάριος εἷ, Σίμων βὰρ Ἰωγνῆ, ὅτι σὰρξ καὶ αἷμα οὐκ ἀπεχάλυγέ σοι, ἀ.1.1 ὁ Πατὴρ μου ὁ ἐν τοῖς οὐραγοῖς. Ορᾷς ὅτι τῷ μὲν κόσμῳ παντὶ ἀγνοοῦντι τὸν Πατέρα, ὁ Υἱὸς ἑρμηνεὺς γίνεται τοῦ ἀγνοουμένου" τῇ δὲ συναγωγῇ καὶ τοῖς Ἰουδαίοις Θεὸν μὲν ὑπονοοῦσιν εἰδέναι, τὸν δὲ τοῦ Θεοῦ Θεὸν Λόγον οὐκ ἐπιγινώσκουσιν, αὐτὸς ὁ Πατὴρ ἑρμηνεὺς γένεται τοῦ ἀμφιδαλλομένου. ### English translation (Claude) And see the wonder, brother. Since they take the saying, “No one comes to the Father except through me,” in the sense of the rank of a servant and the guise of one who ministers, it is necessary to direct against the heretics the refutation of their ungodliness. If the Son’s bringing people to the Father lowers the dignity of the one who brings them, then when you see the Father bringing people to the Son, you extend your ungodliness there. Indeed, being ungodly toward the Son, you blaspheme the Father. So, brothers, that by the word of godliness and truth we may both muzzle wickedness and make known the godly doctrine (for “the word of God is living and active, and sharper than any two-edged sword”—he calls the sword two-edged because it uses a double word, one that strengthens and one that pulls down: pulling down the opponents and strengthening those who belong to the faith), hear the Lord himself saying: “No one can come to me unless my heavenly Father draws him.” It is necessary, brothers, to say what is fitting to the heretics, and to give the children of the faith full assurance about this sense. For what reason did the only-begotten Word of God divide the bringing near, saying in one place that people are brought to the Father by him, and in another that they are brought to him by the Father? For the things of the divine nature are not confused, but the word of truth is distinct and well defined, having nothing crooked, nothing twisted: “For all the ways of the Lord are straight.” Does the Father, then, brothers, sometimes occupy the royal presidency and receive those who are brought, and sometimes, when the Son has taken his seat in royal guise, pay him the debt, and stand in the rank of a servant and bring people to the Son? God forbid. For in the case of God, neither when one speaks of a seat may one think of anything human, nor again when one hears of standing may one think of anything belonging to us. If you hear of God that he stands, understand the unbending and upright character of the divine essence; and if again you read or hear that he sits, take it of the firm and unshaken character of the blessed nature. He himself says that he stands and sits. He says to Moses, “You, stand here with me”; and, “There was the place where the God of Israel stood,” as it says; and God says to Moses, as one standing, “Stand with me.” What then do we do when Jeremiah says, “You sit forever, and we perish forever”? Seat and standing are human words, but divine meanings. Because of human life, which is unstable and carried this way and that, God is said to stand; and because of our condition, which is unsupported and turned about in every direction, he is said to sit, because of his firmness; for what sits is settled. Flee what is suggested by the wording, and understand what is contemplated through faith. How then does the Son bring people to the Father, and how does the Father bring them to the Son? For we must not leave the word unexamined. The Father brings certain people, open and acknowledged, to the Son; the Son again brings certain people, open and acknowledged, to the Father. Do not seize the saying in advance for slander, but wait for the end and judge what is said; do not be a hostile judge, but a kindly fellow contender. In Israel God the Father was known, but the Son was unknown; among the nations both the Father and the Son were unknown, for the nations were enslaved to the error of many gods. Where, then, the Father is known but the Son is not known, the Father becomes the interpreter of the unknown Son. I will repeat the statement, to fix the sense. Where the Father is known and the Son is doubted, the one who is known becomes the interpreter of the one who is unknown; where the Father is unknown, the Son becomes the herald of the one who is unknown. Therefore, so that you may receive a precise examination of what has been said, I offer you the Gospel as guarantor. The Savior says of the nations: “I have manifested your name to the world”—that is, to the world that did not know, I have manifested your name. What name did he manifest? That he is God? But knowledge had already taken hold of the name: even those who err say “God,” and those cut off from godliness do not deny the title. What name, then, did he make known? That he is called Father: “I have manifested your name to the world.” Do you see that where the Father was unknown, the Son becomes the interpreter, making the truth clear by the proclamation of the Gospel; but where the Father was thought to be known, and the Son not known, he himself becomes the interpreter of the one who was unknown? For example, to show the truth from the facts themselves: Paul knew God, he did not know the Son; he knew God, but did not know that God is the Father of Christ; and he was a zealot for godliness, fighting for the law. God looked upon his zeal, full of ignorance but brimming with longing; and what does he do? He makes the unknown one known to the one who did not know him. Who makes this clear to us? He himself who once did not know and afterwards knew, he himself who once persecuted and afterwards proclaimed the good news. For what does he say? “And I was a zealot for the law of my fathers, … persecuting the church of God. But when he who called me through his grace was pleased to reveal his Son in me,” and the rest. For the testimony is to show what is sought, not the contemplation of the sense. Again the Savior asks the apostles: “Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?” He asks not to learn, but to banish supposition and establish the truth. “Who do men say that I am?” The apostles first set out the suppositions of the many: “Some,” they say, “Elijah, others Jeremiah, or one of the prophets.” What then does the Savior do? To the false opinions he makes no answer, judging the false suppositions unworthy of an answer. “But who do you say that I am? My concern is not with the many who have strayed, but with you who proclaim. For since you are the ones who are to carry the lamp of truth, to bear the proclamation of godliness into all the earth under heaven, in you human affairs are shaken, in you the things of truth are in danger; and just as your knowledge is the common benefit of human beings, so your ignorance is the common loss of the inhabited earth. That is why: But who do you say that I am?” Then Peter answered and said: “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” This is the definition of faith, this is the word of truth, this is the confession of right belief. But since this voice too might be considered equal to the others—he had not deemed the others worthy of an answer, but to this one he gives his verdict—what does he say? So that this saying too might not be thought to come from human supposition, he seals it and sets on it the stamp of truth, saying: “Blessed are you, Simon bar Jonah.” Remember here that the Father reveals the unknown one also to one who knows him. “Blessed are you, Simon bar Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven.” Do you see that to the whole world, which did not know the Father, the Son becomes the interpreter of the one who was unknown; but to the synagogue and the Jews, who think they know God but do not recognize God the Word of God, the Father himself becomes the interpreter of the one who was doubted? ### Scripture references - John 14:6: quotation, high confidence - Heb 4:12: quotation, high confidence - John 6:44: quotation, high confidence - Hos 14:9 (14:10 LXX): quotation, high confidence - Deut 5:31: quotation, high confidence - Exod 24:10: quotation, medium confidence - Lam 5:19: quotation, medium confidence - Lam 5:20: quotation, medium confidence - John 17:6: quotation, high confidence - Gal 1:14: quotation, high confidence - Gal 1:13: quotation, high confidence - Gal 1:15: quotation, high confidence - Gal 1:16: quotation, high confidence - Matt 16:13: quotation, high confidence - Matt 16:14: quotation, high confidence - Matt 16:15: quotation, high confidence - Matt 16:16: quotation, high confidence - Matt 16:17: quotation, high confidence ### Translation notes - John 14:6; Heb 4:12; John 6:44; Hos 14:9 (14:10 LXX); Deut 5:31; Exod 24:10 (LXX “the place where the God of Israel stood”); Lam 5:19–20 (cited as Jeremiah; “you sit forever”); John 17:6; Gal 1:14, 13, 15–16; Matt 16:13–17. The heretics are those who held the Son inferior to the Father; translated as written. Lines are lost in the quotation of Gal 1:13–14 (“…”). ### Citation (SBL) Severian, Sigil. 3 (PG 63:531; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/severian-sigillis/3). ## Sigil. 4 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/severian-sigillis/1/#p-4 - Source: PG 63:531 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-11-12 Summary: Severian rebukes the Anomoean for prying into God’s essence and the Son’s generation when he cannot explain even the visible creation, and presents Christ as the treasure hidden in the prophets’ sealed books, which neither Jews nor Greeks could read until it was revealed. ### Greek text Μὴ τοίνυν τὴν ὑπερδάλλουσαν φιλανθρωπίαν εἰς ἐφόδιον τάξῃς ἀσεδείας, μὴ ἐλαττώςῃς τὴν ἀξίαν διὰ τὴν οἰκονομίαν, μὴ πολυπραγμόνει φύδιν ἀμέτρητον, μὴ ἐρεύνα οὐσίαν ἀκατάληπτον. ᾿Ησαῖας σε πεισάτω πα μὴ διερευνᾷν, μηδὲ τοιαῦτα πραγματογραφεῖν" Τὴν γενεὰν γὰρ αὐτοῦ τίς διηγήσεται; ᾿Αλλ' ὦ τῆς ἀναισχύντου τόλμης τῶν πάντα ῥᾳδίως φρονεῖν καὶ λέγειν πολμώντων 1 καὶ οὐ φοδεῖται ἃ ὁ ᾿Ανόμοιος ὡς Θεοῦ φύσιν διερευνώμενος. καὶ τολμῶν λόγειν τὰ ἄῤῥητα, καὶ δημοσιεύειν τὰ ἅγια " καὶ εἰκότως" ἐπειδὴ γὰρ ἀγνοεῖ τὴν ἀλήθειαν, ἐπαγγέλλεται τὰ ἀγνοούμενα, ἵνα κρύψῃ. τὰ χηρυττόμενα. Οὐκ ἤκουσε τῆς ἁγίας Γραφῆς παραιγούσης, Ἃ προσετάχθη σοι, ταῦτα διανοοῦ" οὐ γὰρ χρεία σοι τῶν κρυπτῶν. Ὁ μακάριος Θεὸς, καὶ μόνος δυνάστης τῶν θαυμασίων, Ἰὺν τὸν ἀπὸ τῆς ὑπομονῆς λάμψαντα, βουληθείς ποτε τῇ ἱστορίᾳ τῆς δημιουργίας ἐκπλῆξαι, λέγει αὐτῷ" Ποῦ ἧς ἐν τῷ θεμελιοῦν μὲ τὴν γῆν; ὅτε ἡ θάλασσα ἐγένετο; ἵνα συντέμω, ὅτε τὰ ὄρη ᾿Απἀγγειλόν μοι, φησὶ, τοῦ κόσμου τὴν διατύπωσιν, κἣν τῶν θηρίων ὠδῖνα, καὶ τὴν τροφὴν τῶν κτηνῶν, τὴν κατάστασιν πάντων τῶν ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ, τὴν ποικιλίαν. Ταῦτα δὲ πρὸς αὐτὸν ἔλεγεν ὅμως παιδεύων αὐτὸν, ὅτι καὶ τὰ ἐν αὐτῇ τῇ κτίσει φαινόμενα τοῖς ἀνθρώποις ἀκατάληπτα. Εἶτα ὁ μακάριος ἐκπλαγείς φησι Κύριε, ἅπαξ ἐλάλησα, ἐπὶ δὲ τῷ δευτέρῳ οὐ προσθήσω. Ἐΐτα ἢ ζήτησις τῶν φαινομένων ἐνίκησε τὸν Ἰώδ' σοῦ δὲ “ἣν τόλμαν οὐδὲ ἡ ἄῤῥητος τοῦ Μονογενοῦς ἐνίκησε γέννήσις; ᾿Αλλ’ ἐπεὶ διαγγέλλεις ἃ μὴ οἶδας, ἀπαιτῶ ἡ λόον ὧν πάντες ἴσμεν' εἰπέ μοι, πῶς ἡ γῆ ἐττηρίχθη ἐπὶ τῶν ὑδάτων, εἰπὲ, πῶς ὁ ᾿Αδὰμ ἐπλάσθη ἀπὸ γῆς" εἰπὲ, πῶς τὸ μάννα ἐχορηγήθη, πῶς ἡ θάλαττα διῃρέθη, καὶ τὰ λοιπὰ θαύματα, ἵνα μὴ μηκύνω" εἰπὲ μοι, πῶς οἱ ἄγγελοι παρατεθέντα αὐτοῖς τὸν μόσχον ὑπὸ τοῦ ἔφαγον; γαστὴρ οὐκ ἦν, δοχεῖα τροφῆ)ς οὐκ ὑπῆρχεν ἀγγέλων φύσει. Ὁ ποιῶν γὰρ τοὺς ἀγγέλους αὐτοῦ ὃν πάν: δοὶ πνεύματα, καὶ τοὺς “λειτουργοὺς αὐτοῦ πῦρ φιἰέγον., Πῶς ἀνηλώθη; Εὐθέως ὁ αἱρετικὸς, Καὶ τί, φησὶν, ἀδύνατον ζητεῖς; δυνάμει τῶν ἀγγέλων ἠφανίσθη. Καὶ τῇ μὲν δυνάμει τῶν ἀγγέλων πιστεύεις, ναὶ οὐκ ἐξετάζεις, Θεοῦ δὲ γέννησιν πολυπραγμονεῖς; Πῶς ἐποίησεν ὁ Θεὸς τὸν οὐρανὸν καὶ τὴν γῆν; ᾿Αποχρίνεται, Ὡς οἶδεν, ὡς ἠθέλησεν. Εἴτα ἡ μὲνδύναμις τοῦ Θεοῦ λογισμοῖς οὐκ ὑποδάλλεταιν ἀλλὰ πίστει παραδίδοται" θεία δὲ γέννησις τῶν λογισμῶν ἀνάγκαις περιστοιχίξεται; Οὐκ ἤκουσας τοῦ Δαυΐδ λέγοντος, Πάντα ὅσα ἠθέλησεν ὁ Κύριος, ἐποίησεν; Τὸ θέληλα εὖ πολυπραγμονεῖς, καὶ τὴν φύσιν περιεργάζῃ; Καὶ τί, ἀδελφοί; μὲν ἐποίησεν ὁ Θεὸς θέλων, ὁρᾶκαι, ὃν δὲ ἐγέννησεν ἐκ τῆς ἰδίας οὐσίας ἀόρατον (εἰκὼν γὰρ Θεοῦ ἀοράτου τὰ φαινόμενα ποιῆματα), νῦν ἐν τῷ λογισμῷ ἡ ἀόρατος ς γέννησις τοῖς λογισμοῖς δουλεύει; ἃ θελήσας ἐποίησεν, οὐκ ἀνακρίνεται" ὃ κατὰ τὴν θείαν καὶ ἄχραντον φύσιν ὑπήνεγχε, νεῖς; Ὦ καινῆς τόλμης ἱ ὦ ξένης ἐπιχειρήδεως ὦ βουλήματος τιμωμένου ὁ, καὶ φύσεως ὑδριζομένης ἰ Ἀαλῶς ὁ μακάριος Δαυῖδ ἔλεγεν" Υἱοὶ ἀνθρώπων, ἕως πόεε βαρυκάρδιοι; ἱνατί ἀγαπᾶτε ματαιότητα, καὶ ᾧγ» τεῖτε ψεῦδος; Πᾶν γὰρ ἀλλότριον τῆς Χριστοῦ διδασκαλίας καὶ ψεῦσμα καὶ μάταιον. Εἰ γὰρ ἀληθεύει λέ- Ἴων, Ἐγώ εἶμι ἡ ἀλήθεια, ὅσα ἐκτὴς τῆ; Χριστοῦ διδασκαλίας, εἰς ψεῦδος φέρει. ᾿Ανάγαγέ σου τὴν ψυχὴν ἀπὸ «ὧν χαμαὶ κειμένων ζητημάτων καὶ τῶν ματαίων λύγισμῶν ἐπὶ τὸ ὕψος τῆς θεολογίας, καὶ χατάλειπε τὴν πτωχὴν τῶν λογισμῶν ἔρευναν " λάδε τὸν θησαυρὸν τῆς ἀληθείας: Ὁμοία. ἐστὶν ἡ βασιλεία τῶν οὐρανῶν θησαυρῷ κεκρυμμένῳ. Διὰ τί θησαυρὸς ὀνομάζεται ὁ Σωτήρ; Ἐνταῦθα πρόσεχε ἀχριδῶς. Ὥσπερ ὁ θησαυρὸς οὐκ ὅτε εὑρίσκεται, τότε συνίσταται, ἀλλ᾽ ἔστι μὲν καλα"ὸς τῇ θέσει ὁ, νέος δὲ τῇ εὑρέσει " ὀὕτω καὶ ὁ σωτήριος λόγος παλαιὸς μέν ἔστι τὴν ἀξίαν, καὶ ἀρχὶ; τῶν ἁπάντων, ἐπειδὴ Ἐν ἀρχῇ ἦν ὁ Λύγος " νέον δὲ τὸ κήρυγμα διὰ τὴν τῆς σαρκὸς οἰκονομίαν. ᾿Αμέλει οὖν, ἀδελφὲ, ἵνα μάθῃς, ὅτι δίκην θησαυροῦ τοῖς ποθοῦσι. ἐκλάμπει, καὶ οἱ εὑρίσκοντες, οὕτως ἐπιτρέχουσιν ὡς θησαυρῷ εὑρημένῳ "ὁ ᾿Ανδρέας τῷ Πέτρῳ τὴνεῦρεσιν ἴ κηρύττων φησίν" Ὃν ἔγραψε Μωῦσῆς ἐν τῷ γόμῳ καὶ οἱ προφῆται, εὑρήκαμεν τὸν Χριστόν. γὰρ καὶ οἱ προφῆται ἐν ταῖς ἁγίαις βίδλοις ὡς ἐν θγσαυροῖς ἀπέθεντο τὸ κήρυγμα. ᾿Αλλ᾽ ὥσπερ οἱ κρυπτὸν θησαυρὸν ἀποτιθέμενοι, αὐτοὶ μὲν ὁρῶσιν ἃ χαταδάλλονται, σχέπουσι δὲ τῇ ὄψει, μὴ εὐδιάρπαστος γέ" νηται τοῖς ἀλλοτρίοις " οὕτω͵ καὶ οἱ προφῆται Χριστὸν κηρύξαντες τῇ ἀσαφείᾳ τῶν λέξεων ἔκρυψαν τὸν θησαυρόν. Διὰ τί; Εἰ γὰρ σαφῶς εἶπον, οὐκ ἦν προφητεία, ἀλλὰ κήρυγμα, καὶ προελάμδανεν ἡ ἀωρία ἐχφράσεως τὴν εὐκαιρίαν τοῦ κηρύγματος. Τί οὖν. ποιοῦσι; Καὶ ἑρμηνεύουσι, καὶ κρύπτουσι. Τίς ταῦτ. λέγει; Ἡσαῖας" Καὶ ἔσται τοῦτο τὸ βιδιλίον, ὡς βιθλίον ἐσφραγισμένον " δ᾽ ἐὰν δοθῇ ἀνθρώπῳ ἐπισταμένῳ γράμματα, ἐρεῖ, Οὐ δύναμαι ἀναγγῶγαι" γισται γάρ. Καὶ ἐὰν δοθῇ τῷ μὴ εἰδότι 'γράμματα, ἐρεῖ, οὗ δύναμαι ἀναγνῶναι" οὐ γὰρ ὅμαι ο» γράμμώτα. Τί βούλεται οὖν τοῦτο τὸ αἴνιγμα; Ἡ περὶ Χριστοῦ προφητεία, φησὶ, καὶ Ἰουδαίοις καὶ "Ἕλλησιν ἣγνοεἴτο, Ἰουδαίοις μὲν τοῖς εἰδόσι γράμματα, νόμον καὶ ἐπειδὴ ἐσφράγιστο᾽ Ἰουδαῖοι γράμματα ἤδειοαν, καὶ ἐπαιδεύθησαν διὰ τοῦτο λέγει αὑτοῖς ὁ Θεὸς, Οἱ βασταζύμενοι ἐκ κοιλίας, καὶ παιδευόμενοι ἕως γήρους" ἦσαν παιδευόμενοι, ἀλλ᾽ οὐκ ἤδεισαν, ἐπειδὴ τῇ ἀσαφείᾳ ἐκρύπτετο. Τοῖς δὲ Ἕλλησιν ἠγνοεῖτο, οὐ διὰ τὴν ἀσάφειαν, ἀλλὰ διὰ τὸ ὅλως μὴ εἰδέναι γράμματα. Διὰ τοῦτο Παῦλος Τιμοθέῳ, τῷ ἐντραφέντι τῷ νόμῳ, λέγει, ὅτι ᾿Εκ βρέφους τὰ ἱερὰ γράμματα οἷδας. τὰ δυνάμενά σε σορίσαι εἰς σωτηρίαν. Ἦν οὖν ἢ προφητεία τεθησαυρισμένη, καὶ ἐν ταῖς ἁγίαις βίὅλοις ἐγχεχρυμμένη " δεῖ γὰρ μὴ ἀποστῆναι τοῦ κεκρυμμένου. Οὐκ Ἡσαΐας δὲ μόνον δείκνυσι τὰς προφητείας ἐσφραγισμένας, ἀλλὰ καὶ Δανιήλ᾽ λέγει γὰρ αὐτῷ ὁ ἄγγελος μετὰ τὸ μηνῦσαι αὐτῷ τὴν ἀποκάλυψιν τῶν μελλόντων" Καὶ σὺ, Δανιὴ.ϊ, σφράγισον τὸ βιθλίον τοῦτο τῆς ὁράσεως, ὅτε ἡ δήλωσις αὐτοῦ εἰς μακράν.. Διὰ τοῦτο ὁ μακάριος Δαυῖδ ἀναγινώσκων τὸν νόμον, καὶ ἀναγινώσκων τοὺς προφήτας ἐκ προσώπου «οὔ λαοῦ " οὐ γὰρ αὐτὸς ἡγνόει ὁ προφητεύων" βουλόμενος δεῖξαι, ὅτι ἔμφασιν μέν τινα δέχεται τῆς τοῦ Χριστοῦ οἰκονομίας, οὐ δύναται δὲ νοῆσαι διὰ τὴν ἀσάφειαν «τῶν λέξεων, ἔπασχέ τι παραπλήσιον τοῖς ὁρῶσι βαλάντῶτν ἐσφραγισμένον. Τί οὖν α ποιεῖ βλέπων τὰ γράμματα, καὶ μὴ χαταλαμδάνων αὑτῶν τὰ νοήματα; λέγει, ᾿Αποκάλυγον τοὺς ὀφθαλμούς μου, καὶ κατανοήσω τὰ θαυμάσια ἐκ τοῦ νόμου σου" καὶ πάλιν ὁ αὐτός" Εὐλογητὸς εἶ, Κύριε, δίδαξόν μὲ τὰ δικαιὡμωτά σου. Οὐ γὰρ ἀνέγνως παρὰ τοῦ νόμου; οὐκ ἐπαίδευσέ σε ὁ Διωῦσῆς τὸν δεχάλογον; ᾿Αλλὰ τὰ σὰ βούλομαι μαθεῖν, καὶ τὰ παρὰ σοῦ τοῦ νομοθέτου, παρὰ τῆς πηγῆς τοῦ νόμου βούλομαι » μαθεῖν τοῦ νόμου τὴν ἀλήθειαν. ᾿Αλλ᾽ ἐζήτει μὲν μαθεῖν, ἡ δὲ χάρις ἐταμιεύετο τοῖς μέλλουσι λαμδάνειν τὴν εὐεργεσίαν. Διὰ τοῦτο ἔλεγεν ὁ Σωτὴρ τοῖς μαθηταῖς - Πο.1..οὶ βασιλεῖς καὶ δίκαιοι ἐπεθύμησαν ἰδεῖν ἃ βλέπετε, καὶ οὐκ εἶδον, καὶ ἀκοῦσαι ἃ ἀκούετε, καὶ οὐκ ἤκουσαν" ὑμῶν δὲ μακάριοι οἱ ### English translation (Claude) So do not make his surpassing love for humankind a provision for ungodliness; do not lessen his dignity because of the dispensation; do not pry into an unmeasured nature, do not search out an incomprehensible essence. Let Isaiah persuade you not to search into or describe such things: “For who will tell his generation?” But O the shameless daring of those who dare to think and say everything easily! And the Anomoean is not afraid, as he searches into the nature of God, and dares to speak the unspeakable and to make public what is holy; and naturally so: for since he does not know the truth, he professes to know what is not known, so as to hide what is proclaimed. Has he not heard holy Scripture advising, “Think about what has been commanded you; for you have no need of hidden things”? The blessed God, the only master of wonders, wishing once to strike Job, who shone with endurance, with amazement by the story of creation, says to him: “Where were you when I founded the earth? When the sea came into being?”—to be brief—“when the mountains …” “Tell me,” he says, “the shaping of the world, the birth-pangs of the wild beasts, the feeding of the cattle, the state of everything in the world, its variety.” He said this to him to teach him that even the things that appear in creation itself are incomprehensible to human beings. Then the blessed man, amazed, says: “Lord, I have spoken once; but a second time I will not add.” Then the inquiry into visible things defeated Job; and is your daring not defeated even by the ineffable generation of the Only-begotten? But since you announce what you do not know, I demand an account of what we all know. Tell me how the earth was fixed upon the waters; tell me how Adam was formed from earth; tell me how the manna was supplied, how the sea was divided, and the other miracles, not to be long. Tell me how the angels ate the calf set before them by …? There was no stomach, there were no receptacles for food in the nature of angels; for “he makes his angels spirits, and his ministers a flaming fire.” How was it consumed? At once the heretic says: “And why do you seek the impossible? It was made to vanish by the power of the angels.” And do you believe in the power of the angels, and not examine it, but pry into the generation of God? How did God make heaven and earth? He answers: “As he knows, as he willed.” Then the power of God is not subjected to reasonings but handed over to faith, while the divine generation is to be hemmed in by the compulsions of reasonings? Have you not heard David saying, “Whatever the Lord willed, he has done”? You do not pry into the will, and do you meddle with the nature? And what, brothers? What God made by willing is visible, but the one whom he begot from his own essence is invisible (for he is the image of the invisible God; the visible things are works); and now is the invisible generation to be a slave to reasonings? What he made by willing is not called to account; what he brought forth according to the divine and undefiled nature, do you … ? O new daring! O strange undertaking! O will honored and nature insulted! Well did blessed David say: “Sons of men, how long will you be heavy of heart? Why do you love vanity and seek falsehood?” For everything foreign to the teaching of Christ is both falsehood and vanity. For if he speaks truly when he says, “I am the truth,” whatever is outside the teaching of Christ leads to falsehood. Lift your soul from the questions that lie on the ground and from vain reasonings to the height of theology, and leave the poor search of reasonings; take the treasure of truth: “The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden.” Why is the Savior named a treasure? Pay careful attention here. Just as a treasure does not come into existence when it is found, but is old in its placing and new in its finding, so too the saving Word is old in dignity and the beginning of all things, since “in the beginning was the Word,” but the proclamation is new because of the dispensation of the flesh. Indeed, brother, that you may learn that he shines like a treasure for those who long for him, and those who find him run to him as to a treasure found: Andrew, proclaiming the find to Peter, says: “We have found the one of whom Moses wrote in the law, and the prophets, the Christ.” For … and the prophets laid up the proclamation in the holy books as in treasuries. But just as those who lay up a hidden treasure see what they deposit but cover it from sight, so that it may not be easily plundered by strangers, so too the prophets who proclaimed Christ hid the treasure by the obscurity of their words. Why? For if they had spoken clearly, it would not have been prophecy but proclamation, and the untimeliness of the declaration would have anticipated the right time of the proclamation. What then do they do? They both interpret and hide. Who says this? Isaiah: “And this book shall be like a sealed book; if it is given to a man who knows letters, he will say, I cannot read it, for it is sealed. And if it is given to one who does not know letters, he will say, I cannot read it, for I do not know letters.” What does this riddle mean? “The prophecy about Christ,” it says, “was unknown to both Jews and Greeks”: to the Jews, who knew letters, the law and the prophets, because it was sealed. The Jews knew letters and were instructed; that is why God says to them, “You who are carried from the womb and instructed until old age”: they were instructed, but did not know, because it was hidden in obscurity. But to the Greeks it was unknown not because of obscurity, but because they did not know the letters at all. That is why Paul says to Timothy, who was brought up in the law: “From infancy you have known the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation.” So the prophecy was stored up as treasure and hidden in the holy books; for one must not depart from what is hidden. And not Isaiah alone shows the prophecies sealed, but Daniel too; for the angel, after disclosing to him the revelation of what was to come, says to him: “And you, Daniel, seal up this book of the vision, for its disclosure is far off.” That is why blessed David, reading the law and reading the prophets in the person of the people (for he who prophesied was not himself ignorant), wishing to show that the people receives some impression of the dispensation of Christ but cannot understand it because of the obscurity of the words, experienced something like those who see a sealed purse. What then does he do, seeing the letters and not grasping their meanings? He says: “Uncover my eyes, and I will perceive the wonders of your law”; and again the same: “Blessed are you, Lord; teach me your statutes.” “Did you not read it in the law? Did Moses not teach you the ten commandments?” “But I wish to learn your things, those from you, the lawgiver; from the fountain of the law I wish to learn the truth of the law.” But he sought to learn, and the grace was stored up for those who were to receive the benefaction. That is why the Savior said to the disciples: “Many kings and righteous men desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it; but blessed are your … ### Scripture references - Isa 53:8: quotation, high confidence - Job 38:4: quotation, high confidence - Job 38:8: quotation, high confidence - Job 40:5: quotation, high confidence - Gen 18:8: allusion, high confidence - Ps 104:4 (103:4 LXX): quotation, high confidence - Ps 24:2 (23:2 LXX): allusion, low confidence - Gen 2:7: allusion, high confidence - Exod 16:14: allusion, medium confidence - Exod 14:21: allusion, medium confidence - Ps 135:6 (134:6 LXX): quotation, high confidence - Col 1:15: allusion, medium confidence - Ps 4:2 (4:3 LXX): quotation, high confidence - John 14:6: quotation, high confidence - Matt 13:44: quotation, high confidence - John 1:1: quotation, high confidence - John 1:41: quotation, high confidence - John 1:45: quotation, high confidence - Isa 29:11: quotation, high confidence - Isa 29:12: quotation, high confidence - Isa 46:3: quotation, high confidence - 2 Tim 3:15: quotation, high confidence - Dan 12:4: quotation, high confidence - Ps 119:18 (118:18 LXX): quotation, high confidence - Ps 119:12 (118:12 LXX): quotation, high confidence - Luke 10:24: quotation, high confidence - Matt 13:17: quotation, high confidence - Matt 13:16: quotation, high confidence ### Extrabiblical texts - Sir 3:22 (Sirach): quotation, high confidence ### Translation notes - Isa 53:8; Sir 3:22 (“you have no need of hidden things”); Job 38:4, 8; 40:5 (40:4–5 LXX); Gen 18:8; Ps 104:4 (103:4 LXX); Ps 135:6 (134:6 LXX); Col 1:15; Ps 4:2 (4:3 LXX); John 14:6; Matt 13:44; John 1:1, 41, 45; Isa 29:11–12; Isa 46:3; 2 Tim 3:15; Dan 12:4; Ps 119:18, 12 (118:18, 12 LXX); Matt 13:16–17 / Luke 10:24. The Anomoean is named; translated as written. The section ends mid-quotation; it continues in section 5. A block of a footnote and Migne’s Latin column, read by the OCR as Greek, was removed by a logged correction. Some lines are lost in the scan (“…”). ### Citation (SBL) Severian, Sigil. 4 (PG 63:531; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/severian-sigillis/4). ## Sigil. 5 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/severian-sigillis/5/#p-5 - Source: PG 63:531 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-11-12 Summary: The sealed prophecies were opened when the risen Christ explained the Scriptures to the two disciples at Emmaus and was known in the breaking of bread; the first three evangelists, like lightning, told of the dispensation in the flesh, preparing for John, the son of thunder, who proclaimed “In the beginning was the Word.” ### Greek text ᾿Αλλὰ ζητοῦμεν πότε ὅλως ἡ σφραγὶς ἀπεσφραγίσθη, πότε ὁ δεσμὸς τῆς ἀγνοίας ἐλύθη, πότε τὰ κεκλεισμένα ἀνεῴγει. ᾿Απαιτεῖ παρ᾽ ἡμῶν ὁ ἀκροατὴς,, καὶ, Παρὰ τὸν λόγον τὸν τρόπον μοι, φησὶν, ἐμήνυσας τοῦ σφραγίσματος, τὸν καιρόν μοι τῆς ἐπιλύσεως τῶν ἐσφραγισμένων οὐ λέγεις; κεκλεισμένας ἔδειξας τὰς πύλας, ἀνεῳγμένας οὐκ ὑποδείξεις; Τί οὖν; ᾿Απὸ ἑνὸς ῥήματος τὰ πολλὰ παρωσάμενος, παραστήσω τὸ ζητούμενον. Τί οὖν; Μετὰ τὴν τοῇ Σωτῆρος ἀνάστασιν, ἀγνοουμένης τοῖς πολλοῖς τῆς θείας χάριτος, τινὲς, φησὶ, τῶν μαθητῶν δύο ἕξω εἰς κώμην ἀπήεσαν, καὶ πρὸς ἀλλήλους οἷα φίλοι ἐν ὁδῷ ἀντέδαλλον περὶ τῆς οἶκονομίας. Ὁ Σωτὴρ᾽ ἀμείψας τὸ σχῆμα καὶ τὸ ἐχφώνημα (ὃ γάρ ἔστι πρόσωπον τοῖς ὁρῶσι, τοῦτο φωνὴ τοῖς τὸ πρόσωπον οὐκ ὁρῶσι), κρύπτει καὶ τὴν φωνὴν καὶ τὴν μορφῆν, καὶ λέγει αὐτοῖς ὁ τὰ πάντα εἰδώς " Τίνες οἱ «όγοε οὗτοι, οὺς ἀντιδάλιλετε πρὸς ἀλλήλους; τεῖ αὐτῷ τῷ τὰ πάντα εἰδότι ὁ παρ' αὑτοῦ τὰ πάντα μανθάνων᾽ Σὺ μόνος παροικεῖς ἐν Ἱερουσαλὴμ, καὶ οὐκ ἔγνως τὰ γεγόμενω ἐν αὐτῇ; Λέγει" Ποῖα; Οὖτος ὁ Θεὸς ὁ εἰδὼς τὰ πάντα, καὶ ἐρωτῶν, ὁ υἱός ἐστιν αἰ ποῦν τῆς πηγῆς τοὐ νόμον, οὐ παρὰ τοῦ ὑπηρέτον τοῦ νόμου ομαι. κι ἐχείνου τοῦ λέγοντος τῷ Κάϊν" Ποῦ “λδελ, ὁ ἀδελρός σου; Λέγουσι" Τὰ περὶ ᾿Ιησοῦ τοῦ Ναζωραίου, ὃς ἐγέγετο ἀνὴρ δυνατὸς λόγῳ καὶ ἔργῳ. ᾿Ακμὴν ἀνήρ, μετὰ τοσαῦτα θαύματα ἀνήρ; μετὰ τοσαύτας ἐνεργείας. μετὰ τοσαύτην θείας δυνάμεως ἀπόδειξιν; Ἡμεῖς δὲ, φησὶν (ἵνα μὴ πάντα ἐξετάζων ὁ λόγος μηκχύνῃ), ἡμεῖς δὲ ἠλπίζομεν, ὅτι αὐτός ἔστιν' ὁ λυτρούμενος τὸν Ἰσραήλ. Ὅρα πῶς ἔσδεστο ἐν αὐτοῖς σχεδὸν ἡ πίσεις,. καὶ καθήρητο λοιπὸν ἡ ἐλπὶς τῆς οἰκονομίας. Ἡμεῖς προσεδοχῶμβεν. Οὐ λέγει, Προσδοκῶμεν, ἀλλὰ, Προσ-εδοκῶμεν. "“Ἤδε: οὖν λοιπὸν ἀσθενοῦσαν αὑτῶν τὴν πίστιν, καὶ χλίνασαν αὑτῶν τὴν διάνοιαν " καὶ ἐπέστη ὁ στηρίζων τοὺς καταπεπτωχόνας, καὶ ἀνορθῶν πάντας τοὺς κατεῤῥαγμένους. Καὶ τ. πρὸς αὐτοὺς ὁ εὐεργέτης; Ὧ ἀνόητοι, καὶ βραδεῖς τῇ καρδιᾳ, οὐ συνίετα τὰς Γραφάς; οὐ ταῦτα ἔδει παθεῖν τὸν Χριστὸν, καὶ εἰσελθεῖν εἰς τὴν δόξαν αὐτοῦ; Καὶ ἀρξάμενος ἀπὸ τοῦ νόμου καὶ τῶν προφητῶν, διήνγοιγεν αὐτοῖς τὰς Γραφάς. Ὁρᾷς, ὅτι ἕως ἀπέστη " Χριστὸς, οὐκ ἀνεῴχθη τῆς ἀληβείας ἡ πύλη, οὐδὲ ἐλύθη ὁ δεσμὸς τῆς ἀγνοίας, Διήνοιγε τὰς Γραφὰς οἷά τινας θύρας κεκλεισμένας, Ποίας θύρας; Περὶ ὧν φησιν ὁ Παῦλος, Ἵνα ὁ Θεὸς ἀνοίξῃ θύραν τοῖς ἔθνεσι" καὶ πάλιν ἐπὶ Κορνηλίου, "Αρά γε καὶ τοῖς ἔθνεσιν ἤνοιξεν ὁ Θεὸς θύρων μὲταγοίας; Καὶ ὅρα τί οἰκονομεῖ ἣ πηγὴ τῶν ἀγαθῶν" ὅτε γὰρ ἐπέστη τῇ κώμῃ τῇ Ἑμμαοῦς, καθὰ καὶ τὴν ὁρμὴν εἶχον οἱ ὁδεύοντες, ἔτι ἀγνοούμενος ὑπ᾽ αὐτῶν, ἐφάνη τῷ ἀμφιδαλλομένῳ. Ὡς γὰρ κατεχλίνθη αὐτοῖς, τὰ πρῶτα ὡς ξένος φιλοφροσύνης ἀξιούμενος (Μεῖνον γὰρ, φησὶ, παρ᾽ ἡμῖν, ὅτι ἔκλινεν ἡ ἡμέρα)" ἵνα μὴ πάντῃ ἡ ἄγνοια καταχαλύπτῃ τὴν ἀξίαν, Λαδὼν ἄρτον ηὐλόγησε, καὶ κλάσας ἐπέδωκε, καὶ ἡγοίγησαν αὖτῶν οἱ ὀφθαλμοὶ, καὶ ἐπέγνωσαν αὐτόν. βΔιὰ τί πρῶκὸν ἔδωκε τὸν ἄρτον, καὶ τότε ἡνοίγησαν αὐτῶν οἱ ὀφθαλμοί; Ἐπειδὴ βρῶσις τοῦ ᾿Αδὰμ τοὺς ὀφθαλμοὺς κακῶς ἤνοιξεν, ἀντεισήχθη νῦν βρῶσις τὴν ξένην ἀνάὄλεψιν ἐργαζομένη. ᾿Αναδλέψωσι καὶ οἱ τῶν αἱρετιχῶν παῖδες, καὶ ἴδωσι τὸ φῶς τῆς ἀληθείας, ἴδωσι τὸν ἐν ἀρχῇ ὄντα Θεὸν, Θεὸν ὄντα, καὶ θεοῦ Λόγον ὑπάρχοντα " ἀκούσωσι πολλάκις τὸ, ἢν, καὶ παύσωνται λέγοντες τὸ, Οὐκ ἦν. Ἐν ἀρχῇ ἦν ὁ Λόγος. Οὐκ εὐθὺς τ ἐκηρύχθη" οὐ γὰρ ἐχώρει ὁ κόσμος. Τέσσαρες μέντοι εἰσὶν εὐαγγελισταὶ 4, Ματθαῖος, Μάρκος, Λουκᾶς, καὶ Ἰωάννης ᾿ ὅτε ἤρξαντο τοῦ κηρύγματος, οὐκ εὐθὺς ἐλάλησαν τὰ πρέποντα τῇ ἀξίᾳ, ἀλλὰ τὰ ἁρμόζοντα τοῖς ἀκροωμένοις. Ὁ Ματθαῖος ἀρχὴν ποιησάμενος τῶν εὐαγγελίων, λέγει" Βίδλος γενέσεως ᾿Ιησοῦ Χριστοῦ υἱοῦ Δαυὶδ, υἱοῦ ᾿Αδραάμ. Διὰ τί μὴ Υἱοῦ Θεοῦ; διὰ τί πτωχῇ λέξει χρύπτεις τὴν ἀξίαν; διὰ τί τοῖς ἀνθρώποις τὰ θεῖα καλύπτεις; Παρὰ Ἰουδαίοις, φησὶ, κηρύτ-. τῶ, τοῖς μηδὲ ἄνθρωπον δίκαιον εἶναι πιστεύουσι τὸν Χριστόν. Υἱὸν ᾿Αδραὰμ οὕπω ἐδέξαντο, καὶ Υἱὸν Θεοῦ καταγγελλόμενον ἀνέξονται; Καὶ πόθεν τοῦτο; Ὅτι οὐδὲ τοῦ γένους αὐτὸν ὡμολόγουν ᾿Αδραάμ. Οὐκ ἤκουσας, ὡς πολλάκις βλασφημοῦντες αὐτὸν, ἔλεγον" Σαμαρείτης. εἶ σὺ, καὶ δαιμόνιον ἔχεις; Οἱ. τοῦ γένους αὐτὸν τῶν ἁγίων ἐχδάλλοντες, τὴν ἀξίαν τὴν ἔνθεον χατελάμδανον. Τιιοῦν φησι; Βίδιλος γενέσεως ᾿Ιησοῦ Χριστοῦ. υἱοῦ. Δαυὶδ, υἱοῦ ᾿Αδραάμ. Πρῶτον αὐτοὺς ἐνάγει τοῖς ὀνόμασι τοῖς φῦοις, τοῖς πρὸς συγγένειαν ἠνωμένοις, ἵν' " ἐξ ἐχείνων θηραθέντες κατὰ μικρὸν εὕρωσι τὴν ἀλήθειαν, τὴν ἀπαθῆ, γέννησιν, τὴν ἄχραντον, τὴν θεοπρεπεῖ λόζῳ κηρυττομένην, καὶ παντὶ παραδιδομένην. Πάλιν ὁ μαθαρσήσας τοῖ; προγεγυμνασμένοις, λέγε: μὲν Υἱὸν Θεοῦ, ἀλλ᾽ εὐθέως συνέστειλε τὸν λόγον, καὶ ἐχυλόδωσε τὴν ἕννοιαν, ἵνα μαλάξῃ τὸν ἀκροατήν. Ἐπάγει οὖν εὐθέως τὰ κατὰ τὸν βαπτιστὴν λέγων, Ἀρχὴ τοῦ εὐαγγελίου Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ" καθὼς γέγραπται ἐν Ἡσαῖχς τῷ προρήτῃ" ᾿Ιδοὺ ἀποστάλλω τὸν ἄγγελόν μου πρὸ προσώπον σου, ὃς κατασκευάσει τὴν ὁδόν σον ἔμπροσθέν σου. Ἕδειξε τὴν λαμπάδα «ἧς ἀληθείας, καὶ εὐθέως ἀπέχρυψε. Καὶ προφέρει πρῶτον τὸν ὑπηρέτην, ἴνα τῇ φωνῇ περιηχηθεὶς ὁ ἀκροατὴς, δέξηται λοιπὸν ὑγιῶς τὸν παντελῇ τῆς θεογωνίας λόγον. Ὁ Λουκᾶς ἀκολουθεῖ τρίτος, καὶ μέσος χωρεῖ μετὰ τούτων, καὶ ἅπτεται μὲν τοῦ θείου λόγον, οὐ μὴν ἑρμηνεύει γαὶ ἀναπτύσσ8: τὴν ἀξίαν, ἀλλά φησιν: ᾿Επειδήπερ ποι1.λοὶ ἐπγ»ορημένων ἐν ἡμῖν πραγμάτων, ἔδοξε κἀμοὶ παρακολουϑηχότι Α τοῖς πᾶσιν ἀπ᾿ ἀρχῆς γράψαι, καθὼς παρέδωκαν ἡμῖν οἱ ἀπ᾿ ἀρχῆς αὐτόπται καὶ ὑπηρέται γιγόμεγοι τοῦ «1όγου. ᾿Αλλὰ λόγον μὲν εἶπεν, οὐκ εἶπε δὲ ὅτι καὶ Θεὸς ἦν ὁ Λόγος. Τί οὖν καὶ αὐτὸς ποιεῖ, 'άῤάψάμενος τὸ εἶναι, καὶ ἐννοήσας, ὅτι νεχραῖς ἀκοαῖς ἐνηχεῖ, κρύπτει τὴν ἀξίαν, καὶ προφέρει τὴν οἱκονομίαν᾽ ᾿Εγένετο ἱερεὺς Ζαχαρίας " καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς τοῦ εὐαγγελίου. Πάντες οὖν ἐχώρησαν εἰς τὴν τῆς σαρκὸς. οἰκονομίαν, καὶ ἡρέμα πως διὰ τῶν θαυμάτων ἐγνώριζον τὴν ἀξίαν. Ἑκηρύττετο δὲ ἐπὶ τοῦ Θεοῦ Λόγου τὸ ἀξίωμα, ἐκρύπτετο δὲ τὰ κατὰ τῶν αἱρετιχῶν βέλη, καὶ τὸ τῆς ὀρθῆς δόξης ἐπιτείχισμα οὐδέπω τῷ κηρύγματι τῆς Ἰωάννης τοίνυν ὁ υἱὸς τῆς βροντῆς τελευταῖος παρῆλθεν ἐπὶ τὴν θεολογίαν μετὰ τοὺς τρεῖς ἐκείνους κήρυκας, καὶ εἰκότως ὁ μὲν ἠκολούθησεν, οἱ δὲ προέλαδον, τὰ μικρὰ τέως ἀστράπτοντες. “Ὥσπερ γὰρ τῆς βροντῆς προἡγεῖται ἀστραπὴ, ἵνα μὴ ἀθρόον ἐκείνη ἐκ τῶν νεφῶν ῥαγεῖσα πλήξῃ τὸν ἀκούοντα " οὕτως ἐπειδὴ ἔμελλε Ββροντᾷν ὁ Ἰωάννης, οἱ τρεῖς εὐαγγελισταὶ δίκην ἀστραπῶν᾽ καὶ οἱ μὲν ἤστραψαν τὴν οἰκονομίαν, ὁ δὲ βροντᾷ τὴν θεολογίαν. Βροντὴ δὲ, ἀδελφοὶ, μετὰ ὅμδρων, βροντὴ φόδητρυν τῶν πονηρῶν" καὶ ὥσπερ ἂν σάλπιγγί τινι κεχρημένος τῇ βροντῇ ὁ οὐρανὸς καλεῖ τὸν ὅμόρον, ἀλλὰ πρῶτον ταῖς ἀστραπαῖς προχαλεῖ τὸν ὑετόν" ᾿Αστραπὰς γὰρ ὁ Θεὸς εἰς ὑετὸν ἐποίησεν" ἔπειτα τῇ βροντῇ κινεῖ τὰς νεφέλας. Τί οὖν; Ἐπειδὴ προηγήσαντο αἱ τοσαῦται ἀστραπαὶ τοῦ λόγου, ἀκολουθεῖ τὸ λοιπὸν, ὡς ἔφθην εἰπὼν, ἡ βροντὴ τῆς θεολογίας, καταπλήττουσα μὲν πολλοὺς τῇ ὑπερδολῇ τῆς θεολογίας, φέρουσα δὲ τοὺς ὅμδρους τῆς εὐλογίας " καὶ ἡμῖν μὲν βροντὴ γίνεται θεολογίας, τοῖς δὲ αἱρετικοῖς βροντὴ τοὺς κακοὺς θῆρας τῇ ὑπερθολῇ τῆς μεγαλοφωνίας ἐλαύνουσα. ᾿Απὸ ἐπιτιμήσεώς σου φεύξονται, ἀπὸ φωνῆς βροντῆς ### English translation (Claude) But we ask when at last the seal was broken, when the bond of ignorance was loosed, when what was shut was opened. The hearer demands it of us: “Besides the word,” he says, “you have told me the manner of the sealing; do you not tell me the time when what was sealed was loosed? You have shown me the gates shut; will you not show them opened?” What then? Setting aside many things, I will present what is sought from a single saying. What then? After the Savior’s resurrection, when the divine grace was unknown to the many, “two of the disciples,” it says, were going out to a village and, as friends on the road, were discussing the dispensation with one another. The Savior, changing his appearance and his manner of speech (for what the face is to those who see, the voice is to those who do not see the face), hides both his voice and his form, and he who knows all things says to them: “What are these words that you are exchanging with one another?” He who learns all things from him … to the one who knows all things: “Are you the only stranger in Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there?” He says: “What things?” This is the God who knows all things and yet asks, … the son … from the fountain of the law, not from the servant of the law … ; the one who said to Cain, “Where is Abel your brother?” They say: “The things concerning Jesus of Nazareth, who was a man mighty in word and deed.” Still a man? After so many miracles, a man? After so many works of power, after so great a demonstration of divine power? “But we,” they say (so that the sermon may not grow long by examining everything), “but we had hoped that he was the one who would redeem Israel.” See how faith had almost been quenched in them, and the hope of the dispensation had now been pulled down. “We had hoped.” He does not say, “We hope,” but, “We had hoped.” He knew, then, that their faith was weak and their mind had sunk; and he stood by them, he who supports those who have fallen and sets upright all who are broken down. And what does the benefactor say to them? “O foolish ones, and slow of heart, do you not understand the Scriptures? Was it not necessary for the Christ to suffer these things and enter into his glory?” “And beginning from the law and the prophets, he opened the Scriptures to them.” Do you see that until Christ stood by them, the gate of truth was not opened, nor was the bond of ignorance loosed? He opened the Scriptures like shut doors. What doors? Those of which Paul speaks: “that God may open a door to the nations”; and again, in the case of Cornelius: “Then God has opened the door of repentance to the nations too.” And see what the fountain of good things arranges. When he reached the village of Emmaus, where the travellers were bound, still unknown to them, he appeared to the one who doubted. For when he reclined with them—at first treated with kindness as a stranger (“Stay with us,” it says, “for the day is far spent”)—so that ignorance might not wholly cover his dignity, “taking bread he blessed it, and breaking it he gave it to them, and their eyes were opened, and they recognized him.” Why did he first give the bread, and then their eyes were opened? Since Adam’s eating opened his eyes wrongly, an eating was now brought in instead that works a strange recovery of sight. Let the children of the heretics too recover their sight, and see the light of truth; let them see the one who was God in the beginning, being God and the Word of God; let them hear often the “was,” and stop saying “there was when he was not.” “In the beginning was the Word.” It was not proclaimed at once, for the world could not contain it. There are four evangelists, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John; when they began their proclamation, they did not at once speak what befitted his dignity, but what suited their hearers. Matthew, making the beginning of the Gospels, says: “The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.” Why not “Son of God”? Why do you hide his dignity with a poor expression? Why do you cover divine things from human beings? “I am preaching,” he says, “among Jews, who do not believe that Christ was even a righteous man. They have not yet accepted him as son of Abraham; will they bear him proclaimed as Son of God?” And where do we learn this? That they did not even acknowledge him to be of the race of Abraham. Have you not heard how often, blaspheming him, they said: “Are you not a Samaritan, and do you not have a demon?” Those who cast him out of the race of the saints … the divine dignity. What then does he say? “The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.” First he leads them on by familiar names, joined to them by kinship, so that, caught by these, they may little by little find the truth: the generation without passion, undefiled, proclaimed by a word fitting God and handed down to all. Again Mark, … those who had been trained beforehand, says “Son of God,” but at once he drew in his word and curtailed the sense, to soften the hearer. So he immediately adds what concerns the Baptist, saying: “The beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, as it is written in Isaiah the prophet: Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way before you.” He showed the torch of truth and at once hid it. And he brings forward the servant first, so that the hearer, with the voice ringing round him, might then receive soundly the complete word of the divine generation. Luke follows third, and goes in the middle between these; he touches the divine Word, yet does not interpret and unfold his dignity, but says: “Since many have undertaken … of the events that have been fulfilled among us, it seemed good to me also, having followed all things from the beginning, to write, just as those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and servants of the word handed them down to us.” He said “word,” but he did not say that the Word was also God. What then does he too do? Having touched on his being, and perceiving that he is sounding in dead ears, he hides the dignity and brings forward the dispensation: “There was a priest Zechariah,” and the rest of the Gospel. All of them, then, went on to the dispensation of the flesh, and quietly, through the miracles, made known his dignity. The rank of God the Word was proclaimed, but the arrows against the heretics were hidden, and the rampart of right belief was not yet … by the proclamation. So John, the son of thunder, came last to theology, after those three heralds; and rightly the one followed and the others went before, flashing the lesser things for a time. For just as lightning goes before thunder, so that the thunder, bursting from the clouds all at once, may not strike the hearer, so, since John was going to thunder, the three evangelists came like lightnings: they flashed the dispensation, he thunders the theology. And thunder, brothers, comes with rain; thunder is a terror to the wicked; and as though using thunder as a trumpet, heaven calls the rain, but first it summons the shower with lightnings—“for God made lightnings for the rain”—and then it moves the clouds with thunder. What then? Since so many lightnings of the word had gone before, there follows, as I said, the thunder of theology, striking many with amazement by the height of its theology, but bringing the showers of blessing; and to us it becomes a thunder of theology, but to the heretics a thunder that drives away the evil beasts by the height of its great voice: “At your rebuke they will flee, at the voice of your thunder …” ### Scripture references - Luke 24:13: allusion, high confidence - Luke 24:17: quotation, high confidence - Luke 24:18: quotation, high confidence - Luke 24:19: quotation, high confidence - Gen 4:9: quotation, high confidence - Luke 24:21: quotation, high confidence - Luke 24:25: quotation, high confidence - Luke 24:26: quotation, high confidence - Luke 24:27: quotation, high confidence - Luke 24:32: allusion, medium confidence - Col 4:3: quotation, high confidence - Acts 14:27: quotation, medium confidence - Acts 11:18: quotation, medium confidence - Luke 24:29: quotation, high confidence - Luke 24:30: quotation, high confidence - Luke 24:31: quotation, high confidence - Gen 3:7: allusion, high confidence - John 1:1: quotation, high confidence - Matt 1:1: quotation, high confidence - John 8:48: quotation, high confidence - Mark 1:1: quotation, high confidence - Mark 1:2: quotation, high confidence - Luke 1:1: quotation, high confidence - Luke 1:2: quotation, high confidence - Luke 1:3: quotation, high confidence - Luke 1:5: quotation, high confidence - Mark 3:17: allusion, high confidence - Ps 135:7 (134:7 LXX): quotation, high confidence - Ps 104:7 (103:7 LXX): quotation, high confidence ### Translation notes - Luke 24:13–31; Gen 4:9; Col 4:3; Acts 14:27 and 11:18; Gen 3:7; John 1:1; Matt 1:1; John 8:48; Mark 1:1–2; Luke 1:1–2, 5; Mark 3:17; Ps 135:7 (134:7 LXX); Ps 104:7 (103:7 LXX). “There was when he was not” is the Arian formula about the Son; the heretics are those who held it; translated as written. The section ends mid-quotation and continues in section 6. A footnote of Migne read into the text was removed by a logged correction; some lines are lost in the scan (“…”). ### Citation (SBL) Severian, Sigil. 5 (PG 63:531; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/severian-sigillis/5). ## Sigil. 6 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/severian-sigillis/5/#p-6 - Source: PG 63:531 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-11-12 Summary: Severian explains that “the Word became flesh” means the Word took up flesh, not that his nature changed, illustrating it by the human word, which is begotten without division, goes out whole to all hearers, and is “embodied” in writing without being destroyed when the book is torn, as Jeremiah’s scroll showed. ### Greek text ᾿Αναδράμωμεν οὖν πρὸς τὸν ἐν ἀρχῇ Θεὸν, ἀναδράμωμεν πρὸς τὸ ἀΐδιον φῶς, ἀναδράμωμεν πρὸς τὸν Λόγον διὰ σὲ γενόμενον ἄνθρωπον γενόμενον δὲ ὅταν εἴπω, οὐ μεταδληθεῖσαν λέγω φύσιν, ἀλλὰ τὴν θεϊκὴν ἀξίαν» δ'ίυ5 τὴν ἀναλαθοῦσαν τὰ ἡμέτερα, Τὸ γὰρ, Λόγος σὰρξ ἐγένετο, οὗ μετάπτωσιν τῆς φύσεως μηνύει, ἀλλὰ τὴν ἀνάληψιν «ἧς ἡμετέρας ἀσθενείας. Εἰ γὰρ τὸ, ᾿Εγέγετο, λὴν νομίζεις, ἐὰν ἀκούσῃς τοῦ Παύλου λέγοντος, Χριστὸς ἡμᾶς ἐξηγόρασεν ἐκ τῆς κατάρας τοῦ γόμου, γενόμενος ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν κατάρα, κατάραν εἰς φύσιν καὶ μετατροπὴν κατάρας ἐχλαμδάνεις τὴν λέξιν. “Ὥσπερ γοῦν τὸ, Γεγονὼς κατάρω, οὐδὲν ἕτερον σημαίνει, ἣ ὅτι τὴν καθ᾽ ἡμῶν κατάραν εἰς ἑαυτὸν ἀνέλαδεν " οὕτως καὶ τὸ, Ὁ «1όγος σὰρξ ἐγένετο, καὶ ἐσκήνωσεν ἐν ἡμῖν, οὐδὲν ἄλλο παρίστησιν ἣ τῆς σαρκὸς τὴν ἀνάληψιν. Ἔχεις εἰκόνα παρὰ σαυτῷ, ὁ λόγος ὁ σὸς παιδεύσει σε περὶ τοῦ Θεοῦ Λόγον, οὐκ ὡς παντελῆ φέρων τὴν ὁμοιότητα, ἀλλ᾽ ὡς ἔχων ἴχνος καὶ ἔμφασιν τῆς θείας ἀξίας ὁ λόγος. Ἑνταῦθα δέ μοι πρόσεχε τὸν νοῦν ἀχριδῶς, ἵνα μὴ διακενῆς λέγηται τὰ ῥήματα, καὶ ἀφανίζηται τὰ θεῖα νοΐ ματα. Ὃ λόγος ὁ τῶν ἀνθρώπων (ἀμνὸρα δὲ ἐστιν ἧ εἰκὼν, οὐκ ὅλον παριστῶσα τὸ ἀξίωμα. ἀλλ᾽ ἐκ τῶν χαθ΄ ἡμᾶς τὰ ὑπὲρ ἡμᾶς διδάσκουσα) " ὁ λόγος ὁ ἡμέτερυς ἀσώματός ἐστιν, ἀόρατος, ἀχράτητος, ἀκοῇ μόνῃ παραδεδομένος. Οὐδεὶς οἶδεν ὄψει λόγον, οὐδεὶς κατέσχε χειρὶ, ἀλλ᾽ ἔστιν ἀόρατος, ἀχράτητος, ὑπὸ μιᾶς αἰσθήσεως κρατούμενος τῆς ἀκοῆς, καὶ τοῦτο ἀοράτως. Οὐ γὰρ χεῖρας ἐχτείνασα ἣ ἀκοὴ κατέχει,. ἀλλ᾽ αὐτὸς ὁ λόγος εἰσελθὼν κρατεῖται. Ὁ λόγος αὐτὸς γέννημα μέν ἐστε τοῦ νοῦ, γεννᾶται δὲ οὐ πάθει, οὐκ ὄψει “, οὐ διαιρέ» σει, οὗ μερίξεται τοῦ νοῦ γεννήσαντος, οὐ χωρίζεται, οὐκ ἀπουχίζεται. Ἐνταῦθά μοι χρῆσον τὴν ἀκοὴν, αἶρετικὲ, νόησον πρῶτον τὰ σὰ, καὶ τότε φαντάζου τὰ ὑπὲρ σέ " γεννᾷ ὁ νοῦς, προέρχεται ὁ λόγος, προέρχεται ἐκ τοῦ γεννήσαντος, καὶ πάντας πληροῖ τοὺς ἀκούοντας, καὶ τοῦ γεννήσαντος αὐτὸν οὐκ ἀφίσταται " προέρχεται λόγος εἰς πάντας μεριζόμενος, καὶ οὐδαμοῦ σχιζόμενος. Ἕκαστος γὰρ δέχεται ὁλόκληρον τὸν λόγον, καὶ ἔστιν ἐν ἑκάστῳ; καὶ ἐν τοσούτοις μεριζόμενος, ἀλλ᾽ ὁλόκληρος εἰσχεόμενος. Ὃ οὖν ἡμέτερος λόγος δείκνυσιν ἐν ἑαυτῷ τὸν γεννήσαντα νοῦν" ἀπὸ γὰρ τοῦ λόγου χαταλαμδάνεπαι ἡ διάνοια. Σκόπει δέ μοι κἀκεῖνο" τούτῳ τῷ λόγῳ τῷ ἡμετέρῳ προαναζωγραφῶν τὴν οἰκονομίαν τοῦ Θεοῦ Λόγου, εἰκόνα τινὰ θαυμαστὴν προανείληπται γηΐνοις μὲν ἄνθεσιν ὡραϊζομένην, πρέπουσαν δὲ τῇ τοῦ λόγου προθεωρίᾳ. Τί οὖν; Τὸν λόγον τὸν ἡ μέτερον ἀόρατον ὄντα, καὶ σῶμα μὴ ἔχοντα, καὶ κρατεῖσθαι μὴ δυνάμενον, ἑτέρᾳ τινὶ σοφίᾳ ὁ Θεὸς μεταῤῥυθμίσας, καὶ ὁρᾶσθαι πεποίηκε, καὶ κρατεῖσθαι. Τί γὰρ ποιεῖ; Ἐπειδὴ οὐκ ἑωρᾶτο ὄψει, ἐνδύει αὐτὸν ἃ σῶμα, τὸ γράμμα, καὶ ὥσπερ τινὰ σάρκα αὐτῷ περιέθηκε τὴν τῶν γραμμάτων ὄψιν" καὶ ὃν ποτὲ ἀκούων οὐκ ἑώρας, ἀναγινώσκων ὁρᾷς" ᾧ ἐντυχεῖν οὐκ ἐδύνου, διὰ τῆς βίόλου βαστάζεις. ᾿Αλλὰ σωματοῦται “μὲν ὁ λόγος διὰ τοῦ γράμματος, οὐ περιχλείεται δὲ τῷ γράμματι, ἀλλ᾽ ἔστι παρὰ τῷ λέγοντι, καὶ παρὰ τῷ ἀναγινώσχοντι " κἂν τις λαδὼν, ἀδελφοὶ, βιδλίον σχίσῃ, τὸ σῶμα τοῦ λόγου ἔσχισεν, οὐ τὸν λόγον ἔτεμε. Καὶ ἵνα μάθῃς ὅτι οὐ συναναλίσχεται γράμματι λόγος, λέγει ὁ Θεὸς τῷ ''ερεμίᾳ, Καθίσας γράψον ἐπὶ βιθδλίου πάντας τοὺς.16-γους, καὶ ἐπίδος ᾿Ιωακεὶμ τῷ βασιλεῖ. Ἦν δὲ ὁ λόγος μεστὸς ἐλεγμοῦ. Ἐπεὶ οὖν οἱ δυνάσται τοὺς ἐλέγχους οὐ φέρουσιν" ἢ γὰρ ἀξία οὐ ῥᾳδίω: ὑποτάσσεται τῷ δικαίῳ, ἀλλ᾽ ἀμθλύνει τὴν ἀλήθειαν " πληγεὶς τοῖς ἐλέγχοις, διαῤῥήγνυσι τὸ βιδλίον, καὶ τῇ σμίλῃ τοῦ γραμματέως διαχοτ. ἔλαδξε, φησὶ, παρὰ τὴν ἐσχάραν τοῦ πυρός. ΤΊ οὖν ὁ Θεὸς πρὸς Ἱερεμίαν; Καθίσας γράψον τοὺς αὑτοὺς «ἰόγους, καὶ δὸς τῷ βασιλεῖ, ἵνα μάθῃ, ὅτι τὸ γράμμα διέχοψε, τὸν δὲ λόγον οὐκ ἕτεμεν. Εἶδες τὴν εἰκόνα; ἀνάγαγὲ σου τὸ λοιπὸν ἐπὶ τὸ ὕψος τὴν διάνοιαν. Ὃ τοῦ Θεοῦ αὐτὸς Θεὸς Λόγος ὁ μονογενὴς ἐνδύεται σῶμα, ἵνα φανῇ ὁ μὴ φαινόμενος" ἐνδύεται σάρκα, ἵνα χρατηθῇ ὁ μὴ κρατούμενος. Διὰ τοῦτο ὁ Ἰωάννης εὐρὼν τὸ ποθεινὸν ἐκεῖνο, ποτὲ μὲν ἀκοῆ κρατούμενον, ὕστερον δὲ ὄψει κατεχόμενον, λέγει" Ὃ ἦν ἀπ᾽ ἀρχῆς, ὃ ἑωράκαμεν καὶ ἀκηχόαμεδν, καὶ αἱ χεῖρες ἡμῶν ἐγημάφησαν. Ἐφόρεσε τοίνυν τὴν σάρκα ἔνδυμα τῆς ἀξίας, ἔνδυμα εὐὑπρεπές - Ὃ Κύριος γὰρ ἐδασίλευσεν, εὐπρέπειαν ἐνεδύσατο. Ἰουδαῖοι μάχονται Ῥ τῷ φαινομένῳ, ἀγνοοῦνπες τὸν μὴ φαινόμενον, καὶ σταυῤοῦσι μὲν τὴν σάρκα, οὐκ ἀναιροῦσι δὲ τὴν θεότητα. Εἰ γὰρ τῷ γράμματι, ὃ ἐστιν ἔνδυμα λόγου, ὁ ἐμὸς λόγος οὐ συναφανίζεται. ὁ Θεὸς Λόγος, ἡ πηγὴ τῆς ζωῆς, τῇ σαρκὶ συναπέθανε; Τὸ πάθος περὶ τὸ σῶμα, ἡ δὲ ἀπάθεια περὶ τὴν ἀξίαν. Διὰ τί οὖν ὁ Παῦλος λέγει" ΕἸ γὰρ ἔγνωσαν, οὐκ ἂν τὸν Κύριον τῆς δόξης ἐσταύρωσαν; Ἐπειδὴ οἰκειοῦται τὸ πάϑος τῆς σαρκὸς ὁ τὴν σάρκα ἐνδυσάμενος. "Ἔνδυμα βασιλικὸν ἐὰν ὑδρίσῃς, οὐ τὸν ἐνδεδυμένον ὑδρίἐζεις; οὐκ οἷδας ὅτι, εἰ εἰκόνα βασιλέως τις ὑδρίσει. εἰς τὸ πρωτότυπον τῆς ἀξίας φέρει τὴν ὕδριν; οὐκ οἷδας ὅτι, ἐάν τις εἰκόνα τὴν ἀπὸ ξύλου ἢ ἀνδριάντα χαλκοῦν χατασύρῃ, οὐκ ὡς εἰς ἄψυχον ὕλην τολμήσας οὕτω κρίνεται, ἀλλ᾽ ὡς κατὰ βασιλέως χεῖρας ἐκτείνας ἀφανίζε ται; Ὕλη ἄψυχος τοῦ βασιλέως εἰκόνα φέρουσα τὴν ἑαυτῆς ὕδριν εἰς βασιλέα ἀνάγει" μορφὴ δὲ ζῶσα, ἣν ἐνεδύσατο ὁ θεὸς Λόγος, ὑδριζομένη οὐκ ἐπὶ τὸν ἐνδυσάμενον τὴν ὕδριν ἀνήγαγε : Νόει τοίνυν τὴν ἀξίαν, καὶ μὴ ὕδριζε τὴν οἰκονομίαν. ᾿Αλλὰ ταῦτα μὲν ἱκανὰ, τὰ δὲ λείποντα τῇ θεωρίᾳ τοῦ Θκοῦ Λόγου ἑτέρῳ ταμιευσάμενοι λόγῳ, τάξει τὴν συμμετρίαν τιμήσωμεν ὁ, καὶ Θιῷ δόξαν ἀναπέμψωμεν, τῷ Πατρὶ καὶ τῷ Υἱῷ καὶ τῷ ἁγίῳ Πνεύματι, νῦν καὶ ἀεὶ, καὶ εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων. ᾿Αμήν. ### English translation (Claude) Let us run back, then, to the God who was in the beginning, let us run back to the eternal light, let us run back to the Word who became man for your sake. And when I say “became,” I do not mean a nature that was changed, but the divine dignity that took up what is ours. For “the Word became flesh” does not indicate a change of nature, but the taking up of our weakness. For if you think “became” means a change, then when you hear Paul saying, “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us,” you take the expression to mean a curse in nature and a change into a curse. So just as “having become a curse” means nothing else than that he took upon himself the curse that was against us, so too “the Word became flesh and dwelt among us” presents nothing else than the taking up of the flesh. You have an image in yourself: your own word will teach you about God the Word—not as bearing a complete likeness, but as having a trace and an impression of the divine dignity. Pay careful attention to me here, so that the words may not be spoken in vain and the divine meanings disappear. The word of human beings (the image is faint, not presenting the whole dignity, but teaching from what is ours the things above us)—our word is bodiless, invisible, intangible, received by hearing alone. No one knows a word by sight, no one has held it in the hand; it is invisible, intangible, held by one sense alone, hearing, and that invisibly. For the hearing does not stretch out hands to hold it, but the word itself enters and is held. The word itself is the offspring of the mind, but it is begotten not by passion, not by …, not by division; it is not parted from the mind that begot it, it is not separated, it does not move away. Lend me your hearing here, heretic: understand first what is yours, and then imagine what is above you. The mind begets, the word goes forth; it goes forth from the one who begot it, fills all who hear, and does not depart from the one who begot it. A word goes forth, distributed to all, and nowhere divided. For each receives the word whole, and it is in each; and though distributed among so many, it is poured in whole. Our word, then, shows in itself the mind that begot it; for from the word the thought is grasped. And consider this too: by this word of ours God sketched beforehand the dispensation of God the Word, taking up beforehand a wonderful image, adorned with earthly flowers but fitting for a foreshadowing of the Word. What then? Our word, which is invisible, has no body, and cannot be held, God reshaped by another wisdom, and made it both visible and capable of being held. For what does he do? Since it was not seen by sight, he clothes it with a body, the letter, and put on it, as it were, a flesh, the appearance of the letters; and the word you once heard but did not see, you see when you read; the one you could not meet, you carry by means of the book. But the word is embodied through the letter without being shut up in the letter; it is with the one who speaks and with the one who reads. And if someone, brothers, takes a book and tears it, he has torn the body of the word, but has not cut the word. And that you may learn that the word is not destroyed with the letter, God says to Jeremiah: “Sit down and write on a scroll all the words, and give it to King Jehoiakim.” And the word was full of reproof. Since, then, the powerful do not bear reproofs—for rank does not easily submit to what is just, but blunts the truth—struck by the reproofs, he tore up the scroll, and cut it with the scribe’s knife, and threw it, it says, into the brazier of fire. What then does God say to Jeremiah? “Sit down and write the same words, and give them to the king,” so that he might learn that he cut up the letter but did not cut the word. Have you seen the image? Now lift your mind to the height. God the Word himself, the only-begotten of God, puts on a body, so that the one who is not seen may appear; he puts on flesh, so that the one who cannot be held may be held. That is why John, finding that longed-for one, once held by hearing but afterwards grasped by sight, says: “That which was from the beginning, which we have seen and heard, and our hands have touched.” So he wore the flesh as a garment of his dignity, a seemly garment: “For the Lord has reigned, he has clothed himself with seemliness.” The Jews fight against what appears, not knowing the one who does not appear; and they crucify the flesh, but do not destroy the Godhead. For if my word is not destroyed together with the letter, which is the garment of the word, did God the Word, the fountain of life, die together with the flesh? The suffering concerns the body; the impassibility concerns the dignity. Why then does Paul say, “For if they had known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory”? Because the one who put on the flesh makes the suffering of the flesh his own. If you insult a royal garment, do you not insult the one who wears it? Do you not know that if someone insults the image of a king, he carries the insult to the original of the dignity? Do you not know that if someone drags down an image of wood or a bronze statue, he is judged not as having dared something against lifeless matter, but is destroyed as having stretched out his hands against the king? Lifeless matter bearing the image of the king carries its own insult up to the king; and did the living form that God the Word put on, when insulted, not carry the insult up to the one who put it on? Understand, then, the dignity, and do not insult the dispensation. But this is enough; storing up for another sermon what remains of the contemplation of God the Word, let us honor proportion by order, and send up glory to God, to the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, now and always, and to the ages of ages. Amen. ### Scripture references - John 1:1: allusion, medium confidence - John 1:14: quotation, high confidence - Gal 3:13: quotation, high confidence - Jer 36:2 (43:2 LXX): quotation, high confidence - Jer 36:23 (43:23 LXX): allusion, high confidence - Jer 36:28 (43:28 LXX): quotation, high confidence - 1 John 1:1: quotation, high confidence - Ps 93:1 (92:1 LXX): quotation, high confidence - 1 Cor 2:8: quotation, high confidence ### Translation notes - The last section of the homily. John 1:14; Gal 3:13; Jer 36:2, 23, 28 (43:2, 23, 28 LXX); 1 John 1:1; Ps 93:1 (92:1 LXX); 1 Cor 2:8. The analogy of the word in the mind and the word written is the homily’s own illustration of the incarnation, offered against heretics who took “became” as change. A footnote and a block of Migne’s Latin column, read by the OCR as Greek, were removed by logged corrections, including a variant reading of the sentence about the Jews; some words are lost in the scan (“…”). The remark about the Jews is the homily’s own; translated as written. ### Citation (SBL) Severian, Sigil. 6 (PG 63:531; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/severian-sigillis/6).