And as the form follows upon the gradual working of the stone, at first somewhat indistinct, but more perfect after the completion of the work, so too in the moulding of its instrument the form of the soul is expressed in the substratum, incompletely in that which is still incomplete, perfect in that which is perfect; indeed it would have been perfect from the beginning had our nature not been maimed by evil. Thus our community in that generation which is subject to passion and of animal nature, brings it about that the Divine image does not at once shine forth at our formation, but brings man to perfection by a certain method and sequence, through those attributes of the soul which are material, and belong rather to the animal creation. Some such doctrine as this the great apostle also teaches us in his Epistle to the Corinthians, when he says, "When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man I put away childish things "; not that the soul which arises in the man is different from that which we know to be in the boy, and the childish intellect fails while the manly intellect takes its being in us; but that the same soul displays its imperfect condition in the one, its perfect state in the other. For we say that those things are alive which spring up and grow, and no one would deny that all things that participate in life and natural motion are animate, yet at the same time one cannot say that such life partakes of a perfect soul,-for though a certain animate operation exists in plants, it does not attain to the motions of sense; and on the other hand, though a certain further animate power exists in the brutes, neither does this attain perfection, since it does not contain in itself the grace of reason and intelligence. And even so we say that the true and perfect soul is the human soul, recognized by every operation; and anything else that shares in life we call animate by a sort of customary misuse of language, because in these cases the soul does not exist in a perfect condition, but only certain parts of the operation of the soul, which in man also (according to Moses' mystical account of man's origin) we learn to have accrued when he made himself like this sensuous world. Thus Paul, advising those who were able to hear him to lay hold on perfection, indicates also the mode in which they may attain that object, telling them that they must "put off the old man," and put on the man "which is renewed after the image of Him that created him ." Now may we all return to that Divine grace in which God at the first created man, when He said, "Let us make man in our image and likeness"; to Whom be glory and might for ever and ever. Amen.

Ὥσπερ δὲ τῇ κατ' ὀλίγον ἐργασίᾳ τοῦ λίθου τὸ εἶδος ἐπηκολούθησεν͵ ἀμυδρότερον μὲν παρὰ τὴν πρώτην͵ τελειότερον δὲ μετὰ τὴν τοῦ ἔργου συμπλήρωσιν, οὕτω καὶ ἐν τῇ τοῦ ὀργάνου γλυφῇ τὸ τῆς ψυχῆς εἶδος κατὰ τὴν ἀναλογίαν τοῦ ὑποκειμένου προφαίνεται͵ ἀτελὲς ἐν τῷ ἀτελεῖ͵ καὶ ἐν τῷ τελείῳ τέλειον. Ἀλλ' ἐξ ἀρχῆς ἂν τέλειον ἦν͵ εἰ μὴ διὰ τῆς κακίας ἡ φύσις ἐκολοβώθη. Διὰ τοῦτο ἡ πρὸς τὴν [256] ἐμπαθῆ καὶ ζωώδη γένεσιν κοινωνία͵ οὐκ εὐθὺς ἐκλάμπειν τὴν θείαν εἰκόνα ἐν τῷ πλάσματι ἐποίησεν͵ ἀλλ' ὁδῷ τινι καὶ ἀκολουθίᾳ διὰ τῶν ὑλικῶν καὶ ζωωδεστέρων τῆς ψυχῆς ἰδιωμάτων ἐπὶ τὸ τέλειον ἄγει τὸν ἄνθρωπον. Τὸ δὲ τοιοῦτον δόγμα καὶ ὁ μέγας Ἀπόστολος ἐν τῇ πρὸς Κορινθίους διδάσκει͵ λέγων, Ὅτε ἤμην νήπιος͵ ἐλάλουν ὡς νήπιος͵ ἐλογιζόμην ὡς νήπιος, ὅτε δὲ γέγονα ἀνήρ͵ κατήργησα τὰ τοῦ νηπίου. Οὐκ ἄλλης ἐν τῷ ἀνδρὶ τῆς ψυχῆς ἐπεισελθούσης παρὰ τὴν ἐν τῷ μειρακίῳ νοουμένην͵ ἡ νηπιωδεστέρα καταργεῖται διάνοια καὶ ἡ ἀνδρώδης ἐγγίνεται, ἀλλὰ τῆς αὐτῆς ἐν ἐκείνῳ μὲν τὸ ἀτελές͵ ἐν τούτῳ δὲ διαδεικνυούσης τὸ τέλειον. Ὥσπερ γὰρ τὰ φυόμενά τε καὶ αὐξάνοντα ζῇν λέγομεν͵ πάντα τε τὰ ἐν μετουσίᾳ ζωῆς καὶ φυσικῆς ὄντα κινήσεως͵ οὐκ ἄν τις ἄψυχα φήσειεν͵ οὐ μὴν οὐδὲ τελείας ψυχῆς μετέχειν τὴν τοιαύτην ζωὴν ἔστιν εἰπεῖν. Γενομένη γὰρ ἐν τοῖς φυτοῖς ψυχική τις ἐνέργεια͵ μέχρι τῶν κατ' αἴσθησιν κινημάτων οὐκ ἔφθασε. Πάλιν δὲ κατὰ προσθήκην δύναμίς τις ψυχικὴ τοῖς ἀλόγοις ἐγγινομένη͵ οὐδὲ αὐτὴ τοῦ τέλους ἐφίκετο͵ λόγου τε καὶ διανοίας χάριν ἐν ἑαυτῇ μὴ χωρήσασα. Διὰ τοῦτό φαμεν τὴν μὲν ἀληθῆ καὶ τελείαν ψυχὴν ἀνθρωπίνην εἶναι͵ διὰ πάσης ἐνεργείας γνωριζομένην. Εἰ δέ τι ἄλλο μετέχει ζωῆς͵ ἐν καταχρήσει τινὶ συνηθείας ἔμψυχον λέγομεν͵ μὴ ὅτι τελεία ἐν τούτοις ἐστὶν ἡ ψυχή͵ ἀλλά τινα μέρη ψυχικῆς ἐνεργείας͵ ἃ καὶ ἐν τῷ ἀνθρώπῳ κατὰ τὴν μυστικὴν τοῦ Μωϋσέως ἀνθρωπογονίαν ἐπιγεγενῆσθαι͵ διὰ τὴν πρὸς τὸ ἐμπαθὲς οἰκειότητα μεμαθήκαμεν. Διὰ τοῦτο συμβουλεύων ὁ Παῦλος τοῖς ἀκούειν βουλομένοις τῆς τελειότητος ἔχεσθαι καὶ τὸν τρόπον ὅπως ἂν τοῦ σπουδαζομένου τύχοιεν ὑποτίθεται͵ λέγων͵ ἀπεκδύσασθαι δεῖν τὸν παλαιὸν ἄνθρωπον καὶ ἐνδύσασθαι τὸν νέον͵ τὸν ἀνακαινούμενον κατ' εἰκόνα τοῦ κτίσαντος. Ἀλλ' ἐπανέλθωμεν πάντες ἐπὶ τὴν θεοειδῆ χάριν ἐκείνην͵ ἐν ᾗ ἔκτισε τὸ κατ' ἀρχὰς τὸν ἄνθρωπον ὁ Θεός͵ εἰπὼν ὅτι Ποιήσωμεν ἄνθρωπον κατ' εἰκόνα καὶ ὁμοίωσιν ἡμετέραν. Ὧ ἡ δόξα καὶ τὸ κράτος εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων. Ἀμήν.