God hidden in darkness, made known by the Son
Next, wishing to belittle what is written among us about the kingdom of God, he quotes none of it, as if it were not even worth recording in his book (perhaps because he did not even know it), but sets out passages of Plato from the Letters and the Phaedrus, as though these were spoken by divine inspiration, while our writings have nothing of the kind. Come, then, let us set a few of ours beside them, for the sake of comparison with what Plato said. His words are not unpersuasive; yet they did not lead the philosopher to conduct himself in a way worthy at least of himself in his piety toward the Maker of all things, a piety he ought not to have adulterated or defiled with what we call idolatry, or, to use the word most people would use, superstition.
In a Hebrew manner of speaking, then, it is said of God in the seventeenth Psalm (Psalm 18 in English Bibles) that “God made darkness his hiding place” (Psalm 18:11). This is said to show that what could be worthily conceived about God is hidden and unknown, since he has hidden himself, as it were, in darkness from those who cannot bear the flashing brightness of the knowledge of him and cannot see him: partly because of the defilement of the mind, bound as it is to a human “body of humiliation” (Philippians 3:21), and partly because of its too limited power to comprehend God.
And to show that the knowledge of God reaches human beings rarely and is found in very few, Moses is recorded to have entered “into the thick darkness where God was” (Exodus 20:21). And again it is said of Moses: “Moses alone shall come near to God, but the rest shall not come near” (Exodus 24:2). And again, to present the depth of the teachings about God, a depth beyond the grasp of those who do not have the “Spirit” who searches all things, and searches “even the depths of God” (1 Corinthians 2:10), the prophet said: “The abyss, like a garment, is his covering” (Psalm 104:6).
Our Saviour and Lord too, the Word of God, shows the greatness of the knowledge of the Father: that the Father is grasped and known as he deserves first of all by the Saviour alone, and secondarily by those whose ruling faculty is enlightened by the Word and God himself. He says: “No one has known the Son except the Father, nor the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son reveals him” (Matthew 11:27). For no one can know the uncreated one, the firstborn of all created nature (Colossians 1:15), as he deserves, as the Father who begot him knows him; nor can anyone know the Father as his living Word, his Wisdom and Truth, knows him. It is by sharing in the Word that whoever has the capacity to know the Father knows him, since the Word takes away from the Father what is called the “darkness” that he “made his hiding place” and what is called his “covering,” the abyss, and in this way reveals the Father.
Greek
Ἐπεὶ δ᾿ ἑξῆς ἐξευτελίσαι βουλόμενος τὰ περὶ βασιλείας θεοῦ γεγραμμένα παρ᾿ ἡμῖν τούτων μὲν οὐδὲν παρέθετο ὡς οὐδὲ τῆς παρ᾿ αὐτῷ ἄξιον ἀναγραφῆς, τάχα ἐπεὶ μηδὲ ᾔδει αὐτὰ, Πλάτωνος δὲ λέξεις ἐκτίθεται ἀπό τε τῶν ἐπιστολῶν καὶ τοῦ Φαίδρου, ὡς τούτων μὲν ἐνθέως εἰρημένων, οὐδὲν δὲ τοιοῦτον ἐχόντων τῶν ἡμετέρων γραμμάτων· φέρε ὀλίγα παραβάλωμεν παραθέσεως ἕνεκεν τῆς πρὸς τὰ Πλάτωνι οὐκ ἀπιθάνως μὲν εἰρημένα, οὐ μὴν καὶ διαθέντα τὸν φιλόσοφον ἀξίως κἂν αὐτῷ ἀναστραφῆναι ἐν τῇ πρὸς τὸν ποιητὴν τῶν ὅλων εὐσεβείᾳ· ἣν ἐχρῆν μὴ νοθεύειν μηδὲ μιαίνειν τῇ, ὡς ἡμεῖς ὀνομάζομεν, εἰδωλολατρείᾳ. ὡς δὲ καὶ οἱ πολλοὶ λέγοιεν ἂν χρώμενοι τῷ ὀνόματι, καὶ τῇ δεισιδαιμονίᾳ. τρόπῳ δὴ Ἑβραϊκῷ τινι λέγεται περὶ τοῦ θεοῦ ἐν ἑπτακαιδεκάτῳ ψαλμῷ ὅτι „ἔθετο σκότος ἀποκρυφὴν ὁ θεός“· ἵνα δηλωθῇ ὅτι ἀφανῆ καὶ ἄγνωστά ἐστι τὰ κατ᾿ ἀξίαν νοηθέντα ἄν περὶ τοῦ θεοῦ, ἀποκρύψαντος ἑαυτὸν οἱονεὶ ἐν σκότῳ τοῖς μὴ φέρουσι τὰς τῆς γνώσεως αὐτοῦ μαρμαρυγὰς μηδὲ δυναμένοις αὐτὸν ὁρᾶν πῇ μὲν διὰ τὸν μιασμὸν τοῦ νοῦ, σώματι „ταπεινώσεως“ ἀνθρώπων ἐνδεδεμένου, πῇ δὲ διὰ τὴν βραχυτέραν δύναμιν αὐτοῦ τῆς κατανοήσεως τοῦ θεοῦ. ἵνα δὲ δηλωθῇ τὸ σπανίως εἰς ἀνθρώπους φθάνον καὶ ἐν πάνυ ὀλίγοις εὑρισκόμενον τῆς γνώσεως τοῦ θεοῦ, Μωϋσῆς ἀναγέγραπται εἰσεληλυθέναι „εἰς τὸν γνόφον, ὅπου ἦν ὁ θεός“· καὶ περὶ Μωϋσέως πάλιν· „ἐγγιεῖ Μωϋσῆς μόνος πρὸς τὸν θεὸν, οἱ δὲ λοιποὶ οὐκ ἐγγιοῦσι.“ πάλιν τε αὖ ἵνα τὸ βάθος παραστήσῃ ὁ προφήτης τῶν περὶ θεοῦ δογμάτων, ἄληπτον τυγχάνον τοῖς μὴ ἔχουσι „πνεῦμα“ τὸ πάντ᾿ ἐρευνῶν, ἐρευνῶν δὲ „καὶ τὰ βάθη τοῦ θεοῦ,“ εἶπε τό· „ἄβυσσος ὡς ἱμάτιον τὸ περιβόλαιον αὐτοῦ.“· ἀλλὰ καὶ ὁ σωτὴρ ἡμῶν καὶ κύριος λόγος τοῦ θεοῦ τὸ μέγεθος παριστὰς τῆς γνώσεως τοῦ πατρὸς. ὅτι κατ᾿ ἀξίαν προηγουμένως αὐτῷ μόνῳ. λαμβάνεται καὶ γινώσκεται. δευτέρως δὲ τοῖς ἐλλαμπομένοις τὸ ἡγεμονικὸν ὑπ᾿ αὐτοῦ τοῦ λόγου καὶ θεοῦ, φησίν· „οὐδεὶς ἔγνω τὸν υἱὸν εἰ μὴ ὁ πατὴρ, οὐδὲ τὸν πατέρα εἰ μὴ ὁ υἱὸς καὶ ᾧ ἂν ὁ υἱὸς ἀποκαλύψῃ.“ οὔτε γὰρ τὸν ἀγένητον καὶ πάσης γενητῆς φύσεως πρωτότοκον κατ᾿ ἀξίαν εἰδέναι τις δύναται ὡς ὁ γεννήσας αὐτὸν πατὴρ, οὔτε τὸν πατέρα ὡς ὁ ἔμψυχος λόγος καὶ σοφία αὐτοῦ καὶ ἀλήθεια· οὗ μετοχῇ περιαιροῦντος ἀπὸ τοῦ πατρὸς τὸ λεγόμενον „σκότος,“ ὃ „ἔθετο ἀποκρυφὴν αὐτοῦ,“ καὶ τὸ λεγόμενον „περιβόλαιον“ αὐτοῦ, τὴν ἄβυσσον, καὶ ἀποκαλύπτοντος οὕτω τὸν πατέρα ὅστις ποτ᾿ ἂν χωρῇ γινώσκειν αὐτὸν γινώσκει.