Oration to the Greeks 15
Summary: The image of God in humans is the indwelling divine Spirit, making the person God's temple; the demons cannot repent, but humans can conquer death through faith and repentance.
Greek text · Otto 6:66–72
Καὶ χρὴ λοιπὸν ἡμᾶς ὅπερ ἔχοντες ἀπολωλέκαμεν τοῦτο νῦν ἀναζητεῖν, ζευγνῦναί τε τὴν ψυχὴν τῷ πνεύματι τῷ ἁγίῳ καὶ τὴν κατὰ θεὸν συζυγίαν πραγματεύεσθαι. Ψυχὴ μὲν οὖν ἡ τῶν ἀνθρώπων πολυμερής ἐστι καὶ οὐ μονομερής· συνθετὴ γάρ ἐστιν, ὡς εἶναι φανερὰν αὐτὴν διὰ σώματος· οὔτε γὰρ ἂν αὐτὴ φανείη ποτὲ χωρὶς σώματος, οὔτε ἀνίσταται ἡ σὰρξ χωρὶς ψυχῆς. Ἔστι γὰρ ἄνθρωπος οὐχ, ὥσπερ οἱ κορακόφωνοι δογματίζουσιν, ζῶον λογικόν, νοῦ καὶ ἐπιστήμης δεκτικόν· δειχθήσεται γὰρ κατʼ αὐτοὺς καὶ τὰ ἄλογα νοῦ καὶ ἐπιστήμης δεκτικά. Μόνος δὲ ἄνθρωπος εἰκὼν καὶ ὁμοίωσις τοῦ θεοῦ· λέγω δὲ ἄνθρωπον οὐχὶ τὸν ὅμοια τοῖς ζώοις πράττοντα, ἀλλὰ τὸν πόῤῥω μὲν ἀνθρωπότητος πρὸς αὐτὸν δὲ τὸν θεὸν κεχωρηκότα. Καὶ περὶ μὲν τούτου ἐν τῷ περὶ ζώων ἀκριβέστερον ἡμῖν συντέτακται. Τὸ δὲ νῦν συνέχον ῥητέον ποταπή τίς ἐστιν ἡ κατὰ θεὸν εἰκὼν καὶ ὁμοίωσις. Τὸ μὲν ἀσύγκριτον οὐδέν ἐστιν ἕτερον ἢ αὐτὸ τὸ ὄν· τὸ δὲ συγκρινόμενον οὔτι ἕτερον ἢ αὐτὸ τὸ παρόμοιον. Ἄσαρκος μὲν οὖν ὁ τέλειος θεός, ἄνθρωπος δὲ σάρξ· δεσμὸς δὲ τῆς σαρκὸς ψυχή, σχετικὴ δὲ τῆς ψυχῆς ἡ σάρξ. Τὸ δὲ τοιοῦτον τῆς συστάσεως εἶδος εἰ μὲν ὡς ναὸς ᾖ, κατοικεῖν ἐν αὐτῷ βούλεται θεὸς διὰ τοῦ πρεσβεύοντος πνεύματος· τοιούτου δὲ μὴ ὄντος τοῦ σκηνώματος, προὔχει τῶν θηρίων ὁ ἄνθρωπος κατὰ τὴν ἔναρθρον φωνὴν μόνον, τὰ δὲ λοιπὰ τῆς αὐτῆς ἐκείνοις διαίτης ἐστίν, οὐκ ὢν ὁμοίωσις τοῦ θεοῦ. Δαίμονες δὲ πάντες σαρκίον μὲν οὐ κέκτηνται, πνευματικὴ δέ ἐστιν αὐτοῖς ἡ σύμπηξις, ὡς πυρός, ὡς ἀέρος. Μόνοις δὲ τοῖς πνεύματι θεοῦ φρουρουμένοις εὐσύνοπτα καὶ τὰ τῶν δαιμόνων ἐστὶ σώματα, τοῖς λοιποῖς δὲ οὐδαμοῦ, λέγω δὲ τοῖς ψυχικοῖς. Τὸ γὰρ ἔλαττον κατάληψιν οὐχ ἰσχύει ποιεῖσθαι τοῦ κρείττονος. Διὰ τοῦτο γοῦν ἡ τῶν δαιμόνων ὑπόστασις οὐκ ἔχει μετανοίας τόπον. Τῆς γὰρ ὕλης καὶ τῆς πονηρίας εἰσὶν ἀπαυγάσματα. Ὕλη δὲ τῆς ψυχῆς κατεξουσιάζειν ἠθέλησεν· καὶ κατὰ τὸ αὐτεξούσιον οἱ μὲν θανάτου νόμους τοῖς ἀνθρώποις παραδεδώκασιν· οἱ δὲ ἄνθρωποι μετὰ τὴν τῆς ἀθανασίας ἀποβολὴν θανάτῳ τῷ διὰ πίστεως τὸν θάνατον νενικήκασι, καὶ διὰ μετανοίας κλῆσις αὐτοῖς δεδώρηται κατὰ τὸν εἰπόντα λόγον· Ἐπειδὴ βραχύ τι παρὰ ἀγγέλους ἠλαττώθησαν. Δυνατὸν δὲ παντὶ τῷ νενικημένῳ πάλιν νικᾶν, τοῦ θανάτου τὴν σύστασιν παραιτουμένῳ. Τίς δέ ἐστιν αὕτη, εὐσύνοπτον ἔσται τοῖς βουλομένοις ἀνθρώποις τὸ ἀθάνατον.
English · Claude translation
And so we must now seek again what we once had and lost, and join the soul to the Holy Spirit, and pursue the union that is according to God. The human soul has many parts, not one; for it is composite, so that it becomes manifest through the body; the soul itself could never appear without the body, nor does the flesh rise without the soul. A human being is not, as the raven-voiced teach, a rational animal capable of intellect and knowledge; for by their reasoning even irrational animals will be shown capable of intellect and knowledge. But the human being alone is the image and likeness of God; and by “human being” I mean not one who behaves like the animals, but one who has advanced far beyond mere humanity to God himself. We have written about this more precisely in our work On Animals. What we must now say is what the image and likeness of God is. What cannot be compared is nothing other than being itself; and what can be compared is nothing other than what is similar. The perfect God is without flesh, but the human being is flesh. The bond of the flesh is the soul, and the flesh is what holds the soul. If this structure is like a temple, God is willing to dwell in it through the spirit, his envoy; but if the dwelling is not such, the human being surpasses the beasts only in articulate speech, and in everything else his way of life is the same as theirs, since he is not a likeness of God. The demons have no flesh at all; their structure is spiritual, like fire or air. The bodies of the demons are plainly visible only to those guarded by the Spirit of God, and not at all to the rest, I mean the merely natural. For the lesser cannot comprehend the greater. That is why the being of the demons has no room for repentance: they are reflections of matter and of wickedness. Matter wanted to rule over the soul; and by their free will the demons handed on laws of death to human beings. But human beings, after losing immortality, have conquered death by the death that comes through faith, and through repentance a calling has been given them, according to the word that says, “since they were made a little lower than the angels.” And everyone who has been defeated can conquer again, if he rejects the makeup of death. What that is will be plain to those who desire immortality.
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- “The raven-voiced”: the philosophers (cf. ch. 1); “rational animal” is the standard Stoic and Aristotelian definition of a human being.
- Tatian's work On Animals is lost.
- “The merely natural” renders ψυχικοί (“soul-people”), Paul's term for those without the Spirit (1 Cor 2:14).
- Ps 8:5 is quoted in the third person plural (“they were made”); the Greek of the Psalm and Heb 2:7 has the singular.
Cite this passage
Tatian, Or. Graec. 15 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/tatian-oration/15/).
Plain text
Tatian, Or. Graec. 15 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/tatian-oration/15/).
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