Letter 617

To Arcadius the Rogator [a petitioner or official charged with making requests]. "And grace," he says, "in place of grace" [John 1:16]. For we, offering our own faith to God as it were a beautiful gift, receive in return from heaven a grace most great and beyond all comparison: the participation in the Holy Spirit. "For you ascended on high," he says, "after the resurrection; you led captivity captive" [Ephesians 4:8, citing Psalm 68:18], snatching us out of the devil's hand; "and you received gifts among men," as the great Apostle [Paul] says; "And I gave gifts to men." For God, having received faith from men, bestows the heavenly gifts of grace upon the faithful. Long ago, then, he granted us a legal grace, while we were reckoned as slaves; but now, not as to slaves, but as to beloved children, he has granted us the evangelical grace, higher than the first and greater, through which we are perfected and made wise with the wisdom from on high, and we draw near to God with confidence as sons, and we are mingled with the light of the Godhead.

« Καὶ χάριν, φησίν, ἀντὶ χάριτος » χάριν γὰρ ἡμεῖς ὥσπερ καὶ δῶρον καλὸν προσφέροντες τὴν ἑαυτῶν τῷ Θεῷ πίστιν, χάριν ἀποδεχόμεθα οὐρανόθεν μεγίστην, καὶ ἀσύγκριτον, τὴν τοῦ ἁγίου Πνεύματος μετουσίαν. « Ἀνέβης γὰρ εἰς ὕψος, φησί, μετὰ τὴν ἀνάστασιν, ᾐχμαλώτευσας αἰχμαλωσίαν, » ἐξηρπάσας ἡμᾶς ἐκ χειρὸς διαβολικῆς· « καὶ ἔλαβες δόματα ἐν ἀνθρώποις, » ὡς φησὶν ὁ μέγας Ἀπόστολος· « Καὶ ἔδωκα δόματα τοῖς ἀνθρώποις. » Λαβὼν γὰρ πίστιν ὁ Θεὸς παρὰ ἀνθρώπων, τὰ οὐράνια δωρεῖται χαρίσματα τοῖς πιστοῖς. Πάλαι μὲν οὖν χάριν ἡμῖν δεδώρηται νομικὴν δούλοις συμβαλλομένοις, νῦν δὲ οὐχ ὡς δούλοις, ἀλλ’ ὡς τέκνοις ποθεινοῖς, εὐαγγελικὴν ἡμῖν ἐδωρήσατο χάριν ὑψηλοτέραν τῆς πρώτης, καὶ μείζονα, δι’ ἧς τελειούμεθά τε, καὶ σοφιζόμεθα τῇ ἐξ ὕψους σοφίᾳ, καὶ ἐγγίζομεν τῷ Θεῷ τεθαρῥηκότες ὡς υἱοί, καὶ συγκιρνάμεθα τῷ φωτὶ τῆς θεότητος.