Letter 870: God's judgment is certain, and no amount of cleverness or delay can avoid it.

To Marturios. If one who is describing the divine begetting were to follow human passions in all respects (which it is not even lawful to say), he would be right to hear what follows: if a passion is fabricated by you concerning the begetting, then so it is for me concerning the creation. For not even the thing that is created (if I were to follow the feeble reasonings of human beings) is created without passion. But if it is created in a manner befitting God, then you should accept those things that are fitting to the wholly pure substance, while letting those that are discordant pass by; and one ought to reflect, if indeed his reasoning faculty is sound, that since the mortal begets in this way, the immortal does not beget in this way -- just as also with the one who creates, the one creates with toil, the other creates without labor. For the many-eyed mind [the inspired biblical author], having reflected on these things and having become as it were inspired, ran past all the earthly examples and fittingly defined the Son as the radiance of the glory and the stamp of the paternal hypostasis [the underlying being or substance]: by the one expression presenting his coeternity, by the other his subsistence in himself. For since the first term ["radiance"] perhaps produced in some people the fantasy of something without subsistence, by the second ["stamp"] he characterized the subsistence-making hypostasis. You seem not to perceive the things that have happened up to now, and for this reason to have written asking for what cause, when Darius the Mede had appointed three commanders (of whom one was also Daniel) to rule over the hundred and twenty rulers appointed by him, the Scripture in comparing them, when it ought to have compared him only with his equals, compared him also with those far inferior. For it was enough, you said, that the superiority over those of equal rank should also demonstrate the victory over those of subordinate rank. But now it says: "And Daniel was over the commanders and the satraps" [Daniel 6:3]; that is, he was shown to be wiser, and more capable in administration, not only than the two eminent ones, but also than those below them. And the solution of the question is this. Since it was possible that the king's judgment, not being sound, often brought the more worthless men into office (which indeed is wont to happen, not only in the case of kings, but also in the case of the Churches -- for why should it be a wonder if those entrusted with the affairs of life commit such errors, when this same irrationality has even reveled its way into holy things?), and since there were some in the multitude who surpassed these in understanding, of necessity the Scripture made the comparison of the just man not with the two commanders only, that is, with those who lead the military ranks and arrange them where there is need, whether in war or in peace, but also with all the others -- crowning him not from the opinion of the one in power, which often errs, but from the truth of the facts. For he surpassed not only those who seemed to the king to be intelligent, but also those who were truly intelligent. Therefore the king set him over the whole kingdom, since from the facts he was evidently seen to be superior to the rest; but the others resolved to stitch together deceptions and intrigues. For envy is by nature given to making war against prosperous achievements.

Εἰ μὲν τοῖς ἀνθρωπίνοις πάθεσιν (ὅπερ οὐδὲ εἰπεῖν θέμις κατά πάντα ἔψοιτο ὁ τὴν θείαν γέννησιν ὑπογράφων, ἀκοῦσαι ἄ εἴη δίκαιος, εἴ εἴ σοι πάθος πλάττεται περὶ τὴν γέννησιν, κἀμοὶ περὶ τὴν κτίσιν. Οὐδὲ γὰρ τὸ κτιζόμενον (εἰ τοῖς ἀσθενέσι τῶν ἀνθρώπων λογισμοῖς ἐψοίμην) ἀπαθῶς κτίζεται· εἰ δὲ θεοπρεπῶς, τὰ μὲν ἁρμόττοντα τῇ ἀκραιφνῇ (87) οὐσίᾳ καταδέξοιο, τὰ δὲ ἀπηχῆ παριππεύσειεν, ἐννοῆσαι ὀφείλει εἴγε τὸ λογιστικὸν ἐῤῥωμένον ἔχει ὅτι ἐπειδὴ ὁ θνητὸς οὕτως τίκτει, ὁ ἀθάνατος οὐχ οὕτως· ὥσπερ οὖν καὶ ὁ κτίζων, ὁ μὲν μετὰ πόνου, ὁ δὲ ἀμογητὶ κτίζει. Ταῦτα γὰρ ἐννοήσας καὶ ὁ πολυόμματος νοῦς, καὶ ὥσπερ ἔνθους γενόμενος, πάντα τὰ γήϊνα παραδείγματα παραδραμών, ἀπαύγασμα τῆς δόξης, καὶ χαρακτῆρα τῆς ὑποστάσεως τῆς πατρικῆς, τὸν υἱὸν εἰκότως ὡρίσατο· τῷ μὲν τὸ συναΐδιον, τῷ δὲ τὸ ἐνυπόστατον παριστάς. Ἐπειδὴ γὰρ τὸ πρῶτον ἀνυπόστατον φαντασίαν ἴσως τισὶν ἔτικτε, διὰ τοῦ δευτέρου τὴν ὑποστάσεως ποιητικὴν ὑπόστασιν ἐχαρακτήρισε. Ἔοικας οὐ συνορᾶν (88) τὰ μέχρι νῦν γινόμενα, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο γεγραφέναι, δι’ ἣν αἰτίαν Δαρείου τοῦ Μήδου τρεῖς τακτικοὺς χειροτονήσαντος (ὧν εἷς ἦν καὶ ὁ Δανιὴλ), ὥστε ἄρχειν τῶν χειροτονηθέντων παρὰ αὐτοῦ ἑκατὸν εἴκοσιν ἀρχόντων, συγκρίνουσα αὐτῶν ἡ Γραφὴ, δέον τοῖς ἴσοις μόνον συγκρῖναι, καὶ τοῖς πολλῷ (88) ὑποδεεστέροις συνέκρινεν. Ἤρκει γὰρ, ἔφης, ἡ τῶν συντεταγμένων ὑπεροχὴ, καὶ τὴν κατὰ τῶν ὑποτεταγμένων νίκην ἐνδείξασθαι. Νῦν δὲ φησι· « Καὶ ἦν Δανιὴλ ὑπὲρ τοὺς τακτικοὺς καὶ τοὺς σατράπας· » τοῦτ’ ἔστι, σοφώτερος ἀπεδείχθη, καὶ κατὰ τὴν διοίκησιν ἐπιτηδειότερος, οὐ μόνον τῶν δυοῖν τῶν ἐξόχων, ἀλλὰ καὶ τῶν μετ’ αὐτοῦς. Ἡ δὲ λύσις τοῦ ζητουμένου αὕτη. Ἐπειδὴ ἐνεδέχετο τὴν τοῦ βασιλέως κρίσιν οὐχ ὑγιῆ τυγχάνουσαν, πολλάκις τοὺς φαυλοτέρους εἰς ἀρχὴν φέρειν (ὃ δὴ φιλεῖ γίνεσθαι, οὐ μόνον ἐπὶ τῶν βασιλέων, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν Ἐκκλησιῶν· τί γὰρ δεῖ θαυμάζειν, εἰ οἱ βιωτικὰ πράγματα ἐγκεχειρισμένοι τοιαῦτα ἁμαρτάνουσιν, ὁπότε καὶ εἰς τὰ ἅγια εἰσεκώμασεν αὕτη ἡ ἀλογία·) εἶναι δέ τινας ἐν τῷ πλήθει συνέσει τούτων προάρχοντας, ἀναγκαίως τὴν σύγκρισιν τοῦ δικαίου οὐ πρὸς τοὺς δύο μόνους ἐποιήσατο τακτικούς, τοῦτ’ ἔστι, τοὺς τῶν στρατιωτικῶν τάξεων ἡγουμένους, καὶ τάττοντας ταύτας· ὅπου χρὴ, εἴτε ἐν πολέμῳ, εἴτε ἐν εἰρήνῃ, ἀλλὰ καὶ πρὸς τοὺς ἄλλους ἅπαντας· οὐκ ἀπὸ τῆς κρατοῦντος γνώμης, τῆς πολλάκις ἁμαρτανούσης, ἀλλ’ ἀπὸ τῆς τῶν πραγμάτων ἀληθείας, αὐτὸν στεφανοῦσα (89). Ὑπερέφερε γὰρ οὐ μόνον τῶν δοξάντων τῷ βασιλεῖ συνετῶν εἶναι, ἀλλὰ καὶ τῶν ὄντως συνετῶν. Διὸ καὶ [ὁ] βασιλεὺς μὲν κατέστησεν αὐτὸν ἐφ’ ὅλης τῆς βασιλείας, ἐκ τῶν πραγμάτων, κρείττονα τῶν λοιπῶν δηλονότι ὀφθέντα· οἱ δ’ ἄλλοι δόλους καὶ σκευωρίας ράπτειν διεγίνωσκον. Φθόνος γὰρ ταῖς εὐπραγίαις ἀντιστρατεύεσθαι πέφυκεν.