Letter 277

To Athanasius the Ekdikos [defensor ecclesiae, an ecclesiastical legal advocate]. You inquired of me how, if Christ the Master of all things is substantial Wisdom, and alone full, and perfect, and lacking in nothing from the beginning, Luke writes concerning him: "He advanced in stature, and in wisdom, and in grace." [Luke 2:52] It was not that he was perceived to be taking on from some external source a wisdom which he already possessed of himself; for in respect of his divinity he is wholly Wisdom, and incomprehensible knowledge, and grace, and a treasury of inexhaustible graces. Rather it was that, as the human stature of the Savior advanced, the manifestation of the divine wisdom and grace was progressively laid bare to men.

Ἐπύθου μου, εἰ οὐσιώδης σοφία, ὁ τῶν ὅλων Δεσπότης Χριστός, καὶ μόνος πλήρης, καὶ τέλειος, καὶ ἀνελλειπὴς ἀπ’ ἀρχῆς, πῶς γράφει περὶ αὐτοῦ ὁ Λουκᾶς· «Προέκοπτεν ἡλικίᾳ, καὶ σοφίᾳ, καὶ χάριτι;» Οὐχ ὅτι σοφίαν προσλαμβάνων ἐξωθέν ποθεν, ἣν οἴκοθεν εἶχεν, κατενοεῖτο· ὅλος γὰρ σοφίᾳ, καὶ γνῶσις ἀκατάληπτος, καὶ χάρις, καὶ θησαυρὸς χαρίτων ἀδαπάνητων κατὰ τὴν θεότητα, ἀλλ’ ὅτι προκοπτούσης τῆς ἀνθρωπίνης τοῦ Σωτῆρος ἡλικίας, παρεγυμνοῦτο τοῖς ἀνθρώποις ἡ, ἔνδειξις τῆς θεϊκῆς σοφίας καὶ χάριτος.