Man and The Divine

Ἐνταυθα πάλιν ἐπιφυονται οἱ κατήγοροι, χαράν καὶ λύπην πάθη ψυχῆς λέγοντες· τὴν γὰρ χαρὰν εὖλογον ἔπαρσιν ἀποδιδόασι, καὶ τὸ ἀγάλλεσθαι χαίρειν ἐπὶ καλοῖς· τὸ δὲ ἔλεος λύπην ἐπὶ ἀναξίως κακοπαθοῦντι· τροπὰς δὲ εἴναι ψυχῆς καὶ πάθη τὰ τοιαῦτα. Ἡμεῖς δὲ, ὡς ἔοικεν, οὐ παυόμεθα τὰ τοιαῦτα σαρκικῶς νοοῦντες τὰς Γραφὰς, καὶ ἀπὸ τῶν ἡμετέρων παθῶν ἀναγόμενοι, τὸ βούλημα τοῦ ἀπαθοῦς Θεοῦ ὁμοίως τοῖς ἡμεδποῖς κινήμασιν ἀπεκδεχόμενοι. Ὡς δ' ἡμεῖς ἀκοῦσαι δυνατοὶ, οὕτως ἔχειν ἐπὶ τοῦ παντοκράτορος ὑπολαμβάνοντες ἀθέως πλανώμεθα. Οὐ γὰρ ὡς ἔχει τὸ Θεῖον, οὕτως οἴόν τε ἦν λέγεσθαι· ἀλλ' ὡς οἶόν τε ἤν ἐπαϊειν ἡμᾶς σαρκὶ πεπεδημένους, οὕτως ἡμῖν ἐλάλησαν οἱ προφῆται, συμπεριφερομένου σωτηρίως τῇ τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἀσθενείᾳ τοῦ Κυρίου. Ἐπεὶ τοίνυν βούλημά ἐστι τοῦ Θεοῦ σώζεσθαι τὸν ταῖς ἐντολαῖς πειθήνιον τόν τε ἐκ τῶν  ἁμαρτημάτων μετανοοῦντα, χαίρομεν δὲ ἡμεῖς ἐπὶ  τῇ σωτηρίᾳ ἡμῶν· τὸ χαρτὸν ἡμῶν ἐξιδιοποιήσατο ὁ διά τῶν προφητῶν λαλήσας Κύριος· καθάπερ ἐν τῷ Εὐαγγελίῳ φιλανθρώπως λέγων· Ἐπείνασα, καὶ ἐδώκατε μοι φαγεῖν· ἐδίψησα, καὶ ἐδώκατέ μοι πιεῖν· ὅ γὰρ ἐνὶ τούτων τῶν ἐλαχίστων πεποιήκατε, ἐμοὶ πεποιήκατε. Ὥσπερ οὖν τρέφεται μὴ τρεφόμενος διὰ τὸ τετράφθαι ὄνπερ βούλεται, οὕτως ἐχάρη μὴ τραπεὶς, δια τὸ ἐν χαρᾷ γεγονέναι τὸν μετανενοηκότα ὡς ἐβούλετο. Κλήμης ὁ Ἀλεξανδρεύς, Στρωματεων, Λογος Δευτερος, Κεφ ΙϚ'

Here again accusers spring up, saying that joy and pain are passions of the soul, for they define joy as a rational exultation and a rejoicing on account of good things, and pity they have as pain for one who suffers undeservedly, and that such things are movements and passions of the soul. But we, as would appear, do not cease in such things to think about the Scriptures carnally, and starting from our own passions interpret the will of the impassible Deity similarly to our perturbations. But, as we are able to hear, we err impiously to have such things to be with the Omnipotent . For as one cannot grasp the Divine that we might speak of Him as He is, but as we are bound in the flesh and so we perceive, so the Prophets spoke to us; the Lord, for the purpose of salvation, accommodating Himself to the weakness of men. Since, then, it is the will of God that a man is to be saved who is obedient to the commands and repents of his sins, and we rejoice on account of our salvation, speaking by the Prophets, the Lord took our joy to Himself, as speaking lovingly in the Gospel He says, 'I was hungry, and you gave Me to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me to drink. For inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these, you did it to Me.' 1 As, then, He is nourished not being nourished Himself but through the nourishing of one whom He wishes nourished, so He rejoices, without change, through the joy of the one who having repented is as He would wish. Clement of Alexandria, Stromata, Book 2, Ch 16.  1 Mt 25:35, 40