Knowledge And Beauty

Ην ἄρα, ὡς ἔοικεν, πάντων μέγιστον μαθημάτων τὸ γνῶναι αὑτόν· ἑαυτὸν γάρ τις ἐὰν γνῷ, Θεὸν εἴσεται, Θεὸν δὲ εἰδὼς ἐξομοιωθήσεται Θεῷ, οὐ χρυσοφορῶν οὐδὲ ποδηροφορῶν, ἀλλὰ ἀγαθοεργῶν καὶ ὅτι μάλιστα ὀλιγίστων δεόμενος· ἀνενδεὴς δὲ μόνος ὁ Θεὸς καὶ χαίρει μάλιστα μὲν καθαρεύοντας ἡμᾶς ὁρῶν τῷ τῆς διανοίας κόσμῳ, ἔπειτα δὲ καὶ τῷ τοῦ σώματος, ἁγνὴν στολήν, σωφροσύνην, περιβεβλημένους. Τριγενοῦς οὖν ὑπαρχούσης τῆς ψυχῆς, τὸ νοερόν, ὅ δὴ λογιστικὸν καλεῖται, ὁ ἄνθρωπός ἐστιν ὁ ἔνδον, ὁ τοῦ φαινομένου τοῦδε ἄρχων ἀνθρώπου, αὐτὸν δὲ ἐκεῖνον ἄλλος ἄγει, Θεός· τὸ δὲ θυμικόν, θηριῶδες ὄν, πλησίον μανίας οἰκεῖ· πολύμορφον δὲ τὸ ἐπιθυμητικὸν καὶ τρίτον, ὑπὲρ τὸν Πρωτέα τὸν θαλάττιον δαίμονα ποικίλον, ἄλλοτε ἄλλως μετασχηματιζόμενον, εἰς μοιχείας καὶ λαγνείας καὶ εἰς φθορὰς ἐξαρεσκευόμενον· ἤτοι μὲν πρώτιστα λέων γένετ᾿ ἠυγένειος, ἔτι φέρων τὸν καλλωπισμόν· ἄνδρα δείκνυσιν ἡ τοῦ γενείου κόμη· αὐτὰρ ἔπειτα δράκων ἢ πάρδαλις ἠδὲ μέγας σῦς· κατώλισθεν εἰς τὴν ἀσέλγειαν ἡ φιλοκοσμία. Οὐκέτι καρτερῷ θηρίῳ ἄνθρωπος φαίνεται, γίνετο δ᾿ ὑγρὸν ὕδωρ καὶ δένδρεον ὑψιπέτηλον, ἐκχεῖται τὰ πάθη, ἐκβλύζονται αἱ ἡδοναί, μαραίνεται τὸ κάλλος, καὶ θᾶττον ἀποπίπτει τοῦ πετάλου χαμαί, ὅταν αὐτοῦ καταπνεύσωσιν αἱ ἐρωτικαὶ τῆς ὕβρεως λαίλαπες, καὶ πρὶν ἢ τὸ μετόπωρον ἐλθεῖν μαραίνεται τῇ φθορᾷ· πάντα γὰρ ἡ ἐπιθυμία γίνεταί τε καὶ πλάττεται καὶ φενακίζειν βούλεται, ἵνα κατακρύψῃ τὸν ἄνθρωπον. ὁ δὲ ἄνθρωπος ἐκεῖνος, ᾧ σύνοικος ὁ λόγος, οὐ ποικίλλεται, οὐ πλάττεται, μορφὴν ἔχει τὴν τοῦ λόγου, ἐξομοιοῦται τῷ Θεῷ, καλός ἐστιν, οὐ καλλωπίζεται· κάλλος ἐστὶ τὸ ἀληθινόν, καὶ γὰρ ὁ Θεός ἐστιν· Θεὸς δὲ ἐκεῖνος ὁ ἄνθρωπος γίνεται, ὅτι βούλεται ὃ Θεός. ὀρθῶς ἄρα εἶπεν Ἡράκλειτος· ἄνθρωποι θεοί, θεοὶ ἄνθρωποι. Λόγος γὰρ αὐτός μυστήριον ἐμφανές· Θεὸς ἐν ἀνθρώπῳ, καὶ ὁ ἄνθρωπος θεός, καὶ τὸ θέλημα τοῦ πατρὸς ὁ μεσίτης ἐκτελεῖ· μεσίτης γὰρ ὁ λόγος ὁ κοινὸς ἀμφοῖν, Θεοῦ μὲν υἱός, σωτὴρ δὲ ἀνθρώπων, καὶ τοῦ μὲν διάκονος, ἡμῶν δὲ παιδαγωγός. Δούλης δὲ οὔσης τῆς σαρκός, καθὼς καὶ ὁ Παῦλος μαρτυρεῖ, πῶς ἄν τις εἰκότως τὴν θεράπαιναν κοσμοίη προαγωγοῦ δίκην; ὅτι γὰρ δούλου μορφὴ τὸ σαρκικόν, ἐπὶ τοῦ Κυρίου φησὶν ὁ ἀπόστολος· ὅτι ἐκένωσεν ἑαυτὸν μορφὴν δούλου λαβών, τὸν ἐκτὸς ἄνθρωπον δοῦλον προσειπὼν πρὶν ἢ δουλεῦσαι καὶ σαρκοφορῆσαι τὸν Κύριον. ὁ δὲ συμπαθὴς θεὸς αὐτὸς ἠλευθέρωσεν τὴν σάρκα τῆς φθορᾶς καὶ δουλείας τῆς θανατηφόρου καὶ πικρᾶς ἀπαλλάξας τὴν ἀφθαρσίαν περιέθηκεν αὐτῇ, ἅγιον τοῦτο τῇ σαρκὶ καὶ ἀιδιότητος καλλώπισμα περιθείς, τὴν ἀθανασίαν. Κλήμης ὁ Ἀλεξανδρεύς, Ὁ Παιδαγωγός, Λογὸς Τρίτος, Κεφ. Α Source: Migne PG 8 556a-557b

It is then, as appears, the greatest of all lessons to know one's self, for if a man knows himself, he will know God, and knowing he will be made like God, not by wearing gold or long robes, but by good works, and by needing very little. God alone needs nothing, and rejoices most when He sees us bright with the adornment of intelligence, and also in him who wears the sacred robe of prudence on his body. Since then the soul consists of three divisions; the intellect, which is called the reasoning faculty and is the inner man which is  ruler of this man that is seen, and that another guides. But the passionate part, being wild, dwells near to insanity, and the third part, appetite, is many-shaped far beyond the sea demon Proteus, who changed himself for one thing to another, and it allures to adulteries, to lust, and to ruin.     'At first he was a lion with ample beard.' 1 While he yet retained the ornament, the hair of the chin showed him to be a man.     'But after that a serpent, a leopard, or a big sow.' Love of ornament has fallen to wantonness. No longer does a man appear as a powerful beast,     'But he became moist water, and a tree with lofty branches.' Passions pour forth, pleasures overflow, beauty fades, and falls quicker than a leaf to the ground, when the amorous storms of lust blow on it before the coming of autumn, and it withers into ruin. For appetite becomes and feigns all things, and wishes to deceive, so as to conceal the man. But that man in whom the Word dwells does not embellish himself, he does not feign; he has the form of the Word; he is made like to God, he is beautiful; he does not add ornaments to himself: his is the true beauty, for it is God; and that man becomes God because God wishes it. Heraclitus, then, rightly said, 'Men are gods, and gods are men.' For the Word Himself is manifest mystery: God in man, and the man God. And the Mediator performs the Father's will, for the Mediator is the Word who is common to both the Son of God, the Saviour of men; His Servant, our Teacher. And the flesh being a slave, as Paul bears witness, how does it seem right that one should adorn the handmaid like a pimp? For that which is of the flesh has the form of a servant, and speaking of the Lord, the Apostle says, 'Because He emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant,' 2 calling the outer man a servant previous to the Lord becoming a servant and wearing flesh. But the compassionate God Himself liberated the flesh from ruin and from the servitude of death and from bitter bondage and endowed it with incorruptibility, arraying the flesh in this, the holy adornment of eternity, immortality. Clement of Alexandria, from The Teacher, Book 3, Ch 1 1 Odyssey 4. 457 2 Philippians 2.7