Appearance And Nature

Et vidi quasi speciem electri. Quid est quod aspectus hominis videtur in throno quasi species electri, nisi quod in electro, sicut longe superius diximus , aurum argentumque miscetur, ut res una ex metallis duobus fiat? In qua et per argentum auri claritas temperatur, et per auri claritatem species clarescit argenti. In Redemptore autem nostro utraque natura, id est divinitatis et humanitatis inconfuse ac inseparabiliter unita sibimet atque coniuncta est ut et per humanitatem divinitatis eius claritas nostris posset oculis temperari, et per divinitatem humana in eo natura claresceret, atque exaltata fulgorem ultra hoc quod creata fuerat haberet. Sanctus Gregorius Magnus, In Ezechielem Prophetam, Liber Primus, Homilia VIII Source: Migne PL 76.865b-c

And I saw his appearance as electrum... 1 Why is it that the sight of the man on the throne seems to have the appearance of electrum, unless that in electrum, as we have said some time before, gold and silver are mixed and one thing is made from two metals? In which the brightness of the gold is tempered by the silver, and the appearance of silver is brightened by the brightness of the gold. In our Redeemer each nature, that is the human and the Divine, are unmixed and inseparable in union and conjunction, so that by humanity the brightness of His Divinity is tempered to our eye and by Divinity the humanity in that nature is brightened, and exalted He had a glory beyond that which was created. Saint Gregory the Great, On the Prophet Ezekiel, Book 1, from Homily 8 1 Ezekiel 1.27