An Exposition of the Orthodox Faith 11

1 BOOK I — CHAPTER 11: Concerning what is affirmed about God as though He had body.

2 Since we find many terms used symbolically in the Scriptures concerning God which are more applicable to that which has body, we should recognise that it is quite impossible for us men clothed about with this dense covering of flesh to understand or speak of the divine and lofty and immaterial energies of the Godhead, except by the use of images and types and symbols derived from our own life. So then all the statements concerning God, that imply body, are symbols, but have a higher meaning: for the Deity is simple and formless.

3 Hence by God's eyes and eyelids and sight we are to understand His power of overseeing all things and His knowledge, that nothing can escape. By God's ears and hearing is meant His readiness to be propitiated and to receive our petitions. God's mouth and speech are His means of indicating His will. And God's hands mean the effectual nature of His energy. His feet and walk are His advent and presence, either for the purpose of bringing succour to the needy, or vengeance against enemies.

4 His oath is the unchangeableness of His counsel, for it is by oath that we confirm our compacts with one another. His anger and fury are His hatred of and aversion to all wickedness. His forgetfulness and sleep and slumbering are His delay in taking vengeance on His enemies and the postponement of the accustomed help to His own. And to put it shortly, all the statements made about God that imply body have some hidden meaning and teach us what is above us by means of something familiar to ourselves.