vivifies

And after thus speaking, Philip prayed, saying: My Lord Jesus Christ, Father of the ages, King of all light, who makes us wise in Your wisdom, who has given us the exalted knowledge, who has graciously conferred upon us the counsel of Your goodness, who has never departed from us; You who takes away disease from those who take refuge in You; You who has given us the Word, to turn unto You those who have been led astray; You who has given us signs and wonders on behalf of those of little faith; You who presents the crown to those who have conquered; You who are the judge of the games, who has given us the crown of joy, who speaks with us, that we may be able to withstand those that hurt us; You are He who sows and reaps, and completes, and increases, and vivifies all Your own servants: reproaches and threats are to us help and power through those who turn to You through us, who are Your servants. Come, Lord, and give me the crown of victory in the presence of men. Let not their dark air envelope me, nor their smoke burn the shape of my soul, that I may cross the waters of the abyss, and not sink in them. My Lord Jesus Christ, let not the enemy find anything that he can bring against me in the presence of You, the true Judge, but clothe me in Your shining robe, and...

In the next place, when the philosophers of the Porch, who assert that the virtue of God and man is the same, maintain that the God who is over all things is not happier than their wise man, but that the happiness of both is equal, Celsus neither ridicules nor scoffs at their opinion. If, however, Holy Scripture says that the perfect man is joined to and made one with the Very Word by means of virtue, so that we infer that the soul of Jesus is not separated from the first-born of all creation, he laughs at Jesus being called “Son of God,” not observing what is said of Him with a secret and mystical signification in the Holy Scriptures. But that we may win over to the reception of our views those who are willing to accept the inferences which flow from our doctrines, and to be benefited thereby, we say that the Holy Scriptures declare the body of Christ, animated by the Son of God, to be the whole church of God, and the members of this body—considered as a whole—to consist of those who are believers; since, as a soul vivifies and moves the body, which of itself has not the natural power of motion like a living being, so the Word, arousing and moving the whole body, the church, to befitting action, awakens, moreover, each individual member belonging to the church, so that they do nothing apart from the Word. Since all this, then, follows by a train of reasoning not to be depreciated, where is the difficulty in maintaining that, as the soul of Jesus is joined in a perfect and inconceivable manner with the very Word, so the person of Jesus, generally speaking, is not separated from the only-begotten and first-born of all creation, and is not a different being from Him? But enough here on this subject.