Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers: Series II/Volume XI/John Cassian/The Twelve Books/Book VIII/Chapter 3

Chapter III.

Of those things which are spoken of God anthropomorphically.

if when these things are said of God they are to be understood literally in a material gross signification, then also He sleeps, as it is said, &#8220;Arise, wherefore sleepest thou, O Lord?&#8221; though it is elsewhere said of Him: &#8220;Behold he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep.&#8221; And He stands and sits, since He says, &#8220;Heaven is my seat, and earth the footstool for my feet:&#8221; though He &#8220;measure out the heaven with his hand, and holdeth the earth in his fist.&#8221; And He is &#8220;drunken with wine&#8221; as it is said, &#8220;The Lord awoke like a sleeper, a mighty man, drunken with wine;&#8221; He &#8220;who only hath immortality and dwelleth in the light which no man can approach unto:&#8221; not to say anything of the &#8220;ignorance&#8221; and &#8220;forgetfulness,&#8221; of which we often find mention in Holy Scripture: nor lastly of the outline of His limbs, which are spoken of as arranged and ordered like a man&#8217;s; e.g., the hair, head, nostrils, eyes, face, hands, arms, fingers, belly, and feet: if we are willing to take all of which according to the bare literal sense, we must think of God as in fashion with the outline of limbs, and a bodily form; which indeed is shocking even to speak of, and must be far from our thoughts.