The Philokalia

by Nicodemus of the Holy Mountain

60. The Logos of God is called flesh not only inasmuch as He became incarnate, but in another sense as well. When He is contemplated in His true simplicity, in His principal state with God the Father (cf. John 1:1-2), although He embraces the models of the truth of all things in a distinct and naked manner. He does not contain within Himself parables, symbols and stories needing allegorical interpretation. But when He draws near to men who cannot with the naked intellect come into contact with noetic realities in their naked state. He selects things which are familiar to them, combining together various stories, symbols, parables and dark sayings; and in this way He becomes flesh. Thus at the first encounter our intellect comes into contact not with the naked Logos but with the incarnate Logos, that is, with various sayings and stories. The incarnate Logos, though Logos by nature, is flesh in appearance. Hence most people think they see flesh and not the Logos, although in fact He is the Logos. The intellect-that is, the inner meaning-of Scripture is other than what it seems to most people. For the Logos becomes flesh in each of the recorded sayings. 61.