But now such a
giving proves the unity of the Father and the Son. Consequently, no one
would pray to receive any thing from God AND the angels, or from any
other created being; nor would any one say 'May God AND the angels give
it thee;' but from the Father and the Son, because of their unity and
the oneness of the gift. For whatever is given, is given through the
Son,--nor is there any thing which the Father works except through the
Son; for thus the receiver has the gracious favour without fail. But if
the patriarch Jacob, blessing his descendants Ephraim and Manasseh,
said, 'The God who nourished {188} me from my youth unto this day, the
Angel who delivered me from all the evils, bless these lads;' he does
not join one of created beings, and by nature angels, with God who
created them; nor dismissing Him who nourished him, God, does he ask the
blessing for his descendants from an angel, but by saying 'He who
delivered me from all the evils,' he showed that it was not one of
created angels, but the WORD OF GOD; and joining him with the Father, he
supplicated him through whom also God delivers whom he will. For he used
the expression, knowing him who is called the Messenger of the great
counsel of the Father to be no other than the very one who blessed and
delivered from evil. For surely he did not aspire to be blessed himself
by God, and was willing for his descendants to be blessed by an angel.
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