CHAPTER I.
Concerning what followed the Resurrection.
After Christ was risen from the dead He
laid aside all His passions, I mean His corruption or
hunger or thirst or sleep or weariness or such like. For,
although He did taste food after the resurrection(1), yet
He did not do so because it was a law of His nature (for
He felt no hunger), but in the way of economy, in order
that He might convince us of the reality of the
resurrection, and that it was one and the same flesh which
suffered and rose again(2). But He laid aside none of the
divisions of His nature, neither body nor spirit, but
possesses both the body and the soul intelligent and
reasonable, volitional and energetic, and in this wise He
sits at the right hand of the Father, using His will both
as God and as man in behalf of our salvation, energising
in His divine capacity to provide for and maintain and
govern all things, and remembering in His human capacity
the time He spent on earth, while all the time He both
sees and knows that He is adored by all rational creation.
For His Holy Spirit knows that He is one in substance with
God the Word, and shares as Spirit of God and not simply
as Spirit the worship accorded to Him. Moreover, His
ascent from earth to heaven, and again, His descent from
heaven to earth, are manifestations of the energies of His
circumscribed body. For He shall so come again to you,
saith he, in like manner as ye have seen Him go into
Heaven(3).
CHAPTER II.
Concerning the sitting at the right
hand of the Father.
We hold, moreover, that Christ sits in
the body at the right hand of God the Father, but we do
not hold that the right hand of the Father is actual
place. For how could He that is uncircumscribed have a
right hand limited by place? Right hands and left hands
belong to what is circumscribed. But we understand the
right hand of the Father to be the glory and honour of the
Godhead in which the Son of God, who existed as God before
the ages, and is of like essence to the Father, and in the
end became flesh, has a seat in the body, His flesh
sharing in the glory. For He along with His flesh is
adored with one adoration by all creation(4).
CHAPTER III.
In reply to those who say(5) "If
Christ has two natures, either ye do service to the
creature in worshipping created nature, or ye say that
there is one nature to be worshipped, and another not to
be worshipped."
Along with the Father and the Holy
Spirit we worship the Son of God, Who was incorporeal
before He took on humanity, and now in His own person is
incarnate and has become man though still being also God.
His flesh, then, in its own nature(6), if one were to make
subtle mental distinctions between what is seen and what
is thought, is not deserving of worship since it is
created. But as it is united with God the Word, it is
worshipped on account of Him and in Him. For just as the
king deserves homage alike when un-robed and when robed,
and just as the purple robe, considered simply as a purple
robe, is trampled upon and tossed about, but after
becoming the royal dress receives all honour and glory,
and whoever dishonours it is generally condemned to death:
and again, just as wood in itself(7) is not of such a
nature that it cannot be touched, but becomes so when fire
is applied to it, and it becomes charcoal, and yet this is
not because of its own nature, but because of the fire
united to it, and the nature of the wood is not such as
cannot be touched, but rather the charcoal or burning
wood: so also the flesh, in its own nature, is not to be
worshipped, but is worshipped in the incarnate God Word,
not because of itself, but because of its union in
subsistence with God the Word. And we do not say that we
worship mere flesh, but God's flesh, that is, God
incarnate.
CHAPTER IV.
Why it was the Son of God, and not
the Father or the Spirit, that became man: and what having
became man He achieved.
The Father is Father(8) and not Son(9):
the Son is Son and not Father: the Holy Spirit is Spirit
and not Father or Son. For the individuality(9a) is
unchangeable. How, indeed, could individuality continue to
exist at all if it were ever changing and altering?
Wherefore the Son of God became Son of Man in order that
His individuality might endure. For since He was the Son
of God, He became Son of Man, being made flesh of the holy
Virgin and not losithe individuality of Sonship(1).
Further, the Son of God became man, in
order that He might again bestow on man that favour for
the sake of which He created him. For He created him after
His own image, endowed with intellect and free-will, and
after His own likeness, that is to say, perfect in all
virtue so far as it is possible for man's nature to attain
perfection. For the following properties are, so to speak,
marks of the divine nature: viz. absence of care and
distraction and guile, goodness, wisdom, justice, freedom
from all vice. So then, after He had placed man in
communion with Himself (for having made him for
incorruption(2), He led him up through communion wills
Himself to incorruption), and when moreover, through the
transgression of the command we had confused and
obliterated the marks of the divine image, and had become
evil, we were stripped of our communion with God (for what
communion hath light with darkness(3)?): and having been
shut out from life we became subject to the corruption of
death: yea, since He gave us to share in the better part,
and we did not keep it secure, He shares in the inferior
part, I mean our own nature, in order that through Himself
and in Himself He might renew that which was made after
His image and likeness, and might teach us, too, the
conduct of a virtuous life, making through Himself the way
thither easy for us, and might by the communication of
life deliver us from corruption, becoming Himself the
firstfruits of our resurrection, and might renovate the
useless and worn vessel calling us to the knowledge of God
that He might redeem us from the tyranny of the devil, and
might strengthen and teach us how to overthrow the tyrant
through patience and humility(4).
The worship of demons then has ceased:
creation has been sanctified by the divine blood: altars
and temples of idols have been overthrown, the knowledge
of God has been implanted in men's minds, the co-essential
Trinity, the uncreate divinity, one true God, Creator and
Lord of all receives men's service: virtues are
cultivated, the hope of resurrection has been granted
through the resurrection of Christ, the demons shudder at
those men who of old were under their subjection. And the
marvel, indeed, is that all this has been successfully
brought about through His cross and passion and death.
Throughout all the earth the Gospel of the knowledge of
God has been preached; no wars or weapons or armies being
used to rout the enemy, but only a few, naked, poor,
illiterate, persecuted and tormented men, who with their
lives in their hands, preached Him Who was crucified in
the flesh and died, and who became victors over the wise
and powerful. For the omnipotent power of the Cross
accompanied them. Death itself, which once was maws
chiefest terror, has been overthrown, and now that which
was once the object of hate and loathing is preferred to
life. These are the achievements of Christ's presence:
these are the tokens of His power. For it was not one
people that He saved, as when through Moses He divided the
sea and delivered Israel out of Egypt and the bondage of
Pharaoh(5); nay, rather He rescued all mankind from the
corruption of death and the bitter tyranny of sin: not
leading them by force to virtue, not overwhelming them
with earth or burning them with fire, or ordering the
sinners to be stoned, but persuading men by gentleness and
long-suffering to choose virtue and vie with one another,
and find pleasure in the struggle to attain it. For,
formerly, it was sinners who were persecuted, and yet they
clung all the closer to sin, and sin was looked upon by
them as their God: but now for the sake of piety and
virtue men choose persecutions and crucifixions and death.
Hail! O Christ, the Word and Wisdom and
Power of God, and God omnipotent! What can we helpless
ones give Thee in return for all these good gifts? For all
are Thine, and Thou askest naught from us save our
salvation, Thou Who Thyself art the Giver of this, and yet
art grateful to those who receive it, through Thy
unspeakable goodness. Thanks be to Thee Who gave us life,
and granted us the grace of a happy life, and restored us
to that, when we had gone astray, through Thy unspeakable
condescension.
CHAPTER V.
In reply to those who ask if Christ's
subsistence is create or uncreate.
The subsistence(6) of God the Word
before the Incarnation was simple and uncompound, and
incorporeal and uncreate: but after it became flesh, it
became also the subsistence of the flesh, and became
compounded of divinity which it always possessed, and of
flesh which it had assumed: and it bears the properties of
the two natures, being made known in two natures: so that
the one same subsistence is both uncreate in divinity and
create in humanity, visible and invisible. For otherwise
we are compelled either to divide the one Christ and speak
of two subsistences, or to deny the distinction between
the natures and thus introduce change and confusion.
CHAPTER VI.
Concerning the question, when Christ
was called.
The mind was not united with God the
Word, as some falsely assert(7), before the Incarnation by
the Virgin and from that time called Christ. That is the
absurd nonsense of Origen(8) who lays down the doctrine of
the priority of the existence of souls. But we hold that
the Son and Word of God became Christ after He had dwelt
in the womb of His holy ever-virgin Mother, and became
flesh without change, and that the flesh was anointed with
divinity. For this is the anointing of humanity, as
Gregory the Theologian says(9). And here are the words of
the most holy Cyril of Alexandria which he wrote to the
Emperor Theodosius(1): "For I indeed hold that one
ought to give the name Jesus Christ neither to the Word
that is of God if He is without humanity, nor yet to the
temple born of woman if it is not united with the Word.
For the Word that is of God is understood to be Christ
when united with humanity in ineffable manner in the union
of the oeconomy(2)." And again, he writes to the
Empresses thus(3): "Some hold that the name 'Christ'
is rightly given to the Word that is begotten of God the
Father, to Him alone, and regarded separately by Himself.
But we have not been taught so to think and speak. For
when the Word became flesh, then it was, we say, that He
was called Christ Jesus. For since He was anointed with
the oil of gladness, that is the Spirit, by Him Who is God
and Father, He is for this reason(4) called Christ. But
that the anointing was an act that concerned Him as man
could be doubted by no one who is accustomed to think
rightly." Moreover, the celebrated Athanasius says
this in his discourse "Concerning the Saving
Manifestation:" "The God Who was before the
sojourn in the flesh was not man, but God in God, being
invisible and without passion, but when He became man, He
received in addition the name of Christ because of the
flesh, since, indeed, passion and death follow in the
train of this name."
And although the holy Scripture(4)
says, Therefore God, thy God, hath anointed thee with the
oil of gladness(5), it is to be observed that the holy
Scripture often uses the past tense instead of the future,
as for example here: Thereafter He was seen upon the earth
and dwelt among men(6). For as yet God was not seen nor
did He dwell among men when this was said. And here again:
By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down; yea wept(7).
For as yet these things had not come to pass.
CHAPTER VII.
In answer to those who enquire
whether the holy Mother of God bore two natures, and
whether two natures hung upon the Crass.
<greek>agenhton</greek> and
<greek>genhton</greek>, written with one '<greek>n</greek>'(8)
and meaning uncreated and created, refer to nature: but
<greek>agennhton</greek> and <greek>gennhton</greek>,
that is to say, unbegotten and begotten, as the double
'<greek>n</greek>' indicates, refer not to
nature but to subsistence. The divine nature then is <greek>agenhtos</greek>,
that is to say, uncreate, but all things that come after
the divine nature are <greek>genhhta</greek>,
that is, created. In the divine and uncreated nature,
therefore, the property of being <greek>agennhton</greek>
or unbegotten is contemplated in the Father (for He was
not begotten), that of being <greek>gennhton</greek>
or begotten in the Son (for He has been eternally begotten
of the Father), and that of procession in the Holy Spirit.
Moreover of each species of living creatures, the first
members were <greek>agennhta</greek> but not
<greek>agenhta</greek>: for they were brought
into being by their Maker, but were not the offspring of
creatures like themselves. For <greek>genesis</greek>
is creation, while <greek>gennhsis</greek> or
begetting is in the case of God the origin of a
co-essential Son arising from the Father alone, and in the
case of bodies, the origin of a co-essential subsistence
arising from the contact of male and female. And thus we
perceive that begetting refers not to nature but to
subsistence(9). For if it did refer to nature, <greek>to</greek>
<greek>agennhton</greek> and <greek>to</greek>
<greek>gennhton</greek>, i.e. the properties
of being begotten and unbegotten, could not be
contemplated in one and the same nature. Accordingly the
holy Mother of God bore a subsistence revealed in two
natures; being begotten on the one hand, by reason of its
divinity, of the Father timelessly, and, at last, on the
other hand, being incarnated of her in time and born in
the flesh.
But if our interrogators should hint
that He Who is begotten of the holy Mother of God is two
natures, we reply, "Yea! He is two natures: for He is
in His own person God and man. And the same is to be said
concerning the crucifixion and resurrection and ascension.
For these refer not to nature but to subsistence. Christ
then, since He is in two natures, suffered and was
crucified in the nature that was subject to passion. For
it was in the flesh and not in His divinity that He hung
upon the Cross. Otherwise, let them answer us, when we ask
if two natures died. No, we shall say. And so two natures
Were not crucified but Christ was begotten, that is to
say, the divine Word having become man was begotten in the
flesh, was crucified in the flesh, suffered in the flesh,
while His divinity continued to be impossible."
CHAPTER VIII.
How the Only-begotten Son of God is
called first-born.
He who is first begotten is called
first-born(1), whether he is only-begotten or the first of
a number of brothers. If then the Son of God was called
first-born, but was not called Only-begotten, we could
imagine that He was the first-born of creatures, as being
a creature(2). But since He is called both first-born and
Only-begotten, both senses must be preserved in His case.
We say that He is first-born of all creation(3) since both
He Himself is of God and creation is of God, but as He
Himself is born alone and timelessly of the essence of God
the Father, He may with reason be called Only-begotten
Son, first-born and not first-created. For the creation
was not brought into being out of the essence of the
Father, but by His will out of nothing(4). And He is
called First-born among many brethren(5), for although
being Only-begotten, He was also born of a mother. Since,
indeed, He participated just as we ourselves do in blood
and flesh and became man, while we too through Him became
sons of God, being adopted through the baptism, He Who is
by nature Son of God became first-born amongst us who were
made by adoption and grace sons of God, and stand to Him
in the relation of brothers. Wherefore He said, I ascend
unto My Father and your Father(6). He did not say
"our Father," but "My Father," clearly
in the sense of Father by nature, and "your
Father," in the sense of Father by grace. And
"My God and your God(7)." He did not say
"our God," but "My God:" and if you
distinguish with subtle thought that which is seen from
that which is thought, also "your God," as Maker
and Lord.
CHAPTER IX.
Concerning Faith and Baptism.
We confess one baptism for the
remission of sins and for life eternal. For baptism
declares the Lord's death. We are indeed "buried with
the Lord through baptism(8)," as saith the divine
Apostle. So then, as our Lord died once for all, we also
must be baptized once for all, and baptized according to
the Word of the Lord, In the Name of the Father, and of
the Son, and of the Holy Spirit(9), being taught the
confession in Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Those(1),
then, who, after having been baptized into Father, Son,
and Holy Spirit, and having been taught that there is one
divine nature in three subsistences, are rebaptized,
these, as the divine Apostle says, crucify the Christ
afresh. For it is impossible, he saith, for those who were
once enlightened, &c., to renew them again unto
repentance: seeing they crucify to themselves the Christ
afresh, and put Him to an open shame(2). But those who
were not baptized into the Holy Trinity, these must be
baptized again. For although the divine ApoStle says: Into
Christ and into His death were we baptized(3), he does not
mean that the invocation of baptism must be in these
words, but that baptism is an image of the death of
Christ. For by the three immersions(4), baptism signifies
the three days of our Lord's entombment(5). The baptism
then into Christ means that believers are baptized into
Him. We could not believe in Christ if we were not taught
confession in Father, Son, and Holy Spirit(6). For Christ
is the Son of the Living God(7), Whom the Father anointed
with the Holy Spirit(8): in the words of the divine David,
Therefore God, thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of
gladness above thy fellows(9). And Isaiah also speaking in
the person of the Lord says, The Spirit of the Lord is
upon me because He hath anointed me(1). Christ, however,
taught His own disciples the invocation and said,
Baptizing them in the Name of the Father, and of the Son,
and of the Holy Spirit(2). For since Christ made us for
incorruption(3)(4), and we transgressed His saving
command. He condemned us to the corruption of death in
order that that which is evil should not be immortal, and
when in His compassion He stooped to His servants and
became like us, He redeemed us from corruption through His
own passion. He caused the fountain of remission to well
forth for us out of His holy and immaculate side(5), water
for our regeneration, and the washing away of sin and
corruption; and blood to drink as the hostage of life
eternal. And He laid on us the command to be born again of
water and of the Spirit(6), through prayer and invocation,
the Holy Spirit drawing nigh unto the water(7). For since
man's nature is twofold, consisting of soul and body, He
bestowed on us a twofold purification, of water and of the
Spirit the Spirit renewing that part in us which is after
His image and likeness, and the water by the grace of the
Spirit cleansing the body from sin and delivering it from
corruption, the water indeed expressing the image of
death, but the Spirit affording the earnest of life.
For from the beginning the Spirit of
God moved upon the face of the waters(8), and anew the
Scripture witnesseth that water has the power of
purification(9). In the time of Noah God washed away the
sin of the world by water(1). By water every impure person
is purified(2), according to the law, even the very
garments being washed with water. Elias shewed forth the
grace of the Spirit mingled with the water when he burned
the holocaust by pouring on water(3). And almost
everything is purified by water according to the law: for
the things of sight are symbols of the things of thought.
The regeneration, however, takes place in the spirit: for
faith has the power of making us sons (of God(4)),
creatures as we are, by the Spirit, and of leading us into
our original blessedness.
The remission of sins, therefore, is
granted alike to all through baptism: but the grace of the
Spirit is proportionalto the faith and previous
purification. Now, indeed, we receive the firstfruits of
the Holy Spirit through baptism, and the second birth is
for us the beginning and seal and security and
illumination s of another life.
It behoves as, then, with all our
strength to steadfastly keep ourselves pure from filthy
works, that we may not, like the dog returning to his
vomit(6), make ourselves again the slaves of sin. For
faith apart from works is dead, and so likewise are works
apart from faith(7). For the true faith is attested by
works.
Now we are baptized(8) into the Holy
Trinity because those things which are baptized have need
of the Holy Trinity for their maintenance and continuance,
and the three subsistences cannot be otherwise than
present, the one with the other. For the Holy Trinity is
indivisible.
The first baptism(9) was that of the
flood for the eradication of sin. The second(1) was
through the sea and the cloud: for the cloud is the symbol
of the Spirit and the sea of the water(2). The third
baptism was that of the Law: for every impure person
washed himself with water, and even washed his garments,
and so entered into the camp(3). The fourth(4) was that of
John(5), being preliminary and leading those who were
baptized to repent-once, that they might believe in
Christ: I, certainly return unto thee at this time
hereafter, and Sarah thy wife shall have a son(6) ; and
afterwards the Lord said to Him, I will not conceal from
Abraham My servant the things that I will do(7) ; and
again, Moreover the Lord said, The cry of Sodom and
Gomorrah is filled up, and their sins are exceeding
great(8). Then after long discourse, which for the sake of
brevity shall be omitted, Abraham, distressed at the
destruction which awaited the innocent as well as the
guilty, said, In no wise wilt Thou, Who judgest the earth,
execute this judgment. And the Lord said, If I find in
Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will spare
all the place for their sakes(9). Afterwards when the
warning to Lot, Abraham's brother, was ended, the
Scripture says, And the Lord rained upon Sodom and upon
Gomorrah brimstone and fire f rom the Lord out of
heaven(1) ; and, after a while, And the Lord visited Sarah
as He had said, and did unto Sarah as He had spoken, and
Sarah conceived and bare Abraham a son in his old age, at
the set time of which God had spoken to him(2). And
afterwards, when the handmaid with her son had been driven
from Abraham's house, and was dreading lest her child
should die in the wilderness for want of water, the same
Scripture says, And the Lord God heard the voice of the
lad, where he was, and the Angel of God child to Hagar out
of heaven, and said unto her, What is it, Hagar? Fear not,
for God hath heard the voice of the lad from the place
where he is. Arise, and take the lad, and hold his hand,
for I will make him a great nation(3).
26. What blind faithlessness it is,
what dulness of an unbelieving heart, what headstrong
impiety, to abide in ignorance of all this, or else to
know and yet neglect it! Assuredly it is written for the
very purpose that error or oblivion may not hinder the
recognition of the truth. If, as we shall prove, it is
impossible to escape knowledge of the facts, then it must
be nothing less than blasphemy to deny them. This record
begins with the speech of the Angel to Hagar, His promise
to multiply Ishmael into a great nation and to give him a
countless offspring. She listens, and by her confession
reveals that He is Lord and God. The story begins with His
appearance as the Angel of God; at its termination He
stands confessed as God Himself. Thus He Who, while He
executes the ministry of declaring the great counsel is
God's Angel, is Himself in name and nature God. The name
corresponds to the nature; the nature is not falsified to
make it conform to the name. Again, God speaks to Abraham
of this same matter; he is told that Ishmael has already
received a blessing, and shall be increased into a nation;
I have blessed him, God says. This is no change from the
Person indicated before; He shews that it was He Who had
already given the blessing. The Scripture has obviously
been consistent throughout in its progress from mystery to
clear revelation; it began with the Angel of God, and
proceeds to reveal that it was God Himself Who had spoken
in this same matter.
27. The course of the Divine narrative
is accompanied by a progressive development of doctrine.
In the passage which we have discussed God speaks to
Abraham, and promises that Sarah shall bear a son.
Afterwards three men stand by him; he worships One and
acknowledges Him as Lord. After this worship and
acknowledgment by Abraham, the One promises that He will
return hereafter at the same season, and that then Sarah
shall have her son. This One again is seen by Abraham in
the guise of a man, and salutes him with the same promise.
The change is one of name only; Abraham's acknowledgment
in each ease is the same. It was a Man whom he saw, yet
Abraham worshipped Him as Lord; he beheld, no doubt, in a
mystery the coming Incarnation. Faith so strong has not
missed its recognition; the Lord says in the Gospel, Your
father Abraham rejoiced to see My day; and he saw it, and
was glad(4). To continue the history; the Man Whom he saw
promised that He would return at the same season. Mark the
fulfilment of the promise, remembering meanwhile that it
was a Man Who made it. What says the Scripture? And the
Lord visited Sarah. So this Man is the Lord, fulfilling
His own promise. What follows next? And God did unto Sarah
as He had said. The narrative calls His words those of a
Man, relates that Sarah was visited by the Lord, proclaims
that the result was the work of God. You are sure that it
was a Man who spoke, for Abraham not only heard, but saw
Him. Can you be less certain that He was God, when the
same Scripture, which had called Him Man, confesses Him
God? For its words are, And Sarah conceived, and bare
Abraham a son in his old age, and at the set time of which
God had spoken to him. But it was the Man who had promised
that He would come. Believe that He was nothing more than
man; unless, in fact, He Who came was God and Lord.
Connect the incidents. It was, confessedly, the Man who
promised that He would come that Sarah might con and
omnipotence and truth and wisdom and justice, he will find
all things smooth and even, and the way straight. But
without faith it is impossible to be saved(2). For it is
by faith that all things, both human and spiritual, are
sustained. For without faith neither does the farmer(3)
cut his furrow, nor does the merchant commit his life to
the raging waves of the sea on a small piece of wood, nor
are marriages contracted nor any other step in life taken.
By faith we consider that all things were brought out of
nothing into being by God's power. And we direct all
things, both divine and human, by faith. Further, faith is
assent free from all meddlesome inquisitiveness(4).
Every action, therefore, and
performance of miracles by Christ are most great and
divine and marvellous: but the most marvellous of all is
His precious Cross. For no other thing has subdued death,
expiated the sin of the first parent(5), despoiled Hades,
bestowed the resurrection, granted the power to us of
contemning the present and even death itself, prepared the
return to our former blessedness, opened the gates of
Paradise(6), given our nature a seat at the right hand of
God, and made us the children and heirs of God(7), save
the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. For by the Cross s all
things have been made right. So many of us, the apostle
says, as were baptized into Christ, were baptized into His
death(9), and as many of you as have been baptized into
Christ, have put on Christ(1). Further Christ is the power
of God and the wisdom of God(2). Lo! the death of Christ,
that is, the Cross, clothed us with the enhypostatic
wisdom and power of God. And the power of God is the Word
of the Cross, either because God's might, that is, the
victory over death, has been revealed to us by it, or
because, just as the four extremities of the Cross are
held fast and bound together by the bolt in the middle, so
also by God's power the height and the depth, the length
and the breadth, that is, every creature visible and
invisible, is maintained(3).
This was given to us as a sign on our
forehead, just as the circumcision was given to Israel:
for by it we believers are separated and distinguished
from unbelievers. This is the shield and weapon against,
and trophy over, the devil. This is the seal that the
destroyer may not touch you(4), as saith the Scripture.
This is the resurrection of those lying in death, the
support of the standing, the staff of the weak, the rod of
the flock, the safe conduct of the earnest, the perfection
of those that press forwards, the salvation of soul and
body, the aversion of all things evil, the patron of all
things good, the taking away of sin, the plant of
resurrection, the tree of eternal life.
So, then, this same truly precious and
august tree(5), on which Christ hath offered Himself as a
sacrifice for our sakes, is to be worshipped as sanctified
by contact with His holy body and blood; likewise the
nails, the spear, the clothes, His sacred tabernacles
which are the manger, the cave, Golgotha, which bringeth
salvation(6), the tomb which giveth life, Sion, the chief
stronghold of the churches and the like, are to be
worshipped. In the words of David, the father of God(7),
We shall go into His tabernacles, we shall worship at the
place where His feet stood(8). And that it is the Cross
that is meant is made clear by what follows, Arise, O
Lord, into Thy Rest (9). For the resurrection comes after
the Cross. For if of those things which we love, house and
couch and garment, are to be longed after, how much the
rather should we long after that which belonged to God,
our Saviour(1), by means of which we are in truth saved.
Moreover we worship even the image of
the precious and life-giving Cross, although made of
another tree, not honouring the tree (God forbid) but the
image as a symbol of Christ. For He said to His disciples,
admonishing them, Then shall appear the sign of the Son of
Man in Heaven(2), meaning the Cross. And so also the angel
of the resurrection said to the woman, Ye seek Jesus of
Nazareth which was crucified(3). And the Apostle said, We
preach Christ crucified(4). For there are many Christs and
many Jesuses, but one crucified. He does not say speared
but crucified. It behoves us, then, to worship the sign of
Christ(5). For wherever the sign may be, there also will
He be. But it does not behove us to worship the material
of which the image of the Cross is composed, even though
it be gold or precious stones, after it is destroyed, if
that should happen. Everything, therefore, that is
dedicated to God we worship, conferring the adoration on
Him.
The tree of life which was planted by
God in Paradise pre-figured this precious Cross.
For since death was by a tree, it was
fitting that life and resurrection should be bestowed by a
tree(6). Jacob, when He worshipped the top of Joseph's
staff, was the first to image the Cross, and when he
blessed his sons with crossed hands(7) he made most
clearly the sign of the cross. Likewise(8) also did Moses'
rod, when it smote the sea in the figure of the cross and
saved Israel, while it overwhelmed Pharaoh in the depths;
likewise also the hands stretched out crosswise and
routing Amalek; and the bitter water made sweet by a tree,
and the rock rent and pouring forth streams of water(9),
and the rod that meant for Aaron the dignity of the high
priesthood(1): and the serpent lifted in triumph on a tree
as though it were dead(2), the tree bringing salvation to
those who in faith saw their enemy dead, just as Christ
was nailed to the tree in the flesh of sin which yet knew
no sin(3). The mighty Moses cried(4), You will see your
life hanging on the tree before your eyes, and Isaiah
likewise, I have spread out my hands all the day unto a
faithless and rebellious people(5). But may we who worship
this(6) obtain a part in Christ the crucified. Amen.
CHAPTER XII.
Concerning Worship towards the East.
It is not without reason or by chance
that we worship towards the East. But seeing that we are
composed of a visible and an invisible nature, that is to
say, of a nature partly of spirit and partly of sense, we
render also a twofold worship to the Creator; just as we
sing both with our spirit and our bodily lips, and are
baptized with both water and Spirit, and are united with
the Lord in a twofold manner, being sharers in the
mysteries and in the grace of the Spirit.
Since, therefore, God(7) is spiritual
light(8), and Christ is called in the Scriptures Sun of
Righteousness(1) and Dayspring(2), the East is the
direction that must be assigned to His worship. For
everything good must be assigned to Him from Whom every
good thing arises. Indeed the divine David also says, Sing
unto God, ye kingdoms of the earth: O sing praises unto
the Lord: to Him that rideth upon the Heavens of heavens
towards the East(3). Moreover the Scripture also says, And
God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there He put
the man whom He had formed(4): and when he had
transgressed His command He expelled him and made him to
dwell over against the delights of Paradises(5), which
clearly is the West. So, then, we worship God seeking and
striving after our old fatherland. Moreover the tent of
Moses(6) had its veil and mercy seat(7) towards the East.
Also the tribe of Judah as the most precious pitched their
camp on the East(8). Also in the celebrated temple of
Solomon the Gate of the Lord was placed eastward. Moreover
Christ, when He hung on the Cross, had His face turned
towards the West, and so we worship, striving after Him.
And when He was received again into Heaven He was borne
towards the East, and thus His apostles worship Him, and
thus He will come again in the way in which they beheld
Him going towards Heaven(9); as the Lord Himself said, As
the lightning cometh out of the East and shineth(1) even
unto the West, so also shall the coming of the Son of Man
b<greek>e</greek>(2).
So, then, in expectation of His coming
we worship towards the East. But this tradition of the
apostles is unwritten. For much that has been handed down
to us by tradition is unwritten(3).
CHAPTER XIII.
Concerning the holy and immaculate
Mysteries of the Lord.
God(4) Who is good and altogether good
and more than good, Who is goodness throughout, by reason
of the exceeding riches of His goodness did not suffer
Himself, that is His nature, only to be good, with no
other to participate therein, but because of this He made
first the spiritual and heavenly powers: next the visible
and sensible universe: next man with his spiritual and
sentient nature. All things, therefore, which he made,
share in His goodness in respect of their existence. For
He Himself is existence to all, since all things that are,
are in Him(5), not only because it was He that brought
them out of nothing into being, but because His energy
preserves and maintains all that He made: and in especial
the living creatures. For both in that they exist and in
that they enjoy life they share in His goodness. But in
truth those of them that have reason have a still greater
share in that, both because of what has been already said
and also because of the very reason which they possess.
For they are somehow more dearly akin to Him, even though
He is incomparably higher than they.
Man, however, being endowed with reason
and free will, received the power of continuous union with
God through his own choice, if indeed he should abide in
goodness, that is in obedience to his Maker. Since,
however, he transgressed the command of his Creator and
became liable to death and corruption, the Creator and
Maker of our race, because of His bowels of compassion,
took on our likeness, becoming man in all things but
without sin, and was united to our nature(6). For since He
bestowed on us His own image and His own spirit and we did
not keep them safe, He tHimself a share in our poor and
weak nature, in order that He might cleanse us and make us
incorruptible, and establish us once more as partakers of
His divinity.
For it was fitting that not only the
first-fruits of our nature should partake in the higher
good but every man who wished it, and that a second birth
should take place and that the nourishment should be new
and suitable to the birth and thus the measure of
perfection be attained. Through His birth, that is, His
incarnation, and baptism and passion and resurrection, He
delivered our nature from the sin of our first parent and
death and corruption, and became the first-fruits of the
resurrection, and made Himself the way and image and
pattern, in order that we, too, following in His
footsteps, may become by adoption what He is Himself by
nature(7), sons and heirs of God and joint heirs with
Him(8). He gave us therefore, as I said, a second birth in
order that, just as we who are born of Adam are in his
image and are the heirs of the curse and corruption, so
also being born of Him we may be in His likeness and
heirs(9) of His incorruption and blessing and glory.
Now seeing that this Adam is spiritual,
it was meet that both the birth and likewise the food
should be spiritual too, but since we are of a double and
compound nature, it is meet that both the birth should be
double and likewise the food compound. We were therefore
given a birth by water and Spirit: I mean, by the holy
baptism(1): and the food is the very bread of life, our
Lord Jesus Christ, Who came down from heaven(2). For when
He was about to take on Himself a voluntary death for our
sakes, on the night on which He gave Himself up, He laid a
new covenant on His holy disciples and apostles, and
through them on all who believe on Him. In the upper
chamber, then, of holy and illustrious Sion, after He had
eaten the ancient Passover with His disciples and had
fulfilled the ancient covenant, He washed His disciples'
feet(3) in token of the holy baptism. Then having broken
bread He gave it to them saying, Take, eat, this is My
body broken for you for the remission of sins(4). Likewise
also He took the cup of wine and water and gave it to them
saying, Drink ye all of it: for this is My blood, the
blood of the New Testament which is shed for you for the
remission of sins. This do ye in remembrance of Me. For as
often as ye eat this bread and drink this cup, ye do shew
the death of the Son of man and confess His resurrection
until He come(5).
If then the Word of God is quick and
energising(6), and the Lord did all that He willed(7); if
He said, Let there be light and there was light, let there
be a firmament and there was a firmament(8); if the
heavens were established by the Word of the Lord and all
the host of them by the breath of His mouth(9); if the
heaven and the earth, water and fire and air and the whole
glory of these, and, in sooth, this most noble creature,
man, were perfected by the Word of the Lord; if God the
Word of His own will became man and the pure and undefiled
blood of the holy and ever-virginal One made His flesh
without the aid of seed(1), can He not then make the bread
His body and the wine and water His blood? He said in the
beginning, Let the earth bring forth grass(2), and even
until this present day, when the rain comes it brings
forth its proper fruits, urged on and strengthened by the
divine command. God said, This is My body, and This is My
blood, and this do ye in remembrance of Me. And so it is
at His omnipotent command until He come: for it was in
this sense that He said until He come: and the
overshadowing power of the Holy Spirit becomes through the
invocation the rain to this new tillage(3). For just as
God made all that He made by the energy of the Holy
Spirit, so also now the energy of the Spirit performs
those things that are supernatural and which it is not
possible to comprehend unless by faith alone. How shall
this be, said the holy Virgin, seeing I know not a man?
And the archangel Gabriel answered her: The Holy Spirit
shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall
overshadow thee(4). And now you ask, how the bread became
Christ's body and the wine and water Christ's blood. And I
say unto thee, "The Holy Spirit is present and does
those things which surpass reason and thought."
Further, bread and wine s are employed:
for God knoweth man's infirmity: for in general man turns
away discontentedly from what is not well-worn by custom:
and so with His usual indulgence H e performs His
supernatural works through familiar objects: and just as,
in the case of baptism, since it is man's custom to wash
himself with water and anoint himself with oil, He
connected the grace of the Spirit with the oil and the
water and made it the water of regeneration, in like
manner since it is man's custom to eat and to drink water
and wine(6), He connected His divinity with these and made
them His body and blood in order that we may rise to what
is supernatural through what is familiar and natural.
The body which is born of the holy
Virgin is in truth body united with divinity, not that the
body which was received up into the heavens descends, but
that the bread itself and the wine are changed into God's
body and blood(7). But if you enquire how this happens, it
is enough for you to learn that it was through the Holy
Spirit, just as the Lord took on Himself flesh that
subsisted in Him and was born of the holy Mother of God
through the Spirit. And we know nothing further save that
the Word of God is true and energises and is omnipotent,
but the manner of this cannot be searched out(8). But one
can put it well thus, that just as in nature the bread by
the eating and the wine and the water by the drinking are
changed into the body and blood of the eater and drinker,
and do not(9) become a different body from the former one,
so the bread of the table(1) and the wine and water are
supernaturally changed by the invocation and presence of
the Holy Spirit into the body and blood of Christ, and are
not two but one(2) and the same.
Wherefore to those who partake worthily
with faith, it is for the remission of sins and for life
everlasting and for the safeguarding of soul and body; but
to those who partake unworthily without faith, it is for
chastisement and punishment, just as also the death of the
Lord became to those who believe life and incorruption for
the enjoyment of eternal blessedness, while to those who
do not believe and to the murderers of the Lord it is for
everlasting chastisement and punishment.
The bread and the wine are not merely
figures of the body and blood of Christ (God forbid!) but
the deified body of the Lord itself: for the Lord has
said, "This is My body," not, this is a figure
of My body: and "My blood," not, a figure of My
blood. And on a previous occasion He had said to the Jews,
Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His
blood, ye have no life in you. For My flesh is meat indeed
and My blood is drink indeed. And again, He that eateth
Me, shall live(3)(4).
Wherefore with all fear and a pure
conscience and certain faith let us draw near and it will
assuredly be to us as we believe, doubting nothing. Let us
pay homage to it in all purity both of soul and body: for
it is twofold. Let us draw near to it with an ardent
desire, and with our hands held in the form of the cross s
let us receive the body of the Crucified One: and let us
apply our eyes and lips and brows and partake of the
divine coal, in order that the fire of the longing, that
is in us, with the additional heat derived from the coal
may utterly consume our sins and illumine our hearts, and
that we may be inflamed and deified by the participation
in the divine fire. Isaiah saw the coal(6). But coal is
not plain wood but wood united with fire: in like manner
also the bread of the communion(7) is not plain bread but
bread united with divinity. But a body s which is united
with divinity is not one nature, but has one nature
belonging to the body and another belonging to the
divinity that is united to it, so that the compound is not
one nature but two.
Wibread and wine Melchisedek, the
priest of the most high God, received Abraham on his
return from the slaughter of the Gentiles(9). That table
pre-imaged this mystical table, just as that priest was a
type and image of Christ, the true high-priest(1). For
thou art a priest for ever after the order of
Melchisedek(2). Of this bread the show-bread was an
image(3). This surely is that pure and bloodless sacrifice
which the Lord through the prophet said is offered to Him
from the rising to the setting of the sun(4).
The body and blood of Christ are making
for the support of our soul and body, without being
consumed or suffering corruption, not making for the
draught (God forbid!) but for our being and preservation,
a protection against all kinds of injury, a purging from
all uncleanness: should one receive base gold, they purify
it by the critical burning lest in the future we be
condemned with this world. They purify from diseases and
all kinds of calamities; according to the words of the
divine Apostles(5), For if we would judge ourselves, we
should not be judged. But when we are judged, we are
chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned
with the world. This too is what he says, So that he that
partaketh of the body and blood of Christ unworthily,
eateth and drinketh damnation to himself(6). Being
purified by this, we are united to the body of Christ and
to His Spirit and become the body of Christ.
This bread is the first-fruits(7) of
the future bread which is
<greek>epio?sios</greek>, i.e. necessary for
existence. For the word
<greek>epio?sion</greek> signifies either the
future, that is Him Who is for a future age, or else Him
of Whom we partake for the preservation of our essence.
Whether then it is in this sense or that, it is fitting to
speak so of the Lord's body. For the Lord's flesh is
life-giving spirit because it was conceived of the
life-giving Spirit. For what is born of the Spirit is
spirit. But I do not say this to take away the nature of
the body, but I wish to make clear its life-giving and
divine power(8).
But if some persons called the bread
and the wine antitypes(9) of the body and blood of the
Lord, as did the divinely inspired Basil, they said so not
after the consecration but before the consecration, so
calling the offering itself.
Participation is spoken of; for through
it we partake of the divinity of Jesus. Communion, too, is
spoken of, and it is an actual communion, because through
it we have communion with Christ and share in His flesh
and His divinity: yea, we have communion and are united
with one another through it. For since we partake of one
bread, we all become one body of Christ and one blood, and
members one of another, being of one body with Christ.
With all our strength, therefore, let
us beware lest we receive communion from or grant it to
heretics; Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, saith
the Lord, neither cast ye your pearls before swine(1),
lest we become partakers in their dishonour and
condemnation. For if trojan is in truth with Christ and
with one another, we are assuredly voluntarily united also
with all those who partake with us. For this union is
effected voluntarily and not against our inclination. For
we are all one body because we partake of the one bread,
as the divine Apostle says(2).
Further, antitypes of future things are
spoken of, not as though they were not in reality Christ's
body and blood, but that now through them we partake of
Christ's divinity, while then we shall partake mentally(3)
through the vision alone.
CHAPTER XIV.
Concerning our Lord's genealogy and
concerning the holy Mother of God(4).
Concerning the holy and much-lauded
ever-virgin one, Mary, the Mother of God, we have said
something in the preceding chapters, bringing forward what
was most opportune, viz., that strictly and truly she is
and is called the Mother of God. Now let us fill up the
blanks. For she being pre-ordained by the eternal
prescient counsel of God and imaged forth and proclaimed
in diverse images and discourses of the prophets through
the Holy Spirit, sprang at the pre-determined time from
the root of David, according to the promises that were
made to him. For the lord hath sworn, He saith in truth to
David, He will not turn from it: of the fruit of Thy body
will I set upon Thy throne(5). And again, Once have I
sworn by My holiness, that I will not lie unto David. His
seed shall endure for ever, and His throne as the sun
before Me. It shall be established for ever as the moon,
and as a faithful witness in heaven(6). And Isaiah says:
And there shall come out a rod out of the stem of Jesse
and a branch shall grow out of his roots(7).
But that Joseph is descended from the
tribe of David is expressly demonstrated by Matthew and
Luke, the most holy evangelists. But Matthew derives
Joseph from David through Solomon, while Luke does so
through Nathan; while over the holy Virgin's origin both
pass in silence.
One ought to remember that it was not
the custom of the Hebrews nor of the divine Scripture to
give genealogies of women; and the law was to prevent one
tribe seeking wives from another(8). And so since Joseph
was descended from the tribe of David and was a just man
(for this the divine Gospel testifies), he would not have
espoused the holy Virgin contrary to the law; he would not
have taken her unless she had been of the same tribe(8a).
It was sufficient, therefore, to demonstrate the descent
of Joseph.
One ought also to observe(9) this, that
the law was that when a man died without seed, this maws
brother should take to wife the wife of the dead man and
raise up seed to his brother(1). The offspring, therefore,
belonged by nature to the second, that is, to him that
begat it, but by law to the dead.
Born then of the line of Nathan, the
son of David, Levi begat Melchi(2) and Panther: Panther
begat Barpanther, so called. This Barpanther begat
Joachim: Joachim begat the holy Mother of God(3)(4). And
of the line of Solomon, the son of David, Mathan had a
wife(5) of whom he begat Jacob. Now on the death of
Mathan, Melchi, of the tribe of Nathan, the son of Levi
and brother of Panther, married the wife of Mathan,
Jacob's mother, of whom he begat Heli. Therefore Jacob and
Hell became brothers on tile mother's side, Jacob being of
the tribe of Solomon and Heli of the tribe of Nathan. Then
Heli of the tribe of Nathan died childless, and Jacob his
brother, of the tribe of Solomon, took his wife and raised
up seed to his brother and begat Joseph. Joseph,
therefore, is by nature the son of Jacob, of the line of
Solomon, but by law he is the son of Hell of the line of
Nathan.
Joachim then(6) took to wife that
revered and praiseworthy woman, Anna. But just as the
earlier Anna(7), who was barren, bore Samuel by prayer and
by promise, so also this Anna by supplication and promise
from God bare the Mother of God in order that she might
not even in this be behind the matrons of fame(8).
Accordingly it was grace (for this is the interpretation
of Anna) that bore the lady: (for she became truly the
Lady of all created things in becoming the Mother of the
Creator). Further, Joachim(9) was born in the house of the
Probatica(1), and was brought up to the temple. Then
planted in the House of God and increased by the Spirit,
like a fruitful olive tree, she became the home of every
virtue, turning her mind away from every secular and
carnal desire, and thus keeping her soul as well as her
hotly virginal, as was meet for her who was to receive God
into her bosom: for as He is holy, He finds rest among the
holy(2). Thus, therefore, she strove after holiness, and
was declared a holy and wonderful temple fit for the most
high God.
Moreover, since the enemy of our
salvation was keeping a watchful eye on virgins, according
to the prophecy of Isaiah, who said, Behold a virgin shall
conceive and bare a Son and shall call His name Emmanuel,
which is, being interpreted, 'God with us(3),' in order
that he who taketh the wise in their own craftiness(4) may
deceive him who always glorieth in his wisdom, tmaiden is
given in marriage to Joseph by the priests, a new book to
him who is versed in letters(5): but the marriage was both
the protection of the virgin and the delusion of him who
was keeping a watchful eye on virgins. But when the
fulness of time was come, the messenger of the Lord was
sent to her, with the good news of our Lord's conception.
And thus she conceived the Son of God, the hypostatic
power of the Father, not of the will of the flesh nor of
the will of man(6), that is to say, by connection and
seed, but by the good pleasure of the Father and
co-operation of the Holy Spirit. She ministered to the
Creator in that He was created, to the Fashioner in that
He was fashioned, and to the Son of God and God in that He
was made flesh and became man from her pure and immaculate
flesh and blood, satisfying the debt of the first mother.
For just as the latter was formed from Adam without
connection, so also did the former bring forth the new
Adam, who was brought forth in accordance with the laws of
parturition and above the nature of generation.
For He who was of the Father, yet
without mother, was born of woman without a father's
co-operation. And so far as He was born of woman, His
birth was in accordance with the laws of parturition,
while so far as He had no father, His birth was above the
nature of generation: and in that it was at the usual time
(for He was born on the completion of the ninth month when
the tenth was just beginning), His birth was in accordance
with the laws of parturition, while in that it was
painless it was above the laws of generation. For, as
pleasure did not precede it, pain did not follow it,
according to the prophet who says, Before she travailed,
she brought forth, and again, before her pain came she was
delivered of a man-child(7). The Son of God incarnate,
therefore, was born of her, not a divinely-inspired(8) man
but God incarnate not a prophet anointed with energy but
by the presence of the anointing One in His completeness,
so that the Anointer became man and the Anointed God, not
by a change of nature but by union in subsistence. For the
Anointer and the Anointed were one and the same, anointing
in the capacity of God Himself as man. Must there not
therefore be a Mother of God who bore God incarnate?
Assuredly she who played the part of the Creator's servant
and mother is in all strictness and truth in reality God's
Mother and Lady and Queen over all created things. But
just as He who was conceived kept her who conceived still
virgin, in like manner also He who was born preserved her
virginity intact, only passing through her and keeping her
closed(9). The conception, indeed, was through the sense
of hearing, but the birth through the usual path by which
children come, although some tell tales of His birth
through the side of the Mother of God. For it was not
impossible for Him to have come by this gate, without
injuring her seal in any way.
The ever-virgin One thus remains even
after the birth still virgin, having never at any time up
till death consorted with a man. For although it is
written, And knew her not till she had brought forth her
first-born Son(1), yet note that he who is first-begotten
is first-born even if he is only-begotten. For the word
"first-born" means that he was born first but
does not at all suggest the birth of others. And the word
"till" signifies the limit of the appointed time
but does not exclude the time thereafter. For the Lord
says, And lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of
the world(2), not meaning thereby that He will be
separated from us after the completion of the age. The
divine apostle, indeed, says, And so shall we ever be with
the Lord(3), meaning after the general resurrection.
For could it be possible that she, who
had borne God and from experience of the subsequent events
had come to know the miracle, should receive the embrace
of a man. God forbid! It is not the part of a chaste mind
to think such thoughts, far less to commit such acts
But this blessed woman, who was deemed
worthy of gifts that are supernatural, suffered those
pains, which she escaped at the birth, in the hour of the
passion, enduring from motherly sympathy the rending of
the bowels, and when she beheld Him, Whom she knew to be
God by the manner of His generation, killed as a
malefactor, her thoughts pierced her as a sword, and this
is the meaning of this verse: Yea, a sword shall pierce
through thy own saul also(4)(5). But the joy of the
resurrection transforms the pain, proclaiming Him, Who
died in the flesh, to be God.
CHAPTER XV.
Concerning the honour due to the
Saints and their remains.
To the saints honour must be paid as
friends of Christ, as sons and heirs of God: in the words
of John the theologian and evangelist, As many as received
Him, to them gave He power to became sons of God(6). So
that they are no longer servants, but sons: and if sons,
also heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ(7):
and the Lord in the holy Gospels says to His apostles, Ye
are My friends(8). Henceforth I call you not servants, for
the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth(9). And
further, if the Creator and Lord of all things is called
also King of Kings and Lord of Lords(1) and God of Gods,
surely also the saints are gods and lords and kings. For
of these God is and is called God and Lord and King. For I
am the God of Abraham, He said to Moses, the God of Isaac
and the God of Jacob(2). And God made Moses a god to
Pharaoh(3). Now I mean gods and kings and lords not in
nature, but as rulers and masters of their passions, and
as preserving a truthful likeness to the divine image
according to which they were made (for the image of a king
is also called king), and as being united to God of their
own free-will and receiving Him as an indweller and
becoming by grace through participation with Him what He
is Himself by nature. Surely, then, the worshippers and
friends and sons of God are to be held in honour? For the
honour shewn to the most thoughtful of fellow-servants is
a proof of good feeling towards the common Master(4).
These are made treasuries and pure
habitations of God: For I will dwell in them, said God,
and walk in them, and I will be their God(5). The divine
Scripture likewise saith that the souls of the just are in
God's hand(6) and death cannot lay hold of them. For death
is rather the sleep of the saints than their death. For
they travailed in this life and shall to the end(7), and
Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His
saints(8). What then, is more precious than to be in the
hand of God? For God is Life and Light, and those who are
in God's hand are in life and light.
Further, that God dwelt even in their
bodies in spiritual wise(8a), the Apostle tells us,
saying, Know ye not that your bodies are the temples of
the Holy Spirit dwelling in you?(9), and The Lord is that
Spirit(1), and If any one destroy the temple of God, him
will God destroy(2). Surely, then, we must ascribe honour
to the living temples of God, the living tabernacles of
God. These while they lived stood with confidence before
God.
The Master Christ made the remains of
the saints to be fountains of salvation to us, pouring
forth manifold blessings and abounding in oil of sweet
fragrance: and let no one disbelieve this(3). For if water
burst in the desert from the steep and solid rock at God's
will(4) and from the jaw-bone of an ass to quench Samson's
thirst(5), is it incredible that fragrant oil should burst
forth from the martyrs' remains? By no means, at least to
those who know the power of God and the honour which He
accords His saints.
In the law every one who toucheth a
dead body was considered impure(6), but these are not
dead. For from the time when He that is Himself life and
the Author of life was reckoned among the dead, we do not
call those dead who have fallen asleep in the hope of the
resurrection and in faith on Him. For how could a dead
body work miracles? How, therefore, are demons driven off
by them, diseases dispelled, sick persons made well, the
blind restored to sight,lepers purified, temptations and
troubles overcome, and how does every good gift from the
Father of lights(7) come down through them to those who
pray with sure faith? How much labour would you not
undergo to find a patron to introduce you to a mortal king
and speak to him on your behalf? Are not those, then,
worthy of honour who are the patrons of the whole race,
and make intercession to God for us? Yea, verily, we ought
to give honour to them by raising temples to God in their
name, bringing them fruit-offerings, honouring their
memories and taking spiritual delight in them, in order
that the joy of those who call on us may be ours, that in
our attempts at worship we may not on the contrary cause
them offence. For those who worship God will take pleasure
in those things whereby God is worshipped, while His
shield-bearers will be wrath at those things wherewith God
is wroth. In psalms and hymns and spiritual songs(8), in
contrition and in pity for the needy, let us believers(9)
worship the saints, as God also is most worshipped in such
wise. Let us raise monuments to them and visible images,
and let us ourselves become, through imitation of their
virtues, living monuments and images of them. Let us give
honour to her who bore God as being strictly and truly the
Mother of God. Let us honour also the prophet John as
forerunner and baptist(1), as apostle and martyr, For
among them that are born of women there hath not risen a
greater than John the Baptist(2), as saith the Lord, and
he became the first to proclaim the Kingdom. Let us honour
the apostles as the Lord's brothers, who saw Him face to
face and ministered to His passion, for whom God the
Father did foreknow He also did predestinate to be
conformed to the image of His Son(3), first apostles,
second prophets(4), third pastors end teachers(5). Let us
also honour the martyrs of the Lord chosen out of every
class, as soldiers of Christ who have drunk His cup and
were then baptized with the baptism of His life-bringing
death, to be partakers of His passion and glory: of whom
the leader is Stephen, the first deacon of Christ and
apostle and first martyr. Also let us honour our holy
fathers, the God-possessed ascetics, whose struggle was
the longer and more toilsome one of the conscience: who
wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins, being
destitute, afflicted, tormented; they wandered in deserts
and in mountains and in dens and caves of the earth, of
whom the world was not worthy(6). Let us honour those who
were prophets before grace, the patriarchs anti just men
who foretold the Lord's coming. Let us carefully review
the life of these men, and let us emulate their faith(7)
and love and hope and zeal and way of life, and endurance
of sufferings and patience even to blood, in order that we
may be sharers with them in their crowns of glory.
CHAPTER XVI.
Concerning Images(8).
But since some(9) find fault with us
for worshipping and honouring the image of our Saviour and
that of our Lady, and those, too, of the rest of the
saints and servants of Christ, let them remember that in
the beginning God created man after His own image(1). On
what grounds, then, do we shew reverence to each other
unless because we are made after God's image? For as
Basil, that much-versed expounder of divine things, says,
the honour given to the image passes over to the
prototype(2). Now a prototype is that which is imaged,
from which the derivative is obtained. Why was it that the
Mosaic people honoured on all hands the tabernacle(3)
which bore an image and type of heavenly things, or rather
of the whole creation? God indeed said to Moses, Look that
thou make them after their pattern which was shewed thee
in the mount(4). The Cherubim, too, which o'ershadow the
mercy seat, are they not the work of men's hands(5)? What,
further, is the celebrated temple at Jerusalem? Is it not
hand-made and fashioned by the skill of men(6)?
Moreover the divine Scripture blames
those who worship graven images, but also those who
sacrifice to demons. The Greeks sacrificed and the Jews
also sacrificed: but the Greeks to demons and the Jews to
God. And the sacrifice of the Greeks was rejected and
condemned, but the sacrifice of the just was very
acceptable to God. For Noah sacrificed, and God smelled a
sweet savour(7), receiving the fragrance of the right
choice and good-will towards Him. And so the graven images
of the Greeks, since they were images of deities, were
rejected and forbidden.
But besides this who can make an
imitation of the invisible, incorporeal, uncircumscribed,
formless God? Therefore to give form to the Deity is the
height of folly and impiety. And hence it is that in the
Old Testament the use of images was not common. But after
God(8) in His bowels of pity became in truth man for our
salvation, not as He was seen by Abraham in the semblance
of a man, nor as He was seen by the prophets, but in being
truly man, and after He lived upon the earth and dwelt
among men(9), worked miracles, suffered, was crucified,
rose again and was taken back to Heaven, since all these
things actually took place and were seen by men, they were
written for the remembrance and instruction of us who were
not alive at that time in order that though we saw not, we
may still, hearing and believing, obtain the blessing of
the Lord. But seeing that not every one has a knowledge of
letters nor time for reading, the Fathers gave their
sanction to depicting these events on images as being acts
of great heroism, in order that they should form a concise
memorial of them. Often, doubtless, when we have not the
Lord's passion in mind and see the image of Christ's
crucifixion, His saving passion is brought back to
remembrance, and we fall down and worship not the material
but that which is imaged: just as we do not worship the
material of which the Gospels are made, nor the material
of the Cross, but that which these typify. For wherein
does the cross, that typifies the Lord, differ from a
cross that does not do so? It is just the same also in the
case of the Mother of the Lord. For the honour which we
give to her is referred to Him Who was made of her
incarnate. And similarly also the brave acts of holy men
stir us up to be brave and to emulate and imitate their
valour and to glorify God. For as we said, the honour that
is given to the best of fellow-servants is a proof of
good-will towards our common Lady, and the honour rendered
to the image passes over to the prototype(1). But this is
an unwritten tradition(2), just as is also the worshipping
towards the East and the worship of the Cross, and very
many other similar things.
A certain tale(3), too, is told(4), how
that when Augarus(5) was king over the city of the
Edessenes, he sent a portrait painter to paint a likeness
of the Lord, and when the painter could not paint because
of the brightness that shone from His countenance, the
Lord Himself put a garment over His own divine and
life-giving face and impressed on it an image of Himself
and sent this to Augarus, to satisfy thus his desire.
Moreover that the Apostles handed down
much that was unwritten, Paul, the Apostle of the
Gentiles, tells us in these words: Therefore, brethren,
stand fast and hold the traditions which ye have been
taught of us, whether by word or by epistle(6). And to the
Corinthians he writes, Now I praise you, brethren, that ye
remember me in all things, and keep the traditions as I
have delivered them to you(7)."
CHAPTER XVII.
Concerning Scripture(8).
It is one and the same God Whom both
the Old and the New Testament proclaim, Who is praised and
glorified in the Trinity: I am come, saith the Lord, not
to destroy life law but to fulfil it(9). For He Himself
worked out our salvation for which all Scripture and all
mystery exists. And again, Search the Scriptures for they
are they that testify of Me(1). And the Apostle says, God,
Who at sundry times and in diverse manners spake in time
past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last
days spoken unto us by His Son(2). Through the HolySpirit,
therefore, both the law and the prophets, the evangelists
and apostles and pastors and teachers, spake.
All Scripture, then, is given by
inspiration of God and is also assuredly profitable(3).
Wherefore to search the Scriptures is a work most fair and
most profitable for souls. For just as the tree planted by
the channels of waters, so also the soul watered by the
divine Scripture is enriched and gives fruit in its
season(4), viz. orthodox belief, and is adorned with
evergreen leafage, I mean, actions pleasing to God. For
through the Holy Scriptures we are trained to action that
is pleasing to God, and untroubled contemplation. For in
these we find both exhortation to every virtue and
dissuasion from every vice. If, therefore, we are lovers
of learning, we shall also be learned in many things. For
by care and toil and the grace of God the Giver, all
things are accomplished. For every one that asketh
receiveth, and he that seeketh findeth, and to hint that
knocketh it shall be opened(5). Wherefore let us knock at
that very fair garden of the Scriptures, so fragrant and
sweet and blooming, with its varied sounds of spiritual
and divinely-inspired birds ringing all round our ears,
laying hold of our hearts, comforting the mourner,
pacifying the angry and filling him with joy everlasting:
which sets our mind on the gold-gleaming, brilliant back
of the divine dove(6), whose bright pinions bear up to the
only-begotten Son and Heir of the Husbandman(7) of that
spiritual Vineyard and bring us through Him to the Father
of Lights(8). But let us not knock carelessly but rather
zealously and constantly: lest knocking we grow weary. For
thus it will be opened to us. If we read once or twice and
do not understand what we read, let us not grow weary, but
let us persist, let us talk much, let us enquire. For ask
thy Father, he saith, and He will shew thee: thy elders
and they will tell thee(9). For there is not in every man
that knowledge(1). Let us draw of the fountain of the
garden perennial and purest waters springing into life
eternal(2). Here let us luxuriate, let us revel insatiate:
for the Scriptures possess inexhaustible grace. But if we
are able to pluck anything profitable from outside
sources, there is nothing to forbid that. Let us become
tried money-dealers, heaping up the true and pure gold and
discarding the spurious. Let us keep the fairest sayings
but let us throw to the dogs absurd gods and strange
myths: for we might prevail most mightily against them
through themselves.
Observe, further(3), that there are two
and twenty books of the Old Testament, one for each letter
of the Hebrew tongue. For there are twenty-two letters of
which five are double, and so they come to be
twenty-seven. For the letters Caph, Mere, Nun, Pe(4), Sade
are double. And thus the number of the books in this way
is twenty-two, but is found to be twenty-seven because of
the double character of five. For Ruth is joined on to
Judges, and the Hebrews count them one book: the first and
second books of Kings are counted one: and so are the
third and fourth books of Kings: and also the first and
second of Paraleipomena: and the first and second of
Esdra. In this way, then, the books are collected together
in four Pentateuchs and two others remain over, to form
thus the canonical books. Five of them are of the Law,
viz. Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy.
This which is the code of the Law, constitutes the first
Pentateuch. Then comes another Pentateuch, the so-called
Grapheia(5), or as they are called by some, the
Hagiographa, which are the following: Jesus the Son of
Nave(6), Judges along with Ruth, first and second Kings,
which are one book, third and fourth Kings, which are one
book, and the two books of the Paraleipomena(7) which are
one book. This is the second Pentateuch. The third
Pentateuch is the books in verse, viz. Job, Psalms,
Proverbs of Solomon, Ecclesiastes of Solomon and the Song
of Songs of Solomon. The fourth Pentateuch is the
Prophetical books, viz the twelve prophets constituting
one book, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel. Then come the
two books of Esdra made into one, and Esther(8). There are
also the Panaretus, that is the Wisdom of Solomon, and the
Wisdom of Jesus, which was published in Hebrew by the
father of Sirach, and afterwards translated into Greek by
his grandson, Jesus, the Son of Sirach. These are virtuous
and noble, but are not counted nor were they placed in the
ark.
The New Testament contains four
gospels, that according to Matthew, that according to
Mark, that according to Luke, that according to John: the
Acts of the Holy Apostles by Luke the Evangelist: seven
catholic epistles, viz. one of James, two of Peter, three
of John, one of Jude: fourteen letters of the Apostle
Paul: the Revelation of John the Evangelist: the Canons(9)
of the holy apostles(1), by Clement.
CHAPTER XVIII.
Regarding the things said concerning
Christ.
The things said concerning Christ fall
into four generic modes. For some fit Him even before the
incarnation, others in the union, others after the union,
and others after the resurrection. Also of those that
refer to the period before the incarnation there are six
modes: for some of them declare the union of nature and
the identity in essence with the Father, as this, I and My
Father are one(2): also this, He that hath seen Me hath
seen the Father(3): and this, Who being in the form of
God(4), and so forth. Others declare the perfection of
subsistence, as these, Son of God, and the Express Image
of His person(5), and Messenger of great counsel,
Wonderful Counsellor(6), and the like.
Again, others declare the indwelling(7)
of the subsistences in one another, as, I am in the Father
and the Father in Me(8); and the inseparable
foundation(9), as, for instance, the Word, Wisdom, Power,
Effulgence. For the word is inseparably established in the
mind (and it is the essential mind that I mean), and so
also is wisdom, and power in him that is powerful, and
effulgence in the light, all springing forth from
these(1).
And others make known the fact of His
origin from the Father as cause, for instance My Father is
greater than I(2). For from Him He derives both His being
and all that He has(3): His being was by generative and
not by creative means, as, I came forth from the Father
and am come(4), and I live by the Father(3). But all that
He hath is not His by free gift or by teaching, but in a
causal sense, as, The Son can do nothing of Himself but
what He seeth the Father do(6). For if the Father is not,
neither is the Son. For the Son is of the Father and in
the Father and with the Father, and not after(7) the
Father. In like manner also what He doeth is of Him and
with Him. For there is one and the same, not similar but
the same, will and energy and power in the Father, Son and
Holy Spirit.
Moreover, other things are said as
though the Father's good-will was fulfilled(8) through His
energy, and not as through an instrument or a servant, but
as through His essential and hypostatic Word and Wisdom
and Power, because but one action(9) is observed in Father
and Son, as for example, All things were made by Him(9a),
and He sent His Word and healed them(1), and That they may
believe that Than hast sent Me(2).
Some, again, have a prophetic sense,
and of these some are in the future tense: for instance,
He shall come openly(3), and this from Zechariah, Behold,
thy King cometh unto thee(4), and this from Micah, Behold,
the Lord cometh out of His place and will came down and
tread upon the high places of the earth(5). But others,
though future, are put in the past tense, as, for
instance, This is our God: Therefore He was seen upon the
earth and dwell among men(6), and The Lord created me in
the beginning of His ways for His works(7), and Wherefore
God, thy God, anointed thee with the oil of gladness above
thy fellows(8), and such like.
The things said, then, that refer to
the period before the union will be applicable to Him even
after the union: but those that refer to the period after
the union will not applicable at all before the union,
unless indeed in a prophetic sense, as we said. Those that
refer to the time of the union have three modes. For when
our discourse dears with the higher aspect, we speak of
the deification of the flesh, and His assumption of the
Word and exceeding exaltation, and so forth, making
manifest the riches that are added to the flesh tram the
union and natural conjunction with the most high God the
Word. And when our discourse deals with the lower aspect,
we speak of the incarnation of God the Word, His becoming
man, His emptying of Himself, His poverty, His humility.
For these and such like are imposed upon the Word and God
through His admixture with humanity. When again we keep
both sides in view at the same time, we speak of union,
community, anointing, natural conjunction, conformation
and the like. The former two modes, then, have their
reason in this third mode. For through the union it is
made clear what either has obtained from the intimate
junction with and permeation through the other. For
through the union(9) in subsistence the flesh is said to
be deified and to become God and to be equally God with
the Word; and God the Word is said to be made flesh, and
to become man, and is called creature and last(1): not in
the sense that the two natures are converted into one
compound nature (for it is not possible for the opposite
natural qualities to exist at the same time in one
nature)(2), but in the sense that the two natures are
united in subsistence and permeate one another without
confusion or transmutation The permeation(3) moreover did
not come of the flesh but of the divinity: for it is
impossible that the flesh should permeate through the
divinity: but the divine nature once permeating through
the flesh gave also to the flesh the same ineffable power
of permeation(4); and this indeed is what we call union.
Note, too, that in the case of the
first and second modes of those that belong to the period
of the union, reciprocation is observed. For when we speak
about the flesh, we use the terms deification and
assumption of the Word and exceeding exaltation and
anointing. For these are derived from divinity, but are
observed in connection with the flesh. And when we speak
about the Word, we use the terms emptying, incarnation,
becoming man, humility and the like: and these, as we
said, are imposed on the Word and God through the flesh.
For He endured these things in person of His own
free-will.
Of the things that refer to the period
after the union there are three modes. The first declares
His divine nature, as, I am in the Father and the Father
in Me(5), and I and the Father are one(6): and all those
things which are affirmed of Him before His assumption of
humanity, these will be affirmed of Him even after His
assumption of humanity, with this exception, that He did
not assume the flesh and its natural properties.
The second declares His human nature,
as, Now ye seek to kill Me, a man that hath told you the
truth(7), and Even so must the Son of Man be lifted up(8),
and the like.
Further, of the statements made and
written about Christ the Saviour after the manner of men,
whether they deal with sayings or actions, there are six
modes. For some of them were done or said naturally in
accordance with the incarnation; for instance, His birth
from a virgin, His growth and progress with age, His
hunger, thirst, weariness, fear, sleep, piercing with
nails, death and all such like natural and innocent
passions(9). For in all these there is a mixture of the
