- Alieve, leaving them not even a shadow of an excuse. For from their own heart, though they had so many things to make them ashamed, they became inflated; and they presented the lethal fruit of their own soul, namely, unbelief.
Vers. 32. Photius. As man, he explains; for as God, He is above what is great.
Of the same. He shall be great, as He already was, even if He puts on the humility of the flesh. For the assumption of humanity does not diminish the magnitude of the divinity, but rather the humility of humanity is lifted up to it. Even if, therefore, He has been lowered as to the flesh, yet He shall be as great as He was.
Of the same. You will not name Him, but He shall be called; by whom, if not evidently by the consubstantial Father? For no one knows the Son except the Father; and he in whom there is true knowledge of the begotten is worthy, as it is agreed, to impose the name. Therefore He says: This is my beloved Son. He is therefore always, even if now the name is declared to us for our instruction. Therefore it shall be said, "He shall be called," not "He shall become." For He was even before the ages, reigning together with the consubstantial Father. Him you shall conceive, of Him you shall be shown to be the mother; Him your virgin womb receives, whom the immensity of the heavens does not contain.
B Photius. But what regarding these things did the most holy Virgin do? Did she say that she was immediately softened by the words, or that, having gladly opened her ears to the reasoning, she gave her assent without investigation? By no means.
Chapter II. Vers. 34. Photius.
I know, she says, clearly, that you are announcing to me a conception, a pregnancy, a Son, and a birth. But you have greatly increased my anxiety, O Angel; for every birth is brought about through the intercourse of a man; but my alienation from the company of men does not even allow the thought of conception to enter my ears. How, then, shall there be a birth for me, whose begetter is not known?Photius. For He who loosens the bonds of barrenness can Himself also provide a birth for her, without the cooperation of a man. For He who restores a dried-up root into a fruit-bearing stem, He also will renew for Himself a dry field into a fertile one. And if you wish to accept the belief in these things which are announced through examples, comparing the great to the small, and adding belief in future things through things past, you shall thus conceive in your womb and bring forth a son, just as the rod of Aaron sprouted without cultivation, as if aided by the power of roots; as the dew descending from heaven upon the fleece moistened it alone, but did not moisten the earth; as the bush burned with fire, and nourishing the flame remained unconsumed: so also you shall conceive a son, lending flesh, providing nourishment to the immaterial fire, and preserving incorruptibility. For these things long ago prefigured your pregnancy; these were renewed and existed beforehand, so that they might shadow forth the incomprehensibility of the mystery existing in you. C D
A Photius. Since, he says, you have made clear that the Holy Spirit shall come upon me, I do not resist, nor do I contradict. Let it be done to me according to your word. If I am judged worthy by the Master, I shall serve, rejoicing in his will; if the Creator dwells in the creature, let him build his house for himself, as he has willed. Let him form his own flesh in me, as he knows and as he wills; may your words be completed for me in reality.
B Photius. The salutation is heavenly; the conception is without seed; the pregnancy is ineffable; the birth pangs are absent; the seal of virginity is the resolution of the pangs; the birth is incorrupt; and she who brings forth is a virgin even after the birth. God in the flesh is the one being born; a choir of angels makes the miracle a song. Where there is a concurrence of such and so great things, how could anyone dispute it—even if he set his whole study on being impious—that the Virgin was not a virgin and did not remain so until the end? Thus the truth of the undefiled words wished to set forth the paradoxical and supernatural and that which is beyond comprehension, which is the birth without the knowledge of a man; but what follows, he left for us to understand as a consequence. For that she who was a virgin in the place, and continued in virginity throughout her life, is neither new at all nor paradoxical, but rather follows necessarily from the things previously narrated. Moreover, the Evangelist knew how to blunt the blasphemy of the Jews, who slandered the seedless birth as being from fornication. Therefore, they are set against their evil mentality, through which the inviolability of the one bringing birth is demonstrated, but also the word "until" [donec], which is understood sometimes for the distance of a series of time, and sometimes for the indication of great and divine works; as it is taken here, not for the distance of some other time, but on the contrary to show an infinite duration. For "in his days shall righteousness arise, until the moon is destroyed," and "Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool" (Ps. CXVII, 20), and "I am with you until the consummation." For it is evident that the "until" there does not introduce a temporal limit or end; but this word, showing the magnitude of divine things, leads the mind of those who encounter it toward an infinite extension. But ten thousand other things can be found through which it is made clear that the word is taken to mean "continually" and "unto the ages." C When, therefore, these most audacious men show that after the destruction of the moon the righteousness of Christ and our God is reduced to nothing, and after his enemies have been placed under his feet he is cast down from the seat at the right hand of the Father, or even after the consummation of the age, when they themselves will be repelled from the mansion of the disciples, then let them argue whether after the ineffable birth the Virgin sought the company of a man.
D Photius. When the elder had completed his doxology to God, he then turns to the blessing
A of those who brought the child; then he turns his words toward the mother alone. For he communicates the blessing to both, but he directs the prophecy of the more ineffable things to the mother alone, so that by the common blessing of the form of the parents, he might not strip Joseph of it; but by the words spoken to the mother, distinguishing the Virgin from that man, he might truly proclaim her the mother, whom he also blesses as having served the divine will. Then he speaks also to her: *This child is set for the fall and rising of many in Israel.* You see how he relates the whole economy of the mystery to the Virgin, and provides the narrative of this to her; and he calls the fall here that of those who have fallen away from faith in Christ and piety; and the resurrection, that of those who have recognized the Savior.
Photius. A sword pierced the soul of the most holy and ever-virgin Mary, by reason of the very saving passion of Christ, not that she was agitated by doubtful thoughts, or wounded by the darts of incredulity; nor that she exchanged her joy for sorrow, but that she allowed her own maternal heart to feel, according to natural sympathy, for her Son being crucified. For how would a mother not suffer, seeing her Son, and especially one far better than human nature, suffering the punishments of the wicked? This was the case for the undefiled Mother of the Word, a suffering more bitter and sharp than any sword. For even if she had many reasons for steadfastness, knowing that her Son was God incarnate, yet she did not altogether dissolve the laws of nature, but yielded to nature, so that it might shine forth within its own limits. Thus, seeing a terrible suffering with maternal eyes, the spectacle laid before her, like the wound of a sword, wounded and pierced her soul. B
CHAP. III. VERS. 3. Photius and Cyril of Jerusalem.
It is perhaps permitted to think and to say that the baptism of the Forerunner also provided the remission of sins, but not of all; just as neither did the legal rites and sacrifices. For neither the law nor the baptism of John provided the cleansing for homicides committed with premeditation, nor if someone had violated the marriages of others, nor for those things for which that terrible and heavenly fire was sent against the guilty in wrath, nor for many other wicked and similar deeds; but for all these, the law—insofar as the first Lawgiver had not already taken action—set the sword as judge. But the baptism of John was open to all for salvation, as something far greater in its own power. C The baptism of the Forerunner, then, provided, as has been said, the remission of sins, but not of all; for this is the prerogative of the Lord's baptism. But it did provide it, preparing perfection for the Savior; it was a cleansing preceding the cleansing, and a partial remission preceding the total remission; and an imperfect purification foreshadowing the perfect D and...A disposing the way; cleansing indeed from past sins, but granting nothing of safety or strength for the future. But the baptism of the Lord and Savior washes away all past things, and provides virtue and strength, so that we may not be snatched away into our former lapses and passions; indeed, it introduces us into the kingdom of heaven, and, what is greater than all, bestows the adoption of sons. The baptism of John indeed provides the remission of sins, but not the inheritance of the heavenly kingdom, nor does it raise one, much less, to the dignity of adoption. These things are spoken of more clearly in John and Matthew, to whom remitting those who are learned in these matters, let us return to the subject at hand.
CAP. XVI. VERS. 31. *Photius.* Avarice and liberality do not accord with one another; a merciful man is far removed from the hatred of the rich toward their brethren; therefore, and a great chasm has been fixed between hell and the kingdom. B
CAP. XVII. VERS. 33. *Photius.* The nails pierce the palms of the Lord, and they pull out by the roots the knots of our wickedness that have clung to our members, by which the human race was devastated and corrupted. A crown of thorns is tightened around His head, and the painful noose of the ancient curse is removed from the neck; a lance pierces His side, and the fountain of our salvation is unstopped.
CAP. XXIII. VERS. 45. *Photius.* But rather, the veil of the temple is rent while the Lord is hanging upon the wood, for many reasons, I suppose. For as for the earth being shaken, it is possible for the incredulous to attribute that to the natural perturbation of the elements; but that the veil was rent, with no one in particular tearing it, from the top even to the bottom, shows this prodigy to be the wrath of God. It was also a symbol and a forewarning of the perpetual destruction and desolation of the famous temple of the Jewish rites. And thirdly, because piety will no longer be enclosed in some part of the world; but all the ends of the earth will be brought into the participation of the mysteries. Furthermore, the ark and what it contained was made according to the C pattern of man and those things which are under heaven; and this was separated and hidden by the veil; it showed that up to that time the entrance into the heavens had remained impassable to men. Therefore, the veil is rent when Christ is crucified, proclaiming and announcing to us all the entrance into heaven.
VERS. 50. *Photius.* Joseph was once a secret friend and a nocturnal disciple of Christ; but at length, breaking the bonds of fear, he became more fervent and bolder than those who followed openly. Having taken down the Lord’s body, hanging in disgrace from the wood, he did not neglect the service he could render, by the moderation of his words, buying the precious pearl, and hiding the zeal for these things. For not as a man proud in mind and speech did he ask for the body, but D
A as one who gives with mercy and kindness, he requests the dead for burial. He approaches Pilate, casting away all hesitation and fear, as if taking part in the council, he suggests that the body of the deceased be taken down. For the Preparation was already waning with the setting of the sun, and the law of the Sabbath was appearing at its inception; and it seemed more persuasive, while also perhaps indicating the law for which it was not right that the bodies of those executed should remain hanging. For while in other matters the Jews acted lawlessly, and with uncovered face transgressed the customs of their fathers, in those things where nothing contrary to their will was encountered, and which were most easy to accomplish, they were anxious to show reverence for the law. Give me, says Joseph, if you will, the burial of the dead Jesus, whom all his acquaintances went off and abandoned, he for whose passion many had flocked together as spectators, but now not one remained, not even of his friends, to be his undertaker. Fear of the kingdom is absent from you; dead is he who was accused of intending to seize the power of the magistracy, but who, up to the very claim of it, was seen to be innocent of every injustice; whom the prophet-killing tongue and voice and hands, with you consenting to pass a more humane sentence, brought under judgment of death. Grant me the favor of agreeing, through which you harm no others in the least. For neither will the crowd of the Jews be annoyed if the earth knows the hidden enemy. B Rather, they will be vexed when they see dead the One they envied; for this both causes their murder to triumph on the cross, and also attracts the pity of those who see [him], and provokes those who crucified [him] to loathe their own cruelty; nor will they brandish the friendship of Caesar, saying, "You are no friend of Caesar, if you give a dead body to the earth to be buried." If you but wish it, the fulfillment of the request is unhindered, and he receives the body of Jesus taken down, and honors it with the accustomed cares.
BY THE SAME
C Myrrh, therefore, anointing the Lord’s body with aloe—which was the final honor among the Jews for the dead—and wrapping it in funeral cloths, he places it in a new monument. A new monument, indeed, had been prepared, as Joseph found a way to show honor to the Lord himself; for the tomb was new and private, not common and defiled by many bodies, so that it might bestow, as among the dead, reverence upon the One being buried. And this was for the sake of a double cause ordained by God: first, that when the miracle of the resurrection occurred, for the Jews, who dared everything and were shameless, some other of those buried with him might not be reported as having risen—not the one condemned by them to the cross, who rises from the dead—but that every occasion for falsehood and hostility against God might be cut off from them on every side. Second, that it might not seem to some that only those bodies arose from the tomb to which the Lord’s body had been joined and brought near; which even when the body of one of the saints was still living, and D even more so when dead, it differed [from the Lord's body]. But [it happened] so that, as if the power of the Lord against Hades had been manifested over all things, not yetA in fire and air dispersed, it might be clearly recognized that He had accomplished the resurrection by His own power. For many of the saints, with whose bodies He had not been buried, arose in various places, lying here and there and sporadically, and not near the Lord's tomb, and appeared to many. By these events, it is shown more clearly that the death and resurrection did not occur for some and not for others, but for the Lord of all. For these and such reasons, a new tomb B for the Lord was hewn by Joseph, a man who, indeed, did not see all these things at once, but intended only one thing—honor; yet Divine foreknowledge was at work, preparing and arranging all things.
CAP. XXIV. VERS. 31. OF PHOTIUS
It must not be thought that the transgression opened their eyes; far from it. For it is not written that their eyes were opened during the transgression itself, but after the transgression. It is much the same as saying that after a sin, a greater knowledge of the offense is given, and the magnitude of the audacity C is then more fully recognized. For when the passion that obscures the mind and drives it furiously towards sin has ceased after the impious action, then, as if released from that thick cloud and from a kind of drunkenness, the reason contemplates the action. And when it has been brought from one state into another, it listens more to the conscience, which, pricked and stirred as if by stings, clearly sees what it had not seen when obscured by passion. Now, everyone tends toward sin in a different way, when the evil one, by flattering and charming us, weakens us and fills us with darkness, bringing forward soporific arguments and closing the eye of the conscience. But after the action, he places before our eyes what has been dared, and bitterly reveals what he had previously D veiled with many artifices; then, to complete the manifest gravity of the deed, he strives to cast the sinner into despair. Therefore, the phrase "Their eyes were opened" is not to be understood as referring to the time before, nor to before they had sinned against the commandment. For at that time they had their eyes more open, before they had been deceived by the serpent's whispers, and they bore a mind that was vigilant and capable of seeing what was to be done. Therefore, not being able to see, they fell into sin; but on the contrary, those who were blind while acting in sin, recovered their sight once the sin was committed. Therefore, it is said: "Their eyes were opened," as if to say that their vision was sharpened toward recognition; for the Lord was managing things so as not to be known to them until the breaking of the bread.
OF THE SAME
He hastens the promise because of the disciples' faint-heartedness; and for this reason, He appears to them in Jerusalem itself before [their departure for] Galilee, and this is by no means a violation of the promise. Rather, it is a swift fulfillment born of great loving-kindness. Moreover, He was seen after this in Galilee, because they had gone there; for He says: "Go, and you shall see me."
FRAGMENTS ON JOHN
Ex Catena Corderii.CAP. IV. VERS. 13. *Jesus answered, and said to her: Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again; but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst.* A Photius: When she said, "Are you greater than our father Jacob?" he did not answer, "Certainly I am greater," for he would have seemed merely to be boasting, without any proof appearing. But through what he says, he establishes this. For he did not simply say, "I will give you water," but first passing over that of Jacob, he praises his own, wishing to show the difference between the gifts from the nature of the gifts themselves, and how much he excelled the patriarch; for he says, "If you marvel that Jacob gave this water, I will give you water much more excellent than this."
VERS. 20. *Our fathers worshipped on this mountain, and you say that in Jerusalem is the place where it is necessary to worship.* B Photius: The Jews, being imbued with rather crude opinions concerning the divine and bodiless nature, contended that God must be worshipped by everyone only in Jerusalem, as if that incomprehensible and ineffable nature were somehow once and for all condensed and circumscribed in one place there. Wherefore, as being altogether unrefined and inexperienced in this matter, they were reproved by the voice of the prophets, with the Lord saying: *Heaven is my throne, and the earth the footstool of my feet. What kind of house will you build for me, says the Lord? Or what is the place of my rest?* But the Samaritans, in turn, being neighbors to the Jews in location and region, and likewise in ignorance and lack of refinement, assuming that prayers and supplications should be offered on the mountain called Garizin, do not deservedly escape ridicule. C Yet there was also a pretext for this foolishness of theirs, namely the blessing which we know from Deuteronomy was given on Mount Garizin. This question the woman proposes to the Savior as a most difficult problem, saying: "Our fathers worshipped on this mountain," and what follows. To which the Savior replies that a place will no longer be sought in which God is thought to dwell properly, but that as one who fills all things and holds all things together, each [person] will worship the Lord from his own place, just as one of the holy prophets says. He calls the hour and time of the abrogation of such rites his own advent in the body into this world.
Ex catena, t. II, p. 444. CAP. XVII. VERS. 13... Saying: *That they may have my joy made full,* he clearly shows that, wishing to free them from much affliction, he previously...
and he spoke, for which reason, by descending to their understanding (for he wished to comfort them, not to teach them at this time the precision of theology), he converses in a more human way, and as they were able to be comforted, saying: A "Keep them," and, "In thy name," and, "When I was in the world, I kept them," and similar things. My joy, he says, is as it were spiritual, confirming souls, but not such as the world has, which consists in luxury, pleasures, and bodily comforts. This book B has, but perhaps, like many others, they are scholia which that codex interjected, but with his name written in the margin thus, [φω]. To this scholium, however, it is not ascribed.
FRAGMENTS ON THE EPISTLES OF SAINT PAUL
Ex Catena Crameriana I. IN EPISTOLAM AD ROMANOS. (CRAMER. t. IV.)B CAP. V. VERS. 14. *Sed regnavit mors ab Adam usque ad Moysen.* Photius. There are three things in these points compared parabolically with one another: a certain likeness, an opposition, and a hyperbole. According to the likeness, an opposition indeed is made: sin, the sinless; enmity toward God, reconciliation toward God; condemnation, justification; ruin and falling and death, salvation and life and resurrection. There is, therefore, an opposition in these; but the likeness is in that, as it passed through one unto all; but the hyperbole is that, whereas in the case of the worse things, many cooperated with the one in participating in the evils, in the case of the better things, no one cooperated, but only the grace of the one Christ came to be. So that the likeness is not in the same way or equally, but by way of hyperbole and out of superabundance. Again, through Adam, the worse things were brought in; not only were these removed—which, as in opposites, carries with it a likeness and analogy—but also better things were bestowed through Christ; which presents the hyperbole and the superabundance. VERS. 19. *Quemadmodum enim per inobedientiam unius, etc.* Photius. Saying that Adam was a type of Christ; but a type is evidently from the opposite. For as he was the cause of death to men, so Christ is the cause of resurrection to men. Saying therefore, as we said, that Adam was a type of Christ; since he is about to explain this, he sets forth not only the likeness and the type, but also the excess and superabundance in the type and likeness. For this is indicated C by his saying, "But not as the trespass," and again, "And not as one who sinned." Since, therefore, his argument has become in a way composite to him, weaving a certain lack of likeness into a likeness; now he resumes, D
and clearly and purely demonstrates that as by one man death reigned, so much the more shall they reign in life by one, Christ. He adds, as if drawing a conclusion, and bringing the argument into an even clearer and more concise form, saying: "Therefore as by one trespass there came upon all men condemnation," and what follows. B Furthermore, since both in the first and composite argument, and in the second, which is clarified and repetitive, and in the conclusion that is brought in as it were as a summary—he makes mention of trespass, gift, condemnation, donation, and justification: whence also he took his beginning. In no way had the connection of the opposites of each been indicated. Now he clarifies and unveils this very thing, and says that the one flowed from disobedience, while the other blossomed from obedience; so that this may be a demonstration of the exposition in which he exhibited the type and the similitude, such as that, "For if by the trespass of the one, death," and so forth.
The divine Apostle is not, therefore, repeating the same discourse, as one might suppose, in these things, but clearly and very precisely connects and arranges the force of these heads. C This is, therefore, that which goes: "But not as the trespass," and the things that follow, down to: "From many trespasses into justification," which is an exposition, as we have said, showing the type and the similitude; it was lacking, therefore, in clarity and explanation. The exposition that follows provides this, repeating what has already been said, and explaining and setting it forth in the open. But it was necessary for a conclusion to be given to this as well, so that it might not seem to consist merely of hypothesis. He does not omit this, but, as if drawing a conclusion and trusting in the truth of the discourse, he brings it forth with an affirmation: "Therefore as by one trespass," and so forth. Then, since he had been speaking in so many arguments about where justification and condemnation had their beginning, he does not overlook this either, but sets it down, saying: "For as by the disobedience," and so forth. D
CAP. VII. VERS. 8. Sine enim lege peccatum mortuum erat (For without the law sin was dead).
Sin was indeed dead; but I was in life, as one not troubled, not wounded, not slain by it. How, therefore, did it revive through the law? In what way? Because, the law being given, it was spurred on more toward fighting, and dared everything that it could to do harm, considering that he who kept the commandment was about to be crowned, and for this reason it became more envious. And I, in turn, recognizing sin through the law, and because in this knowledge I did the things that I ought to have avoided, I sinned all the more because of it; and I made it more powerful against myself, adding strength to it through the knowledge of the unjust act, and quickening and reviving it, weak and dead though it was. But when it lived, it slew me. Before it was called back to life, I lived more. But that was before the law and the commandment; so that, even if the law was not
A sin, yet, upon its being given, sin revived in two ways: both by itself being stirred up and stimulated to attack, and by our own unreasonable action, according to our knowledge, strengthening it and offering it the ambush against us with boldness. But while it revived, I died.
For sin, having taken an opportunity. As he said above, "Sin, having taken an opportunity, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence," he adds that it not only wrought all manner of concupiscence, but it also slew me. This has become unto death. Then, as is his habit to join causes with causes, and to indicate the sequence of things in his words, he goes back and sets it forth in a way. He says, "It wrought all manner of concupiscence," and he says, "Because, having taken an opportunity, it seduced me." Then he leaves the aforementioned to be understood B here, because from this it wrought the concupiscence; and letting that be, he attaches the end, "and it slew [me]." In which, if one were to take it in succession and piece it together, his meaning is thus: "Sin, having taken an opportunity, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence; but it wrought the concupiscence by seducing me; and having wrought the concupiscence, it slew me." Deception, therefore, is the cause of concupiscence, and concupiscence is the cause of death. But sin wrought the deception through the commandment, so that the superabundance of its malice might appear, in that it wrought the worst thing through the good.
*Photius.* He said, "According to the commandment," a second time: "Sin, having taken an opportunity by the commandment"; explaining the same things in various ways. And rightly so; for the law held great C glory. He shows, therefore, that it brought no profit, but even caused harm by circumstance, so that he may appear clear when he preaches that it has ceased, preceding as it does the faith of Christ.
*Vers. 12. "So the law is holy," etc.*
*Photius.* But you may simply call the law holy: because it guarded those who kept it from uncleanness; just, because it rewarded those who acted rightly with gifts, but punished transgressors with penalties; good, because it did not punish taking pleasure in the penalties or in anger, but for the sake of their salvation. And further, because it granted great things D to those who performed small things rightly; and it spared those who sinned, and did not punish them according to the worth of their transgressions. But he, running through these, concludes from them that the law or the commandment is holy, just, and good: from one thing, because it taught me sin and commanded me to flee from it; from another, because it did this out of care and concern. It is holy, therefore, because it taught and commanded me to flee from uncleanness; just, because, having taught me thus, it demands the penalty from those who sin; and good, because it accomplished these things while providing life for me.
*“That which is good, therefore, is become death unto me.”*
*Photius.* He wished to show the magnitude of sin; and since a greater evil than this could not be found, by showing its magnitude through this very thing, he says: "That sin might appear," that is, that the whole wealth of its malice and its power might be revealed.