Commentary on the Orations of St. Gregory of Nazianzus (38–44)

ADDENDA

Above in column 543, we referred the reader to the Works of St. Gregory the Theologian, where we edited Nicetas of Serron’s exposition on two orations of St. Gregory in Greek and Latin by way of example. Afterward, having considered the matter more maturely, and having taken into account the authority of Nicetas among many, we decided to publish the complete commentary. The reader is referred to the columns of our edition (vol. XXXVI).

NICETAS OF SERRON METROPOLITAN OF HERACLEA EXPOSITION ON THE ORATIONS OF ST. GREGORY NAZIANZEN Translated by Jacques Billius

ON ORATION XXXVIII.

ARGUMENT.

COMMENTARY.

Column 311 A. "Christ is born," etc. The name "Christ" properly signifies both at once, namely God and man. Improperly, however, it is sometimes taken for the divinity of the Word alone, and sometimes for the humanity alone. An example of the first signification is, "Christ is born." For God and man are born at the same time. And likewise that, "Christ is on earth," and "Christ is from the Virgin." But that which is said, "Christ is from heaven," is concerning the divinity alone. For God alone, without humanity, descended from heaven. And likewise that, "Christ in the flesh," this is, God in the flesh. But that which is concerning the humanity alone is set forth in the Apostle: "Christ died for us" (2 Cor. 5:15), that is, Jesus. For it happens because of the highest union that even when the natures are received separately, they are called by the name of Christ, which has the power of joining both natures. Furthermore, it should be noted that he did not say, "Christ has been born," but, "He is born this day": because he who pursues the praises of this feast day, as if of things not so

^A ancient but present, will be able to encounter Him as He descends from the heavens, provided he lifts himself above earthly things and raises himself up on the wings of action and contemplation, according to that which was said by the Apostle: "We shall be caught up... to meet the Lord in the air." That saying of Sabuchiminus also squares perfectly with these words: "Christ on earth." For because He, the cause of our salvation, was cast down and made earthly, we because of Him have been lifted up and made heavenly. But that saying, "Sing to the Lord, all the earth," belongs to David. Furthermore, in this passage, "earth" is understood as the men living on the earth. But because at that time, on account of Christ being born, the angels and shepherds were praising God and were filled with joy, it is necessary that I also do this, that I might combine these two into one, and gather together both heavenly and earthly things, and say with David: "Let the heavens rejoice and the earth exult," ^B that is, both the heavenly angels and the men living on the earth. Or indeed, even the inanimate elements themselves are invited to gladness on account of the incredible magnitude of the joy. Isaiah says something similar: "Be glad, ye heavens, and let the earth exult; let the mountains break forth into gladness, because the Lord has had mercy on His people." Furthermore, the Theologian took that which concerns "Christ in the flesh" from the first epistle to Timothy, in which Paul says: "God was manifest in the flesh." But those words, "Exult with trembling and joy," were taken from the second psalm of David. For in it he speaks: "Serve the Lord in fear, and exult in Him with trembling." The sentiment of the Theologian, however, is such: Since, he says, God is in the flesh, exult, yet not purely and simply; but let your exultation be tempered with trembling and joy—the former on account of sin, which had made us unworthy ^C of His advent and presence, the latter on account of the hope of salvation. For He came that He might save that which was lost. Now let us also weigh what follows. Christ, born of a Virgin, championed virginity. And whatever women have been seized by the love of virginity, in a certain manner imitate the holy Mother of God. For virgins, he says, shall be brought after her, following her, namely, through imitation. And therefore, as far as the pursuit of virginity is concerned, they may be called mothers of Christ. But in an allegorical sense, every soul, whether male or female, which keeps itself pure and incorrupt like a virgin, away from every foul and obscene affection, conceives the Word by virtue and brings Him forth. Presently, through an interrogation, Gregory infers: "Who does not adore Him who is from the beginning, on account of His divinity? Who, likewise, does not praise the ^D last one, on account of His humanity?" For He came to us in these last days. That phrase, "from the beginning," our Theologian received from the Theologian John. For thus he writes: "Who was from the beginning." And in the Gospel: "In the beginning was the Word."

Col. 313 A. "Again darkness is dissolved," etc. Moses in the beginning of Genesis writes that those first darknesses, together with the heaven and the earth, were dispersed and dispelled as if subsisting by the production of light. But now the Theologian calls darkness error and sin: he calls true light the doctrine of faith and virtue. And darkness is indeed dissolved as an accident: light is created as a substance. For if error and sin are against nature, truth and virtue are according to nature. For the seeds of these have been sprinkled and implanted in our nature. Next, Egypt was indeed formerly afflicted by the plague of palpable darkness, just as Moses has handed down; but now ignorance and sin are tormented by darkness, that is, they are destroyed by slaughter. In addition to this, Israel was then enlightened by the pillar of fire: but now Israel may be called the pious people, who look upon God spiritually. The pillar of fire, however, is truth, or Christ Himself, who covers and enlightens us and shows us the way to the heavenly land of promise. And what follows, "The people that sat," etc., is taken from Isaiah; but the Theologian, explaining of what darkness the Prophet speaks, added, "of ignorance." And in the same way he dealt with the light, subjoining, "of knowledge and science." Again, that phrase, "Old things have passed away," etc., he took from the II Epistle of Paul to the Corinthians; for the old things have indeed been made new. For in place of the lamb we have Christ, in place of circumcision baptism, in place of manna and water the body and blood of Christ, in place of the earth heaven, and other things in the same way. Explaining this passage of the Apostle further, he adds, "The letter gives way, the spirit prevails." By the letter he understands the written law and its ceremonies, but by the spirit the Gospel, inasmuch as it openly prescribes spiritual sacrifice and spiritual life. For the old law used to command all things according to the sense of the letter. But the old law is called "written," because it was written before it was proclaimed among the people: but Christ taught the Gospel by mouth, even though it was later also consigned to the monuments of letters. And see how accurately and exactly Gregory speaks: "The Gospel prevails"—that is, it has all the higher things, and overcomes by authority and power. Yet the law gives way, so as not to be completely abolished and extinguished. For those things which were performed according to the external sense having been obliterated and abrogated, the spiritual things retained their force. And the shadows, that is, the precepts of the written law, as being significative and shadowing forth spiritual things through those things which fell under the senses, passed away—that is, they received their end. But as the shadows withdrew, the truth shadowed forth by them came into the midst. Truly, when Moses was dealing with the matters of Melchizedek in Genesis, he made no word concerning his father, nor mother, nor the beginning of his life, nor his end. Whom Paul, in the Epistle to the Hebrews, says bears the figure of Christ in these words, "Without father, without mother, without genealogy, having neither beginning of days, nor..."

end of life, but made like unto the Son of God." ^A From this passage, the Theologian borrows his sentiment, saying that Melchisedech is inferred—that is, it is syllogistically constructed, concluded, and demonstrated. For since Christ, with regard to his supernal and first generation, was without a mother, so too was he made without a father, according to his inferior and second birth. Or it is inferred—that is, joined and perfected. For the Son of God was initially only half Melchisedech, insofar as he lacked a mother. But later, having also become without a father, Melchisedech is now perfected. Yet there is this difference between the two: that Melchisedech is, by nature, without father or mother, and likewise without beginning or end, but this is known due to the ignorance and silence of him who recorded his affairs, God having ordained it so; Christ, however, is such by nature. Therefore, the one was an image and shadow, while the other is the truth. For an image is not the same thing as the truth. But it is useful to know that an image is sometimes prior to the thing of which it is an image, and sometimes posterior. It is prior in signs and shadows, as in the legal sacrifices and other ceremonies of the Old Testament, and indeed in this Melchisedech; it is posterior in those things which are taken from the archetype, just as a painted Paul is an image of the living Paul.

^B In another way, also, the supernal world must be filled, namely, that the sheep which had strayed from the hundred-fold flock might be brought back, and the lost drachma might again complete the number of ten, and that prodigal son might fulfill the duality. But where does God command the supernal world to be filled? Perhaps when he says: "In my Father's house there are many mansions." He wishes these mansions to be filled by us. Or perhaps when, concerning those who are invited to the banquet, he says: "Compel them to come in, that my house may be filled." Or when he says: "He that can receive it, let him receive it." For Adam, having loosened and violated the laws imposed upon him, became through the likeness of his transgression a leader to men. Christ, however, having made of no account in reality those kinds of laws which Adam had broken, showed that the higher world is filled when those laws are confirmed and established. And let these things be explained in this way. But that passage, "O all ye nations, clap your hands," is from David; and the clapping of hands is, furthermore, a sign of joy. But for what reason must we clap our hands? Because, as Isaiah says: "A young child, the Son of God, is born to us," that is, for our sake. For we are born for our own sakes, that we might enjoy light and life; but Christ is born for our sake, that he might bestow benefits upon us, and he is given to us, whose principality, according to the same Isaiah, is "upon his shoulder." For he went forth, bearing his cross upon his shoulders; and this is his principality, as it were a sign and a scepter of the empire and power by which he dominates all things. Indeed, Christ, after the death which he suffered on the cross, rising again said: "All power is given to me in heaven and in earth"—that is, as to a man, which he possessed as God. For he says ^C that with the cross he is at the same time exalted—that is, with the cross being lifted on high, while he himself was being fastened to it, he was simultaneously exalted, attained perfect victory, and was glorified through the cross. For exaltation signifies two things: a simple lifting up from the earth, and glory. One of these is applied to the cross, the other to the humanity of Christ. Moreover, the cross signifies affliction and mortification. Therefore, Christ is exalted, and glorified in us, when we are lifted up above earthly things, and are weighed down by afflictions, and die to the vicious motions of the soul. Nor does it escape me that some have explained this passage thus: "Whose principality is upon his shoulder," because all other kings have their empire and kingdom established not in their own strength, but in that of others, such as soldiers, bodyguards, and defenders; but Christ alone has his principality upon his shoulder, that is, in his own power. For by the shoulder, strength is signified. Now, that also taken from Isaiah, "His name ^D shall be called the Angel of great counsel," whose

Col. 313 BB. The laws of nature are overturned, etc. That is, the laws of nature—that a woman should not conceive without the congress of a man, nor give birth without pain, nor retain the beauty of virginity after childbirth—these are indeed overturned in the Mother of God by contrary things, for she conceived without a man, gave birth without pain, and remained a virgin after childbirth.

Moreover, when he says that the supernal world must be filled, it can be understood in various ways. Either because Lucifer, having fallen with the apostate forces subject to him, left behind a void, and it is necessary for it to be filled by us who have been exalted to his rank and order through virtue. Or because, just as Adam, having transgressed the laws prescribed for him by God, filled this lower world with men who were, by the flesh, subject to destruction and corruption, becoming their leader and author through the likeness of his prevarication: in the same way, Christ, by deleting and abrogating the laws of Adam in reality, showed that the higher world is filled, becoming a leader to those who are born according to him unto incorruption, through the likeness of his obedience. And he calls this the supernal world which preceded sin, which indeed brought in the laws of ignorance; by which, once extinguished again by Christ, the world is filled with incorruption. Or even because, just as marriage fills the lower world, so virginity fills the higher; since it associates those who are eager for it with the virgin angels. Indeed

^A the Theologian adds to this council, namely that of the Father [it is from Paul in the Epistle to the Hebrews]. In that place, this council was the restoration of mankind. For what I have heard from the Father, he says, that I have declared to you. But where is his name called the Angel of Great Counsel? Nowhere. Yet such he was, even if he was never called so. It is, however, familiar to the Holy Scripture to refer to the actions themselves instead of names, as in this place. Likewise, when it is said to the Prophet: Call the little child; quickly bring plunder and hasten to plunder, and Emmanuel.

^B John cries out, Prepare the way of the Lord, etc. John, he says, when Christ was born, prepared the way and cried out, just as Isaiah says of him: Prepare the way of the Lord. In which place, by the “way,” he understands the hearts of the pious, through which the word of the Gospel preaching proceeds; I, however, will proclaim the nature of the present feast. That which is devoid of flesh is incarnate, not according to mutation, but according to the assumption of humanity. For he preserved that emptiness of flesh which he had, and assumed flesh which he had not. Moreover, that saying, The Word grows thick, is the same as, The Word became flesh. For flesh is a thickness. And see, how he gradually progresses to more admirable things. For thickness suggests matter more than incarnation does; again, it is more sensible to be seen by the eyes than to be incarnate; and finally, it is thicker to be handled than to be perceived by sight. In another way also, after he said that Christ is incarnate, he adds the properties of the flesh, namely thickness, and that he falls into sight and touch. For though he was not seen even by the celestial angels before, now he is seen because of his union with a visible man. ^C He is seen, however, not insofar as he is the invisible divinity, but insofar as he acts and exerts the efficacy of the divinity; that is, he is not seen insofar as he is the invisible God, but through those things which he performs as God, we see that it is God, since he performs things worthy of God through the medium of the human body. Gregory took these words, “He is seen and handled,” from the Epistle of John. For he writes: That which was from the beginning, which we have seen, and our hands have handled. The Eternal and the one who knows no time takes a beginning. For if he has become flesh and has had the properties of flesh, it is necessary that his birth also took a beginning. But that which is the head of the statement, the Son of God is made the Son of man, not by the law and order of nature. For nature does not know of its own accord that a virgin is a parent without the marriage bed of a man. But when he was true God, he was made a corporeal man. All these things, however, occurred not according to mutation, but according to assumption. For this one thing is the solution to all propositions of this kind. Furthermore, the saying, Jesus Christ is yesterday and today, the same also into the ages, is to be understood corporally for you as yesterday and today. But what follows, The same also into the ages, is to be understood spiritually. And indeed, through “yesterday” the past time is signified; through “today” the present; but through the “ages” eternity and immortality. Since, however, some, like the Jews, do not wait for Christ, who was lifted up on the cross for the sake of our salvation, but expect another one to come again, for this reason the divine Apostle, for the confirmation of faith and right doctrine, says that this same Christ would come again to render a just judgment on the world. Moreover, by these words it is shown that Christ has a tripartite time according to his divinity, and that another is not to come, as some opine, but that the one who came is this very one, who was yesterday, that is, in the past time, and today is in the present time, and according to the future time will be into the ages. ^D Now, truly, as to what he says: The Jews are offended, etc., he alludes to Paul speaking thus in the first Epistle to the Corinthians: We preach Christ crucified, to the Jews indeed a stumbling block, but to the Gentiles foolishness. For the Jews were offended by the miracles they received, striking against the flesh; but the Gentiles mocked at the excellence of the preaching as superior by nature, namely because God was made man, because the immortal had undergone death, and other things of the same kind; he calls the itching of the tongue, the long-winded trifles and ravings of the impious dogmas. Yet then will the heretics believe, when faith has been built up for them by most certain arguments, that Christ has ascended into heaven with his flesh. For thus he himself promised, saying: When I shall be exalted, I will draw all things to myself. But if not even then, yet certainly when he descends as judge from heaven. For when these two contend with the adversaries, namely power and persuasion, if indeed in this life the heretics are not led to believe by reasons and arguments, they will be compelled by the things themselves on the last day: when every knee, whether it will or not, shall bow to him.

Ibid. But these things later. Now, however, the Theophany, etc. But these things, he says, are for the future, namely that some might believe in the ascension of Christ, others in the descent. The present feast, moreover, and the same matter, namely the Nativity of Christ, is called by a double name. For because he who was born consists of a double nature, the name of this feast is also double, namely the Theophany of the divinity, the Nativity of the humanity. Insofar as he appeared as God, the name Theophany was given to this event; insofar as he was born, Nativity. And as God indeed he always was from the everlasting Father, and was above cause and reason (for no cause preceded why the Son was generated from the Father; nor is there anything more ancient than him).

^A But man it was who was made at the end of the ages. The reason for his subsequent birth, moreover, was our restoration: that he who had granted life (for all things were made through him) might also bring us the blessed life. But lest anyone suspect that man was not given a blessed life from the beginning along with life, the Theologian remedies this suspicion by saying that we did indeed possess a blessed life at first, but that we fell from it on account of sin. For this reason the Creator put on the creature, that he might renew and restore it, and bring us through the works of his incarnation back to our original state, that is, to the blessed life which we had received from him and then lost. For when we were destitute of the knowledge of God and turned away towards things that do not exist (for only good things, as originating from God who truly is, possess the nature of substance; evil, however, lacks all substance), we were also stripped of the blessed life, that is, we remained dissolved and fallen into death and corruption. ^B It came about that we were driven therefrom, and just as death flowed from life, so may more joyful things spring up in turn from these. Indeed, in place of the lost paradise we have received heaven, and having fallen away from our angelic way of life, we have been called to the adoption of children, and in place of the life we had lost, we have received the heavenly kingdom as an inheritance. For, as the Apostle says, "Where sin abounded," in man, that is, "grace and benefit did much more abound." And if one of the five senses, namely taste, brought upon us the cause of condemnation, how much more has the one Christ justified us, having suffered the most bitter pains for our sake in his entire sacrosanct flesh? Which sentiment is accepted from the Apostle who says: "Therefore as by the offence of one unto all men to condemnation; so also by the justice of one, unto all men to justification of life."

Ibid. *Wherefore not as is wont to be done in public festivals, but divinely,* etc. Wherefore, he says, let us celebrate the festival, not as is the custom in public festivals and celebrations with luxury and lasciviousness and amusements of this kind, but spiritually and as is pleasing to God, not in the way of the world, that is, voluptuously, and as the prince of the world understands it, but above the way of the world, that is, angelically, not our own concerns—that is, those things which pertain to our own service and observance—but those things which look to the worship of Christ, who is indeed our kinsman as far as humanity is concerned, but Lord as far as divinity, not those things which are of infirmity, but those which are of healing. For the celebration of the festival ought to accord with the mystery of the day. And if indeed we were to keep the feast because of the infirmities ^C into which we fell, it would have to be celebrated petulantly and lasciviously. For feasting and intemperance belong to infirmity. But since we are moved by the contrary cause, and therefore celebrate the festival day because a medicine has been brought to us, temperance must be applied to the celebration of this feast: for temperance is of the medicine, inasmuch as it proposes to itself the healing of the soul as its goal. Not that which is of creation, but that which is of recreation and restoration. For there is an incorporeal birth, just as the birth itself is bodily, as well as the solemn joy instituted because of it: but since our recreation and restoration is spiritual and divine, the festival must also be celebrated spiritually and divinely. Furthermore, by "creation" in this place he does not understand that first creation by which Christ, having taken dust from the earth, fashioned man with his own hands from the beginning, but that mutual succession which happens through generation, by which we mortals are naturally fashioned in the maternal womb. That, moreover, we shall attain for this reason, if according to the exhortation of the Theologian we celebrate the festival spiritually. Nor let us encircle the vestibules of our houses with tree branches, as some are wont to do in festivals, ^D nor, what is of more shameful effeminacy, let us conduct dances outside the church.

nor—what is still more popular—let us decorate the city streets, hanging up various kinds of elegant finery to the enjoyment of those who flock to the festival; nor, what is fouler, let us feast our eyes on the absurd gesticulations of jugglers or the spectacles of bodies that stir up the goads of pleasure. For the banquet and pleasure of the eyes is to gaze curiously upon what is by no means fitting. Having begun to compose our senses, the Theologian enumerates them all, and first indeed vision, which is the prince of all the senses; then hearing, commanding us to take care lest obscene songs flow into our souls through the ears. For from such a class of music, the most abject and sordid effects are wont to arise. Some also leap and rage furiously to the flute, that is, they present the spectacle of frenzied men and of those driven by the intemperance of demons. And now, the smell of delicate perfumes softens and effeminates the sense of smell; and, moreover, to be anointed with perfumes belongs to womanly wantonness. We cater to the sense of taste when we surrender it to the pleasures of food. Finally, touch has the gratification and pleasure of foully and obscenely touching bodies. But what could anyone say to dissuade men from seeking the pleasures of touch and taste, except that he forces those who are diligently occupied in pursuing them to imitate the life of beasts, which nature has fashioned for the belly and for lust? And, to sum up the matter in a few words, the senses, unless they be properly governed, are easy paths to vice and doorways to sin. For through them an opening is provided to us for vices, and through them, sin flows and enters into the soul. Let us not be softened by delicate clothing, which indeed flows around and slippingly pours itself over the entire body: and this for a double reason, both because of its superfluity and smoothness, and because it extends to the full length and breadth of the body. It is "tender" because of its softness and smoothness, and also because of its brilliance, in which there is even this greatest of vices: that as it is fashioned with the greatest expense and greatest elegance, so it lies most useless because of its thriftlessness, nor does it offer any use of itself. For we consider all the most beautiful garments, once locked away and hidden in a chest, to be useless. Let us not use the skills of colors, painting our faces with ceruse and rouge and other harlot-like and lustful ointments and frictions, which feign native beauty, referring to it by a certain imitation, and have been devised and thought up against the divine image. For they obliterate the face and cover the form which God, the painter of nature, has fashioned for us. Furthermore, let us walk honestly, as the Apostle commands, "not in reveling and drunkenness, not in chambering and impurities." He elegantly joined "chambering and impurities" with "reveling and drunkenness," for from the latter these are born. For the reveler and the drunkard looks to his chamber and indulges in lust, overwhelmed by vice and inflamed. For reveling and drunkenness lead, like evil masters, evil teaching into the mind, namely, bed-sharing and lust. Or rather, since it is fitting to teach those properly endowed with a soul, it would be more apt to call drunkenness the seed, and lust the crop and the harvest.

Ibid. C. *Nor let us set up high couches, spreading delights for the belly, etc.* It was customary in festivals and public banquets to place platters upon tables, upon which meats were piled high in a heap: and that thing was called *stibas*, and it bore a certain form of a tent. Or *skenopoiountes*, that is, preparing from time to time things that pertained to the belly’s delights. Or, as if bringing delights to the belly in a certain tabernacle and pleasant place: or, soothing the belly with delights. For it is the property of a tabernacle and tent to soothe. Moreover, *anthosmia* is wine endowed with a beautiful color and a sweet odor, or because it recalls the scent of the sweetest flower. *Lenocinia*, in Greek *manganiai*, that is, superfluous, curious, and manifold apparatuses. Furthermore, he calls precious refuse "delights" out of contempt: precious indeed, because in the beginning they are sought with supreme greed: but refuse, because digested food is exuded into refuse. Finally, *akrasia* is called intemperance, because it is not at all tempered by the necessity of usage. For indeed, since to indulge in delights is in itself grave and unworthy, it is much more unworthy when meanwhile others are oppressed by hunger. Furthermore, Plato himself says in a certain place, "They are trifles, whatever is superfluous both in deeds and in words."

Ibid. D. *But let us leave these things to the Gentiles and to Gentile pomps and festivals, who even in these, etc.* But let us reject these—that is, to indulge in delights and belly-pleasures on feast days—to the Gentiles, who, since they have gods that rejoice in the smoke of sacrifices, do nothing alien when they think that by stuffing their belly they are rendering grateful worship to them. Fabricators, as they indeed imagine themselves to be, of gods, but in reality [fabricators] of demons. For they themselves created them through fabulous stories, and in order that the name of gods might be attributed to demons, they became the authors. And the priests, as those who have become teachers and worshipers of such mysteries among the multitude, are called in Greek *mystai*, as if initiated by the demons themselves and imbued with error. But we, who worship and adore the Word, that is, the Son of God, let us take our delight in words, if indeed anything is to be attributed to delights, that is, in conversation about God and holy and grave narratives, in the number of which the sermon of this festival also is to be placed. For the delights of discourse will be apt and congruent, both for us who are endowed with the faculty of speech, and also for the Word and God Himself, who has called and gathered us to His festival. If you wish, since I—

act as the parts of a life-giver ^A, I shall instruct you copiously and magnificently on the spiritual banquet of words; so that you may understand how I, who have come to you from another region as a stranger, who formerly embraced the tranquility of the countryside, who by no means indulge in luxuries, but live a life in poverty and am without a home—how I, I say, can nourish you, who are citizens and natives of Constantinople, urban, fond of delicacies, and conspicuous for your wealth? Furthermore, it must be known that an *agroikos* is one who dwells in the country and in the fields, but an *agroikos* [in the secondary sense] is rude, inept, and stupid.

Col. 518 A. "Hence, however, I shall begin, and I ask you," etc. By this, he says, I shall make the beginning of my discourse from the doctrine of the Divinity. But you, whoever of you hold onto divine things as a luxury, since this oration is divine, and it is not right for the impure to touch what is pure, receive it with a pure mind and ear, so that you may depart satisfied and filled, not with a food that perishes, but with one that remains. Furthermore, our discourse is not to be long, lest it bring weariness by its length; nor short and imperfect, lest it bring annoyance by its deficiency; but it is to have its own virtue, so as to be at once concise and absolute. It must also be known that the doctrine of the Divinity proposed in this place is expressed in exactly the same words in his second oration on the feast of Pascha; and with good reason. For to labor to express in a new form of speech those things which have once been said most correctly is a matter of a certain preposterous ostentation. This oration on the Nativity is older than the one he wrote on the feast of Pascha; for this was published at Constantinople, but that one after he had resigned, as they say, from the archiepiscopal throne.

Ibid. D. "God, and He was always, and is, and will be," etc. These words are from Plato's *Timaeus*. "Was" and "will be" are species of time, which we do not rightly attribute to the eternal essence. For to Him, "Is" alone truly belongs. Therefore, having borrowed these from Him, the Theologian says: "Was" and "will be" are segments of this flux and caducous nature of ours. For since human affairs are in motion and flux, it is clear that their time is of the same kind. One part of it has passed away, another is in the future. For the present ^D of it can in no way be apprehended; for before it is grasped by knowledge, it flies away and slips by. For the "now" is momentary, and without division. The account of divine things is different; for since they are devoid of all motion, surely it is necessary that their nature also be firm and constant and of one mode. For *aion* takes the etymology of its name *apo tou aiei*, that is, from that which always is, just as *chronos*, that is time, [is so named] *apo tou rheein*, that is, from that which flows. Wherefore, to those things which are in time and have had a beginning, "was" and "will be" are appropriate. For example: my father was yesterday, I am today, and my son will be tomorrow. But God always is, and, as I might say with the divinely-speaking Dionysius, He embraces the entire ^A essence within Himself. For Scripture says: "I am the first, and I am hereafter, and before me there is no other God, nor will there be after me" (Isa. XLIV, 6). For the whole essence of Him, having neither beginning nor ever to have an end, is like a vast sea of essence, immense indeed and infinite, as lacking beginning and end; yet it is interminable, as not being circumscribed by place nor by any definition declaring His nature. For God exceeds all thought: of time, indeed, as being infinite; of nature, however, as being included by no limits. Yet the mind, not without reason, as the image of God, receives a certain thin and very obscure contemplation. ^B God is shadowed forth by the mind, not from those things which are in Him, but from those things which are around Him—that is, not from His proper nature and essence (for that cannot in any way be comprehended or perceived by the intellect), but rather from His effects—that is, from creatures, and from the government of things and His providence. For, carried aloft and rapt on high through the actions and works of God, and conceiving the Creator in our mind through creatures, we arrive at the knowledge of His goodness and wisdom (for this can be known of God, which God has revealed to all mortals), and we gather another species and imagination from another thing into one image and likeness of truth. Since the presence of spiritual light and divine splendor, as the great Dionysius speaks of divine matters, converts the mind of those who have been deemed worthy of such glory and contemplation from many and various opinions and imaginations to that which truly is—that is, to God—and gathers the multiplied visions, or, to use a more apt word, the imaginations, into one true and pure and uniform knowledge. Moreover, this meager image of truth, not only when it has been understood, cannot be held, but not even fully and perfectly comprehended; for as soon as it begins to be known, it immediately snatches itself away, no differently than a lightning bolt, which, before it has been fully beheld, flies away and escapes the eyes. But for what reason is God thus understood, but yet cannot be fully perceived and comprehended? In my judgment, it is so that through that which is seen to some extent, and obscurely known, He may draw us to Himself; but through that which can be seen to some extent, yet not perfectly comprehended, He may draw us into admiration of Himself, and by exciting admiration for Himself (from this, of course, that He escapes the grasp of our intellect), He may be more ardently loved and desired; and, being desired, may cleanse those who desire Him, and make them god-like; and when one has arrived at that point, God, true and natural, now talks familiarly with those who are called gods by grace, bestowing upon us, as each has been cleansed, the divine splendors of His knowledge, and showing Himself as much knowing and to be imagined as He himself also knows those who are known through the purity of their soul.

^A He added, however, "Perhaps," to mitigate that which He had said about God being comprehended by us according to the rationale of purification. For no one can know God in the way that he is known by Him. This, moreover, he borrowed from the Apostle, writing to the Corinthians concerning the state of the future life in these words: "Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also have been known." [38*] This is what Chrysostom explained as follows: "Just as Christ here runs to me and has joined me to Himself in intimacy, in the same way I also shall then run to Him." That expression, "Just as I also have been known," is the same as if he were to say, "Just as I have been joined to Him in intimacy." For according to the nature of that intimacy by which we shall have been joined to Him in this life, we shall then know Him, some more fully, some less fully. For just as if some king should find an infant lying at a crossroads, and should take him up and adopt him, and heap upon him all glory and honor, then indeed, at that age, he does not know how great a benefit he has received, and therefore does not embrace the author of such a benefit with love, as is likely; but after he has arrived at man's estate, and has understood from what status and fortune he had been raised to such dignity, then truly he respects and pursues with love Him by whom he was honored with such great honor: in a similar way we too, who in this life are infants in regard to knowledge and understanding, after we have attained perfection in the future age, then at last shall we know how we have been known, that is, how we have been loved.

^C Col. 319 A. "Immensus and infinite is God," etc. The Divinity, in regard to nature, is incomprehensible; but it is difficultly comprehensible in regard to those things which are around it, that is, its counsels, governance, and works; but it is comprehensible in regard to immensity and infinity: however much Eunomius may think that God, because He is simple, can in no way be difficultly comprehended and perceived by the contemplation of the mind, but is either altogether incomprehensible or altogether comprehensible, as lacking parts and being like Himself in every respect. "In composite things alone," he says, "does it hold true that a thing may be partially understood and partially remain unknown." But this is the solution to this Eunomian delusion: Simplicity in God does not have the rationale of nature, such that anyone could conclude from it that, because He is simple, He can be understood either altogether or in no way. But the divine nature is one thing, and simplicity is considered in relation to the nature. Therefore, one must first inquire what God is in regard to nature, before we speak of simplicity, which follows nature. Wherefore, nothing prevents God from being called, in a different rationale, both incomprehensible and difficult to comprehend.

^D Ibid. "But now, since immensity is considered in two ways," etc. After he declared God to be immense, he now shows what "immense" is, namely that which is superior to beginning and end, such as God alone is. Since, therefore, we have been carried upward in thought to the higher ages, and have looked out into the immensity of the divine life, as if into a most vast ocean, because we cannot grasp any beginning from which He might have taken origin, but we observe that the life of God is always external to and more sublime than our thought, for this reason we have called Him that which lacks a beginning, *anarchon*, that is, devoid of a beginning. Again, when we have extended our mind to these succeeding and lower ages, and we see that the life of God is defined by no limit, we name that which is interminate and immense, and not circumscribed by any end, immortal and devoid of destruction. But when we have collected both the lack of a beginning from the superior time and the immortality from the inferior, then truly do we call God *aionion*, that is, eternal. For eternity or the age in God is neither time, nor subject to measured times, that is, days and months; but just as this time of ours is defined by the measure of the solar course, so that infinite extension which is in eternal things becomes the age for them, as a certain temporal mode and interval. The Theologian added "as it were" because he could not provide a description of the age or eternity that was exact and absolute in all numerical respects.

Ibid. "And to us for the present concerning God," etc. He says that the things which have been said concerning God are sufficient. For he did not propose to explain the doctrine of the divinity in this place, but to embrace in his discourse the plan of the incarnation and the submission of Christ. Furthermore, the divinity does not proceed beyond three persons, nor again is it contracted and circumscribed within three persons. For this is a feature of Jewish error, which acknowledges only one person, and is a poverty and neediness of divinity. For it is of the same impiety both to support Judaism through the assertion of one person and to patronize paganism through the assertion of many; although these are found in opposites. For one is opposed to a multitude, and in turn a multitude is contrary to one. The Theologian said this for the reason that he knew those contraries which lack a middle ground have this condition, that if one must be shunned as an evil, the other must be entirely sought as a good; but in contraries which admit a middle ground, both extremes are to be shunned as excess and defect. For instance, intemperance and the stupidity of a spirit abhorring every species of pleasure are to be equally shunned, but temperance, which holds the middle place between them, is to be embraced. Therefore, in the same way, here too, paganism and Judaism are in conflict and are reproved as excess and defect; but Christianity is placed in praise as a certain middle way.

Col. 319. C. “Thus, indeed,” etc. Thus, he says, is the holy Trinity, which I call the Holy of Holies, as containing every holiness within itself: which is indeed covered by the Seraphim (further, that unknown and hidden magnitude of the divinity is designated by the complication of the wings) and is celebrated by three sanctifications and one dominion. For, according to the great Athanasius, these excellent animals, by uttering this word, “Holy,” three times, show the three persons absolutely; and again, in that they proclaim this name, “Lord,” only once, they declare the essence. Since, however, to that highest Good—that is, to God, who is the essential good—it was not at all enough to be moved by his own contemplation alone, that is, to contemplate and understand himself, but that this good ought to be diffused and propagated—that is, one God, according to the reason of those things which were capable of him, was to be spread and multiplied through the communication of his goods. (But what he says, “It ought to be,” does not imply necessity, but indicates the will of the Maker. For the law itself is most fitting.) Since, he says, it was thus necessary, first, as the order and sequence of things carried it, he conceived the angels in thought. And here you must observe that the principle of things which come to be, the cause, is the Father; the producer is the Son, and the perfecter is the Holy Spirit: so that by the will of the Father they exist as ministering spirits; by the action of the Son they are produced into the nature of things; and by the presence of the Spirit they receive perfection and completion. The perfection of the angels is illumination and sanctification, and remaining in it. “For by the word of the Lord,” he says, “the heavens were established, and by the spirit of his mouth all their power.” Moreover, he considers the angels to be either fire, lacking matter and body (according to that of David: “Who makes his angels spirits, and his ministers a flame of fire”), or some other nature, impassible and devoid of movement, and tenuous and simple, far removed from those things we have mentioned—that is, from fire and spirit. For you must be careful not to conceive of anything corporeal regarding the angels in your mind. And I would wish, indeed, that it were permitted to say the angels are altogether immovable toward evil, inasmuch as they are near to God and shine with his primary radiance. But that I should think and say they are difficult to move is persuaded to me by the fall of Lucifer and the demons, who, turning away from that state in which they were directed toward the good, and through their own departure and flight from the good, fashioned evil (for there is no other substance of evil than separation from the good), turn all their thoughts and pursuits to this: that they might draw others also into the fellowship and society of evil. ^A

Col. 322 A. “Thus, therefore, and for these reasons, the intelligible world was created by him,” etc. Thus, he says, the intelligible world was created, that is, in the first order and by a single thought: and for these reasons, this is, not for necessity, but for goodness alone, and because it was necessary for that good to remain and be propagated. ^B But after celestial things were thus created and excellently established (for it could not have happened otherwise), he also willed to fashion and make an observable world, consisting of matter. Now, the world, according to Aristotle, is a structure composed of heaven and earth, and those natures that are contained within their embrace. And it is called a structure and cementing because it consists of these and is completed; yet it is ^C a *sygkrima* [composition] and as it were a *symmigma*, that is, a commixture, because of the elements, which not only have their own places but are also mixed among themselves. For although they are discrete and separated in local situation and nature, yet they are joined by the necessity of mutual relation. And while individual creatures are praiseworthy when considered separately, they are seen to be even more praiseworthy because of their mutual relation to one another. Fire is hot and dry; air is hot and moist; water is moist and cold; earth is cold and dry. Moreover, although fire exists as admirable in itself, yet its mixture with air is more admirable; likewise that of air with water; and again of water with earth. And all things contribute to one another for the structure of the world, and have reasons of their own nature and utility, even if they are more sublime than the grasp of our mind. ^D Furthermore, God produced this sensible world too, so that he might show not only that he could create the intelligible world, but also the corporeal and that which is alien to himself. For angels have a certain kinship with God, insofar as they are devoid of body and are comprehended by the mind alone: on the other hand, all things that fall into the senses are far removed from God and are of an alien nature; and even more remote from these are those things which lack soul. Moreover, such creatures are called alien to God and foreign, according to nature, and because they have no reason of similarity with him. For otherwise, as far as the reason of creation and providence is concerned, they are by no means alien to him and his goodness. But some one might say to me that which is tossed about in the common proverb, “Why do you not spur your speech to the planned subject, for the sake of which we are met and sitting, just as [one spurs] a horse to the finish line?” I shall indeed do this, even though I began my discourse from the doctrine of the Divinity, and was drawn here by the series of the argument. For when I was about to speak concerning the plan of the assumed humanity, that which existed for his sake, it was necessary to explain it, namely, the transgression of man. It was also necessary to add that the author of this transgression was the devil: and because of this, that the devil was by no means created such by God, but was changed for the worse, and that he initiated sin and induced others to sin.

Ibid. C. “Indeed, now mind and sense, thus discrete between them,” etc. Through the mind, the Theologian [understands] the intelligible.

^A [he understands] the angels: but through sense, this world which is perceived by sense. He says also: The sensible and the intelligible world were at once in the creative mind: but when they were produced, then they were also discrete between themselves, that is, created separately. And each remained within its own bounds, that is to say, the intelligible things were only intelligible, and the sensible things were only sensible, and they were not commingled with one another; and by their beauty and greatness they silently preached the power and wisdom of the Creator. However, there was not yet any tempering of the two, nor mixture of opposites, that is, of the intelligible and sensible world, until man was fashioned from an intelligible soul and an earthly body. Moreover, the tempering of soul and body is spoken of so that we might understand our soul to be tempered with the entire body, just as wine is tempered with water. But it is a mixture, because it is separated by death; for such is the nature of the things which are mixed, like barley and wheat. Now, God fabricates man, partly from the matter of the earth made on the first day, and partly from the soul inspired into him by Himself, that is, from His own creative power, and this out of nothing, and not from pre-existing matter: and He established him on earth as a great world within a small world, that is, the sensible one. For this world is small if it be compared with man, for whose sake all things were made. For that, for whose sake something is done, is greater and more excellent than that which is created for the sake of something else. And He constituted him king of all those things which are beneath the moon, so that he might hold dominion over all things which He had founded and produced: on account of the body indeed, which is earthly and perishable and visible; but on account of the soul, which is heavenly and immortal and intelligible. Being in the middle between greatness and humility, that is, between death and immortality, He left it to his own free will which of these he would choose and embrace. For although man was mortal by nature, inasmuch as he was made from non-being, yet because of his likeness to the eternal God, he was in this condition: that if he had kept it integer (namely, by directing every inclination of his mind toward Him, he would have blunted the natural destruction, and remained immortal, and finally lived as God). Or indeed these words: “In the middle between greatness and humility,” are to be explained in this sense: Man is at once humble and great, and he is a participant of both these things—surely of greatness on account of the soul, and of humility on account of the body. And he is likewise both spirit and flesh, so that if at any time on account of his mind he may have exalted himself in spirit, and felt magnificently about himself, and ^B by empty glory and pride may have raised his crests, he may again be drawn in in his spirit on account of the earth, so that he may think more humbly of himself. Moreover, being placed on the boundary of God and matter, by a declination toward matter we become thick and earthly: but by the lifting up of the mind toward God, we are named divine, and even gods. Thus, the lifting up to God is a labor of present effort and industry, but deification is the reward of the future age. For even the small splendor of truth which occurs on earth, that is, the small and thin ray of knowledge, tends toward this. To what end at last? Surely to this: that we might then both see and perceive the clarity of God, that is, that we might be fashioned and illuminated according to it. This must be known, that the rational soul is endowed with that faculty so that it brings growth, sense, and the power of reproduction to the body, and has no other mind around it. For the mind, as Damascene testifies, is the purest part of the soul.

Col. 323 B. “Him endowed with freedom of will,” etc. God, he says, assigned a seat and a dwelling place to man, whichever that paradise was—whether sensible or intelligible—and, as Sirach says: *He left him in the hand of his own counsel*, that is, He endowed him with the freedom of will, so that the good which was being done by him might be excellent and common, both of God, from whom he had been created capable of good, and of man, who had chosen and attained virtue. However, it is my opinion that paradise is the blessed and heavenly life, in which man was instituted and commanded to cultivate divine thoughts like plants, with only one more perfect tree forbidden to him, which had in itself the discrimination of good and evil. But that tree (as I gather by contemplation) was the contemplation of God, and His more perfect recognition and pleasant enjoyment. [Moreover, he called it the tree of the knowledge of good and evil because of the distinction of varied and manifold speculation and contemplation. However, this acknowledgment of one’s own nature or even of God is, indeed, good for those who are perfect and have advanced higher in contemplation, as it declares from itself the excellence of the Maker; to those, I say, to whom, because of such a habit of contemplation acquired over a long period of time, no fall into a worse state is to be feared. But it is called the tree of life, because the sweetness of divine participation brings to those who perceive this fruit a life interrupted by no death. Which is also called every tree by God: *Of every tree*, he says, *which is in paradise, thou shalt eat.* For that is everything through which, and in which, the universe of things is joined together and constituted.] Therefore, for the adult and perfect...

a more perfect knowledge was fitting; but for those who were beginners, it was as grave and useless as solid food is wont to be grave and harmful to infants. ^A Now, man was naked for a threefold reason: both because he was endowed with a simplicity of character, and because his life was not yet instructed by any arts, and because he lacked garments. For after the law was violated, wily malice, and crafts, and garments came into existence. Yet the tree of knowledge was indeed good by nature, but it was good in its use only if it had been perceived in its own time; otherwise it was evil, if it were perceived inopportunely. Furthermore, man was naked, not as lacking flesh and body, but as not having that temperature which would make the flesh coarser, and distracted and torn apart by contrary and pernicious qualities. For he certainly lived in such a way that he did not in the least exhale the good natural condition essentially implanted in him—that is, it was not diminished by the evacuation of the obscure passages of the body, and his essence was not, as it were, drained away; but he always behaved in the same way, without flux and reflux, and without that continuous alteration toward either of these according to the domination of qualities. He also existed free, being in no way deprived of that immortality which is received by divine grace. Nor indeed did he require any covering, both because he feared no infamy due to the innate immunity of the affections, and because he was obnoxious to the injuries of neither heat nor cold. ^B But the devil, observing the softness of the woman and her yielding and slippery facility toward virtue, introduced deception. For the feminine nature is produced soft and full of compassion, so that it may be impelled by mercy to willingly nourish infants. Having therefore circumvented her in this way, and having even drawn Adam himself by her agency to taste of the knowledge (which had a bitter penalty, namely, sorrow and death), he drove them out of paradise, clothed in garments of skins, by which the coarseness and hardness and the mortal condition of man is designated. For at first the body was finer, as being a medium between the mortal and the immortal. But finally, they fell into the desire of the body, and knew themselves to be naked, and were ashamed. Furthermore, they knew themselves to be naked, not so much because of their garments, as because they had been despoiled of the contemplation of divine things, and had turned their mind to contrary things. But knowledge is twofold: the one which precedes things, and is called the adjudicating [knowledge], with which Adam was endowed even before the tree was perceived; the other ^C which is inherent in the things themselves, and is called active, which he acquired ^D in addition after the tree had been tasted. But even death was inflicted upon him for the sake of a benefit, as that which might cut off sin: for it was not expedient that man, not yet tested by temptation, should attain immortality, lest he should fall into pride and the judgment of the devil. For he [the devil], because of the immortality with which he was endowed, after he proudly exalted himself by the determination of his will and mind, had an immutable firmness in evil. Therefore, just as Adam sinned because of his wicked will, so because of sin he fell into the necessity of death. For the wages of sin is death. Rom. VI, 23. For by as much as he withdrew from life, by so much did he approach death. For God is life, but death is the privation of life. Thus, by retreating from God, Adam summoned death upon himself; God, however, did not create it. Nor yet did He prevent the dissolution of body and soul, lest He should keep our sin immortal: just as if someone should refuse to place a leaking earthen vessel into the fire for a while, until He might heal its defect by a new molding and restoration. But goods are by no means [to be given] to souls still in their simplicity, and possessed by a more avid appetite—souls which, because of an uncertain and untrustworthy perseverance in the good, and a less firm constancy in the sole Good, are wont to be recalled and drawn back by the care and solicitude for their own body. And even the Great Athanasius, explaining this passage, says almost as follows: Men, having scorned better and more excellent things, and having turned away from their knowledge on account of sloth, applied themselves more studiously to seeking those things which were closer to them. Furthermore, those things closer to them were the body and its senses. From which it happened that, with the mind turned away from those things which are perceived by the soul and intelligence, they began to consider and look upon themselves; and looking upon themselves, and embracing the body and the senses of the body, and hallucinating as if these were their own true goods, they burned with desire for themselves, forsooth preferring their own goods to the contemplation placed in divine things. And accordingly, since they would not withdraw their mind from closer things, they reached such a depth of misery that they concluded their own soul within the pleasures of the body, perturbed and immersed in every kind of desire, and they forgot the power originally granted to them by divine benefit. For as long as Adam was borne in mind toward the contemplation of God, he was in no way touched by the care of the body: but after he began to look upon himself, he became more coarse and already became earthly.

Col. 326 A. *But in many ways first, etc.* Corrupted, he says, is Adam, that is, the people sprung from the stock of Adam, in many ways of correction, each one according to the merit of his own sins, the beginning of which, and as it were the first root, was the transgression; for he calls this the root of vice, according to diverse causes and times. For not because of the same sins, at one and the same time, have all been corrupted.

But in what ways were they corrected? By speech and address. For God has addressed them in many ways; or even by the *Logos*, that is, by an innate and natural reason; by the Law promulgated through Moses; by the prophets—that is, by the precepts and instructions of the prophets, by benefits, by threats, and by plagues. By opposites they were instructed and corrected: by waters, as in the time of the flood; by fire, as when the Sodomites burned with celestial fire; by signs sent from heaven, as when the sun stood still in the time of Joshua; by signs from the air, as with the plague of dog-flies, hail, palpable darkness, quails, etc.; by signs from the earth, as the pouring forth of waters from the rock; by signs from the sea, as the changing of the Red Sea into dry land; and by the unexpected changes of men, cities, and nations. By all these things God sought to crush malice and take it out of the way. But mortals, in their shameful deeds, by no means stopped at fixed boundaries; but since they had been the inventors of evil from the beginning, they devised new kinds of crimes one after another, and were inflamed with an insatiable lust for sinning. For adultery and theft were rampant everywhere, and the whole world of lands teemed with murders and robberies, and all shameful acts were being committed, both privately by individuals and collectively by all; not even that sin and cursed madness which nature abhors was spared. Moreover, the fountain, the cause, and the end of all evil was the worship of idols and the adoration of the creature above the Creator. For idolatry is, on the one hand, posterior to all evils if consideration is given to time, but, on the other hand, in regard to the gravity and atrocity of the evil, it claims the first place for itself. It can even be called the ultimate of evils, as its end and culmination, and because no other crime can further progress or extend beyond it.

^B In another place he says: "a mobile seal, that is, a living one."

The image of the invisible God, similar in all things 48

^A that is to say, of the properties of the natures concurring in Christ, with each communicating its own to the other on account of the identity of the person and the mutual interpenetration of the same. For to be created and to be made belong to those things which, when they were not, were brought into origin. But He is said to be made who, as God, is eternal, because of the flesh which He assumed. For He borrows the properties of the flesh on account of the supreme union: just as, of course, the assumed humanity is also called God, because it claims for itself the properties of the divinity. He who is, becomes; He who is without creation, is created. These are called the figures of communication. And the rest, although worthy of admiration, must nevertheless be understood as referring to the assumed humanity. For what He was, He remains; what He was not, He assumed. But that which he says—that He who could be contained and grasped by no place, is contained—is difficult and very obscure, nor can anything else be said than that it comes to pass on account of the exuberant magnitude of His power and potential. He who makes others rich is Himself in need. For flesh is poverty, as it has need of many things for its own preservation. But the Godhead is rich and opulent, as being in need of nothing. He who is full, as God, is emptied. But "emptying," or "kenosis," is that descent by which Christ, for the sake of the dignity of the covering, humbled Himself and put on the human form. But what does this great and arcane mystery mean? Since man did not become God, therefore God becomes man, for the sake of my honor, namely, so that by restoring in Himself those things which He received, He might abolish the debt of sin, and through the dead humanity destroy the slayer. Moreover, the restoration is greater and far more admirable than the first creation. For the creation existed by the Word alone: *Let us make man* (Gen. 1, 26), etc.; but the restoration is perfect by the very hand and work of the Maker, namely, in that the Maker Himself became man and built His own house. And furthermore, at that time it was only "to the image." For at first He adorned him with the likeness of intelligence and sovereignty (for from the beginning He established man as the prince of all creatures), but now He adorns him according to substance. For He adorned him through the express likeness of His own flesh. For, having been made man in the last times, He was assimilated to His own creature, and restored it to the expression of His own likeness. From which it is clearly evident that this benefit is more excellent and divine than that former one. For although the participation in the image made man divine, yet the participation in the flesh achieved this much better, which rendered him not only divine but even God, on account of the hypostatic union, and, if one may speak more boldly, a co-god.

^B Col. 527 A. What do the cavillers say to us regarding these things? What, I ask, can those very bitter heretics say against these things—those who weigh the divinity and persecute things that are praiseworthy and clear? Do you cast this up to God, ungrateful man, that for your sake He humbled Himself; that, when you were a lost sheep and were sacrificing to impure demons on the hills, He sought you out and, having found you, enrolled you in the order of the angels; that He lit up His own flesh as a lamp and cleansed the world of vice, no differently than a house is purged of refuse and filth, and found the royal image, which had been wrapped in foul affections and buried, like a drachma in the dung; and, taking joy because of the lost drachma found, He makes the angels participants, whom He also assumed as witnesses and ministers of His dispensation? For at His Nativity a multitude of the heavenly host appeared to the shepherds, praising God and saying: *Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace* (Luc. 11, 14), etc. To this end, therefore, He makes the angels witnesses of His counsel and dispensation. ^C Do you again object to this: that John indeed acted as Precursor, as a *burning and shining lamp* (Joan. V, 35), but that Christ, the *unapproachable light*, appeared after him and followed him, as the Bridegroom follows the voice (for the voice is as it were the material of the word, but the word is the form, informing the voice), so that as a groomsman he might reconcile pious and faithful men to Himself? Why, therefore, do you also reproach this, that He also ate with publicans, who were making unjust gain, so that He might win their salvation? But truly, that matter lacks all reproach, unless one thinks that a physician is to be accused because he lowers himself to the stinking diseases of a sick man so that he may restore him to health, himself meanwhile being in no way affected by the disease: or him who, according to the prescription of the law, bends himself into a pit to pull out a beast of burden, which is viler than man, himself meanwhile being in no way fallen into it.

Ibid. C. *He was sent indeed*, etc. Because some falsely thought that the mission was of a second order, and that it befitted one who was inferior, therefore, when the Theologian had said that Christ was sent, he adds, "as man": since indeed He is called *Servant* in Scripture (Isa. LIII, 7), and *son of a handmaid* (Ps. LXXXV, 16), and *lamb*, and *sheep*, and is even said to have been tired, and afflicted by hunger and thirst (Joan. IV, 6), and to have labored, and to have been seized by anguish (Marc. XIV, 33 seqq.), and thus to have suffered. But these things have a just and honest ^D cause and reason, namely, that He also became man, and Son of man. Wherefore there is no reason why anyone should be offended by these words. For the Word became the Son of man, so that, existing as mediator between God and men, He might minister to us the things that are God’s, and to God the things that are ours. When, therefore, He is said to be urged by hunger, to pour forth tears, to be tired, and to cry *Eli, Eli*, He takes our human affections from us and transmits them to the Father, interceding for us, so that they may indeed be extinguished in Him. But when He says: *All power has been given to me in heaven and on earth* (Matth. XXVIII, 18), and likewise that God is with His...

^A beings, these kinds of expressions declare the benefits of God when conferred upon us. For the Word never lacked anything, nor did anything ever fail Him, nor, conversely, could men provide for themselves. These things are conferred upon us through the Word and are imparted to us as if they were bestowed upon Him. For this reason also, He accepted humanity, so that what is given to Him might flow through to us and pass on. For a mere man could not have been adorned with such privileges, and, conversely, the Word alone could have had no need of them. Therefore, the Son of God is united to us, and then He granted us power, and raised us up to the heights. For the Word, existing in man, exalted man most highly, and thus, through the Word being in man, man received power. Since, therefore, man has been exalted to the heights through the Word being united with flesh, and has received power, these things are deservedly attributed to the Word, through whom they were given. But that union with man, by which the invisible nature could be known through the visible part, He called a mission. For God does not change His place from time to time in the human manner, since He fills heaven and earth; but that fleshly presence and that condescension—He who lowered Himself from incorporeal magnificence to the baseness of the body—is what is called a mission. And even if we grant this, that He is said to be sent as God, it is not thereby inferred that He is inferior to the Father. For in as much as it pleased the Father that the Son should be incarnate, to that extent He is said to have sent Him; and it is in the same way that we speak of the sun as having sent its ray. For Christ ascribes all His own things to the Father, partly to honor Him as His very beginning and cause, who is without any time (for no passage of time intervened in the generation of the Son, but Father and Son are simultaneous), and partly also so that He might not seem to be at odds with the Father. For this reason, He is said to have been sent by Him. Just as He is also said to have been delivered by the Father: *He was delivered*, he says, *for our sins* (Rom. IV, 25). But it is also written that He delivered Himself. For the Apostle says: *Of Christ, who loved me and delivered Himself for me* (Gal. II, 20). Furthermore, He is said to have been called back to life and received by the Father, as Paul says: *God has raised the Lord from the dead, and will raise us up* (I Cor. VI, 14). And Mark says: *The Lord, after He had spoken to them, was taken up into heaven* (Mark XVI, 19). And yet it is written ^B again that He raised Himself and ascended into heaven: *Destroy this temple*, He says, *and in three days I will raise it up* (John II, 19). And Luke: *As you have seen Him ascending into heaven* (Acts I, 11). Furthermore, those things which are said of Him more humbly and abjectly indicate the Father's good pleasure; but those which are said sublimely and magnificently show the power of the Savior. But the heretic is of such perversity of mind that he counts and recounts the humble words but, by his silence, suppresses and passes over the sublime ones; and he does not count the fact that Christ suffered, lessening Him—the fact that He suffered voluntarily and of His own accord (from which His power is declared) he does not add at all. But such are the things that the Son and Word of God suffers even now. For by the Sabellians, He is honored as God, but he is confused. For they used to say that there is one three-named person in the godhead, asserting that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are the same. But by the Arians, He is held in contempt and separated as mere flesh. For by reducing the Son to the order of creatures, they removed Him from the Father's divinity. Since, therefore, both are engaged in equal impiety, with which will He be more gravely angry, if He wishes to deal with them by just judgment, or rather which will He pardon more, if He uses gentleness and clemency? Whether the Sabellians, who wickedly contract and contend that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are one three-named person? Or indeed the Arians, who impiously divide and separate the Son from the Father's substance? For it was necessary for the Sabellians to divide by number—that is, to confess and number three persons—and it was fitting for the Arians to join three persons in nature and divinity, confessing one nature and divinity of the three persons. Do you stumble, O heretic, and take offense at the Savior's flesh? The same thing also happens to the Jews. Do you abrogate faith in Christ's divinity? Indeed, not even the demons did that. Thus, you surpass the demons in incredulity, and the Jews in the slowness of your mind. For the demons, when they were expelled by Christ, confessed Him to be God. For the things they suffered, being invisibly tormented, gave them faith in Christ's divinity ^C; and consequently they said: *What have we to do with thee, Jesus, Son of God?* (Matth. VIII, 29). The Jews, however, when they had heard Him saying: *My Father works until now, and I work* (John V, 17), received these words in this sense, that because He affirmed His Father to be God, He also made Himself equal to God, and for that reason they persecuted Him. But you, neither as the Jews, wish to understand the equality of the Son with the Father, nor, as the demons, to confess His divinity. Wherefore it would have been safer for you to have been circumcised according to the rite of the Jews, and consequently, like them, to understand the equality, and to be agitated by the furors of the demons, and confess the divinity, than, while remaining in the foreskin and in unharmed health, uninterrupted by any insults of demons, both to surpass the Jews in slowness and ignorance, ^D and also to be vexed by that disease of denying the divinity, from which even the demons themselves were free.

Col. 350 B. And indeed a little later, etc. Briefly, he says, it is to happen that you will see Christ purified for my sake, with that purification which it was fitting to apply to me, as one stained by sins. For He was baptized in our stead. For some of the words and actions of Christ do not apply to Him, but to us. Actions

^A such as that He Himself was baptized; but words such as: *My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?* For it is plain that He takes upon Himself our feelings, because of the nature which He had in common with us, apart from sin. You will see, therefore, he says, Christ baptized in us, or, to speak more correctly, sanctifying the nature of the waters by that cleansing with which He Himself was cleansed in the opinion of men, inasmuch as it was itself also defiled by the sins of men. For the Lamb of God, who, as it is in John, takes away the sin of the world, what need would He have had for cleansing, finally? You will also see the heavens torn open, which Adam had closed both to himself and to us, and testimony given to Christ by a kindred, that is, a co-essential Spirit. For from the same cause the Son and the Holy Spirit go forth. It is to be noted, however, that "kindred" is used of those things which are of the same substance, and of those which have a different substance. But when it treats of those things which are of the same substance, it is predicated according to nature, as in this place: but when a discourse is instituted concerning those things that differ in substance, it is according to union, as when discourse is held concerning the body and soul. In which sense the Theologian in the funeral oration which he held concerning his brother Cæsarius, speaks thus: "A little later the soul is about to receive its kindred flesh." 62 ^B *All diseases and all infirmities* (Greek: πᾶσαν νόσον καὶ μαλακίαν). But there is this difference between disease and infirmity, that disease is a long-standing inversion of the bodily condition for the worse, that is, an infirmity which now holds sway over the animal. Infirmity, however, is the beginning of laxity, foreshadowing disease. And thus they are taken in regard to the body. But in the soul, disease is an act of sin: infirmity, however, is the relaxation of the reason toward the assent to an actual sin. Moreover, Christ was healing all, whether affected in this way or that, both spiritually and bodily. But in what way He affixed my sin, that is, Adam's (for I maintain that the sin of my first parent is my own) to the cross with Himself, hear: Adam in no way obeyed the precept of the Lord; but Christ, the new Adam, took away this disobedience of the old, having become obedient even unto death, even the death of the cross 63 and the stretching forth of hands toward the forbidden tree, by the stretching forth ^C of hands on the cross; and He cures the pleasure of the tree through the pain of the cross: and in the same way, in other matters, contrary things have been cured by contrary things. John also points Him out as a lamb with these words: *Behold the Lamb of God.* And Zacharias, one of the twelve prophets, looks upon Him as a priest, and says: *The Lord showed me Jesus the great priest.* 70 Furthermore, by the lamb is signified His slaughter for our sins; but by the priest, the fact that He was voluntarily slaughtered. Now, indeed, after His baptism, He used the ministry of angels: *For behold*, he says, *the angels came and served Him.* 71 Moreover, He recalled the dead to life, as the daughter of Jairus, 72 and the widow's son, 73 and finally Lazarus. 74 How I would that He might have restored you also to life, who are dead in the perversity of doctrine and faith and gripped by infidelity, as one extinguished through unbelief. Moreover, He drove away demons, now by Himself, as in the region of the Gerasenes, 75 now through His disciples and apostles: *For in sending them*, he says, *He gave them power against unclean spirits.* 76 Now indeed, with five loaves He fed four thousand men, besides the women and children, who if they are added to the number of the men, will be found to have fed not only thousands, but even myriads of men. 77 Good God, how many feasts occur to me for each mystery of Christ! In all of which there is one head and one scope, namely, my perfection. For the incarnation of God happened for my sake, and all His mysteries, so that I may be made perfect through the keeping of the commandments, and through the perfection of virtues may obtain the name of God, ^D indeed, restored through baptism; and that I may return to the dignity and greatness of the first Adam, that is, of him who was before the transgression of the commandment, from which we all together with him have been cast down and prostrate. ^C Col. 330 D. Now however, accept the concept, etc. These, he says, are the works and sufferings of Christ recorded by us, which you will see afterward. But now receive His birth and dance before Him: if not as John, then certainly as David. Moreover, John the Forerunner bears the figure of those who, from the cradle, are steeped in divine baptism and sanctified from childhood, and by progressing to the end, preserve a most firm and constant habit of virtue. For when he was still in his mother’s womb, he recognized his Lord and leapt with supreme joy. But the prophet David designates those who, having fallen into vice, again through repentance restore to the soul the exultation of divine grace, which is grounded in virtue and knowledge. For David also, when he had been bound by the crime of adultery and murder, afterward worshipped God with outstanding and ardent piety, and pleased Him. He danced, however, at that time, beginning the dance before the ark, when it, having been recovered from the foreigners, ceased to be carried here and there, and rested among his own people, as is related in the second book of Kings. Therefore, whether you have not fallen into sin at all, or whether you have fallen and risen again through repentance, confess the Nativity of Christ, and exult at His presence, and do not permit the ark of virtue and knowledge placed within you to be subjected to the lust of certain Philistines; but with them oppressed and cut down, bring it back to yourself, and dance a becoming and measured dance. I think, however, that through the dancing of David...

^A the agility and manifold reason of a pious life are indicated.

Col. 330 D. Revere the census, on account of which in heaven, etc. The Lord was enrolled together with His mother and Joseph among the servants according to Caesar's edict, so that we might be enrolled in the book of the blessed. Revere, therefore, this census, and honorably cherish the nativity of Christ, on account of which you have been loosed from the bonds of birth. For the bond of birth is sin, its companion. For from transgression, both marriage and generation proceeded; and thus we are born in sins. But Christ, having been born, brought holiness also to our birth, and henceforth marriage is honorable and the bed undefiled. Bethlehem, however, is small, as being the least among the princes of Judah until Christ was born: which indeed recalled us again to the perception and pleasure of the ancient paradise, receiving Christ who was being born, who led us back to it. And the Word was also placed in a manger, that we, having turned to the mindlessness of brute animals, might no longer be dragged down to a sordid and cattle-like state, but might learn to live according to God and not according to the turbulent movements of the soul, and be nourished by the magisterium and discipline of the Word.

Col. 331 A. Know, as the ox, etc. Seasonably the Theologian makes mention of the prophecy of Isaiah on account of the brute animals, the recognition of Christ, and the manger. For God, through the Prophet, sharply rebuking the Israelite people as ungrateful and senseless, says: The ox knows his owner, and the ass his master's crib, but Israel has not known me. By which words he says that the Jews have turned out to be almost more stupid than mute animals. And this discourse is appropriate for all who are ungratefully and unjustly disposed towards God. But in this place, the ox is assumed as the figure of the Jewish people, who were subject to the yoke of the law; the ass, ^B however, as the figure of the Gentiles, both because it was alien to the law, and also on account of its impurity and coarseness. For the ox, as being sharper for recognition, knows its owner; the ass, however, as devoted to its belly, knows the manger. And see what allegory of the ox and the ass he brings forth. For since the ox is a clean animal, and subject to the yoke, and ruminating, and is slain and eaten for the sake of sacrifice; in the ass, however, all things are otherwise: Know, he says, O listener, who it is that is born, whether you are an ox, that is to say, of the Jews, who parade their purity and cleanliness and are counted under the yoke of the law, and are fit to be offered to God in sacrifice, and ruminate and digest right doctrine, because, indeed, they first handle the doctrine of the Christian faith, revolve and recall it in their memory, and divide and grind it as if with teeth by accurate examination, and spitting out everything that is useless, they cast whatever is suitable for food and life into the depths of the mind as if into a kind of stomach. For purity is also denoted by rumination. Or if you are of the Gentile and impure part, and useless for food, as being of no profit to your neighbors, and ^C least of all fit for sacrifices, as being in no way pleasing and acceptable to God. For impurity and other things said in the same way belong to the Gentiles and infidels, because, indeed, they are in no way fit for food and sacrifice. For the food of those who eat fosters and supports life.

Ibid. Run with the star; offer gifts with the Magi, etc. God willed His bodily nativity to be signified by a star. For it was fitting that the Word coming down from heaven should also be indicated by a heavenly sign. Moreover, he runs with the star who imitates it, that is, he who preaches Christ to those by whom He is ignored, or he who appears bright and distinguished by the splendor of his virtues, or he who is carried above all earthly things. That person, however, offers gifts with the Magi who spiritually imitates their offering. For gifts were also offered by them. Now gold is the sign of a king, because through gold subjects affect a king with gifts. Thus fragrance, of divinity, because incense is accustomed to be burned to God: finally myrrh, of death, because the dead are anointed with it, so that they may not stink or rot. But you, in place of gold, offer the splendor of pure actions and words. In place of incense, prayers: For it says, Let my prayer be directed as incense in thy sight. But in place of myrrh, the oppression and extinction of the affections, ^D which preserves the substance of the soul and perfumes it with a sweet odor. But in what way will you celebrate God with praises along with the shepherds and archangels and angels, and sing hymns and dance? Surely if you have imitated their admiration, affection, and joy. For indeed, for the sake of our salvation, the heavenly and blessed minds also celebrate a feast, as those who are endowed with love for God and men. For Christ gave testimony of their praise for each, speaking through parables thus: The woman who finds the lost drachma calls together her friends and neighbors, saying: Rejoice with me. Therefore, as friends of God, they themselves rejoice. But that they are lovers of men is clearly evident from those angels whom David describes at the end of the twenty-third Psalm, ascending together with Christ, and first meeting those angels in heaven who were commanding that Davidic word: Lift up the gates, etc. For they themselves also [have] the same joy.

they were dispersed, as the war that was wont to press upon mortals had been suppressed and extinguished. And they were also lovers of God, because they held dear what God loved. Moreover, they encouraged one another to lift up the gates, namely those who accompanied Christ as He ascended, ^A [encouraging] those who were in the second heaven, or even in the firmament; and these, in turn, [encouraging] those who were in the higher, first heaven. For this reason it is written: "Lift up your gates, O ye princes." For those who were ascending together with Christ were privy to the incarnation of Christ; but those who were in the firmament, having inquired and been made certain who it was that was ascending in the flesh, and being filled with the greatest joy, exhorted the superior angels in the same way to lift up the gates.

Col. 331 B. "One thing only out of all these," etc. He says to honor all those things that occurred regarding the nativity. But as for Herod's wicked oppression of the children, while you detest it on account of the slaughter, yet venerate the fact that it happened on Christ’s account. He calls this sacrifice of the children contemporary to Christ, because those children were of the same age as Christ, when they were taken by the sword and slaughtered before Christ and on His behalf. Furthermore, He Himself is called the victim, because He was slain for our sake: yet He is a new [victim], because He was by no means simply a man, but also God. Now, regarding His flight into Egypt, how it was commanded to Joseph that he take the boy and His mother, and flee into Egypt to ^C flee the tyranny of Herod, and how after Herod was dead he was ordered to return to the land of Israel, Matthew narrates clearly. Moreover, Hosea also prophesies concerning Christ's return from Egypt. For through him God says: "Out of Egypt I have called my Son." But the Theologian wishes for this history to be understood by us in a more sublime sense. Therefore, if you wish to interpret Herod, it sounds the same as a coarse and passible, and as it were, skin-like nature. Egypt, however, signifies sometimes this present world, sometimes the flesh, sometimes sin, sometimes ignorance, and sometimes hardship and affliction. It is appropriate to accept the flight of the Lord into Egypt in this last signification: If, therefore, he says, Christ—that is, virtue—is formed within us, and a carnal and earthly affection, like a certain Herod, lives and holds sway, one must flee to the affliction situated in action, as if into Egypt. But if the carnal affection, which seeks to kill the divine doctrine implanted in us, has been extinguished and put to death, then indeed one must migrate from Egypt to Jerusalem, that is, one must proceed from that affliction which is endured in action toward contemplation. For action is the basis and foundation of contemplation. For when the affections have died, it would be superfluous afterwards to draw out a longer delay in action, and not be carried up to contemplation, to which action itself points.

^B Ibid. C. "Through all the ages and virtues of Christ," etc. Through all the ages and powers—that is, divine signs—proceed, imitating all things that He suffered and did, rising even to new progress toward Christ in all His ages: so that you too may grow according to a spiritual age, until you arrive at the highest end of Him: which age indeed the number of thirty years designates, as the decad, which it contains, is multiplied three times, or even [represents] the perfection which resides in this number. For the first decad is of moral virtues, the second of contemplative, the third of divine. And thus, indeed, are the ages to be taken. By "powers," however, we understand the miracles performed by Christ, which must also be brought forth by us spiritually. Therefore, walk and conduct yourself through all these ages and powers, as a disciple of Christ, and His ardent emulator, insisting upon His footsteps. "Be purified." But at what time was Christ purified? Perhaps when He was baptized, or even when He arrived at the fortieth day, and offered those things which were required for purification according to the prescription of the Mosaic law. Wherefore, exert yourself also to be purified, that is, that you abstain from wicked actions: and then have yourself circumcised, cutting off all vicious and obscene thoughts, just as a certain superfluous member. For spiritual circumcision is nothing other than the rejection of carnal pleasure and of things that are superfluous and least necessary: ^C For every pleasure, which is neither of God nor received in God, is the excrement of pleasure. And when he had said: "Be circumcised," he added: "Cut off the veil contracted from birth," that is, ancestral sin, which has flowed and been propagated to the entire human race. "For in sins," he says, "my mother conceived me." For sin immediately from birth, like a certain cloud, obstructs the lights of the soul, but it is cut off by the sword of saving baptism and the blade of the life-giving Spirit. Some understand by the "veil contracted from birth" vicious and foul thoughts, and the darkness cast by them. Others [understand] ignorance conjoined to the flesh, as a certain mist and veil. After these things, that is, after you have been purified, abstaining from vicious actions and having circumcised your base thoughts, then at last teach in the temple, that is, in the Church of God, and show yourself a master of virtue; and just as Christ ^D cast out the merchants from the temple, in the same manner cast out those sacrilegious hucksters, that is, those who adulterate the doctrine of the divinity, and abuse it in the manner of tavern keepers for the sake of profit, and exchange it either for gold, or favor, or utility, or fear, or other things of that sort. But if the time calls you to it, endure to be pelted with stones, whether in reality and in a bodily manner, or even spiritually, being pelted, namely, with reproaches and ignominious words, as if with stones. Let none of these things [daunt] you.

indeed, you will escape the stone-throwers and pass through their midst, inasmuch as you have been made a god by adoption and grace. For thus it is written concerning Christ in John: "They took up stones to throw at him; ^A but Jesus hid himself, and went out of the temple," passing through the midst of them. For the Word is not bound, as Paul says, speaking of preaching; nay rather, when He is bound, I would say that He runs. For the Word, that is, God, or even the doctrine of faith, is not destroyed by stones. It is not destroyed by stones, which is to say, it is in no way subject to suffering, being unconquerable.

If you are brought before Herod—that is, before a dense and carnal man, or a heretic—generally do not answer him even a single word, as one unworthy of having discourse with you concerning mystical and most holy matters. Your silence will be of greater value and will be more respected, as coming from a man who knows the right time for disputation, than the prolix speeches of others. For Christ, too, as Luke narrates, was sent by Pilate to Herod, ^B and Herod questioned Him with many words, but He answered him nothing. Furthermore, Herod can signify a carnal and base affection, which we ought to resist not through wordy philosophy, but through deeds and actions. For in this way such an affection will be more greatly humbled and diminished than by wordy philosophy.

If you have been struck with a scourge—that is, affected by blows of any kind (for a scourge is a type of rod, with which Christ was tormented)—seek out also the remaining kinds of punishments and torments, namely, the gall, the vinegar, the buffets, the slaps, and so forth. Therefore, the gall [is given] for the bitter taste [produced] by the taste of the wood, the fruit of which had an exquisite sweetness, so that the contrary may be cured by the contrary. In an allegorical sense, it may also be said to be the voluntary bitterness of a pious and laborious life, or the wormwood of temptations ^C that befall one against one's own will. Vinegar, however, [signifies] the slanders devised against us, whether by those of our own house or by strangers, which affect the soul with a bitter sense of pain. Again, spittle and slaps can be called those insults which are inflicted openly and publicly, as if to the face; but the buffets are those which are inflicted secretly and obscurely. For a buffet is a blow [given with] a cupped hand, which is inflicted stealthily upon the neck, and creates a clamor. ^D The Theologian himself has already interpreted the thorns as the hardship of philosophy placed in action. Furthermore, the purple or scarlet garment with which Christ is covered by the mocking Jews signifies most sharp and most grievous afflictions, and ones that penetrate most deeply into the breast, since the color scarlet is a certain tincture that penetrates to the depths.

In addition to this, Christ is struck with a reed, and in mockery and derision He received the reed in His right hand, as if it were a scepter from His executioners. But you ought not to conclude from the reeds of these parts that [the blows] with which Christ was afflicted were light and weak; rather, propose to your mind the reeds of the Jewish land, the marvelous strength and thickness of which [is well known], and consider that they were heavy and powerful. Therefore, you too, endure the blow of the reed, or bear the gestures of mocking and insulting men. In addition, Christ was worshipped in mockery as a king by those who made a laughingstock of the truth; that is, by those who treated a matter that is true by nature as a mockery. For Christ was the true King. Therefore, bear with equanimity every deceit and simulation. And finally, be crucified together with Him, as far as actual sin is concerned. Die also with Him, as far as the movements of the passions are concerned. Be willingly buried together with Him, casting aside every sense of the things of this life: so that, in return for having been oppressed and put to death, you may be raised to life; in return for having been raised upon the cross (which is held to be a base and shameful thing), you may obtain glory; and finally, in return for having been buried, you may come into the fellowship of the kingdom. For things that are contrary are most of all [incompatible] with one another: to reign, and to be buried. For he who is laid in the tomb abandons the earth and all the comforts of the earth; but he who reigns, the right and authority over all things reside with him.

But in what way will you reign at the same time? By beholding God, as much as possible, so that you may behold Him and be beheld by Him. Or rather, by beholding God, as much as allowed, and being in turn looked upon by Him. The One Whom we now desire to be revealed to us clearly and plainly, even while we are constrained by the bond of the flesh. This has been taken from Jeremiah, who speaks thus: "To humble under his feet all the prisoners of the earth," in Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom be glory for ages of ages. Amen.

ON ORATION XXXIX

Then, he also takes issue with the Jews in passing, proving their teaching to be far inferior to our own. Finally, toward the end of the oration, he also engages with those who, although they seemed to stand on our side because of their profession of the Christian faith, were nevertheless—due to the diversity of their faith and the schism regarding the Godhead—also numbered among those who upheld a different doctrine from our own religion. I refer to the Eunomians and Macedonians, the former of whom held impious views about the Son and the Holy Spirit, and the latter about the Spirit alone; on account of this, he calls them Semi-Arians. And ^A next, he also refutes the Novatians, who would by no means admit those who had fallen after baptism, but maintained that this was the first and only cleansing that is compared with baptism.

Many have supposed that this festival is the feast of Purification, because it is called the feast of Lights, as do not only Nicolaus Selverenus and Daniel Gretserus in their *Evang. de Purific.*, but also the most learned Pamelius in his *Annotations on Cyprian*, and Gelasinus in his Martyrology. But in truth, it is the feast of the baptism of Christ, which is celebrated on the eighth day before the Ides of January, both among the Greeks and among the Latins. And this is evident enough from the fact that St. Gregory, in this and the following oration, makes no word at all of purification, but deals solely with baptism, and even says in express words at the beginning of this oration that this day of Lights takes the baptism of Christ as its origin.

NICETAS' COMMENTARY

Col. 535 A. *Again my Jesus, and again,* etc. ^C This particle, "again," connects this oration with the preceding one. He says "my Jesus" either because of the most ardent flame of love, attributing to himself that which is common, or because of the kinship of flesh which intervenes between us and Christ. And in this, he emulated the holy Dionysius, who used these words: "May Christ go before the prayer, my Christ, if it is lawful for me to use this word." He calls the festival a "mystery," and does so not once, but again and again, surely inculcating the very names themselves out of delight. For those who are captivated by the love of someone are accustomed to repeat and roll over on their tongues both his name and his noble deeds; just as, conversely, they are accustomed either to make no mention at all of those to whom they are hostile, or to banish their memory as quickly as possible. Now, by nature, this mystery is not deceptive—that is, it is not false or contrived for ruinous fraud and imposture; nor is it "deformed"—that is, base and obscene, as are those things which the pagans worship. And see how aptly and congruently he has conjoined the error of deception and drunkenness with deformity. For the Greeks, and the devotees of profane religion, not only gorge themselves with unmixed wine but are also drunk in mind and spirit—that is, through the domination of carnal affections and pleasures, they commit ^D base and shameful sins, as the Apostle bears witness. But our mystery is lofty and brings us a divine splendor.

Furthermore, Baptism is called by the name of "Lights" because it cleanses and illuminates. Hence it also follows that we light candles at that time as a sign of joy. And the origin and cause of this festival is the baptism of Christ, who, as John testifies, was the true light—that is, truly and properly the light that is not divided by night, nor extinguished, which illumines every man coming into the world—that is, everyone who is born and comes forth into the light completely in all his parts (for although embryos are indeed human, it is uncertain whether they will come forth into the light or erupt through a miscarriage in the womb). But if any have remained destitute of faith and baptism, this happens through their own wickedness and perversity, inasmuch as they have willfully deprived themselves of this gift.

Now baptism has this power and faculty, that it cleanses those who have need of expiation and lustration, and brings assistance to the light of the soul. For when we first received that clear and illustrious light, we obscured and overwhelmed it with the gloom of base affections, casting in corrupt and vicious forms and adulterating the divine marks of beauty itself. It remains, therefore, that you listen to the voice of the Savior, which indeed rings out to me, and indeed vehemently, as I am both a disciple and a master of such doctrines; and would that it might ring out to you as well! What indeed is this voice? "I am the light of the world." Wherefore, obeying the Davidic voice, approach Him, so that, having been illuminated by the rays of His divinity through this access, you may conceive the splendor of baptism by His grace. And "your faces shall not be ashamed," consigned by the true light, namely the light of baptism, or the grace of the Holy Spirit. Which is also taken from David: "For it is said, The light of thy countenance, O Lord, is signed upon us."

Ibid. B. *Time of regeneration: let us be born from above,* etc. That is called a generation which finds its origin from men; but "creation" is that which comes from God. Therefore, casting aside the generation of the flesh, which is conjoined with destruction and corruption, let us be regenerated from above and from heaven. Now, the heavenly generation is that which occurs by the operation of the Holy Spirit in baptism. Moreover, that primeval creation of our race is restored, not because we were ill-created and fashioned by God in the beginning, but because after the creation we became distorted and broken. And we are indeed reborn once through baptism; but every day after baptism we are restored through an honest and perfect manner of life. Let us, therefore, be born from above through the Holy Spirit, just as the Lord Himself instituted in the Gospel, saying: "Unless one is born from above, he cannot see the kingdom of God." For earthly generation, by which we are born according to the flesh, is from the earth: and hence heavenly things are blocked and closed off to it. For what has the earth in common with heaven? But that whereby we are born from the Holy Spirit through baptism, easily...

^A opens the heavenly vaults to us. The Theologian, moreover, unites himself with those who have need of regeneration; not because he is in need of it himself, but because he claims them as his own members and considers them to be his own. Let us receive the original Adam, such as he was before the commandment of God was trampled upon, when he still possessed the beauty of the divine image, pure and splendid. For Paul names the first Adam the primal man, but the second Adam, Christ 97. Yet the Theologian divides that same Adam into two, namely, into him who was before the transgression, and him who was after the commandment was violated; and he wishes for us to receive that first one, that is, he who was before sin was admitted. And he adds: Let us not remain in the state in which we are, namely, defiled by the filth of sin, but let us return to our former state, that is, let us be made pure, as we were before the transgression. This we shall attain through the regeneration of baptism. Then he explains that saying of the Gospel: And the light shineth in darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it 98. For he calls Christ the light, but he calls this life and flesh darkness—the former on account of error and hallucination, the latter on account of its density. For the flesh clouds the mind with its density, and sheds darkness upon it. Moreover, he called the devil darkness, who is opposed to Christ, as darkness is to light. Concerning whom Moses sang thus in the canticle: The enemy said: I will pursue and I will overtake 99. Although he did pursue Christ, that is, he tempted him, yet he did not overtake him, that is, he did not break and conquer him; but impudently he did indeed assault the visible part of Christ; yet he struck against his invisible divinity, and was crushed. These things, moreover, were done for this reason: that we, having cast off the darkness of sin through baptism, might draw near to the light of the divinity, and then, through the progress and perfection of an honest and illustrious life, might ourselves be made perfect light, flowing from the Perfect Light, that is, from the grace of baptism. For it is this grace and benefit that the day and the festival obtain for us. And it is also possible to explain in another sense how we are made perfect light: namely, if we have been united and thoroughly mingled with that supreme light which is akin and related to us because of our faculty of understanding. But that will come to pass in the future reward. For now, as long as we dwell in this present life, by the benefit of the divine washing we draw near to that one, unique, divine light and to God. And each one of us, while being dipped in the saving water, becomes a fetus of the divine light, that is, of baptism. And because the multitude of those who are sprinkled with the water of baptism is infinite, for that reason he used the plural number yevνήματα, that is, fetuses, and not the singular γέννημα. For it is not granted to men who are excelling in virtue and the holiness of life to be with God in this life, but this is reserved for them as a reward in the other age. ""Be lifted up," he says, "by this ^B oration which you have just heard: but you will rise up much higher, when the Word, that is, Christ, shall have granted a prosperous journey to the oration which I am about to deliver concerning this festival."

Col. 335. Ibid. C. "Is such the legal..." and so on. By these words the Theologian shows how meager is the utility of the Jewish sacred rites and ceremonies; and again, how harmful and pernicious is the doctrine of the Gentiles regarding religion, and that it should be pursued not only with laughter, but with tears and mourning. For the legal purifications were shadowy (as those which prefigured and adumbrated that purification which is sought from baptism) and they took place only on account of such pollution as that, and were of benefit only for that time; and for that reason they were performed incessantly. This, indeed, was an argument that they in no way penetrated to the most hidden recesses of the soul, but rather blotted out the surface, as it were, of sins, and cleansed only bodily stains: just as if someone had touched food forbidden by the Law, or a corpse, or a leper, or had been defiled in some other way. The blood of goats 1, as the Apostle teaches, and of bulls, and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling the defiled, purified for the purifying of the flesh; but it could not take away sins. And for that reason the sacrifices were continuous, and were offered very often every year, as they could not make those who approached perfect. For if they had had the power of perfecting, they would surely have ceased to be offered, because those who rendered such worship to God, after they had been cleansed once, would no longer be terrified by any conscience of sin. But it is written in the book of Numbers 2, that those burning a red heifer, and mixing its ashes with water, used to sprinkle the defiled. And likewise that Moses, having taken the blood of bulls and calves and goats with water and scarlet wool and hyssop, had sprinkled the whole people. And such indeed was the legal purification, helping for a short time, and cleansing the flesh in such a way that it did not extend its power to the purification of the soul. But our own happens in a completely contrary way. For having been performed once, it purges all things at once—both old and new, and the vices of the body and of the soul. Indeed, the Greek mysteries were invented by demons and devised by base and wicked souls. To which, indeed, that they might lend belief, those who practiced them would flee to the most ancient times: but in order to escape their turpitude, they veiled them with that liberty and license of fables, declaring them to be mythical, and twisting them toward allegory. And sometimes they insist that the things which are commemorated concerning their gods are true: sometimes, however, when their obscenity and filthiness is cast in their teeth, they affirm that these things are mythical, and that they are not to be understood in the sense which they present upon their face, but that they have a certain mystical and recondite meaning. For example: If there be brought forward to them Saturn, whom they worship as a god, having devoured his own children, they say it is something else which is signified by these words.

For time, they say, produces whatsoever it consumes again. And yet it would be consistent for them, if indeed they consider these things to be true, not to call them fabulous at all; but if they are false and fictitious, not to admire them, nor to pronounce affirmatively and negatively on one and the same thing, and to think contradictory things; not otherwise than if they were playing in a gathering of children, or even of witless men, and were not debating seriously with us—that is, with men endowed with judgment and as cultivators of the Word and true wisdom, that is, Christ: although we spurn profane and fabulous eloquence and the elegance of words which is to be called filthy and sordid, as it strives to adorn and set forth with words matters that are base and obscene. ^A

^B Ibid. Nor is a certain maiden raped among us, etc. They invent that Ceres, one of the ancient goddesses, gave birth to Proserpina, whom Pluto, or Orcus, raped. But the mother, searching for her in all places, fell in with Celeus and Triptolemus at Eleusis, and having been informed by them concerning the rape of her daughter, put an end to wandering through the whole world, and gave them as a gift the seeds of wheat and barley, not yet seen before that time, that they might scatter the seeds over the whole earth from on high, as the poets fable, with a chariot of winged dragons. Ceres used these two wanton and lustful men, and she did certain things to them, and in turn suffered certain things from them. And she delivered all these things to be celebrated by them through one night at Eleusis, which is a place in Attica: for they were born from that city. Therefore, it shames me to relate by day those things which were celebrated and performed by them at night, and to make a mystery of them in a certain manner out of filth, namely, by making a festival day of their memory. These things are known to the hierophants of Greek superstition, that is, to the masters and teachers of divine oracles, to whom it was forbidden by an inviolable law to divulge these and suchlike mysteries to those who were not at all initiated into these sacred rites. And indeed they were worthy of silence also because of the immense obscenity of the matter. ^C

Col. 338 A. Not these births and thefts of Jupiter, of that one, I mean, of the Cretans, etc. Saturn, the father of Jupiter, when, as the Greeks fable, he had received an oracle that it would happen that he would be driven from his kingdom by one of his sons, used to devour all the males that were born to him. Rhea, therefore, when she had given birth to Jupiter, moved by his beauty and the elegance of his countenance, secretly took him away and sent him into Crete, and joined to him the Curetes, certain demons, who would rouse a grave sound and the clashing of arms, and perform that dance which is called the Pyrrhic, being armed, so that with the noise of arms they could cover the deep wailing of the infant God and the vast sound: lest by chance Saturn, hearing the wailing from heaven, might devour him as well. But she left a stone wrapped in swaddling clothes in the place of the child to be devoured by her husband. When he had devoured it, he vomited up those also which he had previously absorbed. But it has been handed down in history that this Jupiter was a conjurer and a wicked man, a tyrant of the Cretans: among whom his monument is also shown, although those who are distinguished in learning among the heathens are tormented and offended by this oration, and reject this history. The Theologian also mocks them, as those who trifled most ineptly that Jupiter (because divine power was in him in no way) did not wail with a thin voice like children, but emitted a certain horrific howl, and one so vast that it permeated even to heaven. And poets indeed narrate that a stone was devoured by Saturn in place of Jupiter. But Gregory says that Jupiter, like the stone, was devoured by Saturn. From which it is clear that he did not have regard to the fame of the event, but to the opinion of Saturn. For the nature of Jupiter, as the Greeks falsely imagined, was so firm and robust that when Saturn had verified this, and felt the resistance and hardness after the stone was devoured, he was all the more persuaded that he had devoured Jupiter, because of the firmness and strength of his nature, and that he was going to ruin. Jupiter, therefore, was said by the Theologian to have been devoured as a stone, looking to the opinion of the one who was devouring. ^D

Ibid. B. Nor of the Phrygians, etc. In Phrygia there was a shrine of Rhea, in which the Phrygians, celebrating a festival, used to cut off their genital member, expressing the likeness of that very calamity into which she, with her sons by Saturn devoured, had fallen. But certain pipers were playing with pipes, turning their minds away from the sense of pain, and inflaming them to endure the excision. To whom others afterwards applied a medical hand, imitating the gesture of the Corybantes, just as if they were consoling Rhea herself. But the Corybantes are a race of demons, or of raving men, subservient to Rhea, whom they call Cabiri. Furthermore, they hand down that this mother of the gods, if not of all, at least of Jupiter and his brothers, is the poet's own, just as they also hand down Saturn as the father of the gods. And those who performed such shameful acts in honor of Rhea were Phrygians, and the same were initiated, that is, they were afflicted with the torture of excision.

Ibid. C. Nor does Bacchus these our mysteries, etc. Jupiter, having had congress with Semele, the daughter of Cadmus, the king of the Thebans, made her pregnant. But Juno, his wife, stirred by jealousy, said that she was vehemently deceived in her opinion if she thought it was Jupiter who had the habit of lechery with her, with a certain mortal having congress with her: and she persuaded her that, if she wished to make a trial and to know whether it was truly Jupiter, she should ask him to have the matter with her with lightning and thunder, just as he was accustomed to do with Juno. When she had asked this of Jupiter, Jupiter came to her with thunder, as it is in the fables, and against his will burned her up, and having dissected her womb, he brought out the fetus, which was still raw, and placed it in his own thigh, which he had incised, and sewed up the incised part, and when the days of pregnancy were fulfilled, he brought forth the infant and named him Dionysius. And so they suggest to the Greeks...

^A that which is celebrated among us is by no means similar to those things which are commemorated by the Gentiles concerning Bacchus, who indeed was a half-man, as he now performed those things which are proper to men, and now again suffered those things which are fitting for women. Nor does the thigh of Jupiter, which was pregnant and, after the manner of those who are pregnant, bore Dionysius, represent a fetus still immature: just as before, Jupiter's head had brought forth another fetus. For they say that Minerva was born from Jupiter’s severed head. Furthermore, some, drowned in wine and seized by frenzy, practiced dances around Dionysius ^B and performed military expeditions. But the Thebans, especially, worshipped him, also holding in veneration that thunder by which Semele, his mother, had been consumed.

Col. 358 C. *Neither are the meretricious things, etc.* The poets invent that Saturn rebelled against his father Coelus and cut off his private parts and cast them into the sea, and that Venus was the fruit of that obscene member and its excision. And in this way she herself was shamefully brought forth. And again, she is shamefully honored through flagitious intercourse and detestable mysteries. Now truly, when Bacchus desired to descend to the underworld and was ignorant of the way, a certain youth named Prosymnus promised that he would show him the way ^C on the condition that, as a reward for the path shown, he would make his own body available to him. He, for his part, agreed to allow his body to be used for his lust if he returned from the underworld. Having returned, therefore, when he had not found Prosymnus (for he had passed away on the last day of his life), he fashioned a fig branch, cut into the shape of the genital member, and sat upon the branch. Thus he performs the pledge of his promise to the dead. In memory of this shameful deed, Phalli were erected to Dionysius through the cities. Moreover, the Phalli are the genital parts, which are also themselves called Ithyphalli, because they are stretched out straight and rigid.

Col. 359 A. *Neither does the ferocity of the Bulls, etc.* When the Greeks were traveling to Troy ^D with hostile arms and had gathered with all their forces at Aulis, which is a place in Boeotia, such a difficulty of sailing was sent by Diana that their entire army was held there. And she was inflamed with anger for this reason, because Agamemnon, having killed a stag with a spear in a hunt, dared to boast that not even Diana herself would have thrown the spear with equal skill. When, however, as the storm grew worse, they consulted an oracle and asked for the cause of this matter, they received the answer that the end of this evil was never to be expected unless Agamemnon appeased Diana with the slaughter of his daughter. Persuaded, therefore, Agamemnon sets forth his daughter Iphigenia to be sacrificed to Diana. But Diana, having rescued the virgin from the danger of death, sent her to the Tauri (now the Tauri inhabit the northern and Scythian parts, where Diana’s temple is), and in place of the virgin substituted a stag for the slaughter. Therefore, in this manner, Iphigenia was established as a priestess of Diana among the Tauroscythians, and all Greeks who wandered toward that place were diverted, and he would slaughter them. But the Lacedaemonians, worshippers of Diana, celebrated a festival in her honor, in which the youths, tearing their bodies with scourges, would stain the altar with blood, exhibiting a specimen of their virtue and greatness of soul, and accustoming themselves to endure wounds, so that, in fact, they might despise wounds received in wars. And they followed her with such a cult, as one preeminent in fortitude, and never broken and overcome by Cupid. These men, moreover, while they excelled in other matters by the strength of their soul, and endured labors and military hardships with a certain miraculous tolerance, in this one thing made criminal use of their magnanimity: that they would tear each other with scourges in vain, as if they were enemies, and believed that through such things they showed a cult pleasing to God: since the true God is gentle and clement, and does not delight in blood. And furthermore, they would uncover their bodies without any shame, and the Spartans were stripped with impudent petulance, and thus were beaten in the eyes of all. Yet such denudation could seem hardly decorous and honest for a virgin. Therefore, if they held Diana in the number of the goddesses, and accordingly considered her gentle and a lover of men, in what way did they think she was delighted by the shedding of blood, and rightly worshipped? Again, if they believed her to be a virgin, why were they so obscenely stripped? For the same men also held softness in honor, celebrating *Syssitia*, that is, public banquets, in which they used fœtid pleasures, and practiced and suffered foul shames, and the love of boys was held among them in the highest price and commendation: and in other matters they gave proofs of notable audacity, and thus fell into opposite affections. For audacity and softness strive against each other from the diameter.

Ibid. *Now the dismemberment of Pelops, etc.* Tantalus, the son of Jupiter, is said once to have received the gods into hospitality, and to have slaughtered his son Pelops and, boiled in hot water, to have served them to them: but they, admiring the new kind of hospitality, restored Pelops to life: and because Ceres alone had eaten a part of the shoulder, they replaced that part—which had been consumed—with an ivory one, and thus the Pelopidae originating from him have an ivory shoulder. Therefore, in this place the Theologian rebukes and attacks three things: the hunger of the gods, as unworthy of gods; the hospitality of Tantalus, as savage and cruel; and the approval and admission of the gods, as full of inhumanity, as people who were willingly received at such feasts.

Ibid. *In which place also the horrendous and dark spectacles of Hecate, etc.* Some say that Hecate is the moon: some others say she is another goddess wandering by night, carried in a chariot of lions, and surrounded everywhere by serpents and dragons, and presenting certain horrendous species of things, namely, a certain kind of man having heads of dragons of unusual magnitude: so that she agitates very many people, terrified by the sight of these things, into frenzy and insanity. But Trophonius the seer, inflamed with a desire for glory, when

he wished to gather for himself a reputation for divinity among men, shut himself in a certain subterranean cave and ended his life there, so that after he was not found, he would be thought to have been snatched up into heaven. A certain demon, however, entered the cave and, establishing a dwelling for himself therein, deceived men, pretending to be Trophonius, and delivered oracles. For this reason, those who took refuge in that subterranean cavern indeed brought back some oracles, but for the remainder of their whole lives they remained sad, because they had been deluded by the demon. Now in the city of Dodona there was an oak of marvelous height and beauty, which the demon inhabiting rendered talkative and prophetic. And in Delphi, a city of Greece, there was a temple of Apollo and a bronze tripod bearing a great bronze caldron, in the middle of which was an upright perforated bronze pipe from which oracles were issued. These tricks—that is, impostures and prestidigitations—the Theologian called ^A *sophismata*, in that they deceived and deluded men with doubtful and uncertain responses. Finally, there is the Castalian fountain in Antioch, which flows with a roar and force and exhalation, from which those who drank, if they heard the noise, predicted future things by the demon's inspiration. And these oracles indeed seemed to prophesy about certain other matters; but this one thing they could not predict: that it would come to pass that they would yield to the power of Christ and remain silent forever.

Col. 539. B. *Nor the art of sacrificing of the Magi, and from the victims, etc.* The Magi are of the Median race. ^C They slaughtered animals and cut them open, and from the fibers of the entrails and the eruption and shape of the blood itself, they made conjectures about future events. The Chaldeans, however, devoted their efforts to astrology, and in this art bestowed their time and study; it is concerned with observing the births of men and asserting that their lives are set in motion by the same movement as the stars and their configurations, and that the events which men experience correspond to the connections and positions of the stars. And they profess this art, who have no certain knowledge of what they themselves are or what they will be on the morrow. Whom Isaiah also mocks, saying: *Let them stand and save thee, the astrologers of heaven, who gaze at the stars, let them report to thee what is about to come upon thee.*

Ibid. *Nor are these the orgies of the Thracians, from whom they derived religion, etc.* The first Thracians discovered religion toward the gods; whence also the word θρησκεία, that is, religion, derived its name from the Thracians. Furthermore, Orpheus handed down the orgies—that is, the mysteries and sacred rites and festivals—to them; him they say was trained in the art of music and, singing to the lyre, both charmed things devoid of soul and calmed the rage of frenzied beasts. In which ^A perhaps they also signify the ways of men: indeed, the foolish and witless by those things which are devoid of soul, and by the wild beasts, they understand the cruel men; all of whom Orpheus—as the Greeks imagine—charmed with the art of singing.

Ibid. *Nor is the just offering to them of Mithra, etc.* Some say Mithra is the sun. Festivals were held for him, and especially among the Chaldeans. They, however, who were to be initiated into his rites were led through twelve types of punishments—namely, by hunger, by fire, by cold, by scourging, and other tortures of this kind. The Theologian said that this was a just punishment of this sort, because those who had faith in such things were deservedly afflicted by these torments, that they might receive the reward of their error while being so tortured by them.

Ibid. *Nor of Osiris, etc.* Osiris and Typhon, as the Egyptians fable, are gods opposed to each other, and Typhon tore Osiris to pieces. In memory of which calamity, the Egyptians, celebrating a festival, lacerate themselves and dwell in mourning for the sake of his honor. The history, or rather the fable, of Osiris is as follows: Jupiter, captivated by the love of a certain maiden by the name of Isis (who is also called Io), changed her into a heifer ^B so that Juno would not discover anything of this kind. But she, having discovered the matter and incited by jealousy, sent a gadfly to the girl, driven by which she would wander over the whole earth. Now Mendes is a city of Egypt in which a he-goat was held to be a god, and the Mendesians revered he-goats as gods more than themselves, or celebrated festivals in their honor. The Memphites, however, worshipped a bull with the greatest religion and called him Apis, and kept him enclosed in a manger, and offered sacrifices to him in the public assembly of men. But Apis had certain signs different from the others, both around the tail and around the tongue; and if one of this kind happened to be seen among the herds, he was immediately taken by them to the sacred manger.

Ibid. C. *Nor all those honors, etc.* There were certain stone steps, cleverly carved, near the mouths of the Nile, which were called *pēcheis*, that is, cubits. The Egyptians observed these as to what time the river flooded; ^C for if the water had risen to this or that step, they made a conjecture about the abundance of crops according to the degree of the rise. And so, they seemed to measure—that is, to define and estimate—the prosperity of the harvest by cubits. There are, however, some who say that they are not certain steps, but a column in which the Egyptians measure the cubits at this time, with the water rising to this or that cubit. Formerly, however, they showed honors to the Nile and...

^A acknowledging him as their author, they themselves, as if he were a god, celebrated a festival with the most filthy and execrable lust. For I pass over that they also worshipped the vilest little animals and reptiles, and cats, and scorpions, and serpents, and gave a specimen of their liberality and ambitious munificence toward base and obscene things. And privately, a festival was instituted for each of these, but unhappiness and lost madness were common to all. For all things were referred to one goal of impiety and the worship of the devil.

Col. 542 A. "So that, if indeed they were altogether constrained by impiety," etc. There are some who attack the Theologian, first because he said: "It was necessary that they be constrained by impiety," and then because he said that wise men ought to have wished nothing else for men bound by such great impiety, than that they should perpetually worship things of this kind. For they say that, on the contrary, one ought to have prayed for them, that they might be released from the bond of impiety. But these are foolish and inept notions. But this must be known, that this word, "It was necessary [Oportebat]," sometimes signifies what is fitting and convenient; at other times it is taken for that which happens of necessity, as in this place. For, he says, if it were entirely going to happen that they, by the determination of their mind and free will, would collapse into impiety, and would render divine honors to idols which are the works of human hands and the meditations of art, it was to be desired by wise and prudent men that they should worship things so base and so obscene and ridiculous, so that, of course, from the worship and adoration of such things, they might be enticed into greater ignominy. For although all were concordant in one error, yet some were found to be more stupid than others, in proportion as they fashioned for themselves viler and more obscene deities. Indeed, Maximus, clearing up this objection from the opinion of a certain old man endowed with a distinguished knowledge of divine things, says that Gregory, seeing the Gentiles rashly fallen into error, and bearing this with chagrin and impatience, said these things with an affection of pity rather than of hatred: namely, so that they, perceiving from this the shameful and abominable nature of the religion and of their own deities, might refer themselves to the worship of true piety—that the turpitude of their gods might be mocked—and also that if any heard these things, they might in no way be drawn into the pestilent opinion of them.

Ibid. B. "And let the Gentiles indeed sport," etc. He says that the Gentiles are led by these figments, having fallen into this madness through demons, who, wishing to transfer the honor of God to themselves, distracted them into various base and indecorous opinions about God. For they persuaded some to take pleasure as their god, others good fortune, others the elements, others strife and friendship, others to deem the celestial, aerial, and terrestrial gods as such, and others to think living things, others plants, others something else should be enticed with divine honors. ^B But error has spread from that time, when they were driven out from paradise and the tree of life, which had been proposed to us as a reward, and which we were driven from through the tree of knowledge, perceived at a time that was by no means opportune: which, indeed, had been given to us for the sake of exercising our free will. From this point, moreover, once cast down, being now weaker and more prone to being conquered, and condemned by divine sentence, they despoiled us, because we had clearly fallen from our previous state and had become mortal and subject to suffering. For when they had of their own accord lapsed into envy, they burned with jealousy against us, not only because of the present honor of the divine image, but also because of the future glory; nor could they bear that the glory should pass from them—that is, from the first natures—to us, who were desirous of migrating from earth to heaven. This is the reason why the devil rages against us with persecutions, namely, envy. And since, according to the Apostle, we did not prove nor wish to be listeners to the command of God, we were handed over to the freedom of error, that is, God permitted that we should wander into error, and through this honor, which we gave to idols, we ourselves were dishonored. For God created us for these three reasons: that we might apply ourselves to the study of good works, that we might exist for His glory, and that we might imitate Him according to our strength. But we have become the citadel and dwelling-place of all the passions: which indeed devour and consume the soul, not its substance, but the ornaments of its substance. ^C Nor is this alone a grave matter, but that we have also introduced flagitious and lustful gods, patronizing and urging men toward their flagitious acts. From which it results that sin is not only not condemned, but is even considered divine, just as if it were an act of God: since they who sin take refuge in the gods they worship as a cause for excuse and defense, and affirm that they, since they are such, also delight in such a form of worship and adoration.

Ibid. D. "But, however, as we have been benefited," etc. And these things, he says, the heathens babble. But to us, as it has been given by God that we might flee the superstitious error which causes demons to be feared and honored, and that we might know the truth, and, as Paul says, serve the living and true God, and not dead ones ^D and rise above every creature (assigning the name of divinity to no created thing), and furthermore that we might pass beyond the whole sensible world subject to time, and likewise the intelligible world, which is beneath the first motion. For God moved Himself by His own motion toward the procreation and fabrication of things. And first, indeed, by His motion, the angels were created, being created before time: inasmuch as angels were created before the heaven and the day and the sun, which constitutes time; but in the second place, this world which is perceived by sight. As, therefore, it has been given to us to be freed from the worship of idols,

and what is superior to every creature, as much in that which is visible as in that which is intelligible and spiritual, we may know: so also let us understand and teach the mysteries of God, and let us philosophize according to the laws and precepts of Solomon. For since wisdom will not enter into a malicious soul ^A, therefore, it first purifies the minds of those who are to be habituated to wisdom through divine fear, in these words: The beginning of wisdom, collect wisdom, that is, at the beginning of wisdom, that is, in divine fear, acquire wisdom for yourself. For as a foundation is the beginning of a house, and a keel of a ship: so also, according to the opinion of David, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom [Ps. CX, 10]. For piety and religious fear, in order to perfect all the measures of virtue, are like a ladder: inasmuch as it purifies our minds from the contagion and filth of vices, and wherever it has its domicile and seat, it puts all wicked and shameful actions to flight. Since, therefore, fear is rudimentary, like a certain childish instruction introducing us to that virtue which consists in action, but active virtue is the ladder of contemplation: we must labor so that we may use them rightly and fittingly, and proceed in order, and, having started from fear, be carried up to the summit of contemplation. For contemplation, unless it be restrained by the bridle of divine fear, may perhaps drive and cast us into the precipices of blasphemy and impiety. And see the ladder, through which the ascent to perfection is open to us. For where there is fear, there is also the observance of the commandments. But where there is the observance of the commandments, there is also the purification of the flesh: which flesh is to the soul what the sun is to the clouds, namely, covering it with darkness and obscuring it, and not allowing it to behold the splendor of the divine ray clearly. Furthermore, where there is the purification of the soul, which is acquired by virtues, there is also the illumination of knowledge, which shines forth after a pious inquiry into eternal things, raising the soul to the knowledge of God, and fixing its desire on the thing most to be sought of all, that is, on God, who is both in the greatest [things], that is, in three persons, and in the greatest [Being], because of the unity of substance and divinity, and is superior to all magnitude, because he is not circumscribed by quantity, nor by amplitude, nor by magnitude: For the Lord is great, he says, and greatly to be praised, and of his greatness there is no end [Ps. CXLIV, 3]. ^B

Col. 343 B. Wherefore it behooves each one to purify himself first, etc.

These things, he says, being as they are, purification must first be applied through virtue situated in action, and so we must go to the purity of contemplation, that is, divine knowledge and doctrine: unless we wish the same to happen to us as befell the Israelites. For it is written in Exodus: The children of Israel saw Moses, and his face was glorified [Exod. XXXIV, 30-35], and they were afraid to approach him. For this reason he covered his face with a veil, and thus associated with them. Just as, therefore, the Israelites, although they desired to see the face of Moses, yet because of the rays of splendor emanating from it, and their own infirmity, were unable to look upon him: in this same way, whoever among us have not purified their minds through probity of character and excellent actions, will attempt to have communion with God and theology in vain. Again, concerning Manue in the book of Judges these things have been handed down to memory [Judic. XIII, 1 seqq.]: that he, when he was judge of Israel, and was busily performing the duties of humanity toward guests, received an angel as if he were some one of the common people into hospitality, and when fire flashing from the rock and the table had devoured the foods set before them, and the angel had withdrawn from his sight, he came to the opinion that he had seen God, and spoke thus to his wife: We shall die, wife, we have seen God. As, therefore, Manue, father of Samson, seemed to himself to see God, when nevertheless he had not seen Him: so those who have not been purified will indeed conceive of theology, that is, the cognition of divinity, by an image, yet they will not see it itself: but rather, looking upon and perceiving a certain likeness of it, they will tremble in their mind, and will say: We shall die, because they are evidently unable to sustain even its obscure form. To these things, just as Peter, not bearing the power and efficacy of divinity, kept Jesus from the boat, as the evangelist narrates [Luc. V, 8]; so he who receives theology with a mind not yet purified, turns it away by his own mind, unable to bear its power. Just as, moreover, Paul, as Luke narrates in the Acts of the Apostles [Act. V, 1 seqq.], when he was hastening from Jerusalem to Damascus having received letters from the high priests, in order to persecute and oppress the Christians, as soon as a small ray of Christ, ^C the true light, was cast upon him as he was journeying, he was immediately struck blind, because he had not been purified from the plague of persecution before he came into conversation with Him whom he was persecuting: in the same way, those who have not been purified by divine fear, but have approached contemplation with an impure and sordid mind, will receive more detriment and loss from that matter than utility ^D and gain. Just as, finally, the Centurion said: Lord, I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof; but speak with a word, and my servant will be healed [Matth. VIII, 8] (this furthermore he said, asking for the healing of the servant, but not admitting the physician into his house because of pious and laudable fear): so also they will indeed seek theology, but they will by no means receive God Himself into their mind.

Ibid. C. Therefore let one of us also say, etc.

As long as, he says, one of us is a centurion, that is, overcoming many in vice,

and serving the prince of wicked men and of the sins of the world, let him be nurtured by this prayer: "I am not worthy to receive the doctrine of the divinity." But after he has perceived the humanity of Christ, that is, attained that virtue which consists in acting, and has raised himself up above the sycamore, that is, above the affect of the flesh, which the Apostle calls "members which are upon the earth," inasmuch as it is addicted to the study of earthly things and wallowing about in them, and the body of humility cast down to the ground. For just as the sycamore is a sterile and unfruitful tree and low-lying, so also is the carnal affect. Wherefore, he who has fled from it, and has as it were caused it to wither, and has suppressed the pleasures of the flesh, let him take up contemplation—which is the doctrine of the divinity—once active virtue has been acquired, and let him hear: "Today is salvation to this house," that is, to all the parts of the soul: and let him not only guard what he has, but also strive for greater and more sublime things, and let him scatter magnificently what he had gathered wickedly, whether it be money, or dogmas, or things, and let him pour out the senses of the mind that are little worthy of the doctrine of the divinity. For the same Word is God in the historical sense, but in the anagogical sense it is the doctrine of the divinity, and to the unworthy it is fearful on account of its nature: "For it is a consuming fire," as Scripture says, and on account of its kindness it is easy to grasp, at least for those who, I will not say are worthy (for no one is strictly worthy of it), but who have so prepared themselves for its reception, that they, having expelled the gross and wicked spirit from the spiritual house of their soul, and having cleaned it with brooms—that is, having zealously purged and adorned it—did not leave it idle and inert (lest the returning impure demon might immigrate into it more easily and more safely, as one returning with seven spirits, who indeed oppose the seven spirits of virtue, that is, the gifts of the Holy Spirit, which are enumerated by Isaiah—namely, the Spirit of fortitude, of counsel, of prudence, of the fear of God, of piety, of wisdom, and of knowledge), but rather to the flight of vice they join the cultivation of virtue (according to that: "Turn from evil and do good"). For both ^B are necessary: the purging of the soul, so that the impure spirit of vice may throw itself into flight, and the accession of virtue, so that the good spirit may be introduced into the house, and the place may be filled and heaped up with virtue; admitting the whole Christ, or at least as much as can possibly be done, lest the devil, returning and finding some place empty, might fill it, and make a more pernicious workshop for himself out of our minds, and run out more violently, and defend the occupied house with a safer guard. For that which is difficult to be conquered is, when it is once captured, possessed more pleasantly and guarded more studiously and diligently.

^A Col. 346 A "And after our soul, etc." If you desire to be enlightened by God, you must first do this, as Solomon warns: "Keep thy heart with all vigilance," and arrange ascents in thy heart, acting in the manner of David, asking of yourself progress and ascent to God; and according to the counsel and judgment of Jeremiah, renew fallow ground for yourself, with the face of your soul leveled, and the vicious thorns extracted and pulled up. When this has been done by you, you will already be able to reach toward justice, and then at last be enlightened by the light of knowledge, as it is in Hosea: "For wisdom will not enter into a malicious soul." But when you have been instructed by wisdom itself and infused with the divine splendor, then truly, as the Apostle says, speak of the wisdom of God, and discourse about God: and then also discuss mystically and circumspectly those things which among common men—that is, those not at all purged—are hidden. And having become a light in the world, shine yourself, and enlighten others. Meanwhile, however, that is, until you arrive at that supernal brightness, pre-purge yourself, and prepare and pre-initiate yourself with the Word, and in a way pre-exercise yourself (for the teachers of sacred things have the power to initiate) so that you may first benefit yourself. Which will indeed come to pass, if you not only prepare yourself to receive God, but also deign to proffer Him to others as well.

Ibid. B "But since by our speech we have purged the theater, etc." Since, he says, by the speech which we have delivered concerning the feast, we have prepared the auditorium, and have rendered the minds of the listeners attentive, come, let us discourse something about the feast. And since the primary and chief head of the feast is the memory of God and the contemplation of the divinity, let us therefore celebrate the memory of God. For what David says: "In the voice of exultation and confession is the sound of those keeping the feast"; and again: "As the habitation of those rejoicing is in thee," this sound is nothing ^D other than the praise of God, which is proclaimed by those who have been deemed worthy of that everlasting joy. And if I now repeat those things which I said in the oration on the Nativity, it will be no wonder. For, to use the words of Plato, I shall speak the same things about the same subjects, that is, about the three persons. For in other matters and tracts, it would be better to studiously affect variety and copiousness of speech; but in that disputation which is undertaken concerning God, the most expressive and most efficacious words must be seized, and held with—as they say—joined hands; even if the same words must be repeated by me over and over. For since the treatment of the divinity is slippery and full of the dangers of chance, and God is by nature fearful and incomprehensible, therefore, as often as to me it...

^A becomes necessary to discourse about God, my tongue trembles, and my mind, which grasps the established matters of the subject with first and more sublime notions than they can be confirmed by arguments, also shudders in thought, receiving the causes of the arguments from the mind and considering and distributing the movements of the mind. And I pray that you too may tremble; for the state of horror in this place deserves praise, and this fear is blessed.

Furthermore, when I say God, set before your mind a triple and one light: triple, indeed, as regards the hypostases—as the Orientals used to say—or, as the Italians say, persons; but one, as regards the substance and the adoration, lacking all division. For it is divided ^B truly for the sake of the three persons, but remaining indistinct because of the unity of the divinity; and again, it is connected because of the identity of the divinity, but distinct because of the trinity of the persons. For divinity is one in three, and the three are one, in which divinity exists, or rather, which are divinity—to use a more proper and exact word, lest any occasion be given to me for someone to suspect that divinity is something else besides these, or that any composition is devised in simple things; and also because the divinity is in a way co-essential with the persons. Let us dismiss excess and deficiency, ^C acknowledging neither more persons than three, nor fewer—neither exceeding, as Arius does, when he introduces three natures (for there is only one); nor failing, as Sabellius does, affirming one person when there are three. Nor, by means of union, causing confusion—that is, by not dividing the persons (for this is confusion), as Sabellius did, contracting and mixing the three persons into one. Nor, by means of division, causing separation—that is, by not contracting the substance (for this is separation), into which Arius’s audacity broke forth when he divided the divinity into three natures foreign to one another. ^D

Sabellianism indeed refers to Judaism, by establishing one hypostasis of the three, and saying that it is one thing having various names: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Arianism, however, agrees with paganism, as it introduces a multitude of gods through the assertion of three natures. And, as the great Dionysius Romanus says, the Arians and the view of Sabellius fight diametrically against each other. For Sabellius impiously asserts that the Son and the Father are the same, and [vice-versa] the same Father and Son; but the Arians in a way preach three gods, dividing the holy unity into three persons [who are] alien and utterly separated from one another. For the divine Word must be united to God, the master and omnipotent [ruler] of all things, and the Holy Spirit must exist in God, and finally the divine Trinity must be gathered and contracted as if into a certain peak and summit. For in this way, the doctrine of the divine Trinity and the holy preaching of unity will be established for us. But let us see what "diametrically" means. A diameter in circles is a certain straight line, which, drawn through the center, is terminated on both sides and cuts the circle into two equal parts; "diameter" is so called from *metrein ton holon kyklon eis isa dyo mere*, that is, because it dimensions the whole circle into two equal parts. For this line alone accomplishes this. In squares, moreover, or even in quadrilateral figures, a diameter is a certain straight line drawn from angle to angle, cutting the space into two equal parts. Wherefore those things are said to be "diametrically opposed" which are far apart from one another, since, whether in circles or in squares or quadrilaterals, there is no greater section than that which is made through the diameter. Since, therefore, both the contraction of Sabellius and the division of Arius hold a relationship of unity and multitude between themselves, these evils are indeed diametrically opposed to one another—that is, most contrary, yet equal in impiety, being equally pernicious; for the evil of either is equal, even if it is found in contrary things.

But for us, to speak with the Apostle, there is one God the Father, of whom are all things, one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and one Holy Spirit, in whom are all things. These three, namely: *Of whom*, *By whom*, and *In whom*, do not in the least split the natures and substances, as the heretics blather, assigning *Of whom* to the Father, *By whom* to the Son, and *In whom* to the Holy Spirit. For if these, as they imagine, separated the natures, these prepositions—*of, by,* and *in*—would by no means pass from one place to another; rather, it would always be said of the Father, *Of whom*; of the Son, however, *By whom*; and of the Holy Spirit, *In whom*. But yet they are interchanged. For we shall show that the Father does not reserve that *Of whom* only to himself, leaving *By whom* to the Son, nor again does the Son exclude the Holy Spirit from the communion of these particles—*Of whom* and *By whom*. For it is also said of the Father, *By whom*: "Faithful is God, by whom we were called into the communion of his Son." And of the Son, *Of whom*; for in the Epistle to the Colossians, to those who lacked the knowledge of the Only-Begotten, it was said: "Not holding the Head," that is, Christ, "from whom all the body, through joints and ligaments, is ministered and grows to the increase of God." And again, in the same way, it is said *Of whom* concerning the Holy Spirit: "For he who sows in the Spirit, from the Spirit shall reap eternal life." And also *By whom* is said of the same: "For God has revealed to us by the Spirit." We can say the same of the syllable *In*, which even Scripture admits when speaking of the Father: "In God, who created all things."

^A We have demonstrated that these prepositions are sometimes interchanged. It now follows that we should show that the order of the names themselves is also occasionally inverted and transposed, and that the Father is not always numbered in the first place, the Son in the second, and the Holy Spirit in the third; but rather, that the order is changed and reversed, as in that passage of the Apostle: "The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the charity of God the Father, and the communication of the holy Spirit be with you all." And again: "There are diversities of graces, but the same Spirit; and there are diversities of ministries, but the same Lord; and there are diversities of operations, but the same God." See how in these places the order of the names is inverted. Indeed, the heretics affirm that "From whom" is said of the cause; "By whom," of the instrument; "In whom," of the place; and from this they conclude that, just as the nature of the cause is one thing, that of the instrument another, and that of the place another, so the Son is alien in nature from the Father (since the instrument is also alien from the craftsman), and the Holy Spirit is likewise alien, insofar as he is separated by place and time from the nature of the instruments or the craftsmen. But we say that by these prepositions the natures are not separated, but rather that they are noted and expressed, and the properties of the one nature are declared. And this is evident from the fact that these three prepositions are found expressed collectively concerning one Christ, if anyone reads the Epistle of Paul to the Romans not perfunctorily, where he writes thus: "For from him, and by him, and in him are all things." For all things have the cause of their essence from him, according to the will of God and the Father; and by him all things remain and are preserved, inasmuch as he created all things, and to all things created by himself, he administers those things which pertain to salvation. And consequently, all things turn themselves to him with a certain ardent desire and ineffable love, turning their eyes toward the Author of life and the provider of necessary things.

^B The Holy Spirit is truly Spirit. But "Holy" is added, so that as a divine Spirit he may be distinguished from those who are simply called spirits, namely, from an angel, and a mind, and an airy blast. But "Holy" is truly added so that it may be shown that he alone is properly holy, and others are so by grace and communication. For in creatures, sanctification is induced from elsewhere. But the holiness of the Spirit fulfills his nature. And just as there is one Father and one Son, so there is one Holy Spirit. And consequently he is as far removed and separated from created nature as it is fitting for a simple and absolute number to be severed from composite ones; again, he is as much united to the Father and the Son as unity is joined to unity by kinship. Nor are arguments for natural society and communion drawn here only from this, but also because he is said to be from God, not as all things are from God, but as proceeding from God, not by way of generation, as the Son, but of procession, as the "Spirit of his mouth." In which place, certainly, neither must "mouth" be understood as a member, nor "Spirit" as some vanishing breath; but we must accept the "mouth" as becomes God, and understand by "Spirit" a living substance. Nor should the heretics argue thus: "If the Father begot, he ceased to be unbegotten." For it is necessary that the unbegotten not only have not been begotten by anyone, but also that he not have begotten anyone. Nor likewise should they dispute in the same way about the Son: "If he was begotten from the unbegotten Father, he lost the name of generation." For it is necessary that the begotten be both begotten and begotten from the Father. Nor, finally, should they discourse about the Holy Spirit in this way: "He is either unbegotten or begotten. If unbegotten, he would be the Father; if begotten, then the Son." But let their mouth be stopped, as they cavil foolishly and ineptly. For neither did the Father cease to be unbegotten because he begat (for he is called unbegotten as one who was never begotten, not because he did not beget). Nor did the Son cease to be begotten because he was begotten from the unbegotten (for he is begotten, not as one begotten from a begotten Father, but as uniquely begotten). Nor, finally, did the Holy Spirit concede either into the Father or into the Son (for neither "unbegotten" nor "begotten" belong to the number of those things which lack a mean, such that one of these must necessarily be attributed to the Spirit). But between them there is something intermediate, namely, procession. And so the Spirit proceeds from the Father. But if he proceeds, he is certainly not separated from his nature and divinity, but he is and remains God. The Father is Father, and the Son is Son, and the Spirit is Spirit. For the property of each of these three persons ought not to be transferred. For if it were moved from its place and passed to another, it would no longer maintain the name of property. But the property is twofold: one of nature, the other of person. And indeed, one can find the property of nature moving itself and outpouring toward the three persons, as uncreated, everlasting, ^{C D}

^A almighty, and other things of the same kind. But as for the property of person, we profess that it is in no way moved, such as the unbegotten, the begotten, and the proceeding. For these are the properties of the persons. But the Eunomians, contending that the reason for the unbegotten and the begotten are the properties of different natures, call the Father alone properly God; while they assert that the Son and the Spirit are joined to Him by name alone, and not by any communion of the same essence. For since the Father is unbegotten, they say, He will beget no one. But if the Father does not beget, as the Eunomians rave, then surely the Son does not exist as a partaker of the Father’s nature, seeing as He is by no means begotten by the Father; truly He is called God equivocally, that is, He possesses only the name of God, but not the reality itself. To me, they seem that they would go on to say the same thing for this reason: because Adam also was not begotten from flesh, but fashioned by God, while Seth was procreated from the union of Adam with Eve, therefore they are separated from one another by a diversity of nature. But if in one and the same human nature both the unbegotten and the begotten are found, how much more so in the divine.

Col. 347 C. *One therefore is God in three, etc.* One therefore, he says, is God in three persons, and the three persons are one, according to divinity. But since these things are so—that is, these persons, or rather, the divinity—it was not right that the worship of God should be defined and circumscribed solely for the angels, who are supernal spirits, but that there should be some on earth as well who might worship Him, so that all things might be filled with His glory; for since all created things are God’s (*For all things*, he says, *serve thee*), for this reason man is created, namely, so that in this way also the glory of God might be celebrated. For there was a twofold cause for the creation of man: the one antecedent, namely, the kindness of God; the other final, namely, the glory of God. But since it was alien to divine mercy to neglect man separated from his Creator by sin, for this reason natures are renewed: for the divine substituted itself to undergo human birth, while our nature brought forth, in a spiritual manner, animated flesh for the begotten Word. And what is more to be marveled at, the law of virginity was not in any way diminished by this procreation. Furthermore, natures are renewed, for the divine assumed the human, and the human was affected by the divinity; and the infinite indeed was encompassed by the finite, while the finite was annexed to the infinite: and finally, the burning nature assumed the thick and matter-constituted; the thick and carnal received the burning without any detriment. For that new thing which shone forth in Christ does not lie solely in this, that He who was already begotten from God without beginning was also begotten by a temporal birth according to the flesh, but in this also, that our nature gave flesh without the sowing of seed, and the Virgin gave birth without the undoing of modesty. And when of these natures, around which some new manifestation had been brought about, it was necessary to add ^D species, our Theologian explained the one, saying, *God becomes man*; but he passed over the other, namely, that man also might be made God, as being clear and consequential. For if God is made man, without doubt man is also made God. Since it is indubitable that, because of the former, the latter also was brought about. And He who, according to the rising of His glory and splendor, had ascended to the first heaven of the second heaven, He is celebrated gloriously in this kind of rising as so sublime and exalted, just as David sang, in the setting, that is, in our usefulness and abjection. For the rising signifies the Divinity lacking a beginning, which is the everlasting light. But the ascent in the setting signifies the habit and fellowship entered into with human poverty, which indeed, if compared with the supernal splendor, bears the character of a setting and recalls the likeness of night. For there was no comparison between either nature, before that supreme Artificer had joined them in Himself. And Divinity is indeed designated by the Rising, as being high and exalted: because, when the sun rises, it is carried aloft and extolled. But the Setting, as being humble and depressed, signifies the flesh: because the sun, in tending toward the setting, is depressed and carried downward. Furthermore, in the setting also the Lord is celebrated magnificently and gloriously. For to Him ceded that humility which He performed in assuming humanity, rendering His kindness clear and illustrious. Now, indeed, the Son of God has become the Son of Man, not by reason of change, but by reason of assumption. For He remained what He was, and assumed what He was not. For when He perceived such an infirmity of our nature, that from itself it could not know the Author and Maker of all things (since He himself is unbegotten, but we, when we were not before, were later made and fashioned corporally), for this reason, not without cause, the Word, existing as the image of the Father, took a mortal body, so that by it death might also be utterly extinguished, and men, created in the image of God, might be renewed and restored. For as if a certain image depicted on wood were covered with external filth and obliterated, it is necessary to apply again him whose image it bears, in order that it may be able to be restored: in this way too, Christ, the image of the Father, approached these places of ours, so that He might restore man fashioned to His likeness, and, wishing to benefit men, as man, He journeys to us. For when once the minds of men had fallen into the study of sensible things, the Word presented Himself to be looked upon through the body, so that He might draw and convert men and their senses to Himself also as man, and through those things which He does for men, might cause those who look upon Him as man to believe that He is not man alone, but also God. He was seen, therefore, and with flesh as a kind of veil and covering interposed, He dwelt among us. For pure and simple...

nature could by no means bear a divine divinity born and subject to corruption. Therefore, things that did not know mixture are mixed, as Creator with creature, and the work with the artisan (so that one and the same exists as both creator and creature, and both artisan and work), and the mind is joined to the flesh, that is, God to man. For since the devil had led us into fraud, having coaxed us like a kind of lure with the false hope of attaining divinity, and had pierced us with the hook of death, and for that reason believed that he could no longer be broken or weakened by any force, for that reason Christ covered His divine power with flesh, just as one hides a hook with bait. And by this flesh, Satan is enticed, and while he makes his assault as it were upon Adam, and hopes that he will fall to him as prey, he falls into the hook of divinity, and thus the New Adam heals with His victory the disaster contracted by the fault of the old Adam, and raises up the collapsed and the fallen, and—as the Apostle speaks—decrees that the capital sentence pronounced against the flesh of Adam and bound by sin be rescinded by the flesh of Christ, which is not corrupted by any stain of sin, and death is extinguished by the resurrection of the flesh. It itself is the principle of revived life and immortality for the human race.

^A Col. 350 B. And the birth of Christ, etc. It was brought about by Christ, so that a star might indicate the birth of His body. For it was fitting that the Word, descending from heaven, should be proclaimed by a heavenly sign as well. Furthermore, the course of the star signified the adoration of the creatures. But the Magi signified the access of the Gentiles to the faith, and the oppression of idolatry. ^C But Simeon can appropriately be called that person who piously and religiously embraces the divine and the discourse treating of God, and recognizes Him with the pure eyes of his soul. Again through Anna, who confesses, that is, who gives thanks, the soul can be understood as an old woman in the virtue of prudence, and as far as concerns the dogmas which are established about God, modest and clear in the praise of temperance. Now indeed, as it is written in John: He came unto His own, the Lord—that is, into this world, which is His own creature. ^D Yet He comes in an alien manner, as if in an alien nature, namely human, and affects a stranger with glory—that is, man, a sojourner of the earth, and an exile from paradise. Now, however, there is another deed of Christ, and another feast. And I bring a joyful message, even if I am not a precursor like John, yet coming from the solitude, and from Pontic quiet to this most magnificent city. Christ is enlightened: let us be enlightened at the same time, namely by the divine washing, or even purified by the word, and shining through Him. Three things, moreover, must be weighed here: first, that Christ, although pure from all contagion of vices, is baptized: that by this fact He may be a document for us that preparation must necessarily be applied before baptism, and a certain habit of virtue must be acquired, and then one must approach to baptism: so that through the habit of virtue we may place in safety the grace which we have received, and that we may keep our soul whole and intact, and not, after the manner of dogs, return to our own vomit, as Solomon admonishes us to beware. ^B Another point: that He is dipped by John, so that we may learn to bear a modest and humble mind, and not to rise up against the master who promulgates to us the doctrine of piety, nor to be puffed up more audaciously and insolently against the priests, whom Paul calls the dispensers of the mysteries of God, if perhaps we surpass them in a certain dignity. Finally, the third point: that He was baptized in His thirtieth year, at which time He also began His miracles: so that we may learn not to trust in youth, nor to consider any time suitable for instructing the people and governing the Church, nor before the time of down to teach or to believe—that is, to have over-confidence—and to think that we ourselves are able to be equal to those who are to be taught. But rather let us approach to teaching at a mature and full age, both bodily and spiritually, and let us not bring into the middle Daniel and some others who served in the office of judges at a youthful age: nor, as Demosthenes says, let us do anything whatever, and fabricate pretexts and excuses, so that we may remove from ourselves the opinion of injustice. For no one, ever doing anything crookedly and unjustly, has allowed the confession of sin to be extracted from him. Nor am I myself ignorant that Daniel, at the beginning of his age, passed judgment on those Babylonian elders. But he is one. That, however, which is rare, the Church does not hold as a law. For neither does one swallow make spring, as Aristotle says, nor if anyone has drawn one line, or has sailed once, is he to be called a geometer or a sailor straightway.

Col. 351 B. But John baptizes; Jesus approaches, etc. Christ, he says, approaches the Baptist, so that He may bring holiness to him also, and may purge the antiquity of Adam—that is, sin—and may even imbue the Jordan itself with holiness beforehand. For through the Jordan it was fitting that all waters also should be drawn to holiness, and receive the power to purify and spiritually initiate men. For just as Christ has a double nature (for He is Spirit and flesh, that is, God and man), so also He cleanses men through water and the Spirit; the former, I say, received in a sensible way, the latter, however, coming invisibly. But indeed John refuses to admit Jesus approaching, and says: I ought to be baptized by You, and therefore for Your sake. For John knew that it would come to pass that for Christ and His law he would be washed by the blood of a martyr, and not only in the feet, as Peter in the basin, but also in the head, and in his entire body, finally. Inspired also by a prophetic spirit, he added these words: And You come to me? Which words are to be read by way of declaration, and not by way of interrogation. For he did not doubt that it would come to pass, but that as he performed the office of Precursor and herald among the Jews, so Christ would follow him to those also who were in hell: Christ, I say, who is the firstborn of every creature.

^A Moreover, it signifies the plan of the humanity assumed by Christ, and the union of the Word with flesh, the extreme and brief mysteries of which cannot easily be solved and explained, I will not say by those who are still carnal in the knowledge of the things performed by Christ, and, to use the word of the Apostle, are infants, but not even by adults and those who are perfect, such as John was, a man of sparing and almost no food: "For John the Baptist came," he says, "neither eating nor drinking." Now, consider Elias: "If you are willing to receive it," he says, "he is Elias, who is to come." He was a fosterling of the solitude. "What," he says, "did you go out into the desert to see? A prophet? Yes, I say to you, and more than a prophet." For while the other prophets had only prophesied that Christ was to come, John also beheld him with his own eyes. Now, that voice sent from heaven cries out that Christ has proceeded from heaven, and bears witness to his divinity: "This is my beloved Son." Furthermore, the Spirit, seen in a corporeal manner, and rushing toward Christ as a dove, honors his body, which indeed is not God by nature (for this would be absurd to say), nor by adoption: not by progression and increase, but by deification and hypostatic union above nature and adoption, it obtained divinity from the very union. And as the dove once returned to the ark, carrying in its mouth ^B an olive branch, it brought news that the sensible and corporeal flood had subsided: in the same way the Holy Spirit, appearing now in the form of a dove, indicates that the spiritual flood has been compressed. But if a heretic thinks that the divinity should be estimated by the magnitudes and weights that are proper to bodies, and therefore judges the Spirit small because he appeared in the likeness of a dove, it must now be for him to despise also the kingdom of heaven, because it is compared to a grain of mustard seed, and to prefer the devil to Christ's majesty, because of him Zechariah says: "Who are you, O great mountain, who are before the face of Zorobabel?" And Jeremiah: "Behold I am against you, O corrupt mountain." But the great mountain is called our adversary because of his pride and arrogance. In the book of Job, he is called Leviathan, which, if you interpret it, will signify the same thing: the king of those things that are in the waters. Christ, on the contrary, is called the Lamb in Isaiah: "As a lamb," he says, "he was led to the slaughter, and as a lamb before his shearer he was dumb." And in John: "Behold the Lamb of God." And in the Gospel he is called a pearl, which a good merchant buys after selling all his goods. But he is called a drop in David: "He shall come down," he says, "like rain upon a fleece, and as a drop distilling upon the earth."

^C Ibid. "Now what does the fan signify? The purification, etc." Concerning Christ, it is written thus in the Gospels: "His fan is in his hand, and he will thoroughly cleanse his floor, and he will gather his wheat into the barn; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire." Moreover, the fan signifies purification, that is, division, discerning the fruit-bearing from the infructuous, just as a fan discerns the grain from the chaff, and shakes off whatever is light and windy: whatever, on the other hand, is heavy, he gathers into the barns. But the fire designates consumption, removing the filth of those who are purged, and cleansing that which is of a light and vicious nature. For sin is a light and dry thing, easily kindling fire. Through fire, the fervor of the Spirit can also be signified, which inflames those who participate in it toward the cultivation and study of virtue, and the love of God. It follows in the evangelist: "The axe is laid to the root of the trees." The axe designates the excision of that soul, which lives so perditiously and profligately that, not even with the application and injection of ^D the manure of saving medicine, does it bring forth any fruit. But this is taken from the evangelical parable in which the farmer contends with prayers to the Lord of the vineyard that he might spare the fig tree for one more year, so that he might dig around it and cast manure. Again, in the Gospel, the Lord says: "I came not to bring peace, but a sword; for I came to set a man against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law." A similar thing is also said through Micah: "The son," he says, "will dishonor the father, the daughter will rise against her mother, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law." Therefore, the sword indicates the sharp and penetrating word of Christ, that is, the doctrine of faith, and preaching, dividing the faithful from the infidels, and stirring up the new and evangelical and true against the old and shadowy examples. But the "latchet" is the thong of the shoe.

Col. 554 C. "Since, however, the baptism, etc." One, he says, was the baptism, the baptism of Moses in water.

^A, which is that which is compared to martyrdom and the shedding of blood, with which Christ himself was also baptized, and of which He said: "I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how I am constrained until it be accomplished." And to the sons of Zebedee: "Can you drink the cup that I drink, and with the baptism with which I am baptized, be baptized?" Indeed, the baptism which takes place in water has only the likeness of death. But some of those who, in the struggles undertaken for piety's sake, have endured the punishment of death for the truth and in imitation of Christ, have not needed the signs of water in order to attain salvation, as they are baptized in their own blood. Whence the baptism of martyrdom excels others in dignity, for he who is baptized by martyrdom does not fear the defilements of the life that follows. The fifth baptism is long and grievous, namely that of tears, with which David also was baptized, and accordingly said: "I will wash through each night my bed; I will water my couch with my tears." And in another place: "I went about saddened all the day." And again: "As one mourning and saddened, so was I humbled." Likewise: "Why have you cast me off, and why do I go about saddened?" And again: "My scars have rotted and corrupted." This, moreover, is a part of penance and a sign of repentance, when someone is affected by the sense of the stench of his own sins. For only in this way does he pursue them with worthy execration. He also imitates the conversion of Manasses, which the second book of Chronicles has handed down to memory. He also shows himself to be an emulator of the humility of the Ninevites, which Jonah the prophet describes. And he even says with the publican: "God, be merciful to me a sinner." And furthermore he is bowed and humbled, that is, he lies prostrate on the ground and grovels at the feet, as did the Canaanite woman, and asks for crumbs, that is, for a small amount of mercy. For thus the Canaanite woman used to say: "Yes, Lord; for the dogs also eat of the crumbs which fall from the table of their masters." Yet it must not be thought that she was the same Canaanite woman who suffered from infirmity and was therefore bowed down. For that woman was a Jewish woman; this one, however, is a Gentile. The theologian also says of her that she is "bowed," that is, humiliated and inclined toward the earth, for the sake of supplication, not of infirmity.

For He established this law: "If anyone touches a dead body or a leper, or has eaten with a Gentile, or has contracted any other filth, he shall be purified by water in the evening." ^B And even before the Law, He immunized the Israelites in the cloud and the sea, and quenched their thirst with water gushing from the rock, and satisfied their hunger with manna. But the rock, in a mystical sense, as it also pleases Paul, was Christ; and the water of the rock was the vital power and faculty of the Word (for "If anyone thirsts," He says, "let him come to me and drink"), and the manna foreshadowed the living bread. But the sea and the clouds, in the present, truly struck the minds of men with admiration for the thing and induced them to faith: in the future, however, they indicated the grace that was about to shine forth through a figure. Who is wise and shall understand these things? By what means did the sea signify baptism, namely by separating the Hebrews from Pharaoh, just as this bath separates us from the tyranny of the devil? That one killed the hostile forces overwhelmed by the waters: in baptism our enmity against God dies. The Israelitic people went forth from Pharaoh unharmed and safe; in the same way we too ascend from the water, as if recalled from death to life, having obtained salvation by the grace of Him who called us. Moreover, the cloud bore the figure of that benefit which we have received from the Spirit: for this Spirit suppresses the perturbations of our mind, and mitigates and cools the flame ignited by them. The second baptism was the baptism of John, in water indeed, and for repentance, but not in the Spirit. The third, namely Christ's baptism, is perfect, since it is in the Spirit. For He is the one, he says, who baptizes in the Holy Spirit. And: "He shall baptize you in the Holy Spirit." For He who orders the office of baptizing to be performed is said to baptize. Wherefore the baptism of John was in place of a certain childish institution: but the baptism of Christ brought perfection. The former was one of penance: the latter of adoption. The former was a withdrawal from sin: the latter an attachment to God. But if the Spirit perfects men, and affects them with divinity, what can be alleged to suggest that He is not God Himself? (For it is pleasing, in passing, to examine and discuss this.) And since you, by reason of the Spirit, are God, in what manner, finally, will the Spirit be alien to divinity? But in truth, it is necessary that the divine Spirit be both from God and be God, who is the cause why we ourselves are gods, just as that which brings the power of burning must be combustible: and that which brings the cause of holiness must needs be holy. For it is worth one's while to know that the Lord, the regulator of our life, has struck the covenant of baptism with us, embracing the figure of death and life. For water also expresses the image of death: since those who are baptized are immersed in water, and in a certain manner are buried: and again the Spirit offers us the pledge of life. The fourth baptism ^D Col. 355 B. "I confess indeed that I am a man," etc. When some Christians, under the raging persecution, overcome by the magnitude of the tortures, had lapsed into the abjuration of the faith, and afterward, when the tempest of persecution had been calmed, were asking as suppliants with tears of the bishops of the Church that they be given a time of penance, Novatus, a presbyter of the Roman Church, puffed up with arrogance and insolence of mind, was pushing away the miserable ones: although he himself had even abjured the dignity of the priesthood during the dangerous time. But the bishop, indeed, those who had fallen to the abjuration of Christian piety...

^A at a certain time designated, he recovered: but he proscribed Novatus from the assembly of the Church. He, in truth, with everyone unaware, enticed three bishops advanced in age to a certain hidden and obscure place, and, having ensnared them with the blandishments of his words, drove them to that point, that they should lay their hands upon him. Thus, by them, he was designated a bishop. Exalted beyond measure by this dignity, as many as he could entice to himself from among the foolish and insane men, he named Cathari, that is, the pure. But those who embraced the same opinion also prohibited second marriages. Turning therefore his discourse to the Novatians, the Theologian says: I, for my part, embrace the baptism of repentance and tears, and I adore God, the giver of it, and knowing that I myself am likewise encircled and enveloped on every side by infirmity, I am moved by mercy also toward others, so that I myself may obtain mercy. For with what measure, he says, you have measured, it shall be measured back to you. But what do you say, you who even in your sleep, with a mind obsessed by the image of lust, gravely rail in the manner of the Pharisees, you who are also a Pharisee, and possess only the name of Cathari, but not the thing itself, and, though you are surrounded by the same infirmity as I am, you puff yourself up nevertheless, as if you were some great and exalted man? You do not receive the penitent, nor do you shed tears for them, as though grieved by their plight? Far be it that God should hold the same reason in judging! You are not moved by the mercy of Christ and the ease of forgiveness, who according to Isaiah ^B bore our infirmities and sicknesses, that is, our sins, upon His shoulders (just as the typical lamb, which was slaughtered for the sins of the people), and who for us was slain, and for us, who are liable to punishment, paid the penalty; who says: I came not to call the just, but sinners to repentance; and through Hosea: I desire mercy and not sacrifice; and to Peter, who asked if he should forgive his brother sinning seven times the offense, He replied: I say to you not seven times, but seventy times seven, that is, as often as he may return to a better frame of mind? Do you not even receive David, because of the crime of the adultery he committed, and the slaughter brought upon Uriah, he who was affected by pain of mind and tormenting himself, who did not even lose the gift of prophecy on account of repentance? And do you not admit Peter, because at the time of Christ’s passion he denied Him three times, and again three times confessed that he was bound by His love, and thus brought medicine to his denial, and afterwards, with his head turned toward the earth, was affixed to a cross for the name of Christ? Nor the Corinthian who had illicit commerce with his stepmother? But Paul, having perceived his repentance, urges the Corinthians to strengthen their charity toward him; and adds the cause: Lest perhaps such a man be swallowed up by excessive sorrow, that is, lest he rush headlong into despair or death. What? Do you not permit second marriages, nor do you give young widows the power to marry? But Paul did not hesitate to do this, ^C saying: I will that the younger widows marry, Paul, I say, that man who was caught up to the third heaven and to paradise, who from Jerusalem and round about as far as Illyricum fulfilled the Gospel of Christ. Thus you, as it seems, are also a teacher of Paul, as if you were flying to a fourth heaven, and were caught up to another paradise to which he was not caught up, and had embraced a greater circle of the Christian doctrine through your preaching. But you will say, Novatian: This repentance and forgiveness after baptism now has no place, or that the Corinthian who had constrained himself with the crime of fornication was received by Paul before baptism, but not after baptism. Why then do you not prove this, or if you cannot, why do you not cease to condemn and reject those who fall into sin after baptism? But if it is doubtful at what time he received it, obey the Roman law, which says: In doubtful matters, let clemency prevail. But if Novatus did not receive those who had fallen during the time of the raging persecution, and they indeed bringing worthy repentance, I, however, shall by no means follow his example. For in my judgment, those are equally deserving of rebuke and punishment who either afflict those who sin with no penalty, and grant them all control, or condemn them in such a way that they leave them no hope of obtaining mercy. Nor indeed shall the cruelty of Novatus, who condemned fornication so bitterly and pronounced it an inexpiable sin, have any force with me, as if he himself were beyond the flesh in which he was placed: yet he in no way repressedavarice, which Paul nevertheless calls idolatry, perhaps because love of riches teaches only those who do not know God: or because, just as a pagan clasps a statue with joined hands, so also the miser commits gold to chests and bolts, and dares not even touch that which is, as it were, some sacred offering. But if at any time he were impelled by necessity to do so, he is affected in his mind no differently than if he had perpetrated something wicked. ^D What do you say? Or are you moved by these words, etc. What, he says, do you say, O Novatians? If you are moved by our speech, stand with us, who are men and prone to sin, and therefore easily grieve for the plight of others: stand, I say, you who are above man, nay rather, are inhuman, and because of that do not desire grief for the fall of others. Let us together celebrate the Lord, who for His mercy’s sake granted us repentance; and hearing Isaiah, who says: Woe to you that say, Depart from me, do not come near me, because I am pure; do not you, who are pure, flee our company as that of impure men: but rather, standing with us, make us also partakers of your purity. But if we do not sway you, for you, as being afflicted with an incurable disease

by scolding, let us pour forth tears. For you shall be baptized by an eternal fire, which devours earthly and gross matter like hay—to use the words of Isaiah—that is, it consumes the gross and obscene pleasures of the body serving the flesh, and it so afflicts men who are light and dry with sin, that it nevertheless does not consume them. For just as in this life Christ baptizes in the Spirit those worthy of holiness, so he transmits others to the fire, delivering, that is, those who are averse to the good, to the evil spirit. Furthermore, by the baptism of fire he understands the examination and censorship of the final judgment, according to that which the Apostle says: "Each one’s work, whatever it is, the fire will test." And again: "For the day will declare it, because it will be revealed in fire." But let us obey the counsel of Isaiah, speaking in this manner: "Wash yourselves, be clean; and if your sins are as scarlet, I will make them white as snow; but if they are as crimson, I will make them as white as wool." I will return ^A. But David calls him a man of blood, who is covered with every vice and wickedness. For he called him perfect by the name of man; just as Paul also says: "Until we reach a perfect man." ^B Indeed, for the sake of man all teaching has been given, both legal and evangelical, and every mystery and every action of Christ, and every feast, possessing mystical reasons. Be purified, therefore, that, as Paul says, you may be as lights in the world, holding the word of life. For light of this kind has a certain power, that it may rouse to life those who are as if dead in darkness. So it will happen, that in the other age you may be more fully illuminated by the brilliance of the Trinity, whose one and the same splendor, shining forth from the three persons of the one divinity, you have now received in Christ himself our Lord, to whom be glory and empire unto ages of ages. Amen.

ON ORATION XL.

ARGUMENT. This oration demonstrates by sharp and vehement disputation that baptism is in no way to be delayed or put off. And although it coheres with the preceding oration, true it is that through the shortness and narrowness of time, it happened that it was distinguished from it.

NICETAS' COMMENTARY. Col. 359 B. Since yesterday we celebrated the splendid, etc. Yesterday, he says, we celebrated the feast of Lights. For it was fitting that we should be carried away with joy for our salvation, and celebrate it. And this was much more equitable than what mortals given to the flesh are wont to do, who celebrate both *genethlia*, that is, the day on which they were born into the light, and *gamelia*, that is, the day on which they contracted marriage, and *onomasteria*, when ^C a name was imposed upon them, and *koureōtika*, when, youth being run through and completed, they were inscribed into the order of young men, or when first their hair, growing superfluously, was shaved off, and *katoikisia* or the dedication of a habitation, when they first inhabited some land or house. These, moreover, were all celebrated *etēsia*, that is, annually. Some, however, interpret *etēsia* as the preludes and initiations of a consulship, or of a military prefecture, or of some other such magistracy, or even of that day on which someone escaped the greatest danger. Today we shall discuss baptism; even if the oration instituted on it yesterday passed us by, both because the time was pressing (for on feast days we consume the greatest part of the time in the chanting of the Psalms), and so that the length of the discourse might not beget disgust and satiety. For I always hold satiety as suspect, as troublesome and full of tedium, and hostile to all excellent things, and rendering what has been said fruitless. For since the weakness of the mind is such that it cannot grasp and seize all things at once, the same thing happens to it entirely as to the stomach, which on account of immoderate satiety cannot digest the food sent down to it. But it will be necessary to hear with an attentive mind the things that will be said by us: since this too is a part of the splendor, namely, to have the power and faculty of baptism properly known and explained.

Col. 359 C. He acknowledges a triple genus of ^D birth, etc. Three, he says, are the births that right and ecclesiastical doctrine professes: the first, bodily, by which we are born from others; the second, of baptism; the third, of the resurrection. And the bodily indeed is nocturnal (for the time of sexual congress is properly night, on account of honesty and modesty) and also base, inasmuch as the affection of lust initiates it, for marriage is wont to be contracted from the love of pleasure. The birth of baptism, however, is called diurnal by David: "For the day," he says, "will be fashioned"; either because for the most part baptism is celebrated in the daytime, or because of the excellent splendor and purity of baptism. Moreover, it is not only pure and free from lust: but it also entirely deletes and extinguishes vicious affections; and just as circumcision [removed] the superfluous part of the genital member

in the same way the circumcision which baptism brings cuts away not all pleasure, but only the superfluous and utterly unnecessary [part]. For it circumcises every veil contracted from birth—that is, the troubled motions of the mind, and the darkness spread over them, which obscured the eye of the soul like a cloud. For sin, admitted by our first parents through the violation of the divine command, brought in carnal conjunction, and through it, in turn, drew along with it into their descendants not a little filth and defilement. For although marriage has been made honorable by God's blessing, for the procreation of children, yet its nature flowed from sin. For in sins, he says, did my mother conceive me. Furthermore, circumcision bears the figure of baptism. For just as that [circumcision], which was the sign of the Abrahamic race, did not amputate a useful part of the body, but rather useless excrement: in the same way, the most holy baptism, which is the seal of Christians, cuts out the dense and carnal affection of wicked ^B thoughts and sin. There is no doubt, however, that sin is the excrement of concupiscence, and not some advantageous and useful desire. For it cannot happen that anyone is not touched at all by any desire, or is immune from every sense of pleasure. Baptism, however, cuts away useless craving and pleasure—that is, sin—and separates us from the infidels, and recalls us to the heavenly life and angelic manner of life, from which our race has fallen. The third birth, indeed, is that of the resurrection; it is formidable on account of the terrible and fear-filled judgment, and also brief. For it will happen in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, as the Apostle says, and, as is written in Ecclesiasticus: God will bring every creature into judgment, and we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ, and give an account of the things done in this life, whether we have followed the desires of the flesh, or whether our soul has proven superior to the desires of the flesh, and has drawn that which inclines to the earth, and which tries to drag itself down, upwards along with it, and has not at all despised the benefit of baptism, but has cherished it with the highest honor and reverence. These three births ^C Christ has honored in His own person: the corporeal, that is, through that first and vital, soul-making, inspiration, which, once breathed into Adam (for He breathed into his face the breath of life, and man became a living soul), is effective in all who are begotten from him. And this is indeed called the first inspiration, in relation to the latter, by which Christ breathed upon the apostles and said: Receive the Holy Spirit. But it is called "vital" because it breathed life into him. For man became, he says, a living soul—that is, active and exerting one's own power. For that inspiration, which happened to the apostles, brought them not life, but divine grace. But Christ truly graced the birth of baptism with His own incarnation and baptism. Moreover, I have joined the incarnation here not with the corporeal birth, but with baptism, because the Lord, before He assumed flesh, honored that corporeal [nature] at the time when He inspired the rational soul—that is, when He created man in the image of God. Afterward, however, become incarnate and baptized in the flesh (for it was not permitted to be baptized otherwise than with flesh), He also accumulated honor and glory upon baptism. For it is truly to be known that, while in the corporeal generation also—which is in truth one—we divide it in mind and thought ^D into inspiration and creation: since the reason of human nature is twofold in regard to generation, the one being evidently of the soul, the other of the body. For the soul is produced in an ineffable way from divine inspiration: whereas the body is created from the underlying matter. Now, however, Christ has adorned and illuminated the third birth, when He himself was the first to be raised from death to life, no longer to die again. And for this cause, Paul called Him the firstborn among many brethren, and the firstborn from the dead; the former, because He inaugurated that regeneration and adoption which is acquired by baptism (for He was the first to be baptized through water and the Holy Spirit, and on that account was made the firstborn among many of His brethren, who, that is, have been adopted by God through baptism, and from Him have received the power to become the sons of God); the latter, because He became the firstfruits of those who sleep, and the first to break forth from the belly of the underworld, revived to immortality and eternal life through the resurrection, and paved the way to it for all mortals.

Col. 562 B. Of the two births, that is, of the first and the last, there is now no need of disputing, etc. Since, he says, the kind of birth is threefold—the first corporeal, the second of baptism, the third of the resurrection (for we are born first, then baptized, finally we rise again)—now the middle one, that is, the birth of baptism, must be discussed: which, indeed, because it is for this reason called illumination, because it illuminates the soul, rightfully has also drawn its nickname from it, and upon that account is called "The Lights." Baptism, therefore, that I may adorn it with many descriptions, is the splendor of souls, a change of life for the better (that is, from a wanton and dissolute life to one that is grave and subject to the yoke of Christ), [and] an aid to our infirmity. For since God did not create us iron-willed and indomitable, but mutable and flexible in either direction, He therefore also provided us many helps, in the number of which baptism also—

^A is, which, to use the words of Peter, is "not the removal of dirt from the flesh, but the appeal of a good conscience to God." For when questioned in baptism as to how our conscience stands toward God, and what faith we have in Him, we answer that we join ourselves to His side, and, to say it in one word, we profess the Symbols of faith. According to the Theologian, baptism is the casting off of the flesh—that is, a contempt for carnal affection and will, or even for the flesh itself (for he says, "Make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts"), or else the crucifixion of the soul with respect to its turbulent motions. For he who despises the flesh surely follows the soul, attributing to it, of course, the authority and command over the former. Baptism is a participation of the Word, either because we follow the Word and Christ through it, or because we become partakers of doctrine and knowledge. For we are rendered more intelligent and prudent from it, having become partakers of divine doctrine and grace. It is the restoration of the creature. For it is a recreation and renewal of a man broken by sin, and a reformation to the dignity of the ancient image. And just as shadows are dispelled by the approach of light, and darkness is removed from the midst by the effusion of brightness, so too by the perception of the spiritual light illuminating the eye of the soul, the shadows obscuring it are scattered, and the old man, adorned with the works of righteousness, returns to the flower of age. Baptism is a vehicle toward God. For through it we are carried aloft to God as if by a ladder. Moreover, through it we journey with Christ. For we die and are buried together with Him through baptism. It is a support and aid to faith. For there are two modes of salvation so connected to each other that they can by no means be separated. For faith is perfected by baptism, and is completed in all its parts. Baptism, however, rests upon the foundation of faith, and confession, which introduces us to salvation, indeed precedes it; but baptism follows, sealing for us the assent of faith. For when we are baptized, we confirm by a sure and clear argument that we are endowed with faith. This is the perfection of the mind. For the mind, with sin impeding its progress, remained crude and imperfect: but now, having received natural progress and increase, it attains its own perfection and is made godlike. This is the key of the heavenly kingdom, ^B truly opening it to those who are washed in the waters of baptism. This is the transformation of life—that is, from the corporeal and shameful to the spiritual and divine. This is the abrogation of slavery, and instead of servile dejection, it is full and absolute freedom. For through it we receive the adoption of sons and therefore cries: Paul: "So you are no longer a slave, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God." This is the release of bonds, that is, of the affections of the soul and of sin. This is [the work] of our composition and joint-working toward a better state, and of the transformation of the whole mass and temperament toward a better and more perfect state, namely, with the soul hastening toward better things, and the body following, and not struggling in a different direction. Indeed man, consisting of soul and body, is sanctified through baptism. And lest I rehearse everything that the grace of baptism promises and offers, this is the most excellent of all divine benefits. For just as the innermost part of the divine temple was called the Holy of Holies, as if a partaker of richer holiness; and the mystical book of Solomon is called the Song of Songs, as if more excellent and distinguished than the rest: so in the same way baptism is called Illumination because of its extraordinary dignity, not because other spiritual graces do not also have the power of illuminating, but because it excels them in holiness, and alone cleanses all filth, illuminates mortals, adopts them to God, and joins them to Christ.

Col. 562 C. But as Christ, etc. Just as Christ, the giver of baptism, is called by many names (for He is called Son, since in essence He is the same as the Father; Only-Begotten, because He was begotten in a singular way, and not like bodies; Word, because of a generation free from every suffering; Wisdom, because He has all things known; Truth, because He is one by nature, and not many; Light, because He is the splendor of souls; Justice, because He is the distributor of reward and punishment according to each one's merit; Sanctification, because He is purity; Redemption, because He asserts liberty for us who were held by sin; Resurrection, because He calls us back to life who were dead; Sheep, as a victim; Lamb, as perfect; Pontiff, as mediator and guide; Fire, as cleansing light matter; Sword, as dividing good from evil; Winnowing-fan, as cleansing the threshing floor; Axe, as cutting off the roots of wickedness), in the same way the gift of Christ, that is, baptism, is called in various and manifold ways, as is pleasing to the tutor of the Ladder: whether because it came to us out of some wondrous affection, that is, out of a profuse joy of the soul, so that we might impose different names upon it; or because various names were attributed to it on account of the ratio of the manifold benefits of baptism, with each benefit producing an appropriate and fitting name. For, in the first place, we call it a gift, because it is imparted to us freely without any labor undertaken or service offered beforehand. Then, baptism, because sin is buried in the water. Then, anointing with John, as sacred and royal. For priests and kings were anointed according to the law of Moses. But Illumination, as splendor, and because through it we behold that holy light, and we are empowered in the keenness of our eyes to gaze upon the divine majesty. Furthermore, [it is a source] of immortality and...

^A a wrapping against corruption, according to the Apostolic Constitutions, and a covering for shame and beauty; for, having covered our shame and disgrace, it clothes us in incorruption and immortality, rendering the soul clean and whole, as it once was, and stripped of the corruption of sin. It is the washing of regeneration, because through it, as it is with Paul, we cast off and wash away our sins. It is, moreover, a seal, because through it we are marked, and it is known to whom we belong as master, and we are kept safe from traps. For that which has been marked by any seal is by no means exposed to the aggression of thieves. Furthermore, we have placed the Seal last in the enumeration of titles, as though sealing and confirming them. The heavens rejoice at this. For it is permitted, for the sake of amplifying joy, to attribute gladness even to inanimate things. Or, if you prefer, understand "heavens" by synecdoche to mean the celestial angels, who are stirred to joy because of the salvation of men accepted through baptism (for there is joy in heaven over one sinner who repents 20), and they celebrate the illumination of baptism because of their kinship in splendor. For this, too, is glorious and divine, an image of celestial blessedness, and a likeness of the splendor of the just and of the life that is restored. For those who are washed in the life-giving water anticipate, in spirit and in will, the things that that age possesses by nature.

^B Col. 363 B. "And God is indeed the highest and inaccessible light," etc. God is light, the highest, as being without beginning and first, or as preeminent and superior to all things; and inaccessible, because on account of the exuberance of [His] splendor He cannot be endured by anyone. For there is no one who can gaze upon Him with intent eyes. This light can be expressed by no speech, and much less understood by the mind. For God can neither be perceived by the human mind nor can His magnitude be comprehended by thought. Indeed, He is, if we believe Plato, in the intelligible realm what the sun is in the things that move the senses. For as the sun brings light to the eyes, so He brings light to the mind; and again, as the sun excels in beauty all things that are perceived by sight, so does He excel all things that are understood by mind and reason. Furthermore, the ladder and ascent to this knowledge may be of this kind: Purgation lifts up toward imagination and the vision of the soul—that is, action toward contemplation—and imagination raises [one] toward love on account of the pleasure emanating from on high. Finally, love [leads] toward intelligence, which precedes imagination in purity and clarity. And, to sum the matter up briefly, as much as each one loves, so much also does he perceive and understand; and as much as he understands, so much also does he love; and thus does this circle beautifully revolve. Now God is moved by the contemplation of Himself, and He is comprehended by knowledge from Himself; but toward external things He is diffused sparingly through illumination; and not only sparingly, but ^D even to very few men, namely those who have thoroughly cleansed their mind and reason. The identity of nature and the ineffable union are proper to the Trinity, as is the one and same emission of the surging splendor, just as if one were to imagine in one’s mind three torches equal in all respects among themselves (which, indeed, cannot be found in those things which fall under the senses), and one and the same radiance surging and emanating from the three equally and without any division. Therefore, the first light is God, as the preeminent principle of all lights; but the second are the angels, as those who are after God, although they are prior to others, the first luminous nature after the First, second lights, rays of the primary light, and others [shining] by the influxes of the first light, and as if illuminating [the darkness] ^B by their own. Furthermore, I call the angels the stream and participation of the first light, not according to nature, but according to the splendor and illumination flowing from God: a stream, because light is poured into them from God; a participation, because such splendor is imparted to them. And see how contemplation and action shine forth in the angels also. For the uplifting and fixation of the mind toward God is contemplation, through which they are carried up to God; but service and obedience is action, through which they subserviently attend to the celebration of divine glory and to other duties and offices. Since, however, there are diversities of illuminations in the celestial hierarchies, not by design and will, but by nature, and since some are able to grasp and hold onto the divine light more, others less (so much so that the former dwell with Him as immediately as can be, but the latter are illuminated by the works of the first ones, and so, naturally, by the illumination transmitted and passed on from some to others, from the first even to the last), I am in doubt and uncertain as to what to say, whether they receive illumination according to the order of their class and station, or whether, on the contrary, they have their own order according to the mode of illumination. This I certainly say: that the celestial and blessed minds, because they are near to God and, being first, drain the first light and receive from there the most pure splendor, are perhaps also illuminated more richly and copiously: and others are illuminated in another way according to the nature and ^D order of each. The third light is man, who is called "light" even among profane authors, perhaps for this reason, because we are endowed with reason. For what the eye is in the body, that the mind and reason is in the soul, as it were suffusing it with light. For He calls the mind *logos*; or He also understands *logos* as speech. For this also brings into the light hidden and abstruse thoughts enclosed within the mind. Now, among men also, those who through virtue approach closer to God are called light, as deiform and having attained the likeness of God, like disciples to whom it was said: "You are the light of the world" [*]. But God is light properly; the angels, however, and

men improperly, since they are made this by participation in the supernal illumination and grace. And these lights indeed have mind and reason. There is, however, other light of a different nature, namely that which lacks reason and soul, through which even the primordial darknesses have been repelled, that is, put to flight for a time, and, to speak more clearly, intersected. For light being substantially created and produced into the nature of things, darkness was for a time intersected. For darknesses—as if subsisting by the obstruction of heaven and earth—recede when the light returns, and subsequently return when the daytime is interrupted, and are always intersected by the light, and yield in turn. Although both light and darkness are said to be primordial, yet there is this difference, that light is so called because it is substantially created: darkness, however, as adventitious and existing in substance. For darkness is an accident, and nothing other than the privation of light. But by light in this place I mean that which was not produced before all things falling into the senses, but rather before creatures through which it is conspicuous and visible. For heaven and earth, water and air, and, to say it in a word, all things that were not created from a subject matter, existed before light, and therefore could not even be seen, as they were lacking light. Since, however, the heaven is of a circular figure and moved in a circular motion, I assert, not ^A absurdly or inconsistently, that the stars are also carried circularly, bringing light and splendor to the entire world.

^B Col. 563 D. Now there was also that primordial light, the commandment, etc. There was also that first light, the commandment which was given to the first man, as it imparted a certain splendor for the judging of things, according to that which was said by Solomon: The lamp and the light is the commandment of the law; and according to that of David: Thy law is a lamp to my feet, and a light to my paths; and also according to that which is in Isaiah: God’s precepts are a light upon the earth. The commandment of God, therefore, was light. But an envious darkness (that is, the devil) creeping in furtively and entering, fabricated vice. For evil is not any substance, but the privation of good: just as darkness is the withdrawal of light. For there is no other substance of evil ^C than the absence of virtue. The written law was likewise light, and the typical or figurative light, as it shadowed forth the truth of the Gospel, showing it as if through a lattice, and moreover, through the lamb and other sacrifices, designating the mystery of Christ, who is the great light, and more sublime than all light. That the law was also light can be clearly gathered from this. For when Moses had looked upon it with intent eyes, as it was dictated by God, and had known the mysteries of Christ, he conceived a greater splendor in his soul and mind, and he had the glory of his face as a sign and argument for such ^D splendor transferred to it, just as it is reported to memory in the book of Exodus. Where it is also held that Moses was beholding the burning bush, yet not consuming it by burning, so that clearly from the fact that it burned, the nature of fire might be declared; but from the fact that it did not consume it, its power and potency might be shown, which restrained and checked the force of the fire. For this reason, therefore, the angel is also light, as fire: "Who maketh," he says, "his angels spirits, and his ministers a flaming fire." For the light of fire is proper. Nay, there was also light, that which in the pillar of fire in the desert pointed out the way to the Jews; of which David also, making mention, says: Thou didst lead them in a cloud of the day, and through all the night in the illumination of fire. Now truly in the fourth book of Kings it is held that a chariot of fire caught Elijah up into heaven, surely signifying the excellent virtue of this just man, and that he was more sublime than the human condition. Moreover, it is written in Luke that light shone around the shepherds, when the light devoid of time, that is, the Son of God, was conjoined to temporal light, that is, humanity. And when a simple man is called light, much less one endowed with outstanding and divine virtue: much more certainly should he be called light who is united to God, and by that very union made God. Furthermore, Matthew in the Gospel teaches that divine force and power led the Magi in the appearance of a star into Bethlehem, and surrounded them in the manner of an escort, that is, served in a subservient way, and honored Christ, whom I call the light more sublime for us, even if He were with us. Nay, there was also that splendor of divinity on Mount Tabor, briefly revealed, which even the disciples could not behold with firm eyes, as it had so great a force that it could neither be endured, nor heard, nor perceived by sight. Light also was that which shone around Paul on the way, as is commemorated in the book of Acts, whose exuberant splendor the carnal eyes not bearing, were so blinded that in the meantime the darknesses of the soul were put to flight and dispelled. Through this light all knowledge and science is discovered, and God truly becomes known to our souls. Furthermore, the future splendor of the just is light. For they shall shine as the sun, just as Scripture promises, who in this life have purified their soul from the evils of vices, and have been called deiform, of whom David speaks in this manner: God stood in the synagogue of gods, and in the midst he judges gods, that is, the mansions of the celestial kingdom and the degrees of dignities he distributes to them according to the reason and proportion of virtue. Finally, besides all these things, the illumination of baptism is called light in a peculiar and different way. Concerning which this prayer has been instituted for us, and from which the mystery of our salvation is contained.

Col. 366 B. Since to lack every stain of sin is of God, etc. To sin not at all belongs to God alone.

^A For it is immutable, and, properly speaking, simple and incorporeal. For true and proper simplicity admits of no division or contention. Angels, however, are not altogether immutable, but are capable of both good and evil, as they are not properly simple; yet if they are compared with us, they approach very closely to a state immune from all sin, being as near to God as the ether is to the sun. But we, being composite, are driven by a slight movement toward vice. For composition is the cause of discord: since, as the Apostle testifies: "The flesh lusts against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another." When the flesh prevails, therefore, sin is admitted. Since, therefore, God established us midway between greatness and humility, and created us mutable, He did not for that reason despise us when we rushed toward vice by the inclination of our soul, nor did He leave us devoid of help, although we were placed in such a crisis that there was a danger we might be completely severed from God. But just as He produced us into the nature of things when we did not previously exist, so after we had fallen away after creation, He restored us to our ancient state through the excellent and most distinguished formation and creation of baptism. This, indeed, as a seal for infants and those entering the course of bodily age, perfects and completes them, signifying dominion: just so, for those who advance further in age, it is not only a seal, but also a grace, remitting past offenses and restoring the image marred by sin. For if we did not obtain the grace of sins through baptism, we would undoubtedly slip through sin into despair, and through despair we would fall away from virtue entirely, and that would happen to us which is said by Solomon: "The wicked, when he comes into the depth of evils, treats it with contempt." But now, just as travelers refreshed in some inn from the toil of their journey set out upon the proposed path with a more eager spirit, so we also accomplish the path of life with more prompt spirits. And baptism brings this strength. And that flood, which happened during the time of Noah, destroyed the whole world with slaughter: ^B but baptism cleanses and purges the sins with which we were overwhelmed and defiled.

But it does not contain the soul superficially, nor does it cleanse bodies on the surface, but it expiates the soul and its very inner recesses. Which is also an aid to our first nativity, inasmuch as it cuts away all that covering which we have contracted from birth, and makes us new men out of the old, casting off the old age, namely, and the weakness and infirmity brought in by sin, through which we submitted our heads to the empire of demons; and it renders those who, before baptism was received, were deformed and squalid and wrinkled, godlike, the ancient image having been received. And whereas metalworkers, and those who fashion vessels from clay, when they wish to renew something obsolete through age, first break it and then fuse it again. Baptism, however, fuses us anew, not with a sensible fire, but with the flame of the Spirit, shaking off and abolishing every defilement. It also renews and restores, not by destroying the form which it undertakes to renew, but by that which is hidden and concealed. Or rather, to speak more properly, we are renewed without fusion, we are recreated without destruction, we are cured without any sense of pain. Now, indeed, he who is baptized enters into a pact with God for a second life and a better way of living and conduct, renouncing his former and wicked life, and dying to it. Wherefore, according to the counsel of Solomon, let us be seized by fear, and let us keep our heart with all custody, lest we be found fighting against the personal bond which we have brought forth in the confession of our faith. For if God, being interposed, confirms pacts entered into with men, how great a danger must be thought to hang over him who has broken the agreement made with Him, and has nefariously violated the covenants of salvation, and, besides other crimes, stands accused before God of the very lie itself, because he has deceived the faith given to Him; and this when no other baptism remains. For it is impossible, says Paul, for those who have once been enlightened "to renew them again unto repentance." Moreover, there is one baptism, since there is one death suffered for the world: and one resurrection from the dead, which baptism designates. Hence Christ ratified for us the covenant of baptism, having the figure of death and life, with water expressing the image of death (for those who are baptized have their bodies buried in water ^C as it were), but with the Spirit bringing the earnest of life. Wherefore no other regeneration remains, nor restoration to the ancient state, that is, to that purgation which the washing of regeneration has brought. For although there is also a baptism of tears, it does not, however, cleanse in the same way as the first baptism. For as there are various kinds of supernal splendor, so too are there of purgations. For according to my law and opinion, opposed to the dogma of the Novatians, the scar is covered over with difficulty through repentance, just as God through Jere-

^D Col. 367 A. Since, however, man is of two parts, that is, etc. Since man is a composite and not a simple being, therefore twofold and joined medicines were attributed to his healing: water for the visible body, as it were, and the Spirit for the invisible soul, fleeing the gaze of the eyes, which, invoked through faith, approaches in an ineffable manner. And indeed, water bears the figure of purgation. For the purgation which is made through water designates that which is procured through the Spirit. For as the body is cleansed by water, so the soul is cleansed by the Spirit: and thus the thing falling into the eyes is a sign of the invisible thing. But the Spirit is the true purgation.

^A And he himself says: "Behold, I will bring them a covering and a cure, and I will heal them." And he himself, indeed, desired that even the scars themselves should be abolished, and that not even a trace of the wounds should remain, since I myself also have need of mercy. But I hear the great Athanasius asserting that he who has returned to a better way of life, even though he puts an end to sinning, still has the scars of the wound branded upon him; but he who is baptized puts off the old man and is renewed, being born again from above, that is, through the grace of the Holy Spirit. Moreover, though we concede that the scars themselves might be erased, it would surely be better not to have need of that difficult and grievous purgation which consists in repentance, but rather to remain in the first, which is devoid of toil and trouble, and makes those who approach baptism equal in honor, inasmuch as it is received equally and purifies all without any distinction. For just as the drawing of air is common to all, and the profusion and splendor of light, and the vicissitudes of the four seasons of the year, and the aspect of created things, and the equal portion of faith: in the same way, the grace of baptism is also common.

Col. 370 A. "For it is grievous to be easy," etc. It is grievous and miserable, after having been defiled post-baptism, to depend upon a second purgation and afterwards to be in need of harsh and bitter medicine, and—having cast away the grace of baptism, which has the remission of past sins—to torture and afflict ourselves so that we may obtain mercy from God and show a correction of life equal to the committed transgressions. For how many tears shall we draw forth so that it may cleanse us just as baptism did before, and restore the purgation which we lost after receiving it through the divine laver! And who will be a sponsor sufficiently wealthy that death will await our cure, and not—as one guilty of sin and bound by the debt of purgation—receive the divine judgment and the fire of Gehenna? You, indeed, O cultivator of spiritual plants, will pray to the Lord, according to the evangelical parable, that He may spare the barren fig tree—that is, your soul—and not cut it down, but grant you that you may apply those things which can be of aid for taking away its sterility, namely, that correction which consists in the confession of sin and in brought-to-light crimes, not without shame, and in addition the affliction of the soul, that is, contrition and dejection, and the oppression of the body, that is, fasting, vigils, and other afflictions. But it is uncertain whether God will spare such a man, and not cut him down, lest anyone else be offended by His gentleness and patience toward him, and become worse, seeing, that is, his crimes remain unpunished.

Col. 370 B. "Therefore with Christ through baptism," etc. In this whole oration three things are established: ^B first, that baptism is to be received; second, that it is to be received immediately; third, that we must exert ourselves that we may keep this gift pure from all filth. After he said, therefore, what seemed necessary to be said concerning the third point, he now discusses also the point that it is necessary to approach baptism, and says with Paul, that we are buried with Christ through baptism, so that we may also rise with Him. For water bears the image of death, receiving the body as if in a sepulcher. The Spirit, however, introduces the life-giving force, renewing our souls from the death of sin to the former life. Let us descend as Christ into the sepulcher, so we too into baptism: that just as He [rose] from the sepulcher of the dead, so we too may be carried on high from the tomb of sin and dead works. For baptism designates and indicates the casting off of the works of the flesh, and cleanses and expiates the soul from the filth and uncleanness contracted from the contagion of carnal affection. But since baptism contains both descent and ascent, I will further add this: Let us ascend with Him, just as He did into heaven, so we into that sublimity to which baptism promotes us, so that we may also be affected by glory (through adoption, that is), and be made heirs of the heavenly kingdom, just as He was made heir of the seat at the right hand of the Father.

Ibid. "If the persecutor of light and tempter after baptism," etc. The Theologian, having clearly perceived that some therefore decline baptism, because they fear the assault of the enemy after baptism, addresses such men in this way. If after baptism the devil has assailed you, since he also fought against Christ, judging Him to be a mere man because of His flesh, hold up against him the sensible water, or rather, spiritual fire—that is, the extinguisher of sin—by whose help and succor all the fiery darts of that wicked spirit, as Paul says, shall be extinguished, being crushed and quenched by watery shadows, namely, those tinctured by the Word. Oppose the Spirit, I say, that great and powerful one, causing the mountains—that is, the demons—to dissolve, just as is held in the third book of Kings. ^D If, while gripped by hunger, he has insidiously cast destitution and need before you, and asked that stones be turned into bread, say with Paul: "I am not ignorant of your thoughts, O wicked one, who desire one thing and pretend another." You plead necessity: but you wish me to be filled and gorged with food, and to indulge in pleasure. And therefore you ask not for bread, but for loaves. Teach what he has not learned—that you are a worshiper of God and a disciple of Christ. For he was also ignorant of the same thing in Christ, that He was the Son of God. And Christ indeed, when being tempted by him, opposed this: "Man does not live by bread alone, but by every word which proceeds from the mouth."

But do you oppose the Word Himself, and the Son of God, whose words these are: "I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst." For He is the bread of God, which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world. If he has laid snares for you for the sake of empty glory (for he also laid snares for Christ), do not fall through pride: but rather strive strenuously in the first temptation. For if he finds you yielding in it and obedient to his word, he will by no means stop here: but he will move second and third temptations, and others in succession, as if burning with insatiable greed. He indeed cajoles, and like a bait of some sort, he soothes a man under the appearance of a good object: but in the end he breaks forth into evil. For this is the devil's method of fighting, namely, that he should attack us darkly and secretly. And the devil is also skilled in the Scriptures. Hence, on the one hand, it is said by Christ, "It is written, That man shall not live by bread alone"; but on the other hand, from the enemy himself, "It is written, That he shall give his angels charge concerning thee." But, O wise one in doing evil, Jeremiah might have said: O author and master of vice, what has happened to you, that you have not produced the Davidic saying in its integrity, but have suppressed what follows: "Thou shalt tread upon the lion and adder," and according to the promise of my Christ, "I will receive power to tread upon serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy." But if, again, he has attempted to break and overcome you through avarice, and having shown all the kingdoms in one moment of time has demanded adoration from you, scorn him as a pauper. For all things are God's, and nothing is the devil's except vice. Say, I have put on Christ; for the Apostle says: "As many as have been baptized into Christ," that is, as many as have put on, according to the force and power of Christ, which strengthens men with the firmest guard, or even that form and likeness of Christ, which baptism has inscribed. I have been transmuted into Christ, that is, transformed. I myself am also the image of God, and I have not yet fallen from the supernal glory because of pride, as has happened to you, O wicked spirit. By this speech the adversary will be routed and driven away, just as by Christ the primary light, so also by those who have been illuminated by Christ. Baptism confers this grace upon those who acknowledge His grace. Let us, therefore, be baptized so that we may win the victory: since Christ, after baptism, laid low the tempter, when he had applied to Him three temptations, namely, of gluttony, of empty glory, and of avarice. Let us be partakers of the lustral waters, or baptism, which are indeed more excellent than legal purifications, namely, [those of] hyssop, blood, and the ashes of the heifer, which used to sprinkle those who were defiled and polluted by a corpse, or a leper, or any other thing of this kind, and cleansed only the body, and that for a short time. For if sin had taken it away entirely, what need would there have been that those who were cleansed once, should be cleansed a second and a third time, and indeed assiduously? But now, that the same thing was repeated again and again clearly argues that that purification was particular, short, and perishable, just as it pleases Paul.

Col. 371 B. "Let us be baptized today, lest tomorrow we be compelled by some violence, etc." After the Theologian in the preceding words encouraged us to undergo baptism, he now attempts to urge us to do this quickly also, using these words: "Let us be baptized today, lest tomorrow we be compelled by some greater violence," namely, by urgent sickness, or some other danger, and one dragging us by force to baptism: for then one is not so much baptized as violently pressed. Baptism is a benefit, bringing the remission of crimes. Wherefore, let us not, as if receiving an injury, if we are baptized immediately, postpone this benefit to a longer time, nor let us wait until we have accumulated more sins, so that more may be forgiven us. Nor let us play the huckster with Christ, selling Christ—that is, the baptism of Christ: which indeed happens when we betray Him through the allurements of pleasures. Nor let us traffic in Christ, that is, redeeming the grace of baptism as if for a price, and acquiring it at the time of sickness or some other danger; for *kapeloi* are called those who sell, and *emporoi* those who buy. Let us fear, lest while we are gathering many vices for ourselves in the hope of redemption and pardon, we so accumulate sin that we do not meanwhile attain remission. Since a ship bears the weight of merchandise up to a certain point: but when laden beyond measure it sinks, and is overwhelmed by the waters. Let us take care, lest when we have committed sins similar to these, and even greater and more grievous for which we hope for pardon, before we can see the hoped-for ports, we make shipwreck, and are deprived of baptism, being snatched away by death. Why do you wait for that time, in which you are very often not even in command of your reason itself (for many have contracted madness from the heat of a fever), when both the tongue is broken and weakened, and cannot speak the salutary words, among other things, that you are sending back the messenger of Satan and attaching yourself to the ranks of Christ? To say nothing more grave, [you find it hard] like one who cannot raise his hands to heaven, nor stand on his feet, nor bend his knee for the sake of adoration. Wherefore, hasten to baptism, as to a benefit, with a satisfied and quickened course, as long as you are strong in body and mind, and your good is not placed in the power of others—that is, of kin and relatives in race—but it is of your own volition, this benefit, so far at least, as whether you receive it or reject it. As long as you can attain the piety of faith, that is, without casting any doubt into the minds of those who are present, whether you have perceived the baptism, or are you actually unaffected by any feeling of what is being done,

^A but rather with rejoicing and praise, as one who truly perceives this heavenly gift? As long as the gift is clear to you and spontaneous, and there is no doubt among those who surround you whether it has been perceived and recognized by you or not. For if, perceiving this mystery, you receive baptism with a joyous and cheerful mind, the grace has certainly touched your inmost heart and soul; but if you do not acknowledge it, then the baptism is no longer a baptism, but it becomes merely a funeral washing of the body. As long as your neighbors and kinsmen do not shed tears around you—the harbingers of death—or even rather restrain and repress them, lest they cast you into greater sorrow and despair, as if clearly announcing death to you by such an act. As long as your wife and children do not turn toward you as they depart on a journey, waiting to hear your final words, with death urging and accelerating things. As long as the doctor, through inexperience, does not deceive you—not seeing the death that is advancing and even standing by, but granting you hours of life, just as if the judgment and power over them were his own. ^B He who even by a doubtful nod of his head makes your salvation doubtful and ambiguous, so that by this art he may later avoid criticism and the reproach and harassment of ignorance, and he retreats before death (either demanding a larger fee through such a withdrawal, or signifying that he considers your salvation hopeless and desperate, and therefore does not wish to be present) but after death disputes about the sickness, and, lest he appear unskilled and ignorant of his art, brings forward certain causes, saying, if this man had done this or that, he would by no means have departed from life. Receive baptism, as long as those around you are not fighting: he who prepares to bathe you with the water of baptism, and he who is to be the heir of your wealth—the latter, of course, acting zealously and striving to supply what is necessary for the end of life, that is, that he may bathe you with the saving water and impart the Lord’s body; the former, on the contrary, that he may be written as heir in your will. What do you wait for—that baptism be arranged for you by the benefit of fever, or a dangerous time, and not rather by reason and prudence and free will? What do you wait for—that you might learn from a sure friend that you are now about to die, who indeed, insofar as he is reluctant to cast mention of baptism at you, as if it would bring about disturbance, proves himself a tempter to you, not a friend? For is it the act of one who loves to neglect a dying friend who is departing without baptism? Why, therefore, do you not prefer a free choice, but wait for the violence and oppression of illness, or some other adverse event? Why do you think that a critical sweat—that is, the harbinger of health and life—is to be awaited? For there are four days among doctors that determine the judgment of a patient’s health: the fourth, the seventh, the ninth, and the eleventh, and often even the thirteenth; in any one of which a sweat that has broken out judges the disease, that is, it resolves it. Do not commit yourself to await a sweat of this kind, or to interpose a delay to baptism, since it may happen that a lethal sweat, which the body pours forth as the soul departs—crying out the end of the present life—might seize you in extreme agony. Nay rather, have pity on yourself, you who are the most convenient physician of your soul’s infirmity. While you are sailing with a favorable wind, enjoying tranquility of life and sound health, fear the shipwreck of baptism: which is brought about by death; so it will happen, that in no way will you suffer shipwreck. For if you have feared, you will certainly be baptized. Let baptism be celebrated happily and cheerfully, in health, of course, and joyfully received by you, and not be bewailed—that is, not taken in sickness and sorrow of mind. And let the talent of baptism not be buried by you—that is, by one who is presumably about to die at the earliest opportunity; but let it grow through business, through a life rightly and excellently ordered after baptism. Let some time intervene between baptism and death, so that you may not only have the sacrament and the remission of sins, which baptism brings, but also receive the reward and remuneration, as one who has immersed yourself in the pursuit of virtue. For it is considered enough for a small and abject soul to merely escape punishment: but he who is endowed with greatness of soul seeks not only salvation and forgiveness, but something greater as well—namely, heavenly glory and splendor. ^C Col. 374 C. For there are three [ranks] of those who obtain salvation, etc. The last of those who are gifted with eternal salvation is that of slaves, when someone embraces the pursuit of virtue out of fear of punishments. The middle one is that of hirelings, when someone, enticed by the promise of future goods, devotes himself to upright and honest actions. The first, and more excellent than the other two, is that of sons, when someone, burning with the love of God, orders his life excellently: since a son serves and honors a father not out of fear of words nor hope of a reward and payment, but out of love. For even though no reward for his reverence and obedience is to return to him, he nevertheless considers this very thing to be in place of a reward—namely, to perform those things which are pleasing and acceptable to the Father. Furthermore, we must take care not to despise these three things: namely, the blows, and the reward, and the worship and observance of God as a Father. For it would be extremely absurd if, when gold is being distributed publicly, you were to snatch it before other men, but were to reject to a future time the spiritual health which is acquired by baptism: and when, wishing to vomit bile, you do not increase it by a wicked and shameful manner of living, but rather exhaust the body by troublesome humors, yet reserve and transmit the purification of the soul to another time: and when, if you were oppressed by the servitude of men, and liberty were decreed for slaves by a public proclamation, you would do everything to obtain it, yet you are of such folly that, when you are a slave not of men but of sin, to liberty...

^A that comes from above and is freely offered, you pay no heed because of its accessibility. Indeed, regarding the salvation to be attained through baptism, no time should be considered unsuitable, since no time is unsuitable for death, given the uncertainty of life. Behold, now is the acceptable time, says the Apostle. But this phrase, "now," does not define one specific time, but all times, and every single day, so long as it is called "today." And again the same Apostle cries out, "Awake, you who sleep," and as for virtue, you are sluggish with sloth and inertia; "and arise from the dead," that is, from the foul works of sin, "and through baptism, revive and be enlightened." For to those who are oppressed by death in the darkness of sins, there is a dreadful hope and fear of future punishment. But it would be more profitable for us if the devil, making an assault in the morning, finds us within the light of baptism. ^B

"Sow, when the time for sowing arrives," etc. For other things, there are other times that are proper and appropriate. For one must yield to Solomon, who brings useful advice and says: "To everything there is a time." But the time for baptism is the entire life of man. For just as the body, unless it breathes, cannot live, so neither can the soul exist and be preserved unless it knows its Creator. But if you are always putting off baptism (deluded, of course, by the devil, using these words: "Give me today, and tomorrow to the Lord; give me youth inclined to pleasures, and to Him, old age, wasted and useless, when already limbs and organs have grown weak and can no longer be of any use"), see that you do not make such promises, which exceed the length of a human life. For how many men have been snatched away by violent accidents and could not even utter a single word because of the magnitude of their pain? Often even (what is a very light thing) a single crumb, entering the throat at an angle ^D and sticking in the gullet, has choked a man; or a medicine is lethal, though it was prepared deliberately and with thoughtful restraint, or was offered for purging and health in the opinion of doctors, yet by the very event it was found to be fatal and deadly. If, however, you were to look ahead, and have your soul sealed with the Spirit, and your body anointed that you have been washed, just as the doorposts of the Hebrews were once smeared with blood, then, even if you sleep, or sit, or do anything else, you will be free from care and anxiety, relying on the fact that even if some accident brings you a sudden end of life, you will not depart devoid of the holy initiation of baptism. And what David says: "You shall not fear the terror by night," from that which is cast by demons, or even that which happens in the middle of a full day, contrary to opinion and expectation. Some interpret this "noonday demon" as the demon of acedia and languor, others as that of obscene thoughts, others of lust. For these too, at that time most of all, when the belly is burdened with a surfeit of food, lie in wait for man. Baptism is, even while you are living, a most excellent protection for your security (for as thieves do not easily approach or freely lay snares for a treasury that is sealed and marked with no sign, or for a herd that has not been branded, so on the contrary, that which is sealed is not rashly sought by traps, nor is it easily taken); and if you depart from this life, it will be an outstanding legacy for you, and superior to those sterile and fruitless ^C libations (which, moreover, used to consist of wine, honey, milk, and oil, and were poured on the graves of the dead by those who touched them by the bond of kinship), and more useful than the first-fruits of the ripened harvest, which the dead perform for the dead—that is, for those who are sluggish and lazy toward virtue and ignorant of their true duty, serving a foolish custom.

Col. 378 C. Everything may perish for you, everything may be plundered, etc.

^A—that a soul as grave as this, even to the ears of Christians, would not endure such talk); but he aims to accomplish what he seeks by other, more devious arts, and he tries to persuade you to postpone baptism, ostensibly, perhaps, out of fear and religious awe. His goal is that, by the very fact that you flee from baptism out of fear, you may fall away from this gift entirely, having been snatched away by death, as it were, before your baptism. Indeed, the devil has this in mind; nor will he ever put an end to his malice as long as he sees us, who are of the earth, rising up to the dignity of the angels, from which he himself was cast down and expelled, through honorable and illustrious advancement in life. But you, see to it that you have his snares recognized. For "envy," as he says, "creeps toward those who have," ^B and the struggle is waged over the most important matters. Now these words, "envy creeps toward those who have," are from Sophocles' tragedy, *Ajax*. For what is greater or more excellent than the purity of baptism? Therefore, the greater the treasure, the more carefully and diligently must you provide that you do not lose it when you have received it. Therefore, do not think it vile and contemptible to become a faithful believer and a pious one. For he who is without baptism, even if he embraces Christ in faith, is not yet to be reckoned among the faithful. And, if I may take an example transferred from the ancient Tabernacle, the atrium is the class of those who are still being imbued in the elements of Christian piety, through which it is necessary to pass; but the holy of holies is the symbol of baptism; and the Holy of Holies itself is that doctrine of divinity and sacrosanct initiation which takes place at the time of baptism, through which we arrive at the Trinity and are thereafter joined to it by the benefit of adoption. But now, in place of a shield, set up the shield of faith—that is, baptism—by which the enemy despoils you through such procrastination, preventing you, that is, when you do not receive it, so that he may overcome and crush you when you are naked and unarmed.

Col. 579 B. *All the degrees of age it touches, all things, etc.* The devil attacks every age, not only the young, but also the old; and therefore there is no reason for you to hope that he will spare you for being advanced in age. And he attacks every kind of life and way of living, whether you have decided to embrace celibacy, or marriage, or some other kind of life. Are you a young person? Strengthen your youth with the bridle of baptism, and, fortified by the help and aid of baptism, fight strenuously against the disturbances of the soul, inscribing your name in the register of God's soldiers. And just as David fought most bravely against that alien Goliath, and the Israelite women, leading the chorus, sang in his praise: "Saul struck his thousands, and David his ten thousands," so you, too, fight strenuously and bravely against the spiritual Goliath, and reduce his manifold powers and machines, as if they were thousands and myriads, under your control. Have you grown old, and are you not far from the necessary and inevitable limit of death? Do not be ^C without it; do not lack viaticum; do not let your amulet be lost to you, so that you do not think of the eleventh hour as if it were the first. But in these few days that you have remaining, come to the rescue through baptism, by the power of which "your youth will be renewed like the eagle's." Indeed, young people surpass old people in the ability to get things done and in greatness of soul; but they are surpassed in prudence. Conversely, old people yield so much in bodily strength that they are surpassed in the praise of prudence. But you, while you labor under senile infirmity, possess by no means the senile prudence which is indeed required of you as one who is older in age. Therefore, provide this (by receiving baptism) and commit your old age, as to a faithful and certain guardian, to purification. But if you connect delays and draw out baptism, you will excite such an opinion of yourself that you will be thought to cause delays out of a love for lust and pleasures, and that too when you are broken and worn out by old age, and are nothing other than the scant remnants of life. Do you have a tender infant son? Consecrate him from his tender, as the saying goes, nail-beds to the Spirit. But are you afraid that perchance the seal of baptism might be contaminated and defiled for your son when he is more advanced in age? You are truly too meticulous a mother, and too little supported by God's protection. Yet Anna consecrated Samuel as soon as he was brought into the light, not at all fearing the infirmity of nature against the impulses of the body and of rebellious passions, but relying on the help of God, and firmly persuading herself that he would be a help and a support to human weakness. You have no need to hang diabolical amulets—that is, false safeguards of salvation—around the neck of a child, nor to admit those incantations which are performed among old women with yawning and inhalation and certain whispers, to which also the invocation of demons is admixed, and through such accursed crimes of this kind the devil seems to be worshipped in a certain way by lighter and more stupid people. But rather, reach out to your son the true antidote, that is, the Trinity through the sacrament of baptism.

Col. 382 A. *What furthermore? Do you cultivate virginity? etc.* After the Theologian has treated of the ages, he now passes on also to the institutions of human life, and addresses the listener thus: Do you cultivate virginity? ^D Consign it with baptism: that, just as Solomon says, you may be adorned with a circle of graces—that is, a wreath of spiritual riches, which protects men against invisible enemies, just as wealth that falls into the senses brings help for repelling visible enemies. Bound by the ties of matrimony? Take baptism also as the guardian of chastity. But perhaps you are seeking to be joined to a woman in matrimony, but you are not yet joined? Do not fear baptism, by which piety is accumulated and perfected. For neither will it defile your marriage. I profess myself a sponsor of marriage after baptism. For since virginity excels in honor, surely Matrimony—

as the Apostle says, is honorable, and the bed is undefiled. And therefore Christ also, adorning it, attended the wedding contracted in Cana, and illustrated it by performing a miracle. This one thing I ask of you, who have embraced matrimony: namely, that you refrain from sexual union when the time prescribed for fasting and prayer has arrived. ^A This time, moreover, is that which precedes the participation in the mystical table, which is indeed more lofty—to use the words of Pindar—than not only the nuptial union but also the occupation and administration of worldly affairs; that is, it is more eminent and excellent than any other care or business. And I wish for this brief continence to occur by the mutual consent of both parties. For I am not laying down a law, nor am I binding you by the necessity of this matter; rather, I act the part of an overseer and counselor. Nor do I desire, simply and absolutely, to extort anything from those things which are in your power (for you have the right, as often as you wish, to have intercourse with your wife), but I desire that you accept this concordant cessation from the marriage act for the sake of your salvation. For such continence, flowing from piety and religion, will be a protection to both you and your wife, and will bring holiness. In this same way Paul wrote to the Corinthians: Do not defraud one another, unless it be with consent for a time, that you may give yourselves to prayer. And again, come together again, lest Satan tempt you for your incontinency. By permission I say this, not according to commandment.

On the words: "But you dwell in the midst of the crowd of men," etc.

Let it be so, you will say: but I dwell in the midst of the tumults of business and am contaminated by the administration of public affairs. And for this reason I fear that, when I have received baptism and later defiled it, I might consume and exhaust the mercy of God, since there remains no other baptism. The solution is simple—that is, easy and clear—and does not require other arguments or a manifold explanation. For I say this first: if it is possible, flee the forum entirely, having taken the wings of an eagle on account of the excellence of its strength, as it is written in Exodus, or the wings of a dove, which David also seeks with these words: Who will give me wings like a dove, and I will fly? He seeks these either because they are lighter and more swift (for such is anyone who cultivates justice), or because they designate the Holy Spirit, by whose help and assistance alone we flee dangers, so that you may be as far as possible from present evils and the bitterness of circumstances. Flee, therefore, the forensic tumults with a noble retinue, namely, that of baptism. For what do you have in common with Caesar and Caesar's business—that is, with the prince of the world, the devil, or with the affairs of this life and the king who holds power over them? Do not stop in any place until you have arrived at heaven, where there is no full and perfect sin, nor "infuscation"—that is, a lighter vice, conceived and produced by the mind alone, and which, like a scar, obscures and brings a blackness—nor, according to what is written in Genesis, a snake in the way biting the heel, that is, the devil lying in ambush on the path of this life, so that he may impede your pious steps. Snatch your soul away from the corruption of the world, just as the angels snatched the holy Lot from the conflagration of Sodom. Flee sin as you would Sodom, and flee its punishment like a fire. Strive toward virtue in such a way that you in no way turn your mind back to vice, lest you harden into a pillar of salt—that is, lest you slip into blindness and stupor, your mind being numbed to those things which are beneficial and soul-saving. For the stone designates blindness, salt the mind. Moreover, Lot's wife, when she had looked back, was made a pillar of salt; ^D a pillar, indeed, to censure and condemn the cowardice of those who slide back from a right way of living into vice; salt, however, to show the bitterness of this evil, or because it was otherwise good and convenient, just as salt is useful and convenient—yet it perished because of the violated commandment of God. Lest this happen to you, just as Lot [fled] to the mountain, you too in the same way flee for the sake of salvation to a life that is high and sublime in virtue, and superior to every vice; lest perhaps you be snatched away with the wicked to punishment at the same time, and be bound...

Ibid. C. And to say in sum, no life, etc.

And, to say it in summary and to embrace the matter in a few words, baptism is useful for every kind of life and way of existence. Therefore, you who have power and license, take the bridle by which you may be restrained from every crime and wickedness. You who are in servitude, accept the measure of honor that is appropriate. For the Apostle says of those who are baptized: There is neither slave nor free, but all are one in Christ Jesus. You who dwell in sorrow, accept the consolation which baptism and the right of adoption bring. You who are of a joyful and cheerful mind, accept the discipline which composes your character and does not allow you to conduct yourself petulantly and immodestly. Do not devise any clever counsel against your own salvation, pretending, specifically, that you are using procrastination out of reverence for baptism, when in reality you have a cause for deferring the sacrament, so that you may indulge in pleasures more freely. For although we deceive others, we can never deceive our own conscience. And truly, to play against one’s own salvation and to weave fraud is dangerous; nay, it is manifest insanity to perish by one's own artifice and to prepare eternal punishment for oneself by cunning and deceit. But this is the general sentiment, and it is self-evident.

^A First, therefore, as I have said, I think this is what you should do. But if you are currently occupied and bound by necessary ties—that is, by reasons that appear just and honorable—then I will discuss the matter with you in the second place. It would indeed be better to receive baptism and guard it; but if both are not possible for a man, occupied and distracted, as he is, by public business, it is at least better to contract some slight defilement from the administration of public affairs, and be punished for it, than to remain devoid of baptism and be utterly cut off and rejected by God. Therefore, while you should revere baptism as worthy of honor, do not fear it to such a degree that you dare not even receive it. For God does not evaluate the right actions of men in a simple way, but ^B He also considers their pursuits and the manner of their lives, in which they have fulfilled their duties rightly and excellently. And very often, one who has acted with some praise while living in civic life and in the midst of many tasks bears more merit than one who, resting from the court of public office, did not fulfill his service in all respects. That right actions are weighed together with the character of one’s life is evidenced by Rahab the harlot and that publican in the Gospel. For she, in her life of prostitution, attained the virtue of hospitality, and he, in his duties as a publican, attained humility; from these few virtues they obtained the praise of righteousness. This should be a proof to you, so that you may not for that reason cast away all your best hope for your salvation just because you cannot fulfill every extent of virtue. Furthermore, the Theologian ^C has deliberately reduced his discourse to a single virtue, in order to utterly overturn the excuse that has been brought forward.

*Ibid.* "But someone will say," etc. Perhaps someone who delays baptism longer than is necessary. "What advantage will come to me from this, if, because of baptism, I am kept occupied and distracted, and I deny myself the pleasures of life—when I might be allowed to indulge in pleasures, and only then receive baptism when I have finally put an end to sinning? Since even those laborers, of whom the Evangelist speaks, hired for wages, and exhausted from working first in the vineyard, received the same ^D wage as those who came at the eleventh hour." To him who makes use of this line of reasoning, I would say: "You have relieved me of a burden, that is, of the labor and trouble I would have had to undertake to search out and understand the secret of your procrastination." But listen to the explanation of this parable, which you incorrectly understand. First, therefore, I say this: that you have put forward an incongruous and irrelevant objection. For this parable does not discourse on the conduct of a man after he has received baptism, but on those who embrace the faith at different times. Such men, as soon as they have come to the faith, are bound to order their actions according to God’s commands and laws. Following that, I will prove that a just and fair ^A distribution of the reward has occurred. For the fact that those who came at the eleventh hour came late, was due to the call. For as soon as they were called, they immediately came forward; so that in this respect they are not even inferior to those who applied themselves to the labor first. But from other points of view, see how much these excel the others. For they did not hold faith in the Lord regarding the payment of a just wage until they had entered the vineyard, nor did they enter it until they had made an agreement regarding the wage; but these latter ones entered without even making an agreement or anxiously asking about the wage. Furthermore, the former ^B flared up with clear torches of envy against those who had come at the eleventh hour, and murmured against the author of the benefit and grace; but the latter, although they might have had something to object, are nevertheless not accused of any strife or altercation. To this must be added that the former received what they did receive under the name of "wages," although what was due to them—as wicked and malicious men—was not a wage, but a punishment. And thus, they deservedly lacked a greater sum, being convicted of stupidity and folly. For it was a mark of stupidity not to remember the wage for which they had agreed, and yet, while having suffered no loss or misfortune, to burst out into iniquitous words full of murmuring. ^C But to those who came at the eleventh hour, he took into account the motive of grace for what was being offered. This parable is constructed to demonstrate the extraordinary and excellent magnitude of divine goodness. And indeed, surely, if those who had come first had also come late, to take an example, to the vineyard, they would nevertheless have received the same wage. With what face, therefore, do they dare to accuse the Lord of the vineyard on account of the unequal distribution—as it seemed to them—of just fairness? For although the fairness of such an unequal distribution appeared [unfair] because of the disparate proportion of labor, it nevertheless depended upon the highest equity, because the willingness and prompt affection of the heart of the latter was compensated ^D along with the labors of the former. And all these things take away from those who labored first the praise and glory of their sweat, which they would have received had they not been found to be such [envious] men. But according to the second reasoning, let us feign that we discourse on this parable in relation to baptism: what prevents you, since you also entered first and endured the heat of the day, from not envying those who came after you, so that in this respect you might yourself be superior to them, namely, that because of your humanity and charity you are not inflamed by envy, and also that you might receive the wage due to your labors—not accepted as a benefit and a grace, as with those who came at the eleventh hour? Moreover, this parable says that those laborers who entered the vineyard receive the wage, but not those who wandered away from the entrance of the vineyard. Which is a danger [...]

^A imminent upon him who remains outside of baptism, and who craftily and maliciously suppresses some of his work, and seeks to shorten his labor—that is, who does not quickly gird himself for labors on account of a sordid and base disposition of the soul, only so that he might be permitted to enjoy pleasures. For I pass over the fact that for a man who is not entirely base and sordid, but rather endowed with some praise of a magnificent spirit, this very thing—namely, to labor more—should be held in place of a richer reward and gain, because of the subsequent pleasure and satisfaction which his conscience perceives from that action. For those who are wearied by longer labor are, to that extent, in a superior condition, because they are flooded with greater delight on account of that matter. Wherefore, since you are in danger of falling short of your entry into life on account of those sordid captations of gain which we commemorated above, and while you gather certain small profits by the way—that is, pleasures placed in procrastination—you are being afflicted with the greatest and most serious losses, that is, you are falling away from baptism itself: come, put aside these interpretations of the Scriptures of yours, and approach baptism without any deceit, clearly avoiding the pretense or invention of any of the things which you have cunningly put forward out of a desire and love for pleasures.

Col. 187 A. *But what, you will ask, is God not kind, etc.?* Another objection follows, as if in the person of one who refuses and rejects baptism, and says: God, as the weigher of human thoughts, knows that I am held by a desire for baptism; and since He is kind and merciful, He will reckon that in place of baptism. To whom, says the Theologian, you speak something like an enigma. For you say that he who has not been illuminated by baptism is, before God, on account of His mercy, to be considered as having been illuminated. I, however, will set forth in the middle what I think about your objections. I say, therefore, that there are different degrees, both of those who do not attain baptism and of those who become partakers of it. For among those who are baptized, some were formerly entirely alienated from God, wallowing of their own volition in the mire of all sins and wickedness. Others were, in a certain half-measure, evil, as those who sinned not so much by will as by the weakness of their powers, just like those suffering from a fever who, although they would prefer not to labor under the fever, yet fell into the fever against their will, because they had admitted the causes of the fever into their bodies. Others, even before baptism, lived honestly and with praise, either because they were so naturally tempered that they loathed vices, or even because they prepared themselves by the resolve of their mind and by industry for the divine laver through purity of life, so that they might both receive it and preserve it once received. And these are the ranks of those who obtain baptism. ^B There is the same reasoning for those who are lacking baptism. For some do not receive it, imitating the life of cattle or beasts—that is, foolishly and in the manner of brutes serving their desires, or, as savage and intractable ones, stirred by a certain beastly madness. Others again postpone it on account of an insatiable desire for pleasure, lest they be deprived of the enjoyments and delights of life. Others, in turn, cannot be touched by the water of baptism, either on account of ignorance, as infants, or on account of some misfortune suddenly overwhelming them. Just as, therefore, among those who are baptized we find a very great difference (for those who have surrendered themselves to all shames are preceded by those who have remitted something of their wickedness: and better than these, again, are those who cleansed themselves before baptism; and finally, to be preferred to these are those who cultivate divine grace with the utmost zeal after baptism); so among those, too, who do not attain the office of the sacrosanct laver, there is a wide difference. For those who entirely disdain baptism are worse than those who postpone it on account of sloth and laziness. Again, the slothful and negligent are worse than those who lacked baptism on account of ignorance or some unexpected and violent misfortune. And therefore, the former, covered in all wickedness, pay the penalties not only for other vices, but also for the contempt of baptism. But those who postpone it on account of sloth and despondency will indeed pay penalties themselves, but lighter ones: because they fell away from baptism not on account of contempt and perversity of mind, but on account of folly. For it is folly to be deprived of baptism on account of an insatiable thirst for pleasures, just as it is on account of inertia and negligence. But those who, on account of the ignorance of childhood or necessity and some greater force, have remained devoid of baptism, ^C as though lacking the seal, they will not enjoy celestial glory: but as they are not at all evil, they will not be afflicted with punishments: because they have suffered this loss rather than caused it. For there exist, as I perceive in my opinion, three degrees: one of those who enjoy the delights above; another of those who are tormented by eternal punishments; and a middle state of those who neither feel the pleasures of the celestial kingdom nor are tormented by any punishments: in which state should be placed both the little children who were not washed by baptism, and those who, although they desired baptism, yet, hindered by some violent misfortune, could not receive it. But you, who contend that you will be held before God as baptized on the sole ground that you have the will to receive baptism, by the same reasoning, you would perhaps say that he who has the will to commit murder, even if he has by no means carried it out in reality, will nevertheless undergo the judgment of an assassin and a murderer. And the matter is by no means so. Furthermore, if the desire and purpose of baptism suffices for you for baptism, and therefore you seek the glory of those who have been washed in the purifying water, then let the desire for glory alone suffice for you for glory. For since you have a desire for glory, you ought to be content with that, and not take it heavily and annoyedly that you do not attain the glory itself, since for the attainment of glory itself, it is enough and more than enough to have the desire for glory. ^D

^A Therefore, make haste, lest that thief should outstrip you, just as that thief who was affixed to the cross with Christ outstripped all men of that age; and, as the Jews heard that saying of Christ, the publicans and harlots shall go into the kingdom before you. For the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, that is, it is taken by force, and is attained with much labor. And the violent take it by force, who apply violence to themselves, and break and weaken the tyranny of the passions. Moreover, by "kingdom" in this place he means Christ, as the King of heaven, who of his own goodness—yet with the utmost labor and toil—allows himself to be taken and possessed, so that we may attain salvation.

^B Indeed, it is for me to listen, etc. Be slow to sin: but be swift to virtue, the parent of salvation. For in vice, both swiftness toward evil and slowness toward virtue are equally a vice. If you are invited to a dishonest and immodest banquet (for this is what reveling signifies), do not go. If you are invited to the renunciation of God, do not show yourself compliant to the command. If a worker of iniquity should say to you these things which are found in Solomon: Come with us, and what follows, do not lend him your ears, so that you may not be known to him to have a known and clear understanding of his sin, by no means admitting such counsel, and thereby you may be delivered from this wicked society. But if David urges you to baptism (which indeed brings joy and exultation, inasmuch as it grants the remission of sins), or if Micah and Isaiah should say, Come, let us ascend to the mountain of the Lord (which is to the Church, in which we rise out of the mire of sins through baptism, and are lifted up on high), or if Christ himself should invite us, so that he may lift and refresh those weary from the weight of sin, and free them from cares, and translate them hence to another state: such that we are made brighter than snow, as Jeremiah says, and more densely composed in piety than milk is curdled into cheese, and made more illustrious than the sapphire stone, let us not interpose any delay: but let us run together, and let us run competitively, contending for victory, and let us apply ourselves with all diligence to this, that we may attain baptism before others. Do not say to him who is ready to baptize you: Let my kinsmen be present, and then I will be baptized. But let this fear distress your soul, lest, postponing baptism from day to day, you should meet death without baptism, and receive your kinsmen as partners of your mourning, not of your joy. But, you will say, I will prepare a gift, and a splendid garment, which I shall put on after baptism, and even a table to entertain my initiator. These things are not necessary, nor, if you are not so prepared, does anything depart from the grace of baptism on that account. For the grace of baptism is more sublime than those splendors which are discerned by the eyes, and has no need of them: nay, rather, it requires you yourself for God.

^A For if one person excels another in the manner of their life (just as there gold excels iron), nevertheless the power of baptism is the same, no different than the mark of a seal; and every Christian priest, performing the office of baptizing, initiates him who is being baptized in due form, provided only that he is not a manifest heretic and an enemy of the Church, but is informed by the same faith.

As for what is asked regarding the ministerial place: Why do you seek a splendid garment? You have Christ; clothe yourself in Him through baptism. For whoever of you have been baptized in Christ, says the Apostle, have put on Christ, that is, the form of Christ. Why do you inquire into those things that pertain to receiving the minister of baptism in a lush and sumptuous manner? For he is not delighted by food, but by a most excellent manner of life, in which I myself take delight, and before me Christ, who bestowed the greatest of things: namely, baptism itself, and through it, the adoption of sons. For nothing is great before God, not gold, nor silver, nor translucent gems, nor any other thing which even a poor man is unable to offer. Although indeed, in these matters of wealth, the poor are pushed aside and trampled by the rich, yet here—that is, in baptism and the manner of living—that person is more affluent and wealthy who is endowed with greater alacrity of soul.

^B Col. 393 A. Let nothing hinder your progress, etc. Just as ignited iron, as long as it is hot, is plunged into water in order to be tempered—for once it has cooled, it cannot be tempered or sharpened—in the same way, you too, for as long as the fervor of your soul toward baptism has not grown tepid nor cooled, see that you are tempered by the water of baptism. For it also hardens that softness of the soul by which we are loosened by perturbations and vices. And just as that Ethiopian eunuch, whom Luke mentions in the book of Acts, after he had drunk in the doctrine of the evangelical kingdom from Philip, immediately received the faith in his heart, and did not delay the seal of the Spirit, but as soon as the water appeared to his eyes, he was filled with wondrous joy of soul and said: "Behold, water"—that is, what I was seeking—"what prevents me from being baptized?"—do you likewise. Do not say: "Let the Bishop baptize me, and one who is a Jerusalemite, and famous for his nobility, and celibate," so that my nobility may not be disgraced by the vileness of the baptizer or the obscurity of such persons, nor, if I am baptized by an unworthy man, that I be defiled by filth. Do not scrutinize and inquire into the lives of those who baptize. For, O man, as was said to Samuel in I Kings, man looks at the face, but God looks upon the heart. That is, man discerns those things which are offered to the eyes, but God beholds the hidden parts of the mind. Do not overly anxiously and curiously scrutinize and explore the value and dignity of the one baptizing, whether he be a bishop or a metropolitan; nor doubt or waver as to whom you should present yourself to be spiritually regenerated through baptism. For just as two rings, one made of gold and another of iron, having the same image of the prince engraved, and then pressing into wax, although they differ in material—for gold excels iron in splendor—yet each impression bears the same form of the prince: in a similar manner ^C regarding the minister of baptism...

Ibid. D. Do not consider someone else of your own dignity at the same time, etc. You are a master; do not deem it an indignity that you be initiated along with one who up to now—that is, up to the point of baptism—has been your slave. For after baptism, there is no slave in Christ Jesus. For this is what baptism provides, that henceforth all are of equal honor. For from the day you are refashioned through baptism—that is, from the turbulence of the affections to the tranquility of soul, from the filth of life to purity—all the old labels have receded, by which both the rich, and the noble, and the master, and names of this kind are designated. And for all those who are baptized, one form of baptism, namely Christ, has been imposed as a kind of standard—that is, the faith of Christ, through which it is clearly evident who we are. Furthermore, since you know it is established that those who were baptized by John were accustomed to confess their sins, see that you also lay bare your sins; so that, since shame and ignominy are a part of future punishment, you may avoid them here by blushing, and by publicly bringing forth the sin, and as if triumphing over it, make it plain that you hate and detest it. Moreover, you must see to it that you are not offended by the length of the exorcism. For not to bear the longer exorcism in a weary or unwilling manner is proof of a soul that embraces baptism with a true and sincere affection. For the exorcism is a composed series of words in which he who baptizes commands the devil, adjured in the name of God, to depart from him who is baptized and to flee far away. The Queen of the Ethiopians, that is, of the South, who, as is contained in the third book of Kings, moved by the fame of the wisdom of Solomon, went to Jerusalem. And yet, the miracle of baptism is to be reckoned greater and more excellent than the miracle of that wisdom which existed in Solomon, for it is that by which men are made new out of old. Wherefore, let not the fear of any impediment or obstacle deter you from reaching baptism. And here too the matter is so arranged that where the mind is prompt and eager, nothing can be an obstacle. Nor indeed must any expense be made, nor any business undertaken. For Isaiah, exhorting us to baptism, says: "You who thirst"—that is, you who burn with the desire for baptism—"go to the water of refreshing," that is, to baptism, which quenches the flame and heat of sin, "and you who have no silver to pay the price, buy..."

approaching such water with a ready and eager spirit. For baptism is bought at the sole price of the will. Furthermore, when I speak of will and desire, I do not mean mere naked desire; for that does not suffice: rather, I mean that which has action as its companion, and is most evident and clear from the fact that we betake ourselves to the thing sought and desired. For it takes the setting out and the journey as the price. For he says, "Go, buy and drink wine without price," that is, be affected with pleasure without any money paid out. For wine signifies exhilaration. And hence it has been said: "And wine gladdens the heart of man." Or perhaps he understands mystical wine, that is, the blood of Christ, of which it may be permitted to become a participant without price after baptism. The Lord thirsts and desires to be loved by us: and he gives more pleasantly and readily than others receive, provided we do not ask for things that are insignificant and trifling, but truly worthy ones. He asked for a drink from the Samaritan woman, that is, faith and the desire for this gift: but he himself bestowed baptism upon her. This is called a fountain, because it flows perpetually; and waters, because it washes away and cleanses the filth of vices, and also extinguishes the flames of the passions; and finally, "leaping," that is, moved about and effective, and conducting to eternal life. Now indeed Isaiah proclaims those teachers blessed, "who cast doctrine upon all water," that is, upon every soul sprinkled by the water of baptism, which, the day before—that is, before baptism—labored under a scarcity of divine rain, and was left desolate and uncultivated, trampled and pressed by the perturbations of a bestial mind. For whoever tramples something with their feet also crushes it. And dementia and stupidity are signified by the ox and the ass. Although I think that the distinction of natural and preternatural passions is also noted by these words, since the ox is a clean animal, but the ass is unclean and defiled. Joel furthermore says: "A fountain shall go forth from the house of the Lord, and shall water the torrent of reeds." As for the historical sense, there is a place not far from Jerusalem, devoid of water and producing reeds. But in the allegorical sense, by the fountain is signified the doctrine of evangelical preaching; and by the torrent of reeds, the Church of the faithful, which, since it had previously been arid and scorched by drought, because it had not drawn any currents of such doctrine, nor produced any fruitful deeds, was afterwards irrigated and brought forth fruit. And since the reed, which is a species of hay, is wont to be offered as fodder to brute animals, the Theologian called the soul that lives foolishly and rashly "reed-bearing." He says, however, that this soul, because it is irrigated by the fountain of baptism flowing immediately from the Lord, brings forth wheat instead of reeds, that is, actions befitting the nature of man. Wherefore you must strive with all diligence to be watchful, that you may not be deprived of baptism: which is indeed the grace for all mortals, no differently than the air we breathe, and the sight of the sky and the sphere of the world.

^A "Truly these things," someone might say, "for as much as..." "They are truly so," you will say, "what you have said about us who are of full age and can request baptism: but what do you say concerning infants, who have no sense? Shall we baptize them too?" Yes indeed, if any danger presses. And a proof of this matter can be sought from the fact that not even the Jew turns away from or delays circumcision, moved by this threatening declaration: "Every soul that has not been circumcised on the eighth day shall be destroyed." But that circumcision was a figure of the unmanufactured Circumcision, which is carried out in baptism through the despoiling and casting off of the flesh. And therefore this by no means allows of delay, since the Lord has said: "Unless one has been born of water and the Spirit, he shall not enter the kingdom of God." To this is added that later, even if they lacked sense, they were anointed with blood; and yet the destroyer passed over the marked houses: but in those which bore no sign, he killed the first-born. Therefore it is better that infants, even if they lack sense, be baptized, than that they depart from life without the sign. For indeed, how could one who has not been baptized say, "I am of God," when he does not carry with him the signs and marks of this thing? But indeed, concerning other little children, whom no adverse accidents nor any danger constrains by the necessity of receiving baptism, I am of the opinion that they should be baptized around the third year of life, or at least within this time, or somewhat beyond this space, so that they may be able to hear and answer some words of the holy initiation. For example: "I renounce Satan and I join myself to Christ." For the matter is as I am about to say: that children only then begin to render an account of their life when they have understood the mystery of faith, and when they have full and adult reason, that is, the choice of good and evil. ^B But then it is brought to perfection, when the judgment of conscience and the organs of the senses begin to act according to nature. Now this happens around the twelfth year. Furthermore, although little children have no need of forgiveness, as not yet having fallen into sin: yet they are in need of the sign and the safeguard, and baptism is to be offered and applied to them as a certain bulwark and fortification, on account of unforeseen and sudden accidents: which frequently occur such that no one can even oppose or remedy them.

Ibid. "But you will say, Christ in the thirtieth year, etc." You also raise this objection, that Christ was baptized in the thirtieth year: and this when he was God. I refute this argument in many and diverse ways. First from his person, because he was God, but you are a man; and therefore he himself was not in need of purification: but he was baptized for your sake, just as he was also incarnate.

^C You, however, truly have great need of it. Next, concerning the circumstances of the persons: indeed, from the delay and postponement of baptism there was no danger that could bring suspicion upon him. For as he was born when he willed, so also he had the free choice and power over his death, whenever it seemed good to him, and he reserved for himself the time for torments and sufferings. But for you, your soul is in danger if you depart from the living, born only to corruption—that is, subject to the affections of birth and having an origin from corruption—and if you do not through baptism put on incorruption, that is, tranquility and immunity from perturbations, and purity of soul. Your objection will also be dissolved by the time. For it was necessary that you be baptized in Christ when he was baptized, for the reasons which I shall recount. But as for you, whatever specious cause for delay you pretend, you have none.

For Christ did not manifest himself and emerge into the light of men until he had reached his thirtieth year for a twofold reason: the first, lest he should offer a semblance of ostentation (for the vice of ostentation belongs to foolish men, that is, the ambitious, and those lacking honesty and humility, or those who are immoderately pleased with themselves, such as are most who are in the flower of youth). The second, because this age, namely of thirty years, has the mark and proof of absolute virtue and is apt for teaching. For these reasons he finally came out into public in his thirtieth year. But after that time began to draw near when he was to be subjected to punishment, all things that looked toward his passion came together and flowed into one, and it became, as it were, one continuous body. For as he came to the eyes and notice of men, he was baptized; from baptism then a huge multitude of mortals flowed to him, and, as Matthew says, the whole city was moved and, as it were, shaken with a tremor, with the people ^D running together and stirring themselves; then, on account of the concourse of the multitude, miracles were performed, that the promiscuous common people, moved by them, might betake themselves to the faith of the Gospel. Afterward, brought into envy and hatred, and through snares attacked and betrayed, and at last he was affixed to a cross, and he endured those sufferings by which salvation was brought forth for us.

And these were the causes why Christ was baptized at that late time, as far as I can grasp it by my understanding. But for you, what necessity is there that, drawing these things into an example, you should take ill counsel for yourself? Since you will find many other things in Christ which, as to the times, do not accord with our affairs. For he, immediately after he was baptized, before he was tempted by the devil, presented the forty-day fast against temptations; but we fast before Easter, and we temper the fast itself to the measure of our own strength. Furthermore, this fast signifies that we ought to act so that we might die with Christ through it.

In a similar manner also, Christ handed down the Passover to his disciples before the day of his passion; but we celebrate it in sacred houses and in fasts, and after the return of Christ to life. Thus the things of Christ, even if they are a form and example, are not entirely cut off and distracted from our affairs, nor yet so joined together that they do not admit some dissimilarity. The reason for baptism, which the Lord for our sake so took upon himself, is also the same, yet it differs in the space and interval of time. Wherefore it is not the case that you should hurl this argument like some weapon against your own salvation.

^C

Col. 402 D. Quare si quid me audiendum putatis, etc. Valere jubete. Gr. χαίρειν ἐάσατε.

A noble thing also will be generosity, and mercy which precedes it: which is an affection of the soul, and a naked and simple compassion. For the endeavor to deserve well of the poor will present you with both of these: that you may both deserve well of God, who has affected you with the benefit through baptism, and that baptism may be safe for you. You have many testimonies of Scripture which remind you of almsgiving and excite you to it. A poor man has approached, like Lazarus, in that he is poured out at your doors and is occupied in the same poverty and the same afflictions and calamities. May it come into your mind that you also labored under a great lack of virtue before baptism; but after baptism, you were raised to most ample riches, namely to purification, adoption, the kingdom of heaven, and divinity itself: also that you have been nourished by the body and blood of Christ, and through such a sacrifice as this have attained perfection in Christ. Has someone presented himself as a stranger, lacking shelter, an alien? Receive Christ as a guest and a stranger, who came into the world as an outsider and a traveler. For the evangelist says: *He came unto his own, and his own received him not.* But his own is this present world, as being by

^A Him created. Through the one who lacks a home, since [Christ] has migrated into you and dwells in you through baptism, you have been made as it were a temple of God (for *you are the temple of God*, he says). Through the stranger, once again, [consider] him who through the pilgrimage and sojourn of this life has drawn you towards the heavenly habitation. For *when I have been lifted up*, he says, *I will draw all to myself*. And just as Zacchaeus, after he received Christ into his house, distributed indeed half of his goods to the poor, but kept the rest, not so that he might enjoy them himself, but so that he might restore with a fourfold increase what he had collected through unjust dealings, fraud, and calumny; so you, too, be magnanimous, that is, a despiser of riches, and rise above earthly things, so that you may appear great according to the spiritual age, which consists in the increase of virtue, and may comprehend the Christian doctrines fully and exactly. ^B Have pity on the wounded and the sick: since Christ also freed you from spiritual wounds through baptism. If you see one naked, clothe him, as Isaiah exhorts, so that you may honor your garment, that is, Christ, whom you have put on through baptism. If one who is bound in debt to you throws himself at your feet, Isaiah indeed, urging the remission of debt, says: *Tear up every unjust written bond*; but I would add that you should tear up even the just one: since Christ also broke and tore up your own hand-written bond and freed you from foreign debt. Wherefore, since a great sum has been remitted to you, you must take care, lest in the case of a minor debt you show yourself a harsh and bitter exactor toward your fellow servants. Otherwise it will happen that what has been remitted to you will be sought back from you again, and you will even pay the penalty on that account, because, having before your eyes an example of compassion, namely, God’s mercy toward you, you were unwilling to imitate it.

Col. 403 C. *So compare yourself, that the laver may not only...* strive that not only the body be sprinkled with water, but the soul as well; and that not only sins be washed and cleansed, but the habits—that is, the disposition of mind of such a kind through which sins are committed; and not only the filth be washed away and drained off, but the very fountain and spring from which the filth flows. Learn this also, that you should not only possess what you have honestly and with praise, but that you should dispense and scatter it gloriously. But if you cannot be brought to that, to pour out on the poor the wealth you have acquired by just means, at least let that which is lighter be attained from you, that you should cast off things wickedly acquired. For the plunderer of another's goods is held bound by a double sin: on the one hand, because he has plundered; on the other, because he retains what he has plundered. Therefore, if after baptism there remains with him what he formerly obtained through plunder ^C and robbery, the sin is neither destroyed nor ^D has he attained the benefit of baptism regarding the remission of robbery: but he truly retains the retention of that by which he enjoys stolen goods. For he brings harm even after baptism, insofar as he still retains another's property. For baptism destroys previous sins, not those which are committed afterward. Therefore, he who has plundered another’s property, and is then baptized, and for that reason thinks that the harm has been remitted to him, deceives himself and acts falsely with baptism. Yet it is necessary that he be pure, not only that he appear and be considered so. For although he might appear such, because he has been partly cleansed, he is not, however, in the least [pure], because of that which is lacking in him. For the cleansing of baptism is not fixed and impressed, that is, it has not at all deeply penetrated like a cauterization: but it has been applied and colored only lightly. Which thing merely covers and conceals: but that which is concealed remains. But that this covering does not cleanse the inner parts itself, David confirms by his testimony, bringing forward three orders. For in the first and chief place, he declares them blessed, *whose iniquities have been remitted*; in the second, those who have been partially cleansed, whose sins he also says are covered, inasmuch as they have not yet been expiated in the innermost hiding-places and recesses of the soul. In the third order, finally, he places those who, even if they have done something viciously, have nevertheless done so in such a way that their will and the intent of their mind are free from crime, because they fell into fraud either imprudently, or unwillingly, or with good intention and purpose. That however,1 it pleases some, sins are indeed remitted through baptism: but they are covered through repentance, so that the Lord no longer imputes them, and does not call them into account.

Col. 406 B. *What then do I say? And to what does my intent point?* etc. One is a woman bent and crooked [in the back], the other is a Canaanite. Mention is made of the former in Matthew, of the latter in Luke. The Theologian, however, adapts both in this place to the one who has not yet been baptized. The Canaanite indeed he names on account of sins (for this Canaanite was a Gentile and an alien to the law); the bent woman, however, on account of the gravity of her crimes and the chains of Satan. Furthermore, what he says, *Yesterday*, signifies the time preceding baptism; *Today*, however, that which follows baptism. If therefore, he says, you have been raised by Christ through baptism, do not again collapse into earthly desires, bent as if by certain chains. For if after baptism you have fallen to the ground, it will now be difficult for you to cure this contraction: inasmuch as there remains no longer a second regeneration. You were wasting away again, because health had failed you, just as that woman laboring with an issue of blood, with her blood failing. And you were teeming with impurity and filth, that is, you were emitting blood and destructive sin like a fountain, but after baptism you have flourished again by the cleansing of saving water, and [cleansed] of impurity

^A from the sepulcher of vices, with Christ passing through the three days of death, you have been awakened to life (for through the triple immersion and emersion the death and resurrection of Christ after three days are represented): and you have been loosened from the bonds of sin. Strive, therefore, not to be numbered again among those who, to use the words of David, dwell in sepulchers, nor to be bound by the bands of your sins. For, as it is written in Solomon: Everyone is bound by the cords of his own sins. Indeed, if you die in your soul, it is uncertain whether you will return to life before the general resurrection, which, as it is in Ecclesiasticus, will lead every creature to judgment, to render an account of the life that has been lived.

Col. 40. A. If leprosy, that is, deformed pravity, etc. It is written in the Gospel according to Luke that ten leprous men met the Lord: but He, bringing them the favorable news of their cleansing, said: Go, show yourselves to the priest. For the priest, after the danger of the cleansing had been assessed, would admit the man cleansed of leprosy back to the rest of the people. But as they went, they were cleansed: yet nine of them, Jews by birth, forgetful of the benefit they had received, did not return: one, however, who was a Samaritan, returned to the author of his salvation and gave thanks, and praised God with hymns. Therefore, the Theologian compares sin to leprosy, as something existing beyond nature—for it itself is also contrary to nature—and one which affects the soul with deformity just as leprosy affects the body. If, therefore, he says, virulent and destructive sin has been scraped away from you through baptism, and you have received the form expressed in the likeness of God, for which you were created, show me a specimen of your cleansing, namely by keeping yourself pure from the contagion of sin. For such a cleansing excels legal and Mosaic cleansing. For that was of bodies; this is of souls. And see to it that a spiritual leprosy does not arise from you again. Otherwise, the vicious state of the soul will with difficulty admit the marrow. For that medicine is harsher, and of greater difficulty and labor, which consists in a great profusion of tears and groanings.

Ibid. B. Yesterday you were lying on a bed, etc. Here he interprets the history of the paralytic, adapted to the subject at hand. And by "bed" he understands listless sloth and pestiferous ease; by the "dissolution of limbs," pleasures and the enervation and languor of the soul in delights; by the "troubling of the water," that movement which occurs in baptism, and the power and efficacy of the Spirit descending and bringing holiness to it. Yesterday, therefore, he says, you could not find a man; today you have found the same Man and God (for Divinity was made the hypostasis of the humanity of Christ); and you have been lifted up from the fall of sins, as if from a bed, and you have, as it were, carried that very fall—triumphed over it, that is, through confession—and have proclaimed the benefit received through baptism to all. Beware, therefore, lest you fall again. Rather, as you are now, proceed—that is, sound and whole, mindful of this command given to the paralytic in these words: Behold, you are made whole, etc. Furthermore, these things can be explained in this way as well. He who is broken by the pleasures of the body is neither effective for virtue, nor can he easily be moved toward science and knowledge; and consequently, he does not "have a man," that is, a human and prudent reason, by which he might be thrown into the pool as if to be made capable of ^C virtue. That is, until the Word comes and gives him a shortcut for dispelling the disease, namely by commanding the mind to rise from the enticements of pleasures by which it is detained, and to lift up the body on the shoulders of virtues and proceed to his house, that is, to heaven. For it is better that what is lower be carried to virtue on the shoulders of action by that which is more excellent, than that the more excellent part be drawn toward pleasures by the baser part through shameful softness.

Ibid. C. This great voice, Lazarus, come forth, etc. Just as previously with Lazarus, so now also the Lord has called out to you in a loud voice, that it might reach you also who are dead—that is, deprived of the vital faculty for virtue. You, however, though dead for many days, have come forth through baptism.

Ibid. B. Lately, avarice and the holding fast of the hand, etc. The remedy for a soul that abhors generosity and kindness, and for a hand laboring with the disease of avarice and tenacity, is to pour out one's resources upon the poor, and to consider the wealth and abundance of things to be placed in God, so that you may be afflicted by poverty for Christ’s sake, and thus have abundant kindness, and drain your wealth so liberally that you do not leave even the bottom itself intact. For perhaps He Himself, having been emptied, will again provide you with sustenance, especially if you have undertaken to nourish some man who is outstanding in his praise of justice, just as the woman of Sarepta did for Elijah, as it is recorded in the third book of Kings.

Ibid. If you were deaf and dumb, etc. If you have been deaf until now, not learning the precepts of God, and dumb, not teaching them, make the doctrine of divine law familiar to yourself.

and hold it firmly in your memory, lest it be obliterated; and take the greatest care ^A that you do not close your ears to the counsels of the Lord, just as the asp hides its deadly venom and afflicts itself with deafness, so that it may not hear the voice of the enchanter and cease from its rage. Of which David says: *Like the deaf asp which stops its ears, and will not hear the voice of the enchanters* (Ps. LVII, 5, 6).

Ibid. *If you are blind, and destitute of light, etc.* If you were blind, illuminate your eyes with the light of baptism, lest you be lulled to sleep by the slumber of death. For he slumbers into death whose salutary powers and faculties of soul grow numb and are extinguished. Contemplate that Light, simple in Persons, in substance, and in nature and divinity. But by what means you may be able to behold it, David instructs, using these words to God: *In thy light shall we see light* (Ps. XXXV, 10); that is, in the Spirit [we shall see] the Son.

Ibid. *If you have admitted the whole Christ, etc.* If you have admitted the whole Christ—Him, I say, the expeller of all diseases—into the lodging of your soul, you will heap it with every kind of medicine. For when you carry the physician with you, there will be no reason for the fear of any disease to terrify you. But it would be worth the effort to notice the causes on account of which we are accustomed to fall away from the goods granted to us by divine gift. For that happens to us either because we are ignorant of the greatness of the grace received, or ^B because we apply no diligence but are dull through sloth and laziness, or because we have been blinded. Therefore, see that you are baptized, and do not fall back into sin; but diligently care for the purification of baptism, and labor in cultivating it, and bring about additions and increments in your soul through virtue. Thus, at last, you will most illustriously bring help to yourself, if you keep the evangelical parable in your mind and memory (Luke XI, 20), namely, that the impure spirit, having been put to flight by baptism, wanders through waterless places—that is, seeking souls lacking the holy waters of baptism—and when he finds none, he returns again to you, from whom he had departed. And if he finds Christ dwelling in you through virtue, he takes to flight; but if he finds your soul empty and so disposed that it is prepared to receive its former occupant, whether it be him or Christ, he establishes a residence for himself in you more certainly and firmly. For before baptism, there was hope for repentance and security, attained through baptism; but after baptism, wickedness is manifest and open, since, having been made a participant of the good, you have betrayed it, and ^C because of this have drawn evil upon yourself, and therefore the devil dwells in you firmly and constantly.

Col. 440 C. *Again, indeed, and more often, I will refresh your memory of lights, etc.* Although, he says, at the beginning of the discourse we treated the different kinds of lights, yet again we shall bring forward the places of Scripture that make mention of lights: *Light is risen for the righteous, and joy for the upright in heart* (Ps. XCVI, 14), says David. He called joy the companion and attendant of light, as if it were its follower and adorned by David. Moreover, his son Solomon says of this: *The light of the righteous is at all times* (Prov. IV, 18); then also David cries out again to God: *Thou who illuminatest wonderfully from the eternal mountains* (Ps. LXXV, 5); for we are illuminated by the intermediate works of the angels, who are indeed called mountains because they are sublime and celestial, and can be bent toward vice (10)—if at all, then not without great difficulty—but are eternal because they are of an immortal condition. But now, indeed, David says in suppliant prayer: *Send forth thy light and thy truth* (Ps. XLII, 3); now, however, as having obtained his desire, he gives thanks in these words: *The light of thy countenance, O Lord, is marked upon us* (Ps. IV, 7); that is, I have marks and signs of brilliance received by divine favor. What, finally, are these signs and arguments? The beauty and delight of prophecy. *For thou hast given*, he says, *joy in my heart* (Ps. IV, 7). Only avoid that one light, of which God, speaking through Isaiah, says: *Walk in the light of your fire, and in the flame which you have kindled* (Isa. L, 11), that is, in the flame of fire which you have excited for yourselves from the underlying matter of vices. You are led to such fire as this, that you may be consumed by it. By which words He signifies the wrath of God. *For fire*, he says, *is kindled in my fury, and it shall burn even to the lowest hell* (Deut. XXXII, 22). For just as he who is seized by a fever has excited the flame and heat of the fever for himself, with vicious humors having been heaped up in his entrails, in the same way do we also, through the matter of our crimes, heap up a treasure of punishment for ourselves, and kindle a fire. And since we have made mention of a cruel and bitter fire, a distinction must be made. For fire is also a purifier, namely, the love and faith toward God, which is called fire, not only because it is sharp and burning, but also because it purges our souls from the sin of ignorance, and divides the pious from the impious and the infidel. And concerning this kind of fire, Christ speaks in this manner: *I am come to send fire on the earth, and what will I, but that it be kindled?* (Luke XII, 49). This is the utterance of one who is hastening and urging. For He desires us to be affected by the benefit as soon as possible; and therefore, through Isaiah, He also speaks thus: *You have coals of fire: sit upon them, for they shall be an aid to you* (Isa. XLVII, 14, according to the LXX). Furthermore, the auxiliary and subsidiary coals can be called the angels, whom David calls burning fire (Ps. CIII, 4). Now God is also called fire, according to that which is in Deuteronomy, where it is held: *The Lord God...*

is a consuming fire* (Deut. iv, 21). But there is another fire, a punisher and avenger of crimes. And this, in part, torments the wicked in this life, as that Sodomitic one once did. For the Lord, he says, *rained upon Sodom and Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the Lord* (Gen. xix, 31); with which he also overwhelms all sinners, according to that of David: *He shall rain upon sinners, snares, fire and brimstone and storms of wind* (Ps. x, 7). And truly, brimstone feeds the fire; while he stirs up storms. Now this fire may signify those temptations and calamities into which those who sin gravely fall. Although, through this fire, that other fire may also be understood which tortures the ungodly in the other age, namely that which is prepared for the devil and his angels, as the Lord teaches in the Gospel (Matt. xxv, 41), or even that of which David says: *Fire shall go before him, and shall burn his enemies round about* (Ps. xcvi, 3)—which fire Scripture also calls a river flowing before him (Dan. vii, 10), of which Isaiah also makes mention, saying: *Their worm shall not die, and their fire shall not be quenched* (Isa. lxvi, 24). But this fire is more formidable and horrible ^B because it is joined with a worm and holds a double punishment. Understand, furthermore, by the worm and the fire the liquefaction and excruciation of material thickness. But all these fires are of an exterminating, that is, an avenging, power, yet not one which leads to the destruction and privation of essence. For there is a twofold extermination, just as there is a twofold perdition. Unless, perhaps, one wishes to understand this avenging fire as milder and more moderate than the atrocity of our crimes merits; inasmuch as God the avenger is accustomed to temper just punishment with mercy and leniency.

(Col. 415 B. *How there is a twofold kind of fire*, etc.) Even as we have shown that there is a twofold fire, one cleansing and the other an avenger of crimes, so also the light is twofold: one is good and has the power of illuminating our mind, the other is fallacious and counterfeit, and contrary to the true light, which is Christ—either as dark or as harmful and hostile to us, since it is also called Satan, that is, the adversary. Which, although it is darkness, yet wishes to be seen as light: for ^C *it is transfigured into an angel of light*, so that under that appearance it may drive mortals into fraud (II Cor. xi, 14). And very many, indeed, have not noticed that it is darkness, but have supposed it to be true midday, that is, the clearest light, since light is most vigorous around midday. And in this sense I understand that which was said by Isaiah concerning the impious and lost men: *They shall flee in the midday darkness* (Isa. lix, 10), that is, they shall flee from the highest good in the demon, or they shall be distracted by various and turbulent errors, which demon, although he is darkness, yet pretends to be midday. Or perhaps this prophetic saying is similar to that apostolic one: *But if our Gospel be also hid, it is hid to them that are lost* (II Cor. iv, 3). For from everywhere the light of truth radiates more clearly than midday, both from the world, and from the Scriptures, and from us ourselves; but they who do not wish to open their eyes can discern and look upon God from none of those things which exist in nature. For they are of such pravity of soul that midday is for them as darkness. But even Satan is both night and is yet seen as light by those who are corrupted by pleasure and delights. For David says: *And my night became light in my delights* ^D (Ps. cxxxviii, 11), that is, the darkness in which I was surrounded among my delights, with life flowing in pleasures, I did not know to be darkness, but thought it to be light. And these, indeed, who are undone by luxury, are in this state; but Hosea admonishes us to kindle for ourselves the light of knowledge. But in what manner this may be done, the same prophet adds in these words: *Sow for yourselves to justice, and reap the fruit of life* (Osee x, 12). Thus at length, says the prophet, we shall attain for ourselves the light of knowledge, if we sow the works of justice and virtue, that is, if we work them, and reap and gather the actions that are parents of eternal life: since action has the power of the contemplation that is to be attained. Let us therefore be illuminated by the light of knowledge, so that we may be able to discern the true light from the false and counterfeit one, and not fall into evil as if it were good through error. Nor indeed let us kindle the light of knowledge for ourselves alone, but also, which is greater, let us be made as lights, just as the Apostle says (Phil. ii, 15), and what is greatest, let us grasp the Divinity: which is indeed the first and purest light, and perceptible, not indeed by nature, but by grace and divine illumination. Thus Jeremiah exhorts: *Arise, get thee bright: for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee* (Jerem. viii, 16—Sept.), and *proficisci ad splendorem, atque e regione lucis illius, antequam contenebrescat, et priusquam pedes nostri ad montes tenebrosos impinguant* (Jerem. xiii, 16). In which place by feet we can understand the reason and conduct of life; by mountains, however, the demons, because of their arrogance and pride, or even their snares; which are called mountains because those who are prudent and of sound mind by no means walk upon them, and because they are steep and pestiferous; but they are called dark, as obscure and deceptive to the eye. Which, that we may flee, the Apostle says (Rom. xiii, 12-14), as long as it is day, that is, the time of life and labor, let us walk honestly as in the day, doing nothing shameful, nothing alien to what is honest and seemly, not given to rioting and drunkenness, nor to chambering and impurities arising from these, which are deeds of the secret night, and are performed secretly and stealthily because of shame and the obscenity of the matter, just as, on the contrary, the day…

^A [Col. 414, A] Let us purify ourselves in all our members, etc. Now he treats of the purification of the five senses, with an argument drawn from Scripture. And discussing first of all vision, the prince of all the senses, he says: "Let the eyes be enlightened," that, as Solomon says, "we may clearly discern," and [that we may] not, as the Lord forbids, gaze with curiosity and for the sake of concupiscence and lust, and [thereby] set up an image of fornication within ourselves. Otherwise, even if we do not succumb to lust through bodily congress (for this is what "adoration" signifies), we nevertheless receive filth into the mind, by having the forms and images of sin imprinted upon us. For whoever has cast longing eyes upon someone has already committed adultery in his heart. If there is some great agitation of the mind within us, like a beam—or a small one, like a splinter—let us cast it out, so that we may also be able to discern the vicious affections of others. For He says, "Cast out first the beam from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to cast out the splinter from your brother's eye." Let the ears be enlightened, so that we may say with David, "I will hear what the Lord God will speak in me." And again: "Make me hear thy mercy in the morning." This is, "Make haste with thy mercy," which is perceived by those who are in the orient of spiritual light. And in another place: "To my hearing thou shalt give joy and gladness," that is, you will fill my ears with joy and delight, whispering your mysteries to me. Let the tongue be enlightened, lest the same brand of infamy be stamped upon us as on those of whom David says, "And their tongue is a sharp sword"; that is, their words, which are brought forth through the teeth, are harmful and pernicious; and just as a sword, whetted and sharpened on a whetstone, easily destroys a man, so too their tongue, sharpened by calumnies and detractions, easily brings death to men. Such was that Doeg the Edomite, who denounced the priest Abimelech to Saul because he had received David as he fled and had given him the loaves of proposition, and was the author of the death of all the priests. Of whom it is also said in the Psalms: "As a sharp razor thou hast wrought deceit," that is, you have conceived in your mind a cunning and fraudulent plan, by means of which you have easily cut down the city of the priests, and as it were shaved it away. For a razor easily shears the hair. Moreover, this saying of David may also be turned against the devil. For just as a well-sharpened razor shears the hair so that the one being shaved feels nothing, so too the devil, through his cunning and craftiness, plots deceits and shears away the grace of the soul—that is, virtue and knowledge—in such a way that the soul does not feel these ornaments being stripped from it. Of whom, both in this and in the ninth psalm, the same Prophet says: "Whose mouth is full of cursing, and bitterness, and deceit; under his tongue are labour and sorrow." For he weaves deceits, and devises and plots evils, ^B and he applies himself to this pursuit, that he may overwhelm us, having [first] ensnared us with his deceits. Therefore let us beware lest we do anything of this kind; but, as Paul writes to the Corinthians, let us speak mystically and cautiously of those things which are covered and hidden from impure men. ^C Fearing the fiery tongues, in the form of which the Holy Spirit flowed into the apostles. But we shall fear them [if] we speak words worthily of those things which signify the splendor and purity of tongues. But now, having cured the tongue, let us also provide for the sense of smell, lest we be made effeminate (for it is a womanish and effeminate mind that is accustomed to use aromatics; and the frequent sweetness of odors has been wont to corrupt the appetite and render it soft), lest that happen to us which Isaiah denounced to the Jews with a threatening speech: "For there shall be, instead of a sweet smell, dust." But He, charging the Jews with the profusion of ointments as a crime, threatened them with that very dust instead of it, [the dust] which they themselves later stirred up, by which Jerusalem was overthrown. The Theologian, however, understands the fragrance of virtues by the "sweet smell," but by the "dust," that defilement which the soul is wont to contract through sensible ointments, which weaken and cast down its strength. But let us smell Christ, who for a short time was emptied of His glory, according to that which is said to Christ in the Canticles: "Your name is oil poured out." For as ointment poured out gives a sweeter fragrance, and bestows a sweet odor upon those things to which it is applied, in the same way the Lord also, after He was emptied for the sake of our salvation, filled the whole world with the knowledge of Himself, as with a most sweet odor. And it is necessary that this [odor] be received by us spiritually; that is, that we feel and acknowledge the benefits bestowed upon us by Him, and be so formed by Him, and pass into another quality, that we ourselves also may be a sweet odor, and that the same may be said of us as was said of the sacrifice of Noah, "The Lord smelled a sweet savor," that is, he received it willingly and joyfully. Let the sense of touch be purged, so that we may not handle soft and tender things, which weaken the vigor of the soul; but rather that we may touch Christ with intellectual and spiritual touch, that is, that we may search out His mystery as is worthy of God. Let the sense of taste be purged, so that we may not be tickled and delighted, and incited to take on more foods, by juices and liquids and pleasant and rich banquets. These juices and liquids, insofar as they tickle [the palate], are brothers to the allurements and itches of lust, which, after we begin to feel and understand the sin born and committed by them, are bitter and sour. For indeed dishes excite us to gluttony, and gluttony excites us to lust. Moreover, the present pleasure is destined eventually to bring a disagreeable and bitter end upon us; and that tickling, by which our body is affected with pleasure, will produce a poisonous and deadly worm, tormenting [the soul] eternally in hell. For truly, ^D

let us obey David, who says: *Taste and see that the Lord is sweet* (Psal. XXXIII, 9); taste the bread of life—that food, I say, which does not perish (like the nourishment of sensible bread), but remains, as the Lord says (Joan. VI, 27). He who tastes the sweetness of the Lord, that is, he who gains the experience of Him, hopes in Him without any doubt and calls upon Him as is fitting. Let us not be enticed by eating and gluttony (for afterwards all foods are of equal honor), nor let us refresh and obsequiously cultivate that ungrateful gullet, which is ^A forgetful of benefit and burns with lust and appetite, even for a short time, since it most quickly transmits those things that are offered to it, and cannot retain them even if they were poured in perpetually. Rather, let us make an effort that our spiritual taste may be properly composed, so that we may say with David: *How sweet are thy words to my palate, sweeter than honey to my mouth* (Psal. CXVIII, 103). And Solomon himself also says in the Proverbs: *My son, eat honey, for thy palate is sweetened* (Prov. XXIV, 13)—meaning, by a figurative expression, divine doctrine.

Col. 414 C. It will be excellent, moreover, etc. We must also, he says, purify the head, in which all the senses are located and have their action, since the brain provides them with power and faculty, so that we may be able to cling to Christ our head, and be joined with Him as His own body—contrary to that impostor who is rebuked by the apostle Paul, as one who is rashly puffed up and does not hold the head, that is, Christ, from whom the whole body is constructed and coagmented, that is, joined together and enjoys peace. For if we have purified the head—that is, the leading part of our mind—as its own nature requires, namely through virtue and knowledge, there will be no fear that what David says with a groan might happen to us: *My iniquities have gone over my head* (Psal. XXXVII, 5), pressing and burdening the mind and reason. But we will cast down to the ground the iniquity that raises itself above our head and holds the principality, and we will vindicate the reason, which has been compressed and afflicted by it, into liberty.

Ibid. It is also excellent that the shoulders be sanctified and purified, etc. By the shoulders he indicates that power and faculty which is placed in action, for from them the hands receive their strength. By the cross, moreover, ^D he indicates that state of soul, by which, as if dead and extinguished, it is moved by no impulse toward vicious and turbulent affections. For through the practice and study of virtue we finally arrive at the point where our souls are tranquil and pacified from all perturbations. Therefore, he brings holiness to the shoulders, who takes up the cross—by which the vicious affections of the mind are extinguished—upon his shoulders and follows Christ. And he purifies the hands, who keeps them clean from rapine, robbery, and strife, so that, ^A as the Apostle says (I Tim. II, 8), he may lift them up in every place, pure, without anger and disputations, and, to speak with David, may apprehend discipline (Psal. VII, 12), namely Christ’s, or the evangelical precepts, and—as if by a certain hand—may receive the word, that is, contemplation, into faith through that power which dwells in action. For through the study of an honest and laudable life, contemplation is obtained by us, according to that Scripture: *The word of the Lord was made in the hand of Aggeus* (Agg. I, 1). And according to that of Malachias: *The word of the Lord to Israel in the hand of his angel* (Malach. I, 1).

Now as for the perfection of the feet, it consists in this: that we have nothing in common with those of whom Solomon says: *Their feet run to evil, and are swift to shed blood* (Prov. I, 16); but rather, we may win the fellowship ^B of those who are praised by Isaias with these words: *How beautiful are the feet of them that bring glad tidings of peace and good things* (Nahum I, 15)—such as the feet of Paul were, along with the other apostles. He himself also says of himself: *I pursue toward the mark* (Philipp. III, 14); and he exhorts others with these words: *Having your feet shod for the preparation of the Gospel of peace* (Ephes. VI, 15). If such feet have contracted any filth even after receiving baptism through the path of human life, the Lord washes them, and He does not despise even the smallest and lowest part, but cleanses it also. Feet are said to be prepared for the Gospel—that is, ready for the evangelical course—when they both carry out His precepts and deliver them to others.

^C 79. Cl. 415 A. But if there is any movement also of his belly, etc. From the sensible belly, he makes a transition to the spiritual one, that is, to the memory; which is indeed capable of thoughts (for these are the foods of reason), but it is a digester and distributor, as though, after judgment has been applied, and as if by digestion, it spreads and distributes them for the nourishment of the soul. From the Apostle, however, the usage was brought in of this word *theomanein* (the belly), that is to say, making it a god, who, speaking of those who live in delights, says: *Whose god is their belly* (Philipp. III, 19). For those who serve the belly more than is fitting, and provide it with delights, make it in a way their God. Furthermore, the luxury of the spiritual belly, that is, of the memory, is the listening to and study of external and profane wisdom, ^D which is indeed pleasant and agreeable, but not equally fruitful, and is a condiment of that wit and elegance; which is also a food that flows away and vanishes. This was also taken from the Apostle. For, disputing about foods and the belly, he added these words: *But God shall destroy both the one and the other* (ibid.), that is, He will compress and abolish them. But the belly of the memory is made lighter through the ejection, as it were, of certain harmful humors—of corrupt and wicked thoughts—and thus at last it receives the word of the Lord, just as David says: *And thy law...*

^A in the midst of my belly": in which place it signifies by "belly" the heart standing in readiness. And furthermore, the belly of those who fall into sin and incur God's displeasure is in this way purged and grieved. Just as Jeremiah is tortured in his spirit on account of the Jews, using these words: *My belly, my belly, I am in pain*. Indeed, I find David also beseeching God's help for his heart and bowels, and having regard and cure for them. He calls the heart the intelligent faculty, but the bowels his sensations and thoughts.

Col. 415 A. What are the loins? What are the kidneys? When the Jews were participants in the paschal lamb, they had their loins girded; but from us it is required that that part of the soul in which lust exists should be restrained in a spiritual manner through continence. For by the loins and kidneys concupiscence is signified: because it burns in those parts. Moreover, the loins are in the front part, the kidneys in the back. Now, the beautiful and remarkable transformation of the kidneys is the conversion of concupiscence unto good, and the love and desire for spiritual things: so that we may be able to say with David: *My heart was inflamed, and my kidneys were changed*. And again: *Before thee is all my desire*, constrained on every side, and spread out to nothing else, but rather intensified toward thee alone. And likewise with Jeremiah: *I have not desired the day of man*, that is, human and bodily happiness. For it is fitting that we be held by the desire for spiritual things; in which way the angel also addressed Daniel, with these words: *Daniel, man of desires, understand the words which I am about to speak to you*. But just as a man is called a man of peace who is of a tranquil and peaceful mind, so is he a man of desires who is inflamed with desire. For Daniel was burning with the desire to know future things: and therefore he understood those things which were to come to pass even until the end of the age. And indeed, if our entire desire shall have been transferred to God, that spiritual and pestilent and winding dragon will certainly be defeated and crushed by us, of whom God, speaking to Job, says: *Behold, his strength is in his loins, and his power in the navel of the belly*. By which words it is shown that the devil has the greatest strength in these parts of men which we have mentioned, that is, in the concupiscible part, which he presses with a heavier tyranny, inasmuch as he brings more force to attack man in war, because of the bitterness and vehemence of pleasure. Nor should it seem a wonder to you, if, as the Apostle says, we bestow more abundant honor on those parts which are seen to be more ignoble and contemptible in the body, pursuing them indeed with so many and such great words, and set against it the material and grossness of the flesh which resists the spirit through its desires. Furthermore, the more ignoble and dishonorable parts are the loins and the kidneys, as their work is carried out through carnal intercourse.

Ibid. C. *All the members, which are upon the earth*, etc. The Mosaic Law commanded that the uppermost part of the liver, and the kidneys, along with the fat, be consecrated to God in certain sacrifices, signifying that wrath, which is designated by the membrane (for to this a vessel receiving bile is attached), and lust, which is signified by the kidneys and the fat, ought especially to be consecrated to God. Again, Moses assigned the arm and the breast in some sacrifices to the priests: obscurely indicating that we ought to do this, that both our hearts (since the breast signifies the heart, as if its safeguard and defense) and also our actions, which are designated by the arm, should be offered by the priests to God. And these things, indeed, the old law prescribed; but we, according to the apostolic exhortation, mortify all the members, which are upon the earth—that is, which perform their function on earth—or even the members of the old man, that is, of sin; and we offer ourselves entirely to God as a sacrifice, having slaughtered, as it were, with the sword of the divine word, our base and rash and beastly affections, so that we may be made a perfect sacrifice. For that which is in part is by no means perfect. But he who has given himself entirely to God, and has consecrated his salvation to Him, he without doubt has received his entire self.

Col. 418 A. *Beyond all these things*, etc. Before all things, he says, I will entrust and commend to you the faith and confession of the Trinity, as more necessary. With this, I will baptize you through triple immersion, and I will raise you up to the height, drawn from the waters as many times. Afterwards he passes from the confession to the Divinity, into which the profession of faith is made, which indeed is found conjointly and singularly in three persons (for the divinity is one in the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit); and it embraces three persons divisibly; for in the divinity are the Father and Son and Holy Spirit, nor is it unequal in dissimilar substances, or, if you prefer, natures. For, as it pleases the holy Fathers, essence and nature, when one speaks of the holy Trinity, are the same thing. Nor does the Father surpass the Son, nor again the Son the Spirit: nor does the Spirit pass to the Son by some kind of change, inasmuch as He is not begotten, nor the Son to the Father, as the one who is not unbegotten, as the Father is. But from wherever it is, the Divinity is equal and the same, no otherwise than the one and same magnitude of the sky, appearing visibly equal in every respect. For just as this

^A three are infinite and imperceptible, so too is their conjunction and the identity of their nature. Each person of God, if considered separately—by the mind, of course, which separates things inseparable by nature (for no note of divinity is lacking to any of these three)—is as the Father, so the Son, and as the Son, so the Spirit. The addition of this particle, "as," brings in equality, while preserving the hypostatic property for each person: for the Father, namely, that He is unbegotten; for the Son, that He is begotten; and finally, for the Holy Spirit, that He proceeds. And God, again, these three, if they are thought of together, are one, because of the identity of notion and nature. For God is each of these things, because He has the same substance: yet again these three are one God, because one is the principality of the Divinity. I have scarcely conceived one of these three in my mind, as much as is granted to human infirmity, when I am immediately ^B circumfused with a threefold and triple light, because of the identity of nature. I scarcely begin to distinguish the three, that is, the three properties or persons, when I am immediately caught up to the one, that is, to the unity of divinity and principality. If I have conceived any one of these three by an image, the greater part of it, which was observed in the mind, slips away from me, as being greater than my grasp. I cannot perceive and comprehend the magnitude of the thing seen with the eyes of the mind, so as to receive the person, which remains, as greater. For the greater part has escaped and slipped away. But that which cannot be comprehended does not admit of dimension. But if I again contemplate these three together, I see one splendor because of the conjunction and equality of nature, in that I cannot distinguish and separate the place of each person, nor by measure attain which of these has more splendor. For that which cannot be comprehended is not defined by any measure.

Ibid. C. *Then you fear generation, etc.* You, he says, tremble at the word "generation" in God, lest you seem to induce a certain affection, as if He who begets suffers flux. But you ought, if a discourse were being held about a human father, to assume the thought of affection as well; however, when you hear of God the Father, you ought to be carried in thought to the Cause that is exempt from all ^C passion. For not because mortal living beings beget through affection and passion, must the same be thought of God; but rather from this we ought to be led to the truth, so as to reason thus: Since living beings subject to corruption beget in this way, God, who is free from corruption, begets in a contrary way. But I fear lest I suffer the loss of my God, if, according to the trifles and ravings of the heretics, I pronounce Him a creature. For if He is created, He will not be God, and from that point He will perish for me. For this is the wonderful absurdity of these heretics, that not only is this attributed to God by them, that He is created (since they wickedly and sinfully weigh the Divinity); but also the creation itself, according to their opinion, is divided. For they used to say that the divinity, like an equivocal word, was partly uncreated, as the Father; ^D partly created. Again, they divided the created divinity in such a way that they asserted the Son to be a more excellent creature, but the Holy Spirit to be an inferior creature. From which, God too was subjected to contumely, as being reduced and depressed into the order of creatures, and the creature itself was likewise degraded, as one which was reckoned in the same order with God. For if it is a contumely to a servant to be placed in an equal degree of order with his master, how much more grave a one must it be considered, by which a creature is made equal to God the Creator? Truly, I have heard that Gregory, famous and celebrated for the production of miracles, when he said that in the Trinity there exists nothing created, nor servant nor arrival, as being not previously existent, and then subsequently arriving. Neither, therefore, did the Son ever lack the Father, nor the Spirit the Son; but the Trinity is always immutable and devoid of alteration. And indeed the Apostle says: *If I were pleasing to men, I would not be a servant of Christ* [98*]. But I would have said: If I were to adore the Son as a creature, or were baptized into Him as into a creature, I would never be destined to be a God. For a creature does not have the power of bestowing divinity. Now truly, Solomon is harassed in the Third Book of Kings in miserable ways, because he built a high altar to Chamos, the idol of the Moabites, and to Astarte 99. And also Amos cuts to pieces with curses those who expressed the figure of a star by art and adored it 100. Moreover, Astarte and Chamos were statues of Venus, which the Sidonians and Moabites once worshipped and treated with divine honor. The form of the star was the star itself, namely Lucifer, whom they call Venus. Although therefore they adored three, and imposed the name of God upon each of them: yet because they deemed the star more excellent than the other two, and considered it a greater God, as being a celestial one, what, says he, shall I offer them as a cause and defense, when they will accuse me in turn by that name, in that I also affirm a greater and an inferior God, and attribute divine honor to creatures? What, I ask, am I to say, when I do not adore either the Son or the Holy Spirit as lesser gods, or because I am adoring my fellow-servants? For they would assuredly be fellow-servants if they were creatures, since the heretics asserted the Son and the Holy Spirit to be inferior gods and more excellent than creatures. For even in created things, one thing is found to be more excellent than another.

Col. 419 B. *I desire to call the Father greater, from whom they have their equals, etc.* I indeed desire to call the Father greater than the Son and the Holy Spirit, in so far as concerns the paternal cause. For from the Father the Son and the Spirit have both that they are equal to Him, and that they simply are. For no one would deny this, namely, that they are from Him, the Son indeed by generation—

and the Spirit, as to origin. However, I have been struck with apprehension, lest I should constitute the Father as the cause of inferior things. For he who is greater is declared greater in relation to things that are inferior. But if I should diminish those things ^A which exist from Him consubstantially and without any creation, I would also bring insult upon the Father Himself. For the depression of those things which are from the Father does not redound to the glory of the Father, from whom are both the Son and the Holy Spirit: for he who does not honor the Son, does not honor the Father, says Christ. Furthermore, I suspect your insatiable obstinacy, O heretic, lest perhaps when you hear that the Father is greater, you should seize upon this according to nature and understand Him to be greater, and thus divide the one and same nature of the Father and the Son, and say that the Father’s is one, and the Son’s another; ^B truly, from the fact that you hear the Father is greater, you contend that He is greater than the Son in all things, not only in relation to the cause, according to which He is said to be greater, but also in relation to the prerogative of power, the preeminence of dignity, and the excellence of weight and gravity. But quality does not fall upon God, and therefore, as to the amplitude of dignity, the Father is not greater than the Son. Furthermore, for Christ (who says: "I and the Father are one," concerning power, that is) to be affirmed as inferior to God in power is very ridiculous and puerile. ^C And if the throne of God, as we believe, is a name of dignity, surely the seat assigned to the Lord at the right hand of the Father signifies an equality of dignity. Moreover, the Lord even promises that He will come in the glory of the Father. It remains, therefore, that He is said to be greater in this place according to the ratio of cause. For because the Son has His cause from the Father, in this respect the Father is greater, as being the cause. However, the essence of one is by no means said to be greater or lesser than the essence of the other. For there is nothing greater or lesser among those things which are the same in essence. Wherefore, in no other respect than that of the primary cause is the Father greater. ^D Nor can I even place the Son before the Spirit: for when the Lord sent His disciples for the sake of preaching the Gospel, He commanded them to baptize in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Moreover, the Spirit would not have been joined in the baptism unless He were of the same essence and power and honor. And do you fear that some may harass you and attack you with reproaches as asserting a trinity of gods, if you confess each of these three to be God? Retain unity in the trinity of persons (for they are three and one, the latter in regard to the divinity, the former in regard to the persons): but do not contend with adversaries over a dogma of this kind. For you are a disciple, and I am a teacher and minister of sacred things. Truly Gregory, ^A for the sake of clarity, understands the doctrine of the divinity and says: You will navigate no less prosperously, or inhabit your home, than I do, that is, you will grasp the doctrine of the right faith equally well. For the profession of the orthodox faith does not admit of greater and lesser. Let the danger be mine; but may the matter won by me be yours. I have three stones, that is, the doctrine concerning the holy Trinity, with which I will fell and finish those who profess a different faith, just as David overcame that alien Goliath with a physical stone, as is written in the first book of Kings. And indeed, as it is recorded in 3 Kings, when Elias had breathed three times upon the son of the Sarephtan widow, he recalled him to life: ^B I, however, have three inhalations (that is, those insufflations which take place in baptism, or even the God-inspired doctrine of the three persons of the Divinity) by which I may restore to life the puerile and senseless disputation of the heretics, who, as if bereft of the soul by the grace of the life-giving Spirit, are dead and extinguished as far as the doctrine of faith is concerned. Again, the same prophet, having poured water on the wood three times, excited a flame, so that from this it might be clear to us that where the mystical water is, there also is the Spirit—He, I say, who vivifies, and rouses the dormant heat, and burns the impious, yet illuminates the pious and faith-endowed men. ^C I myself also have three pourings and infusions in the same way, that is, the three immersions of baptism, in which the majesty of the holy Trinity is invoked, by which I will consecrate him who is offered to God through baptism, the water of baptism kindling the fire of the Spirit, which consumes the gross malice of such a sacrifice and the thorns of sin, and the humid and flowing sloth and the languor of the soul and its fracture. And I will prostrate and cast down the teachers of heresy, using the mystical force of baptism. It should be observed, however, that while disputing about the holy Trinity, he used three examples, each of which in turn contains three: the first of stones, the second of inhalations, the third of infusions: to express and set as if before one's eyes the equality which exists in the three persons. ^D Col. 422 A. What need is there of a longer speech? etc. Divine Paul writing to Timothy said: "I charge thee before God, and Jesus Christ, and his chosen angels, that thou keep these things." In which place the word "to charge" signifies the same as "to ordain and declare." But I say: I charge, that is, I promise and affirm for certain, that you will be baptized with this faith alone, which is in the equal and same-substanced Trinity; for with any other faith no one is baptized, but is submerged and overwhelmed by the waters. But if in the book of your heart another doctrine of faith has been impressed than that which I teach, come, and in you the right

^A dogma I shall transcribe, which I myself also possess inscribed, and have learned and guarded. Let the danger be mine, if I write wrongly; let the reward be mine, if rightly. But if you are so disposed as my argument and doctrine demand, and are inscribed with the excellent marks of piety and faith and doctrine, do not accommodate your faith to the times, and do not bend yourself toward those in whose power the sovereignty and the sum of affairs resides. Nay rather, have the treasure of the immutable faith fixed and immovable in your soul; for there is one faith, not one thing and then another, that it should be changed according to the time. Imitate Pilate, as far as constancy and the firmness of judgment are concerned, and say the same thing that he said to those who strive to lead you away from your opinion: "What I have written, I have written," * that is to say: "What I have embraced, I have embraced." However, he used these words when he had written the title with a nefarious intent. ^B For he did not write these words because they were true, but as a criminal accusation: "This is the king of the Jews," even though what he wrote was true. And you, speak the same words, rightly and excellently signed. For this is what the Theologian says, to imitate for the better part. If you wish to be baptized in this way, as I have learned and teach, then with David I say: "I will not withhold my lips from the initiation and sacrament of baptism": but I also accommodate my hands to the Spirit and offer them as ministers, and my soul leaps forth, and is carried as if in a bound, desiring to perfect you with the gift of baptism. But I will fulfill you and perfect you in every respect if I baptize you into the Trinity. For to be baptized into the Father only is Judaic; into the Son also is not yet perfect; but to be baptized also into the Holy Spirit, that is the perfect baptism. But if you still falter, as if with evil letters branded in, and are not at all healed by the present discourse, seek another who may baptize you—or rather, drown you and suffocate you in the waters. For I am not at leisure, on account of the inequality of persons and the diversity of natures, to divide the one divinity and nature, and, at the very time of regeneration, to slaughter you, not unlike a fetus crushed by the death of labor pains, and perishing at the very birth of life: so that you would have neither baptism nor the hope of the heavenly kingdom proceeding from baptism. For consider this perfection, that if you diminish any of the three persons, and degrade and depress it from divinity, you cast down and cover with ignominy also the whole, to the extent that it lies in you, and despoil yourself of perfection. For the detriment is the same, whether to depart this life devoid of baptism, or to remove one of those things which we have received by tradition from the others and to assert it to be inferior. Wherefore, that tradition is to be held by us firmly and inviolably ^C which we received in the life-giving grace of baptism. For he who adds or subtracts anything, without doubt causes the loss of eternal life.

Col. 422 D. *But as yet no form is inscribed in your soul, etc.* But if as yet no form is inscribed in your soul, I will be Moses to you as far as that pertains, so that I may promulgate those things which have been dictated by the Spirit. And I shall inscribe the new Decalogue with the finger of God—that is, the Holy Spirit, through whom things of this kind are inscribed upon hearts. Moreover, the Holy Spirit is called the "finger" in the Gospel, not because He is some meager force and power, standing with God as the finger of a body: but because the diverse gifts of the Spirit, joined together, are as it were a certain body of the Holy Spirit, and the individual graces are like fingers. And I would wish you to observe this Decalogue: I will baptize you into the holy and undivided Trinity, whose name is the common divinity. You will know, moreover, both from the very habit and the appearance of things and from the words, that you renounce Satan and join yourself to Christ. For not only by word, but also by the very habit—that is, stripped of garments, and with your body turned toward the sunset, and with hands held up—you will abjure Satan, and again turning yourself toward the sunrise, and having your hands held down, you will confess God, and will join yourself to His side, and will adore Him. These things, however, are situated in action. Secondly, believe that, as it is held in the book of the *Shepherd* (12), one is God, who created and perfected all things, and brought them from nothing into the nature of things, and even governs and moderates them; also that, according to the Apostle, * this very creature will be liberated at the time of the resurrection from the servitude of corruption, and the spiritual world will be more excellent, namely, when that class which is still desired is already filled, or also insofar as then the angels will be changed from the condition which is with difficulty flexible toward vice to that state that they can in no way be incited to evil: or also because then they will attain a fuller and more absolute knowledge. Thirdly, this is to be guarded against by you, that you do not conceive any proper substance of evil in your mind. For vice does not subsist as a certain animal: rather, evil is a privation of good. Nor is it unbegotten, as the impious chatter, equating that vice with the good and eternal nature in honor (if indeed both of these are without beginning and unbegotten): nor, on the other hand, is it generated. For when all things are from God, how can evil be from good? But just as God created the body, but not disease: so also He created the soul, but not sin. But the soul, having been made to swerve from that which was according to nature, ^D brings the latter together. Rufinus also, in his *Symbolum*, which exists among the works of Jerome in Tome IV, although he grants to this book an ecclesiastical, yet not a canonical, authority.

corrupted with vice. But what was that good with which it was first adorned? Assuredly, that it was inseparably attached to God and joined to Him by the bond of charity; since it fell away from this, it has been debilitated by various and manifold sicknesses. But for what reason was it created capable of evil at all? On account of the freedom of the will, which was most appropriate for a nature endowed with reason. Therefore, as we have already said, evil is not a living and animate essence, but an affection of the soul contrary to virtue, which arises in sluggish and listless men on account of their withdrawal and falling away from the good. Wherefore, there is no reason for you to look for ^B evil extrinsically, or to imagine some primal nature of wickedness; rather, understand that each one of us is the author and architect of his own vice. For of those things which happen, some come to us by nature, such as old age and infirmity; others happen by chance, like fortuitous and unforeseen accidents, as if someone digging a well should find a treasure; others, finally, are placed within our own will, such as to restrain anger, desire, and lust, or to succumb to them. Since, therefore, the decision regarding these matters lies with you, do not seek their causes outside yourself; but hold this for certain, that what is properly evil draws its origin from a free and voluntary aversion from the good. Fourthly, believe that for your sake the Son of God also became the Son of man in the last days, as the Apostle says. For those days which follow the middle time are called the last, just as the first are those which precede the middle. And yet, in another way, he calls those days "last" which existed at the end of that time defined for the legal cult: of which the same Apostle also says: "When the fullness of time came, God sent his Son, made of a woman." In an ineffable way, because it was without the seed of a man, and above the grasp of nature. Without any stain, because it was incorrupt and pure. For where God is, there nothing is sordid or impure. And God is whole with His flesh, and man is whole with His divinity. Furthermore, when he says that He is the same whole God and whole man, he shows that His hypostasis is one and indivisible. And the whole God is indeed perfect, yet He is not "wholly" God (for He is not only God, but also man); and the whole man is perfect, yet he is not "wholly" man (for he is not only man, but also God). For this word "whole" (totum) declares the nature; but "wholly" (totus) indicates the hypostasis, not otherwise than as the term "other" (aliud) indicates nature, but "another" (alius) indicates the hypostasis. Moreover, He wholly assumed the whole man, that is, body and soul endowed with mind, intelligence, and reason; and the Whole was united to the whole, so that He might bring salvation to the whole man. Otherwise, that part of man which He had not assumed would have remained incurable. But the Theologian stated this on account of Apollinarius, who was babbling that He assumed a humanity devoid ^C of mind. But how could Christ be said to be—and be established as—perfect God and perfect man, consubstantial with the Father and with us, if only a certain part of the divine nature were united to a certain human part, and not the whole essence of divinity joined and united with the whole human nature? And since Christ became man according to these three things—that is, according to mind, soul, and body—so according to the same you also become a god, although He is so by nature, and you by grace and adoption. For He did not assume humanity in part, nor do you become a god in part; and this is made clear from the assumption. For by the whole God being united to the whole man, He indeed became fully and perfectly man, but the latter has perfectly attained divinity. Therefore, just as the Lord, by putting on a body, became man, so we men are made gods by Christ, being assumed through His flesh. And just as we say that our nature was raised from death, and ascended into heaven, and sits at the right hand of the Father—not that all individual men have returned to life and sit at the right hand of the Father, but because our whole nature has revived in the hypostasis of Christ and sits at the right hand of the Father (the Apostle indeed says: "He raised us up ^D and made us sit together with Christ")—in the same way we are also said to have received divinity in Christ, our nature having attained divinity from the fact that it was assumed by Christ. Therefore, the Lord became man to the same extent that the part assumed attained divinity. Fifthly, believe that according to the prophecy of Isaiah He was led to death for the iniquities of the people, and revived, and finally was received into heaven, so that, as He promised He would do, He might draw all things to Himself. Sixthly, expect, and hold with firm faith, that He will come, and to use the words of the apostles Peter and Paul, to judge the living and the dead; that is, both those who shall still be enjoying the light of life and those who shall already have finished their lives: and as well the just as the sinners: and as well souls as bodies: He will come, however, no longer as flesh (because He will no longer be subject to the natural affections of the flesh, such as hunger, thirst, fatigue, and other infirmities of that kind), yet not as incorporeal (because He will by no means have cast off the natural properties of a body, such as its triple dimension, form, and quantity, and other things of this sort), so that He may be seen also by those by whom He was pierced, as not incorporeal, according to Zechariah saying: "They shall look on me, whom they have pierced." And according to what John says in the Apocalypse: "Behold, He will come with the clouds, and every eye shall see Him, and those who pierced Him." Therefore, that body shall be august and more divine, so that it may be visible, and yet it remains alien to density, as it is no longer mere flesh, but inter

flesh, and that which is free from the body, having a certain intermediate nature. Seventh, look for the resurrection of the dead. Eighth, the judgment; this, moreover, is the weight or lightness of the internal conscience, and the balance of the law, and the requirement of our life in relation to it. Ninth, the retribution, by which, according to a just measure and a reward corresponding to the works of each individual, his due portion will be established. This retribution, furthermore, for those who have been purified in soul and mind, is the future light, that is, the contemplation of God, which we also call the kingdom of heaven: but for those who have had their mind blinded by vices, it is darkness, that is, alienation and aversion from God. This contemplation and aversion will be according to the manner and proportion of either our purity or our darkness. Tenth, upon this foundation of dogmas, build good works. For, as it is in the Epistle of James, the brother of the Lord, just as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead. And these are the things which it is permitted to be spread abroad concerning the mystery of our faith. But those things which are more recondite and more mystical, you will learn within the Church after baptism: which you yourself shall keep hidden and concealed from profane men, and shall keep inviolate, not otherwise ^A than those things which are preserved under seal.

Col. 426 A. *Moreover, that you may understand from me what is meant by "you are placed before the altar," etc.* The fact that you are placed before the altar after baptism indicates the glory of the future life and the nearness to God. The psalmody, however, signifies the joyful and festive sound of that age. The lamps, indeed, signify that procession of lights with which, according to the Gospel parable, we shall meet Christ the bridegroom, like the wise virgins of the bride, having the clear lamps of faith and the abundant oil of good works. For the entrance to that bridal chamber will not be open to the proud man and the contemner, nor to the slothful and negligent, nor, in short, to him who has not been adorned with the elegance standard fitting for a wedding, but has been clothed sluggishly and indecently: however much one, like him who is not adorned with that wedding garment, might deceive himself, and in his hope and the thoughts of his soul in this life might associate himself with those who are adorned in an ornate and splendid fashion. But after we have entered the divine bridal chamber, then the bridegroom will reveal to us more sublime and perfect mysteries. For this is that society and fellowship conceived in hope and expected by pure men, to which may we be found worthy, both we who teach these things, and you who learn them. Amen.

ON ORATION XI, FORMERLY XLI

We have already provided Nicetas’s Exposition on Orat. XI, which is on the holy Resurrection, in both Greek and Latin, following the Orations of St. Gregory Nazianzen, Patrologia vol. XXXVI, col. 943.

ON ORATION XLV, FORMERLY XLII

ARGUMENT

This oration, elaborately composed, he brought to light at Arianzus (13), which was his ancestral estate, many years after he had delivered the preceding oration, when he had already departed Constantinople and resigned the patriarchate. For since many were offended by the gentleness and patience of God, because He permitted good men to live in grief and sadness, while allowing the wicked on the contrary to possess all things that are favorable, and there was a danger that they might gradually fall through carelessness into despair, and thus fall away little by little, to the point of believing neither in the resurrection, nor in judgment, nor in any future rewards or punishments: he seized the favorable occasion of the feast of the Resurrection and instituted the present teaching, confirming the wavering and fluctuating opinions of those men regarding the resurrection by means of this oration, and most fully and most certainly proving this head of faith; and at the same time proclaiming the power and grace of the feast, and pursuing it with praises, and by anagoge mingling the spirit of the New Law with the letter of the Old Testament, and explaining one by one all the mysteries of this feast which are celebrated among the Hebrews.

Col. 623 A. *"I will stand upon my watch," he says, etc.* The prophet Habakkuk saw that there were very many who would take the occasion of the providence of God for offense, thinking how it happened that He permitted the impious and those who contemn the divine powers and the wicked to insult just and weaker men, and, as it were, to spurn each other with unrestrained and insolent mouth. For this reason he touches upon the divine judgments, and those things which it is forbidden to inquire into ^D

^A, trying to investigate them curiously, using these words: *I will stand upon my watch, and I will climb upon the rock, and I will watch to see what the Lord may speak in me, and what I may answer to my reproof* (Habakkuk 2:1). But the meaning of the words of the Prophet is of this kind: I will guard my soul pure and whole from every worldly care, and I will fly to a certain most firm security, placed as it were in a high place, and from there, as if from a mountain peak, I will look with the eyes of the mind to see what words God may have for me, and what I myself am to say, if God should purpose to reprove me, as one who has not uttered these words with sufficient caution and prudence. Why do you look upon those who despise? Will you be silent when the just devours the wicked? And these are the words of the Prophet, this is the meaning of the words. The Theologian, furthermore, beginning his oration, ^B adapted his words to the present subject. Although there is this difference: that Habakkuk understands by "watch" the vigilance of the mind, but by "rock," firmness and constancy. But holy Gregory calls the priestly power, and the contemplation granted to him, a "watch." For pontiffs, who are mediators between God and men, have the right to seek and contemplate things of this kind. However, those who say that Gregory saw through a vision what he is now narrating seem to me to be far from the truth. For he says that the power to inquire into things of this kind, and then to be informed in his mind, and also to relate them in words, was granted to him by the Holy Spirit. Therefore, I will stand in the power given to me, and I will look, or contemplate, what offers itself to my eyes, and again I will come to know what shall be said. For just as that which is seen requires a sight, so that which is brought forth by the mouth has need of knowledge.

EXPOSITION OF PSELLUS

^C *And I stood, and I watched: and behold a man, etc.* After he said: *I will stand upon my watch,* with Habakkuk, *and I will watch,* he now shows that he has done what he had proposed. For he says, "I freely and at my own discretion applied my soul to contemplation. And I stood in a high place, from which I might be able to behold such things, and I saw those things which I shall now commemorate."

ADDENDA

^A the angel who bears the message of the resurrection is introduced, and the host of the angels celebrates Christ risen from the dead. Furthermore, the Theologian has borrowed all these expressions from the prophets. For Daniel also uses these words: *Behold there stood before me as it were the appearance of a man*. And again: *Behold a man clothed in a linen garment, and his countenance as the appearance of lightning, and the voice of his words as the voice of a multitude*. And near Nahum it is written thus: *The appearance of them is like lamps of fire, and as lightning running to and fro*. Finally, regarding the voice, John the Theologian speaks after this manner: *And I heard a great voice behind me, as it were of a trumpet*. Now let us hear what the angel cries out: *Today salvation [is come] to the world, both visible and invisible*. But why did the invisible world also, that is to say the angels, have need of salvation? For Lucifer and his associates neither returned to a better frame of mind, nor obtained salvation: but the remaining angels, who did not fall away from God, are in no need of salvation. What salvation, therefore, has been brought to the invisible world? Some in this place have understood by salvation the safety and integrity which indeed befell us when, having been oppressed by sin, we were again restored to safety by the resurrection of Christ; but as for the angels, because—according to the evangelical parable—the sheep which had gone astray, or the coin which had been lost, having been found, that which was lacking to the heavenly hosts was filled up. But the angels, who previously possessed this condition, such that they could with difficulty and effort be moved toward evil, after ^C the resurrection of Christ attained to such a point that they can no longer even be moved toward evil, not by their own nature, but by grace. And thus for them salvation could be the very confirmation of their state, no longer fearing that they might be changed for the worse, and perish for that reason. Or perhaps he asserts that salvation has been brought to two worlds: to the invisible, as already possessing it before, but to the visible, as having now obtained it through the resurrection, so that the meaning of the words here may be that not only do the angels enjoy salvation, but angels and men, yet in a different manner: for the former, because they kept their own order; but men, because they have been recalled and raised up through the resurrection of Christ. But if the visible world has not everywhere received salvation (since not all men are endowed with faith, nor do all keep the commandments), there is no reason on that account why you should reject that [statement] as false: *Today salvation [is come] to the visible world*. Indeed, this discourse is to be referred to the Savior's purpose. For as far as His will and design are concerned, the whole world has received salvation. For Christ died and rose again for all. But if we look at the event of the matter, only those who have believed and kept the commandments have obtained salvation. But let us see what follows: *Christ is from the dead*, supplied [with] *is risen*. Do you also, therefore, rise together from the death of sins. Christ returned ^D to His own [place], that is, to the amplitude and dignity of His divinity, of which, on account of the dispensation, He had been for a short time despoiled and emptied. For He was received and sat at the right hand of the Father. Return, therefore, you also to your ancient splendor and dignity, and the beauty of the divine image. But as to what he says: *From the dead*, he signifies simply that He appeared alive again; but what follows: *From the sepulcher*, he indicates that He also broke the bonds of the things pertaining to the sepulcher, and moved away the stone rolled against the monument. Wherefore also appropriately and congruously after these words: *From the sepulcher*, he subjoined, *Be loosed from the bonds of sin*. And for this reason he said in the plural number: *From the dead*, and *From the sepulcher*, because He alone, rising from many dead, dies no more. Furthermore, the gates of hell, in a contrary manner to how they were accustomed, are opened, clearly not that the souls of the dead may be brought in, but that they may be carried out and drawn forth: *And death is crushed*. For when death had tasted a body free from sin and life-giving, and had not found in it sin, by which it itself is fed, it was abolished and extinguished; and that which had reigned from Adam even unto Messiah, the same no longer dominates our bodies after Christ. For Christ, having been raised from the dead, opened a way of resurrection to immortality for the dying in a new manner. By this, however, death and hell differ, that the former detains bodies, the latter souls: *And the old Adam is cast away, and the new is perfected*. These things he took from ^C the Apostle, who writing to the Ephesians, says: *Ye have been taught to put off the old man, and to put on the new*. In which place by the old man who is put off, he understands a wicked life; but by the new, who is perfected, that manner of life which is absolute in all the measures of virtue. Cyril, however, thinks that by the new man and the new Adam Christ is signified, whom we put on by living piously and integrally. To which meaning what follows will be conveniently referred: *If any [be] in Christ [he is] a new creature, be ye renewed*, that is, All you who have been corrupted by crimes, and have contracted oldness by sinning, and afterward have become a new creature by baptism, be renewed by daily progressions and increments of virtue. PSELLUS. *And I stood, and I looked*. The word, *I stood*, designates the firmness and constancy of the soul, and an unmoved state, immutable toward worse things. That, however, *I looked*, signifies accurate and congruous contemplation and knowledge, and that impulse by which the mind is borne toward those things which fall into knowledge. For thus he who emerges from the density of corporeal things, first indeed completes the middle way, which is also called animal; but afterwards the more sublime, which is called spiritual. *And behold a man ascending the clouds of heaven*. *Man*, because nothing divine is womanish and soft. *Ascending*, for in divine things nothing is fallen and abject.

Clouds, because every fruitfulness flows forth from the influx of higher and divine waters. For these lower things are full of heat and dryness. Further, that which is added, *of heaven*, seems to me to signify that this vision has nothing humble or earthly in it: because there are certain clouds that do not surpass the peaks of the highest mountains, as Aristotle teaches in his *Meteora*, mentioning the summits of some mountains which are neither washed by rains nor beaten by hail: such as Olympus, for instance. But allegorically, the clouds of heaven are called angelic spirits, sublime and celestial, upon which other spirits sitting convey those things which happen here or there to men worthy of this spectacle.

^B Col. 625. B. *These things, indeed, he was saying*, etc. And in saying these things, that angel was led, formed in mind and thought. But the angels standing around him chanted that song which they had sung before, when Christ was seen on earth and being born of a Virgin. But what is the reason why, both at that time and now, they sing the same song? Assuredly because His Nativity was the beginning of our salvation, the Resurrection its end. And what kind of song was that? *Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will among men*. For just as the angels, keeping the order attributed to them, have peace with God: so we, miserable ones, after we opposed our concupiscences to the will of God, began to be held in the number and order of enemies in His sight. But this has been abolished through Christ. For He has become our peace and good will, taking away, namely, iniquity, the parent of enmity, from the midst, and calling those near who were far removed, and joining them to God and the Father through Himself, and connecting the superior with the inferior, and fulfilling the good will of the Father, which indeed is nothing else than the restoration of a fractured and broken Adam. Such is the song of the angels, with whom I myself also speak this. And I would that I might receive a voice no whit inferior to an angelic one, but so clear, and high, and melodic, that it might be heard from all the ends of the earth. Moreover, he repeats the name of Pascha three times, partly to show the profuse joy of his soul, and partly, as he himself says, to pay honor to the Trinity. He calls Pascha the feast of feasts and the solemnity of solemnities, as the chief and primary one. For the ancients were accustomed to call the most excellent things in this way, such as the *Holy of Holies* and the *Song of Songs*. For if the Resurrection had not existed, neither the Nativity, nor baptism, nor the rest of Christ's mysteries would have been confirmed, nor would they have produced faith. But what human festivities does he call here? There are those who think he speaks of feasts instituted in honor of the saints: but in reality these are to be understood as those feasts which were accustomed to be celebrated either on account of the first shorn ^C hair, or on account of a wife taken, or on account of a house or land first inhabited, or for other similar causes. For feasts of this kind are fixed to the earth, and roll downward and upon the earth. But the feasts of the saints rise up and penetrate to God. Therefore, the feast of Pascha not only surpasses and transcends human feasts, but it also obscures Christ's own festivities no less than the sun does the other stars. So resplendently shines the grace of this day.

Ibid. C. *The celebration of lights was indeed glorious for us too*, etc. Glorious, he says, was also the celebration of lights yesterday, that is, that assembly which was celebrated on the evening of the great Sabbath. For they spent the all-night vigil, singing until the seventh hour, and lighting lamps, and awaiting the imminent Resurrection of our Savior. Moreover, some celebrate this assembly privately and at home, others publicly and in the Catholic churches. All kinds of people, men, women, old men, children, youths. But as to what he says, *nearly* (Ferme), some refer it to both, namely to *all kinds of people*, and to *all those distinguished by office and dignity*, so that the meaning is that there was little lacking for everyone of any age, and everyone endowed with honors and dignities, to celebrate that night which follows the great Sabbath. For it is probable that some age groups and some of the nobles did not attend this congregation at all. Others construct the adverb, *nearly*, only with *all kinds of people*, but not with that which follows: *all distinguished by office and dignity*: so that the meaning is that everyone, nearly speaking, of whatever kind they may be, keeps this feast, and that all who are adorned with dignities celebrate this feast without any exception or distinction. There are, again, those who detach this adverb, *nearly*, from these words *all kinds of people*, and think it is to be connected with these words: *all distinguished by office and dignity*. Whose meaning is this: All kinds of people, that is, males and females, flourishing in age and those worn out and decrepit, without any exception celebrate this holy night: but not likewise without exception all those placed in the rank of dignities, but nearly all, since a few nobles shunned this congregation. *Reflecting* (Referens). Gr. *antitypos*. Which word has a double meaning. For it is taken for a contrary figure. For so the bronze serpent is suspended, not as a type of Christ, but as an antitype: and for an equal figure, as in this place. For the evening celebration of lights, he says, responded as a figure to the great light. And the theologian divides this light into celestial and super-celestial, and again divides the super-celestial into the light of the angels and the light of the holy Trinity. Furthermore, as regards the Trinity, the angels obtain the status of a second shining nature: inasmuch as they receive splendor from it, according to the example of the iris, that is, that celestial bow, which the sun in humid and transparent clouds...

generates upon striking them; as for us, these are primary natures, inasmuch as they are directly illuminated, while humans are illuminated through the intermediary of angels. Every light is divided and communicated by the invisible light of the holy Trinity, indivisible indeed if we look at the essence (for division does not fall upon the divine nature), but divisible with regard to power and faculty. For God divides the powers and faculties of operation. From Him is every light produced, whether it resides in angels, or in humans, or in the Sun, or in the stars. Remarkable and honorable is that light which shines in them, both by comparison with other materials and because it bears the figure of the primary light. But indeed, as the Orator proposed to say, although yesterday’s carrying of lanterns was beautiful, today’s beauty excels it. ^B For yesterday the light of the lamps heralded the Resurrection of Christ, the great light: but today we do not pursue the signs and indications of the Resurrection, but this very Resurrection itself with a solemn feast, gathering together the whole world, that is, reconciling it to Himself, or calling it together into one faith: which, on account of the resurrection, will have been most certainly persuaded to all, that Christ is God, or rather, for the cause of celebrating the feast, which joins together the whole world, that is, the assembly of the faithful.

Col. 626 A. *Indeed another, another spiritual gift,* etc. Another, he says, brings to this time some other spiritual and God-pleasing gift, as his faculties have allowed. For so it is written in Deuteronomy: *You shall not appear before the Lord your God empty-handed, every man according to the ability of his hands.* For to offer a gift that is worthy, and in no part maimed or imperfect, is so great a thing that not even the angels can attain to it. For not even to them is full praise of God granted, who are nevertheless called the first intellectual beings, if our souls’ reason is considered, which are themselves intellectual, but inferior to the angels as spectators of supernal glory, inasmuch as they assist God and behold Him. They are witnesses of divine glory, inasmuch as they themselves are bright and illustrious, and by their own splendor render the majesty of the Creator testified, or even as they announce the glory they see to humans. But in this place, by angels, he understands all celestial classes and orders in general. Therefore, another, as he has already said, may bring some other thing: but let us bring an oration, and this for many reasons. First, because we have nothing more excellent than speech, then because Christ, whose praises we have set out to preach, besides other names, is also called the *Word*. Lastly, because a nature affected by a benefit is a participant in speech. Wherefore a laudatory oration is a congruent gift to the Word, Christ, proceeding from a nature endowed with the faculty of speaking.

Ibid. B. *From here then I shall begin. For I cannot do,* etc. With the best right, he says, ^D I shall begin to sacrifice these sermons to the great day of the Resurrection, and to Christ himself as the great sacrifice (Christ, however, is both, namely God and man, of whom the one always is, and the other was later made for the cause of our salvation), it is first necessary for me to discourse concerning the divinity, and thus proceed to explain the counsel of the assumed humanity. Therefore, since this oration is divine, and it is not right for him who is not pure to touch a pure thing, come, see, whoever you are who are about to hear these things, and to perceive such delights, that you purge your intellectual faculties of the soul: first the mind, through which we can both grasp and see God, and by which we are joined to the angels: then the intellect, through which we examine dogmas and inquire into the truth. Let your ears also be pure, inasmuch as they are about to receive divine words, and to transmit them to the intellect for the purpose of judgement. For so it will be that you shall depart not having perished for lack of food, but filled with unending delights. Furthermore, our oration will consist of its own virtue, so that it neither remains within the limit (lest it afflict the hearers with its deficiency), nor again exceeds the limit (lest it cause annoyance, for the redundancy of an oration is an enemy to the ears), but fulfills a mean, and at the same time is both concise and most full.

Col. 626 C. *God was always, and is, and will be,* etc. Since the freedom of men, for which the present oration is instituted, ^C was the work of the Trinity (for the Father willed, the Son effected, the Holy Spirit cooperated), for that reason the Theologian begins from that name which is common to these three, which is indeed God. And after a disputation has been held concerning the three, as inseparable with regard to divinity, nature, and power, he then descends to the matter of the incarnation of Christ. Furthermore, discoursing of the divinity, he says: *God was always, and is, and will be.* He attributes three times—past, present, and future—to God, which things can indeed belong to no creature. For an angel is indeed and will be: but he was not likewise always, but had a beginning of essence. But among men, some were yesterday, others today, others, who now are not in the nature of things, will be tomorrow. For this is the condition of our genus. The same could be said of all other creatures. Afterwards, when the Theologian had noticed that the word, *Was*, is predicated of that which has passed, and that the word, *Is*, today is not likewise, of that which is future, and does not yet exist: he corrects what he had said, and says that the word of the present time, *Is*, corresponds more to God. For *Was* and *Will be* are segments of this flux of time, and befit a shifting nature. For as time is shifting and labile, so also are those things which are contained by time, which is defined by the circumscription of movement. But God *is* always, and nothing passes away for Him, nor is anything future. And in this sense Plato spoke in the *Timaeus*, in these words: *Was and will be are species of time.*

We attribute these things not truly nor prudently to an eternal essence. To Him, "Is" alone truly applies. But as for these words: *Was* and *Will Be*, they pertain to that generation and birth which is subject to time. So much for Plato. Our Theologian, however, also brings forth testimony from Exodus, that God is. For in this way, he says, He names Himself, when on the mount He gives an oracle to Moses—that is, speaks with him and gives commands. For when Moses was being sent into Egypt, he asked: *If they ask me: Who sent you? What shall I say to them?* But God, who was sending him, replied: *I am who am.* And God is indeed rightly called "the One who is." For according to the great Dionysius, He is not "being" in a certain way, but simply and without circumscription, as one who has encompassed and comprised within Himself all that which is. By which name He is also called King of ages, because whatever is and subsists is in Him and around Him. And He does not say: *Was*, or *will be*, or *has been*, or *may be*, or *shall become*; nay, not even *is* [in a limited sense], but He Himself is the essence for those things which *are*, and He Himself is the age of ages, and is more ancient than the ages. The words which the Theologian says are consonant with these. For speaking of God, he thus discourses: *He holds within Himself the universe of that which is.* For the essence of God is not divided into times, as we are—who are and live according to the present time (for we have partly shed the past, and partly do not yet possess the future); but He encompasses His whole essence. This had no beginning, nor will it have an end. And this also deservedly. For that which lacks a beginning, this also will never cease to be. Yet we cannot say in the inverse manner that what will never have an end, the same also had no beginning. For angels indeed are immortal by grace, and will never cease to be; yet they had a beginning. Presently, through a simile, the Theologian adds: *Like an immense and interminable sea of essence.* He says "immense" because it lacks beginning and end. For those things which have a beginning and an end are finite and fall under time. God, however, is above time. And he says "interminable" because His nature is not circumscribed by place nor by any definition. Therefore, having said *Immense* and *Interminable*, he opposes to each adjective its contrary. For to "Immense" corresponds what he says: ^A *overcoming every conception of time*; for that which is not at all circumscribed by time is immense. But to "Interminable" corresponds what he says: *exceeding every conception of nature*; for that is interminable which is not comprehended by place, nor by a definition explaining His nature. Therefore, he says, God exceeds every conception that anyone might form concerning time or any nature whatsoever, being adumbrated by the mind alone. For we do not have in us any organ by which we might conceive the form of God, not sense (for God is not some sensible thing, such that He should be subject to the senses), nor ^B forces or speed; for he seems very slow who is thought to be swift, if he is compared with the velocity of God, who leaves all things behind him at such long intervals that He cannot even be comprehended, but is only adumbrated by the mind. Nor is there anything surprising here. For the mind, as an image of God, conceives the contemplation of Him; and Gregory, declaring the extreme subtlety of this, used the word "adumbration." For he did not say: *It is fashioned* (which is more perfect), but, *It is adumbrated.* And not even here did he stop: but he added moreover, *Very obscurely.* For although God is clothed with light as with a garment, yet He has placed darkness as His hiding place, since His nature cannot in any way be perceived and comprehended. And very slightly, that is, very briefly and for a certain small moment of time. For that which is lightly adumbrated by the mind, quickly flies away. Furthermore, God is adumbrated with light strokes, not from those things which are in Him, but from those which are around Him. For the great Dionysius says that God cannot be understood or comprehended in regard to His essence, but that He should be praised from His effects. The Theologian says the same thing here as well. For that which he [Dionysius] said, *as regards essence*, this one [Theologian] said, *as regards those things which are around Him.* But those things which he called effects, this one called circumstances. For the Maker is the cause; but the effects are His works. Therefore, God is perceived not through those things which are in Him—that is, through His essence—but through those things which are around Him, that is, through creatures. For from the magnitude and ^C excellence of the creatures, as he says, with proportion applied, their Parent and Maker can be perceived and understood. But around Him are both the creatures and His own providential counsels. Wherefore, it must be thought that each of the things which are stated about God does not indicate what He is as regards essence, but rather either shows what He is not, or [indicates] some relation to one of those things which are distinguished from Him, or finally [indicates] something of those things which accompany His nature or action. And indeed, of all names which are predicated of God, none seems as proper as the name *Ens* (Being), which indeed indicates essence itself, but not what that essence is. The second name is *God*, which signifies action. For *Theos* is said either from the verb ^D *thein*, that is, to run and to foster all things, or *apo tou theasthai ta panta*, that is, because He oversees all things. For nothing can be hidden from Him, nor escape His vision. But *anarchon* and *ktiston* and *asomaton*, that is, without beginning, and uncreated, and incorporeal, declare what He is not, that is, that He had no beginning, nor was He created, nor is He a body. Now, indeed, good, just, and holy accompany His nature; yet they do not in any way cover the nature itself. And God is called by these names as the author of goodness and holiness and justice. But these names, Lord,

and King, and Maker, and the rest of that kind, designate ^A the relation to the things that respond from the opposite side. For He is called Lord of those who are subject, and King of those who are under His reign, and Maker or Creator of created things. But in what way is God shadowed forth from these things that are about Him? By one imagination after another, he says, collected for the expressing of some one image of the truth. For from these things that we perceive with our eyes, we receive certain species and images of God. As when we say: That which the sun is among sensible things, that God is among intelligible things. For just as that lightens the visible world, in the same way this lightens the invisible one. Again, just as that makes those who look upon it bright, so this renders them divine and deiform. Furthermore, just as at the same time there is the body of the sun, and the ray, and the light, in a similar way the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. And although the Father is the cause of both, He is not, however, any more ancient, nor by Hercules any more prior to them in time, than the sun is. Moreover, just as light is from fire, so the Son is from the Father. And, to say it in one word, we understand and imagine the things that are above us by the things that are in us; for in us there is mind, and word, and spirit. And these three are inseparable and equal. And indeed the mind begets the word in an impassible manner, and the word cannot proceed from the mind without the spirit. So it happens that, although there are three hypostases in us, yet man is one according to that which is understood in the three hypostases, in that he has mind and word and spirit. In the same way the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are indeed three inseparable persons, but one God. And the Father begets the Son without passion; the Son, again, is not without the Spirit; thus one species is collected from another thing to one image of truth. Furthermore, the name of "image" [simulacrum] teaches the poverty of the imagination. For no image can be found in created things which in itself reflects the mode of the Holy Trinity in all things. For ^C that which is created is composite, and flowing, and mutable, and circumscribed; by what means, then, will it clearly declare the divine essence, which is removed from all these things and surpasses every essence? He spoke, however, of an "image" of truth for the reason that God is [truth], even if He is not that which we imagine of Him. For the name of "image" has a double meaning. Sometimes it is said of that which lacks substance entirely, as of a shadow and a mirror. Sometimes, however, of that which is a participant in some truth, as in this place. But because an image cannot be openly thought of and perceived, for that reason, when the Theologian had said of God that before He is grasped He flees away, and that which is grasped must necessarily be perceived by the intellect, he subjoined that which is more admirable, that before it is understood ^D it rushes forward in its course. For God is not only not grasped by the intellect when perceived: but He cannot even be thought of and understood perfectly; but as soon as He begins to be understood, He retreats, and, as we said, He outstrips even the swiftest mind, so that He can in no way be comprehended. Illumining only the primary part of us, and that part cleansed, etc. For what the eye is in the body, that the mind is in the soul. Therefore, just as there is need of healthy eyes to look upon the flashing lightning: so also an ^B pure and whole mind is required to be illumined by the contemplation of God. For as the image of a face cannot be represented in a dirty and impure mirror, so neither can the splendor of God in a filthy and squalid mind—and all the more because it imitates the swiftness of lightning, and immediately flies away, and passes by those striving to grasp it. For it casts in hope as if it were soon to be comprehended: meanwhile, however, it remains incomprehensible. In my judgment, this is so that, in as much as He can be comprehended, He may draw us to Himself (for no one hopes to grasp, nor strives to grasp, that which can in no way be perceived, neither through those things which are in Him nor through those which are comprehended about Him); but in as much as He cannot be grasped, He may excite wonder for Himself, and for that reason be desired, and cleanse, and make us deiform: and thus, when He now speaks with familiar friends without any intermediate thing (and if these things are spoken daringly by me), God, united to gods by adoption and grace and coupled by action, becomes known, however, through contemplation. And perhaps so much, etc. This alone it signifies, not that as much as they themselves know God, so much are they themselves known by God. For He is an infinite sea of knowledge: but of these, as is their nature, so also is their knowledge finite. But since God has a double knowledge—the one by which He knows all things according to nature, according to the saying: Who knows all things before they arise 37; the other by which He has as friends those who have entirely devoted themselves to Him: in which sense Scripture says: The Lord knows the ways of the just 38. And in another place: The Lord knows who are His 39; knowing, that is, His divine marks in them, safe and sound. And therefore He says to Moses indeed: I know thee above all 40; but to others: I do not know you 41. Here, therefore, it is accepted according to the signification of knowledge: because God becomes known to men only as far as He is now familiarly joined to those who are attached to Him through virtue. For according to the measure of their ascent, He descends; and as much as man approaches God, so much also does God become known to man, imparting, indeed, in accordance with the proportion of purity which is in each one, the knowledge of Himself. Gregory received this from the Apostle, writing thus to the Corinthians: Then I shall know, even as I have been known 42. Which passage Chrysostom explained thus: Because now indeed God hastens towards us.

and through comprehension and cognition he is circumscribed, and according to nature he is above the universality of things (for indeed he cannot be conceived in any way), yet according to his providence he is in the universe. For the whole mass of things requires this. Verily, God is infinite, not as number or magnitude: for both of these had a beginning. But he is difficult to contemplate, namely according to those things which are around him, that is, insofar as he is known from his effects. For we understand even these things obscurely because of our weakness. But that, truly, can be plainly comprehended: that he is infinite and by nature incomprehensible. For it is implanted in the common notions of all minds that God is infinite both in time and in power. For, to embrace the matter briefly, God is both ^B incomprehensible and comprehensible, and difficult to comprehend. The first is with regard to his nature, the second with regard to his immensity, and the last with regard to those things which are about him: although Eunomius may think that, since God is simple, he is not difficult to contemplate, but either entirely incomprehensible, or entirely comprehensible, as being individual and entirely like unto himself. For in composite things, he says, it may happen that a certain part is perceived, while another remains unknown, but this is not the case with simple things. To whom it must be answered thus: Simplicity is by no means the nature of God, Eunomius, such that it can be perceived either fully or not at all: but the divine nature is one thing, and the simplicity which is considered about the nature is another: just as, clearly, even in composite things, the nature is one thing, and the composition which is discerned about them is another. Wherefore it must be asked what God is, who is a simple nature—that is, it must be asked first what God is according to nature, before we speak of the simplicity that follows it.

PSELLUS. God united to gods... Whoever has overcome the mass and density of the body, recognizing that they are merely mind, and for no other cause than for generation and the propagation of the human race have they used the works of the body, and have purified their mind from the stain of vices, and have rendered it a suitable and fitting receptacle for the first mind and the effectrix of all things—to these God is united. For when the mind is pure and incorrupt, he converses with the mind with nothing intermediate, and through it he has communion with the soul: as, in turn, through this, he is joined to ^C the body. But he is united, not as he is, but according to our capacity for that union. And from here finally he becomes known. For no one can by any other means know God, unless he has resolved his soul into him and has received him within it.

Col. 627 B. God is therefore immense, etc. Again, the Theologian repeats his discourse about God, and pronounces him to be immense, as one who is not interrupted by any limits of time, nor by time, nor by place, nor ^D by perception, nor by cognition, as great as he is, nor circumscribed by place, nor divided by corporeal reason. And he is difficult to contemplate as to the state of those who are illuminated. For, as the great Dionysius writes, not even if there is any exceptional and select hierarchy does it itself use speculations according to its power, apprehending God by loose and free conceptions of the mind. *Although someone may think, etc.* Since a certain doctrine of pagan philosophy is opposed to him, he stands against it and dissolves it with great keenness. For they teach, the Platonists especially, that nothing simple can be partly comprehended and partly not be comprehended: but whether it be a body, having a substance consisting of similar parts, or even something incorporeal, whoever has perceived a part of it has also perceived the whole. But the simplicity of God is not his nature, even if he is simple, just as in us it does not hold the reason of nature, because we are composite, but it circumstantiates his nature, whatever that may be.

^A Ibid. *But now, since immensity is twofold*, etc. After the Theologian has solved the objection of the Eunomians, he returns to the proposed discussion concerning the divinity, and, discoursing on the immense, he says that that is called immense which is so by reason of both beginning and end. For that which surpasses these two boundaries of time, and is not found within them, is properly immense, that is, that which lacks both beginning and end. Moreover, because he had previously spoken of a "sea," he fittingly makes mention of a "depth" here as well. For he says: when the human mind looks into the supernal, impenetrable, and primordial sea of the depth, seeking the origin of God, and then has nowhere to plant its foot or take a stand, because in this imagination concerning God it finds neither any end, nor any circumscription of a beginning from which it might have taken its origin, it calls this kind of immense [reality] "anarchon"—that is, lacking a beginning. For that which has a beginning from nothing is immense. But when the mind has turned its gaze to these lower and posterior things, because here too it has no firm or stable seat upon which to rest, it has called this "immense" immortal and free from destruction and change. For that which never ceases is immortal. Again, when the mind has contracted both—the upper, I say, and the lower, that is, being devoid of beginning and knowing no end—then it names God eternal. Now "eternal" is said, according to Dionysius, not only because he had no birth, as God [does not], but also because he is not subject to death, corruption, and destruction, as are angels and souls. And indeed when we speak of God, who properly and eternally is, the term *aiōn* (ævum) is also properly used, as if [derived from] *aei on*, that is, "he who always is": but this can by no means be properly said of angels and souls. For their *aiōn* had a beginning, but it will have no end. Wherefore in part they are partakers of *aiōn*, because they are incorruptible and immortal; in part of time, because they are in the class of created things. And to explain this matter more clearly, it must be known that this name has many significations. For human life is called an *aiōn*, and a number of a thousand years, and this whole present life, and the future eternity. ^B Again, *aiōn* is called time: "Not any part of time," defined by the measure and motion of the sun, that is, consisting of days and nights, but that certain "temporal" motion and interval, so to speak, which is extended along with those things that possess eternity. Moreover, it is added: "as it were," because we cannot provide an exact description of the *aiōn*. For what "time" is to those things that are subject to time, the *aiōn* is to eternal things. For before the creation of the world, when not even the sun existed to divide day from night, there was no measurable time, but rather a certain temporal motion and an interval which was protracted along with eternal things. And with this consideration, *aiōn* is one, according to which God is also called *aiōnios*, that is, eternal or secular, and also *proaiōnios*, that is, prior to the *aiōn* or age. For he made the *aiōn* itself. Furthermore, there is this difference between *aiōn* and time, that the property of the *aiōn* is antiquity and immutability (for it is not defined by the measure of days and nights, but always remains in the same way), whereas "time" is so called because it is in generation, and corruption, and change, and is otherwise at one time and another.

PSELLUS. The ancient philosophers deemed that a definite conception of the *aiōn* was the measure of circular motion alone: because this motion is perfect, just as the *aiōn* also is. But Porphyry, and the philosopher Plotinus who is older than he, brought forth a certain new doctrine concerning the *aiōn*. For, attributing it to forms that are immobile and lack distance, they taught that it is also devoid of all motion and distance, quite learnedly and significantly, the etymology of this name being deduced from *tou aei einai*, that is, "from that which always is." For just as, they say, past and future are abstracted from forms that transcend matter: so also their measure—that is, the *aiōn*—is equally remote from these, and remains what it is: namely, present. This dogma, therefore, the Theologian by no means approves. For if the *aiōn* has this character, that it admits of no measure whatever, it must also be devoid of any interval or parts. From which this will follow: that all secular things are enclosed in a point; for such is that which lacks parts. What could be imagined more foolish than this? Neither, indeed, is the intelligible world the *aiōn*, as it seems to some. For it is *aeiternus* (everlasting). Furthermore, *aeiternum* is so called through participation in the *aiōn*. Nor is its firm and equable state the *aiōn*, which is the intelligible world (14). Nay, it is both one and many: one, indeed, according to its own nature; but many, according to our intelligence and the conception of the mind. For it is indivisible, and has very great power. Wherefore, if anyone thinks of it as a certain essence possessing life and identity, then thought and stability—the former, as regards vital form; the latter, as regards the immutability of identity: and again, if he considers identity and diversity in such a way that in one part he contemplates equality, but in the other that difference by which it is severed from all other things—then he has contracted these many things, and has enclosed its faculties and powers into an essence, and, having contemplated all things as it were [as] one, he will have without a doubt perceived it. For the *aiōn* is, to define it with a thicker Minerva, that space (15) illuminated by the intelligible world, indivisible as regards the parts of time, and immutable, which has neither past nor future, and with which, in the sole present, the essence of the universe of things is imbued.

^A And it is called *aeon* [eternity], deriving its name from the fact that it is always in [a state of] being, from *aei* [always] and *on* [being]. Such are the celestial things. For their essences and their actions are eternal. But all sublunary things are subject to generation and change. And just as with those things that lack motion, the *aeon* is constituted at the same time, so also with those things that move, there is *time*, which always flows and is stirred by the same motion as they are. Its parts are two: the past and the future. For the present is nowhere. However, since we have made mention of two things—namely, of those that are stable both in essence and in action, such as the intelligible things, and of those that are moved in accordance with both, and since there is nothing empty in the nature of things, but rather in all opposites there is a certain bond and middle ground: are there, therefore, intermediate things of this sort, so that they are partly in the *aeon* and partly in time? Such is the heaven and things higher than the moon. For the substance of these is indeed eternal, inasmuch as it does not perish, nor grow, nor change, nor is transformed; but their activity falls under time. For when the whole world is moved, one part of it projects above the horizon, another holds the mid-heaven, another tends to the West, another is borne beneath the earth. In the same category is the soul. For just as its essence is eternal, so its action falls under the measure of time. For it does not perceive what it seeks all of a sudden; rather, it proposes [something] to itself, and lays down principles as if they were foundations, and from these it proceeds to the [conclusion].

Neither is time [eternal]. Aristotle, arguing against the ancient Academy and contending even with Plato himself, seems to wish to establish that time is eternal and infinite on both sides. For Plato, striking the very target of truth, affirms that the heaven was created, and that it received the beginning of its turning and revolution from a certain temporal point, and that together with it, time and nature were founded at the same time. But Aristotle asserts that the heaven, motion, and time are uncreated. For he brings forth this interrogation: "Is time in time, or not?" If it is not in time, I have what I seek; but if it is in time, I ask again about that other time. For we shall never cease from the labor of investigating and searching out the time of time, nor will that ever cease from proceeding into the infinite. This is Aristotle’s argument. But that this question is not of such a kind that it cannot be explained and dissolved, one might understand from this: that time is neither in time, nor on the other hand is it devoid of time. For when God willed to produce the heaven, that will passed into act, and the whole machinery of things was constructed without time. Yet, for that reason, it is not devoid of time: because when it was not before, it was later created and established. The same is the account of time. For insofar as it was not before and was later founded, it is by no means uncreated and devoid of time. But insofar as it did not come into being through a process of protraction, by this very reasoning it can be said to be devoid of time: ^C when ^D indeed one might say that the moon and the remaining stars are uncreated, because they were not produced by a temporal protraction. For this is fitting for men. Wherefore he who argues in this way, using the equivocal signification of these words, not in time, makes an imposture. For something is understood as "not in time" in a twofold way: either because it is sempiternal, or because it has not emerged into the nature of things through a temporal protraction. From which it follows that, by another reasoning, he who is outside of time is in time: because, namely, he is not from eternity; while another is not in time, because the supreme Architect of all things has no need of time for its production. Furthermore, there are some things in human affairs that are wont to be generated without the delay of time, such as the concretion or coagulation of milk, and the freezing of the surface of waters. For they do not grow together partially and gradually, but all at once and suddenly, and not as we are accustomed.

—Just as a temporal motion and interval. Lest we receive the divine meaning of these words with entirely deaf ears, let it be permitted to us to fabricate at our own will an *aeon* by fiction, which the great Gregory understood in reality. Let the heaven, therefore, and the sun, and the moon, and every motion of the stars be taken away from us: let us then dwell in a place by fiction. Have we not, then, a life distinguished by intervals? But if it is distinguished by intervals, it surely also falls into a measure. But of what thing, pray, shall we describe the measure? Of the sun? But that has been removed by our discourse. Of the moon? But that too has flown away from us. Of the courses of other stars? Where then will those be fixed, or will they move? In the heaven? But our fictitious discourse dissolves even this into nothingness when stripped of the stars. Such, therefore, is our motion and life, that it is neither time nor any part of time, when these things, by which time is composed, are removed. And yet, meanwhile, we are in motion and interval. This, therefore, is as it were a certain temporal motion and interval. This is *aeon* to eternal things. They who have disputed most accurately about divine things among the Gentiles, of whom the head and coryphaeus is Proclus, divide the *to aidion*, that is, the eternal, into two parts: establishing that the one part is the same as the *aevum*, or age, so that it may be a simultaneous whole, by no means terminable by temporal protraction. And in this part of the eternal they also place the mind, and some even the soul. For the essence and the act of both are eternal. For neither is part of their essence produced and part being produced or to be produced, nor does anything fail in their act, but each of these is perfect in both essence and act. Therefore, it is necessary that progression occurs through similarity and dissimilarity. What then? From that which is eternal according to both, that is, according to essence and act, the discourse will proceed to that which is eternal in neither respect—to that, namely, which is created, and flowing, and perishable, of which kind our individuals are. For we possess neither an eternal essence, nor do we augment our act piecemeal. But other...

things, which are altogether eternal, and those which are altogether subject to corruption, it is necessary that certain natures be interposed, which indeed possess an eternal nature, but nevertheless act according to time. And by this method of advanced disputation, they place in the middle rank the heaven and the whole ethereal ornament, which, indeed, they assert to be eternal as to its essence, because it remains a whole and immortal complex: but they by no means attribute eternity to it as to its act. For it has not gathered its whole motion to itself at once, but will be moved throughout all time continuously. And thus have the profane philosophers discoursed concerning the eternal. But ^B the great Gregory, as if dismissing these things as mere fables, after he had once learned from the holy Scripture that it will be that even the stars shall fall, and the heaven shall undergo a kind of whirling, uses in a certain oration these words: "Unoriginate," that is, what has not obtained a prior beginning; "eternal," however, that which, having progressed from a cause, is not finished by any conclusion. From this it is evident that that which is unoriginate is also eternal; for that which has not proceeded from a cause, in what way, finally, could it die, or utterly perish? For that which perishes has a cause of its perishing, because it departs from causes, just as that which is moved by another ceases to be moved. In what way, I ask, could that which lacks a cause perish? For it would not desert itself, so as by thus departing from itself, to summon destruction and ruin upon itself. Wherefore, that which lacks a beginning is, without doubt, also eternal. But not conversely: that which is eternal is not also free from a beginning. For the soul and the mind are eternal, because they are immortal, and yet they are not without a beginning. For all things have truly arisen from a First Cause. Now, in truth, "eternal" and "immortal" differ in this respect, that the name "eternal" is more general, while "immortal" is more specific. For according to the opinion of the Gentile philosophers, of whatever things "immortal" is predicated, of these same things "eternal" is also predicated: but not contrariwise is "immortal" attached to all eternal things. For "immortal," they say, are called those things which have life, of which kind we have said the mind and the soul to be, and the natures closest after God. But when they say that the heaven is free from an end, they do not attribute to it an immortal nature, but an eternal one. For death is the privation of life. But those things which are in no way endowed with life, how shall they die? But according to our theologians, "eternal" and "immortal" are one and the same.

Col. 627 C. And these things for us at present concerning God, etc. Here, he says, let the discourse concerning God have its end. For we did not propose to treat of God: but to discourse concerning the counsel and economy of the incarnation. Economy, however, when it concerns men, is the management and administration of affairs, proposing the object of utility to itself: when, however, it is spoken of God, it is the voluntary descent of His own greatness. ^C Furthermore, when I say God, I say Father, and Son, and Holy Spirit. For the Divinity is in these three persons, nor does it extend beyond these, lest we introduce many gods after the manner of the pagans, nor is it contracted into three persons, lest we be degraded by a lack of divinity by acknowledging only one person in God, just as the Jews do. Although Judaism is opposed to Gentilism or paganism, yet evil is found in both. For Gentilism, on account of the multitude of gods, seems to be like an excess; but Judaism, however, a defect, in so far as it circumscribes the Divinity in one person. Excess, moreover, and defect, although they are contrary to each other, yet each is nevertheless in a vice. But virtue is a mean, placed in this, that we believe and confess the holy Trinity, and so flee both the Jewish assertion of one person (for that is a defect and a lack of divinity), and the Gentile multitude of gods, which indeed has the nature of excess and exuberance. By these words, however, he overturns both the division of Arius and the contradiction of Sabellius. For the doctrine of Arius is not unlike Gentilism, because it asserts a greater Father, and a lesser Son, and also again a further inferior Holy Spirit. The opinion of Sabellius, however, bears a likeness to Judaism, because it asserts that there is only one person in God, and confuses the three persons.

Col. 630 A. So truly the Holy of Holies, etc. So, he says, having routed the Jewish assertion of one person, and the Gentile multitude of gods, the persons of the venerable essence are introduced, which, through excellence or collocation, are called the Holy of Holies, or rather because they flee the view of our eyes. For just as in the ancient tabernacle, which Moses had fixed, the inner part of it, which they called the Holy of Holies, was covered and veiled by a curtain: so also the three persons of one Divinity are covered by that brightness of splendor flashing forth from them, as if by a certain drawn veil, and cannot be seen even by the Seraphim themselves, who possess six wings. ^D But, as the grandiloquent Isaiah says, with two wings they cover their faces, and with two they cover their feet, and with the remaining two they fly and cry, "Holy, holy, holy Lord," praising the holy Trinity with a triple sanctification uniting into one lordship. For from the fact that they repeat that voice, "Holy," three times, they indicate three persons. But from the fact that they subjoin the voice of the "Lord" only once, they declare one Divinity: just as also the great Athanasius taught.

Ibid. Since, however, to goodness it is not enough, etc. When the Theologian says: "It was not enough, but it was necessary," he did not say this in the sense that God is in need of anything, but that he might place before our eyes the exuberant kindness of God, and might show His beneficence as it were to be necessary. He said that God is moved, however, not simply, but by His own contemplation. For in six ways something is moved...

^A Aristotle taught this: via generation, corruption, augmentation, decrement, alteration, and local movement. But God is neither born, since He is everlasting, nor does He die, being eternal; nor is He augmented, for He is perfect; nor does He decrease, for He is immutable; nor is He altered, for He has no quality; nor does He migrate locally from one place to another; for whither would He migrate, who fills all things? The Theologian, however, called this movement the collection and intellect of God within Himself, beyond those six ways by which Aristotle taught that something is moved. For God was moved, either perceiving the splendor of beauty, or was moved looking upon the forms of the world, which the world-fashioning mind had established in its great thoughts. But after that good One did not have enough in contemplating Himself, but because of the exuberance of His goodness He willed that certain things should exist, which might be affected by His benefit, and might participate in His goodness (for this is what is meant by what He says: "It was fitting that the good be diffused and propagated," that is, that the one God be multiplied through the communication of goods according to the reason of those who were capable of Him), for this reason He produces the whole world, not from any necessity, as some have blustered, but because of His supreme goodness. And first, indeed, He thought of the angels and celestial spirits. For it was fitting that the intelligible nature be created ^B before the sensible. And that thought became a work, just as Judith said to God: "For You thought, she says, and at the same moment all things were present to You, whatsoever You have made." And it is held in the Psalms: "By the word of the Lord the heavens were established, and all the power of them by the spirit of His mouth." By the Word, indeed, or the Son of God, the angels were created: moreover, they received holiness from the Holy Spirit, and were perfected. And accordingly they were made by the Holy Trinity, the Father indeed thinking, the Son fashioning, and the Spirit perfecting. And in that way secondary splendors were created, just as much as pertains to the refulgent brightness of the blessed Trinity, by which they are illuminated through participation. Ministers of the primary splendor. For the first bright nature is God, who produced the angels out of nothing, creating them according to His own image—an incorporeal nature, I say, as a certain spirit, or fire void of matter, just as David says: "Who makes His angels spirits, and His ministers a flame of fire." By which words he describes their lightness, and the ardor of their mind, and their keenness and swiftness concerning the divine nature and ministry, and shows that they are borne on high, and are free ^C from all crass and earthly thought. And I would indeed, he says, that it were permitted to me to say that the angels are entirely immobile toward evil, as they approach God, and flash with light around the middle of Him (for we are illuminated by the intermediate works of the angels), or rather that I might say they are scarcely mobile—Isaias persuades me, saying: "How have you fallen from heaven, Lucifer, who used to rise in the morning?" For when he, clear, had been created by the Creator of all things, and on account of his splendor was named Lucifer, after he began to carry himself proudly and to grow insolent against God, by whom he was created, and desiring to oppose himself to Him, he said: "I will ascend into heaven: I will place my throne above the stars of heaven: I will ascend above the clouds, and I will be like the Most High"; by his own will he became and is named darkness on account of such pride. For although because of the incomprehensible reason of nature God also is called darkness, according to that: "He made darkness His hiding-place," yet He is not and was not darkness. But the devil has both been made darkness, and is called by that name. For so does John the Theologian call him: "The darkness did not comprehend the light," that is, the adversary power in no way overcame Christ. Wherefore I fear to call the angels immutable, when I think of this Lucifer, who was good, having degenerated by the liberty of his will and full volition from his natural good into that which was against nature, and also the rebel angels subject to him, ^D who indeed are called architects of vice, not because they gave him substance (for there is no substance of evil), but because they first committed evil or wickedness. And the Theologian, too, after he improperly named the demons architects of vice, lest anyone should judge that it was endowed with substance, mitigated this suspicion when he added that they were founders of evil through the flight of the good, by these words almost saying this: that evil, or vice, is not a substance, but a privation of virtue, as darkness is a withdrawal of light. Just as, therefore, he who flees the light lingers in darkness, so the demons, after they receded from the good, were left in evil. Nor, indeed, did they only effect evil, but they also became the authors of sin to us, as they are adversaries of God. For to Him it was not enough to be moved only by His own contemplation, but it was fitting that the good be diffused, that there might be more things that might be affected by the benefit. This indeed was of supreme goodness, desiring to do good to more. Therefore, in the opposite way, the perversity of the demons is supreme, who not only were made evil by the liberty and will of their choice, but also render others evil and attempt to destroy them.

PSELLUS. But since to that supreme good—the ancients and first philosophers, doubting what name they could appropriately attribute to God, produced these three names for an incorruptible nature, I say: God, and One, and Good, asserting it to be nothing but God, and nothing but God, except the good, and that this is the same as the one, being indeed the collective of those things that are, and leading them to the participation of one. For the One, excelling by union and monad and unity.

^C And furthermore, since the intelligible world was produced, God again conceives it in his mind. For the reasons of the works were always present with Him, as He who knows all things simultaneously and always: yet it was then that He conceived in His mind the spiritual angels, specifically so that He might bring them forth when it was already fitting. For the Mind, the parent of this universe, was bearing all things, and afterward, when that parturition brought itself forth in due time, the intelligible world was first revealed, and then this world was constituted from matter and form, which is also for this reason called material and visible. ^D Moreover, the world is, as great Basil says—and Aristotle before him—a coagmentation of heaven, earth, and the intermediate natures: but as it pleases the Nazianzen, it is also a coagmentation and a concretion. A coagmentation, as being constituted and filled out from these; a concretion, however, as a sort of intermixture, because the elements not only have their own proper places, but also intermingle with one another. Since, however, whatever is praised is praised either according to its own nature or according to the relation which it has toward something else, for this reason the Theologian, extolling the world with praises, has summarized the whole nature of an encomium, when he said that each part of the world is both praiseworthy in itself and by reason of the concinnity with which it is joined to another. And indeed by the word "concinnity," he demonstrates that the parts of the world do not in any way oppose one another: through "together," however, he teaches that they not only do not oppose each other, but also cohere most beautifully among themselves. For they are connected to one another, and communicate sweetly and tranquilly. For just as in a cithara, a harmony is produced from diverse strings, which nonetheless sing together for the perfect modulation of one song: in the same way, in this world, the species are indeed diverse, but yet concordant and consonant for its completion. For all things provide a congruent utility to it, and although they are distinct in local situation, like the elements, nevertheless they are connected and cemented to one another by cognate relations, with one thing beautifully squaring with another—earth, for instance, with water (for the gravity and coldness of both are common): water, again, with air (for water is transparent and humid, just as air is): and air, in turn, with fire or with ether: for these elements are hot and light. And all things mutually contribute to one another for the constitution of the world, even those that seem most contrary. For as to what he says, "And by all things to all," you shall understand it thus: Just as in earth there is not only dryness and thickness, but also moisture, and air, and even fire: so also in water, and the remaining elements, you shall find all things. Therefore, if you shall consider each one either separately, or according to the mutual relation by which they square with one another, you will perceive both the excellent mixture of all things, and a distinction superior to all speech. But to return to our subject, God, with the intelligible essence created, that is, hea-

heaven and earth, and the things that are contained in them, in order to show that He is able to produce not only a nature akin and close to Himself (for that which has reason, and can be comprehended by the intellect alone, is proper and akin to God), but also a nature far removed, namely that which falls under the senses, and especially that which lacks a soul. For although all things have something of divine goodness, those that lack life only enjoy the fact that they exist; living creatures, however, exist and have life; man, truly, has these, and in addition has reason; but the angel is even closer to God, being intellectual, and perceptible only to the mind.

^A Col. 630 D. Indeed, the mind and the sense, etc. By mind in this place He signifies the intelligible world, that is, the angels; by sense, the sensible world, and He says: "These two worlds stood apart within their own limits," that is, they were created in a peculiar way, and unmixed, and did not in the least exceed the bounds of their nature. For the intelligible world remained in its own limit, so that it was only intelligible; and again the sensible world remained in its nature, and was only sensible. Furthermore, each bore in itself and displayed the magnificence of the goodness and power of the Son of God, its Creator, and through its own construction and order, proclaimed its Maker with silent voices, according to that saying: "The heavens declare the glory of God" (Ps. XVIII, 1); and also according to what is written in the Book of Wisdom: "From the greatness and beauty of created things, their Maker and projector is seen" (Sap. XIII, 5). Therefore, these two worlds were separate and circumscribed from one another. But there was not yet any temperament of the two, or mixture of contraries. For mind and sense are contraries, as are that which consists of matter and that which lacks matter. He used the word "temperament," however, because through a man's whole life the soul cannot be divided and separated from the body. He added the name "mixture," because of that separation which death brings. For things that are tempered do not know separation, as wine and water; but things that are mingled can be separated, as wheat and barley. Furthermore, this mixture of contraries was to be a sign of the greater wisdom of God, and a future proof that He could create even various and manifold natures, and it was to exhibit a specimen of His own profuse goodness.

PSELLUS. Mind and sense. We judge the parent of this universe to be the select and principal mind, or rather God, and the Good, and the One, all things that are, and none of the things that are, and above the things that are, and in the things that are. Therefore, in this One, all things were present, as well those that are intelligible as those that are sensible, not separately, nor confusedly. For there was not such a union after the manner of those things, but after the manner of Him. Therefore, when all things were simultaneously in the One, which is before all things, they afterwards proceeded and became distinct. Moreover, the name of mind is sometimes used of the soul itself and of intelligible natures that surpass it; but sometimes it is properly said of a simple and indivisible nature, as in this place. For there was not yet a soul, since there was not yet a man. For those are not souls, but natural and vegetative forces, which have improperly been awarded the name of soul. For the soul is the power of an organic body: but plants are by no means organic, but merely natural. But that He says every mind and every sense were created by the first mind seems to me to criticize and attack, both the Platonic impostures, and those things which Jamblichus and Porphyry and Proclus discoursed upon vainly and ineptly concerning the celestial spheres. For they pronounced that all things which are superior to the moon are endowed with a soul. But the Theologian teaches that the soul had not yet existed, when already all the spheres had been created. But here this mode of creation is different from that which the Greek philosophers introduce. For they assert that neither God nor nature makes anything immediately, and therefore they do not produce sense immediately after the mind, but first the deiform mind, then a particular one, and one not participant of the divine mind, then the soul, which is possessed of mind, then simply soul, and afterwards nature, and thus finally sense. But this great Father says that the middle natures were produced by God only after the highest natures had been created. For just as they form the reasoning, God serves the order of nature; but as this author teaches, the reason which He held in the creation of things transcends the laws of nature.

^B Col. 631 A. This, therefore, when the efficient Word, etc. Because, He says, it was necessary that a permistion of contraries should take place, and as it were a certain seam and binding together of visible and invisible nature, the Son of God created such a man, a single animal composed and conflated from two natures, creating the body from the earth, which had been created already, but inserting the breath from Himself. But that he says, "from Himself," does not signify the same as "from His own substance," as some have dared to say, but from His own efficient and creative power. For He took the body from the underlying matter, but the soul He took from nothing, but created it from nothing. The soul is called by many names. It is called breath, according to that: "He breathed into his face the breath of life" (Gen. II, 7). It is also called soul, as in this place: "And he was made into a living soul" (Gen. II, 7). It is also called the image of God, according to that: "In the image He made him" (Gen. I, 27). Furthermore, that "in the image" shows the power of understanding and the liberty of the will; but "to the likeness," the imitation of virtue, as far as it is true for it. The Theologian called the soul intellectual, to the difference of the soul of brute animals, which is sensible. Thus therefore the Son of God, having fashioned man, as if a certain other world from that which is perceived by sight, He placed him in it, a great one indeed in a small. For Democritus...

^A comparing man to the world falling into the sense of the eyes, was naming [him] a little world, as if consisting of the elements of the world. But in the contrary manner, man must be called a great world, inasmuch as he possesses all those things which the sensible world possesses, and besides these, an intellectual and rational soul, on account of which the angel also is another, a worshiper of God, mixed of two natures, discerning, on the one hand, the visible nature falling into sense with his eyes, but not discerning the intelligible and heavenly [things], yet being initiated into them, and bearing the preeminence of those things which were founded by God on earth, while he himself is subject to the command of God, holding together the mortal and immortal nature. ^B Being positioned between greatness and humility, or as it were between immortality and mortality, and not precisely the one, nor the other (for God created him balanced on both sides, namely observing toward which side he might incline) or as being at once a participant in the greatness of the intelligible nature and the humility of the sensible nature. And thus he is spirit and flesh. Spirit, indeed, the soul is, on account of grace, so that he may be immortal, and may praise the author of such a great benefit; but flesh on account of pride, that he may suffer through the body, and by suffering be reminded that he is earth, and thus, if at any time he is exalted on account of his mind, he may be cast down on account of the earth. An animal living in the present life indeed by a certain providence and being governed: but migrating to the future age. But if one should say: How then was Adam, not yet having fallen, made such (for the sentence of death had not yet been pronounced upon him) that he was mortal on account of the body, and immortal on account of the soul? It must be said that it was done because God foresaw his future transgression, and the death flowing from it, even though He created him as a medium between immortality and mortality. Or even on account of the whole ^C posterity of Adam, or as a participant of that nature, the Theologian put forth these words. The extreme, he says, of the mystery, this is, that man by an inclination and a lifting up to God may be made a god. But to be made a god is to become a participant of divine illumination: not, however, to migrate into the divine essence. Furthermore, the lifting up of man to God is the work of the industry and diligence of this life: but the attainment of divinity is the reward of the future age. For since we are placed on the boundary of God and matter, if indeed we incline toward matter, we are called gross and material: but if we strive toward God, we are called divine and consequently gods. For to this end tends for me the meager knowledge of this life and the perception of truth, that I may see the brightness of God, and be affected by it. For just as that which is near to fire, and has such a nature that it may suffer, conceives flame: so also the lifting up and connection of the soul in this life to God procures for us the deification of the future life, worthy of God, who joined the soul with the body as if ^D with bonds, and separates [it] through death, and again is about to bind [it] in the resurrection more excellently than in that first bond, because now there will be neither any dissolution, nor any future conjuncture.

Col. 631 B. That

that it may remain, etc.

This animal variously governed, and migrating to another.

Variously governed.

- ^A fore who prepares to attain divinity must first turn to his soul and collect it, then pass through it to the mind, again through the mind to those things which are above, and finally through them reach God. But neither he who turns and elevates himself to the soul has attained divinity, nor he who turns to the mind. Truly, the former becomes an animal man, neither grasping the things of the spirit; the latter, indeed, is intellectual, but not yet God. But if through the mind he penetrates into that secret darkness, and dwells with God, then indeed he is said to become God already, to attain divinity, and to behold the splendor of God, and to be fashioned and formed according to him. But since, as was fitting, we have made mention of nature, let us discourse a little upon it. Nature, then, besides many other of its significations, is a principle of motion and rest, in which it first resides by itself, and not by accident. For this is what nature brings to each individual natural thing, that it should have in itself the principle of motion, and in the same way the end of rest. For plants grow, to begin with them, having the principle of motion in themselves, and cease to grow, stopping at a natural end. The same must be said of man, and of the horse, and of the ox, and of the sphinx, and of the ant, and of the ape, and, to sum up briefly, of every animal, whether crawling, swimming, or flying. And even the four elements themselves move and rest. For both fire and air move upward by their own nature, and when they have arrived at their own places, they cease to move: and, on the other hand, earth and water, having been allotted a motion inclining downward by their own nature, incline toward the center, and when they have arrived at the middle of the universe, they rest in themselves. This Aristotle teaches concerning nature. But if we believe Orpheus, and the Platonists, and the Lycian philosopher who treats of nature, and the still more ancient Pythagorean Iamblichus of Chalcedon, nature is a certain art of God. Furthermore, he possesses a threefold art in the universe. The first is innate in it, namely that by which it effects and fashions all things, which Plato called 'Idea,' and which we call the mind, born of no cause, and explicable by no speech. The second, although it originates thence, is yet not always attached to it, but [only] at that time when it reverts to it. The third and last is that art of God which is numbered indeed in a lower place than the soul, but which dominates bodies, and which both generates, and nourishes, and increases, and moves, and perfects them, and, finally, brings rest ^B to them. And having the material reasons of those things which it makes, and understanding them in a certain way, it by no means refers them to itself, nor converts them to its own essence, but adheres inseparably to bodies, penetrating into them, and not returning. This art, therefore, among those philosophers whom we have mentioned, has been named nature. Plato thinks that this was created with heaven and time. For it did not exist before heaven was created. For it is necessary that that which embraces the body and the rest should be the first: but all bodies, which were created after heaven, were created after nature and below nature, and again, perishing by the law of nature, are subject to corruption. Heaven, however, if one should wish to consider it most perfectly, ^A nether is it founded below nature, nor is it broken by nature. — That I may both see and feel the brightness of God. Divine things are somehow perceived corporally, and there are certain transitions of them. But since there are two opinions concerning such matters, one our own and Christian, the other of those who are held to be most learned among the heathens, both must be expounded by me. Our view, therefore, is in this manner. God, whatever he may be, is incorporeal, and remains immutable and exempt from change: we, however, are changed relative to him. For just as one and the same voice, diffused in some open place, some of us hear, others not at all: and of those who do hear, some hear more clearly, others more obscurely; and again, of those who do not hear, one did not hear because he was far removed, another because he had obstructed the passage of his ear (namely, mucus concreted around that part), another because he was doing other things: just as, when the sun stands in the southern line, kites and owls admit a small and obscure ray of light, but men and elephants, according as each is affected, are illuminated more or less: in the same way we also are changed relative to the immutable and permanent God, according as each is affected. Wherefore Peter, and those who were present then, beheld those fiery tongues: not that the divine figure is similar to a tongue, but because the operation of the Spirit was to be concerning the tongue. And these things we have drawn from our own doctrine. But the Gentile philosophers, the last of whom was the lamp-bearer and expositor of mysteries Proclus, divide divine invocation into three parts. And they call one part of it *autopten* (αυτοπτικὴν), another *entheastik* (ἐνθεαστικήν). If, therefore, anyone perceives that which flows by the intelligence and gleam and splendor of the soul, as nature is, he himself, as an evocator and spectator, is called *autopten*. But if anyone forms divine things in thought by an imaginary vehicle of the soul, he can be called *epopten* (ἐπόπτης) at the persuasion of another profane theologian toward this. But if he does not contemplate by mind, nor by imagination, but with the eyes alone observes certain divine visions brought through the air, he can be called *entheast* (ἐνθεαστής). For they affirm that a corporeal light also is subservient to divine things, which indeed they seize upon, without any trouble, being endowed with that goodness of nature, such as Socrates and Plotinus were; others feeling a motion of the mind toward certain revolutions, or toward the light of the moon: the Egyptians, however, as they say, either by smearing their eyes (for they call it *tarro*) with the juice of incense, or with bdellium: the Assyrians, indeed, sanctifying themselves by certain characters, and infant-like names, and mystical letters on priestly plates, perceived that light which is the substratum of incorporeal forces. These things Porphyry, and Iamblichus, and that architect of monstrous words, Proclus, have trifled. But we, that we may not be altogether devoid of the clarity of theological speculation which shines in these words, so that I may both see and feel it, let us propose this example. Let there be someone who prepares to ascend to the sun, that he may be illuminated more splendidly by its rays. He, in act indeed, will be while he is ascen-

[...], placing wings on either side (or if he has thought of anything else alien). For the maximum argument of a calm mind, being pure and free from all affection, is to be naked and not to blush. And God gives to man a law, as if it were the material and faculty of free will, so that virtue might shine forth in it. But the law was a precept, etc. For it is written: “And the Lord God commanded Adam, saying: Of every tree that is in the paradise thou shalt eat: but of the tree of knowledge of good and evil thou shalt not eat. For in what day soever thou shalt eat of it, thou shalt die the death.” ^A That tree, however, was of the knowledge of good and evil. For when Adam had eaten from it, and had perceived his own nakedness, then at last he understood that the observance of the precept was indeed good, but that the transgression was evil. We say, however, that there is a double knowledge: one which precedes things, which we also call dijudicative; the other which accompanies the things themselves, and is called real. Therefore, Adam was endowed with that which has the power of discerning and judging before the tree was tasted. For he himself imposed names upon the brute animals and upon his wife by conjecture. And he attained the real [knowledge] moreover when the tree was tasted. But what that forbidden tree was, Scripture indeed has not indicated; however, it has pleased some that it was a fig tree, from the leaves of which, even after the precept was violated, the first parents sewed garments for themselves. And for that reason it is written: “And the Lord cursed the fig tree.” They say, however, that the tree of life is that which has the power to ^C confer life: which, truly, can be eaten only by those who are worthy of life and are not subject to death. Now, since we establish a spiritual paradise, and by it have understood the heavenly life, we can also explain the tree, all of it from which it is commanded to us to eat, in such a way as to say that by it are signified to us the delights of divine contemplation. For God is the universe, in whom and through whom are all things. He can also be called the tree of life, since the sweetness of divine participation imparts to those who enjoy it a life interrupted by no death. Then, however, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil can be explained as the inquiry of manifold contemplation, that is, the recognition of one's own nature, which indeed, to the perfect and those who are most highly advanced in divine contemplation, is good, [but] to those who do not yet firmly and constantly sit at the highest and only good, it is harmful, inasmuch as the care of the body is wont to draw them to itself and involve them in various business on account of their weak and unstable dwelling in the good. Or, if you prefer, by every tree understand that knowledge of divine power which is acquired from the consideration of created things, just as the Apostle [says]: “For the invisible things of him, from the creation of the world, are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made.” ^D But most excellent and highest of all such thoughts is that which dwells upon the principle of our own creation. For it is wonderful,

^A it says, “Thy knowledge is become wonderful from me,” that is, from my construction. But this knowledge was dangerous to Adam, being as he was newly created and still imperfect. Furthermore, by the tree of life that ascent can be signified, by which we are led from all sensible things to God; but by the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, a sensible and voluptuous food, which though it may seem to bring sweetness, in reality plunges the one who partakes of it into evils. “Of every tree that is in the paradise you shall eat,” that is, through all created things lift yourself up to me, the Creator, and gather fruit from all things, namely me, who am the true life: “but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat. For in whatever day you eat, you shall die the death.” For naturally, sensible food replenishes that which has flowed out; nor can it be that one who participates in sensible nourishment should remain incorruptible. Beyond these ways, we can also interpret the tree of life in another manner, so that the command given by God signifies it (the wood of life is also justice for all who embrace it); while the tree of knowledge denotes the discernment of good and evil. First, therefore, Adam was simply and without any discussion to obey the divine law, until he should arrive at a perfect habit of virtue, and only then at length receive from God’s gift the judgment of good and evil, which is what the tree of the knowledge of good and evil is. For to one of tender intellect, judgment is not free from danger, because it involves a dense and affective and voluptuous reasoning. Since, therefore, it was necessary for Adam to be joined to God through simple obedience, lacking all discernment, and by such a conjunction to receive the work of divinity at the time when God, who is true and natural, should have willed it, and the true knowledge and judgment of all things and immortal life; and since it was necessary for a trial of his simple obedience to be taken, for that reason God gave him the precept not to taste from the tree of knowledge, that is, not to trust in his own judgment. But when the devil had attacked him in the form of a serpent, and had said, “You shall be as gods knowing good and evil,” if you eat, he acquiesced to his own judgment, and the acquisition of divinity and knowledge appeared to him a good thing, nor did he consider with himself that all things indeed are good, but in their own time; and that he ought not to grasp at what he was to receive beforehand, against the will and judgment of Him who gave not only that we should exist, but that we should also live blessedly. And he saw that it was good, and he ate: and he was stripped of that mental abstraction regarding God to which he was naturally drawn. And their eyes were opened, that is, the bodily ones; and the passions of the soul were stirred. And they knew that they were naked, and they were ashamed, and they were torn away from God, and like little children ^B they were captured by the lures and enticements of the plains; and because of this they were expelled from the tree of life and became mortal. But truly, at this point Porphyry, who is hateful to God, attempts to render God guilty of one or the other sin on account of this tree of knowledge. For he uses this dilemma: Either that tree was planted perniciously, inasmuch as it was to bring death to men; or if it was rightly planted, it was certainly mischievously and enviously forbidden, with God envying knowledge to men and wishing them to be foolish. Gregory, clearing away this objection, says: Let not the impious lay hands upon this tree, nor imitate the serpent. For he too said that God envied men knowledge and divinity. For this tree was neither planted badly, nor was it forbidden maliciously: but in its nature it was good (for God saw all things that He had made, and they were very good), but in use it was both good and evil; good, if it were partaken of at the appropriate time; but otherwise, if it were plucked prematurely. For, as I attain by intellect and contemplation, this tree was a certain thought or contemplation and a more perfect notice, and a more sublime knowledge, to which those alone can ascend safely who, as the Apostle says, have their senses exercised by custom for the discernment of good and evil. On the other hand, it is by no means good for those who are still tender and rude in mind, just as solid food is not good for infants. For it pulls at their newly-born teeth and hurts them most grievously.

Col. 631 C. Psellus. *The Tree of Knowledge.* In the soul of the first parent, as in a certain most divine garden, all species of knowledge were planted. Of which some stood as it were in a circle; two alone were planted in the middle part of the soul. By those, therefore, which were planted in a circle, is indicated a food of virtues suitable for consumption, which Adam ought to have partaken of, and to have bathed the senses of his soul in sweetness. But of these that stood in the middle, one designates the contemplation of created things, namely that which has the name of the knowledge of good and evil; the other signifies the knowledge and perception of God Himself, which is indeed called the tree of life. Therefore, Adam ought not to have immediately laid hands upon the tree of knowledge, nor to have investigated the reasons and counsels of creation, ^D nor to have approached at once the difficult thoughts of judgment and providence; but to cultivate virtues diligently first, and to eat from the external and superficial plants, and then to betake himself to more sublime things, and first to inquire into the causes of the created things, and by contemplating these things absolutely understood, to proceed as it were further, and to taste of the tree of life, and thus now purely to converse with God Himself. For these two trees were in the middle of paradise because, after the exact and absolute knowledge of created things, the contemplation of life immediately arises. Idem. The Tree of life is divine wisdom, uniform,

^A and that immutable knowledge (17) by which the soul's immortality is compared. But the tree of the knowledge of good and evil is a mean prudence, by which those things which have a contrary nature are judged. In a similar way, each of those trees was a certain power of the soul, leading to piety, of which it behooved Adam to become a partaker first, and so to approach the judgment. For since evil is in no way proposed naked and open, but rather we prefer to embrace it when it is plastered over and veiled with a certain appearance of good than to be joined to God, for that reason those to whom this happens are warded off from the perception of truth, lest, having been made immortal through participation in life, they should also possess immortal wickedness. Indeed, of the powers and faculties bestowed upon us, one is clearly masculine, namely the mind; the other is not unlike the feminine, namely the sense, which even that artificer of vice attempts to attack and deceive, and the sense in turn plays an imposture upon the mind. Furthermore, it is stripped of that divine power with which it was clothed, and is driven from divine knowledge as if from a certain paradise, and the flaming sword, that is, the power established by God, is commanded to guard it. Now, in truth, concerning "In the day you eat, you shall die," and simply "You shall die," there seems to me to be this distinction: that he dies by death who, by the pestiferous conceptions of the soul, is as it were dead; but he dies simply who pays the tribute of death to nature. Moreover, that God forbids the eating of the tree in the singular number, but in the plural attaches the punishments that will follow the transgression, seems to me to show that as long as we are in the good, we preserve our unity 18 in Him who is one, namely, by being joined to God: but when we have fallen into evil, then we are truly removed far from God, and for one we become many. ^C Col. 634 A. "But after the envy of the devil, etc." God had created man to incorruption and immortality; but by the envy of the devil, as is written in Solomon, death entered into the world. For he was moved by the heat of envy against man because of so great an honor and dignity of his, and especially because the apostate was also to have filled the seat in heaven. But let us enumerate the causes for which Adam fell from paradise. The first cause was the envy of the devil; the second, the serpent, his minister; the third, the simplicity of the woman; the fourth, the man's benevolence toward his wife; the fifth, his own weakness in repelling the violence of that sweet food; the sixth, the oblivion of the commandment, and the eating which followed it. The Theologian laid out all these causes in order, speaking of the cause in the name of the first parents, and he says: The devil was moved by envy, and hence the assault was twofold. For the serpent, thought to counsel rightly, drove the woman, as being softer, into fraud. ^B The woman again, since because of the promise (because she had clearly been given by God as a helper to the man) she was thought in no way to lie, he persuaded her more easily of what he wanted, and thus he attacked her by having attacked him. But by the fact that it says that both were attacked, it detracts much from the gravity of the accusation and crime. Afterward, when he had said by way of exclamation: "O my weakness," explaining this expression, he says that he takes the ruin of the first parent as his own, and that that weakness flowed from him to the whole human race. But he added ruin to weakness. For he was seized by weakness, not resisting pleasure, and thus was overcome. Moreover, weakness is a kind of purgation of the first parent. Furthermore, he called that food, though sweet, bitter, so that it might be punished with bitter pain. For bitter is death, and the sadness which precedes it, and continuously torments until it. For "In sorrows," he says, "you shall eat of the earth all the days of your life." Perhaps also by this mortal tree, having a fruit at once good and destructive, the nature of sin is signified. For since some pleasure precedes every vice, for that reason that fruit is called good, because, of course, through an erroneous and false judgment of good, it appears such to those who place the highest good in pleasure; but in truth it is afterward found evil through the bitter digestion of that eating. Adam, therefore, because the commandment was violated, goes into exile, both from the tree of life, that is, the contemplation of God, and from paradise, that is, the heavenly way of life, and from God Himself, that is, from that liberty and license of soul which he had before God. "For God," he says, "cast out Adam, and placed him before the paradise of pleasure." And indeed the tree of knowledge was a struggle and exercise of free choice. But the tree of life was a certain plant, having the power of bestowing immortality. For of this kind is also the wood of the Lord's cross. Allegorically also, the fig leaves from which the first parents made loincloths for themselves signify the harshness of this miserable life. And also the skin garments which the Lord made for Adam and his wife signify mortality and the thickness of the flesh. For the body of Adam was from the beginning thinner and softer, and not altogether mortal, but of a certain middle condition between mortal and immortal. But after the transgression, just as skin is thick, and dead, and hard, so the flesh also is thick, and heavy, and mortal, and hard and refractory. "And they ate," he says, "and knew that they were naked." For because it was a tree of knowledge, they first recognized their own vileness, and understood that the observance of the commandment was indeed good, but transgression evil, and then they hid themselves from the face of God. For before the sin was committed, the soul and

the eyes of the body, being occupied with God and Paradise, were not in the least affected by a sense of nakedness; but after the sin was committed, when their eyes were turned and directed inward (which is the function of conscience), they perceived indeed their physical nakedness, but spiritually they perceived good and evil. He understands by this the shamefulness of the genital parts of the body, from which they are also called "private parts." Furthermore, they were affected by shame regarding these parts for this reason: that after the transgression, they first began to be aroused and stimulated in them. For the human impulse regarding these is most acute. Indeed, children also, as soon as they begin to have a slightly more mature mind, are suffused with shame and cover these parts. But since man had fallen once, if he had not been liable to the necessity of dying, he would have received the greatest harm by committing sin; therefore, here too he is benefited. What then is this benefit? Death. Why so? Because it halts and cuts off sin. For although death has the character of a punishment, as it extinguishes life, yet it falls into mercy, not allowing the sinner to be immortal. For it was not expedient for man, having not yet been tested and explored by temptation, to attain immortality, lest he should fall into pride and the judgment of the devil. For he, on account of the incorruptibility of his nature, after he had fallen from God by his own free will, had an inflexible and immutable firmness in evil. Wherefore it was necessary for man to be tested beforehand, and to be perfected by experience through the commandment, and so to receive immortality as a reward for virtue. For since he was created midway between God and matter, he was in this state: that if he kept the divine commandment, and cast off the natural relationship and affection toward created things, uniting himself to God, he would receive an immutable constancy in the good, confirmed by habit; but if, through transgression, he were carried more toward earth and matter, and withdrew his mind from God, he would become subject to corruption and have need of carnal union, and because of his desire for life, would embrace all most pleasant things as if they were guarding it, and would transfer desire from God to matter, and wrath from the true enemy of salvation to his own kinsman and fellow-tribesman. ^A

Col. 634 B. *Whereas he was previously chastised in many ways on account of many sins, etc.* He says "previously chastised," that is, before the humanity assumed by Christ, he was tested by many corrections, not only Adam himself, but all his posterity. Moreover, he was chastised at different times and for different reasons; for Adam was instructed before all others through the word (for God spoke with him), and he paid the penalties for the violated commandment. But Cain, after him, was affected by the punishment of groaning and trembling for the killing of his brother. Afterwards, in the time of Noah, men were punished by an inundation of waters, because their will was entirely depraved; soon, at that tower ^B of construction, the confusion and division of languages, on account of their folly; then the Sodomites, by fire, rain, and the conflagration of their cities, on account of the obscenity of their lust. Then those who existed in the times of Moses were instructed by written law, because they had become accustomed to Egyptian impiety; after this, in the time of the prophets, by the prophetic exhortations themselves. Now indeed, very many were instructed by benefits, threats, and scourges, and Adam before others. For God favored him with a benefit, namely by establishing him in Paradise, and warned him with threats that he would die if he had touched the tree of knowledge; and finally, when he had fallen into sin, He struck him with the sentence of death. Now indeed men have been instructed by wars, victories, and disasters, such as the Hebrews who went out of Egypt. For when they waged war against many nations, they were sometimes victorious, and sometimes they were defeated. They were instructed by celestial signs, as when the sun stood still in the time of Joshua the son of Nun; by signs of the air, as in those Egyptian plagues, the dog-fly, hail, darkness (to which also that column of cloud shining by day and the nightly column of fire, by which Israel was led and illuminated, ought to be referred); by signs from the earth, as in those rivers that were turned into blood, in the lice, the boils, and the frogs; by signs from the sea, as in that crossing of the Red Sea; by the inseparable changes of men, cities, and nations—of men, indeed, as in the times of Samson, David, Solomon, Nebuchadnezzar, and very many others (for they flourished partly in a wonderful way, and partly were affected by calamities), both beyond hope and expectation; of cities, such as Jerusalem and many others, which, although they had been famous for a long time, were afterwards utterly destroyed and deserted; of nations, in the way the kingdom of the Medes was overturned by the Assyrians, the Assyrians in turn oppressed by the Persians, the Persians likewise by the Macedonians, and finally the Macedonians by the Romans. Through all these kinds of instruction, therefore, which I have commemorated, one thing was intended: that sin, which had been spread multiply and widely, and was oppressing man with miserable servitude, might be removed from the midst. But finally, there was need of a more effective treatment, because, obviously, the sins and diseases were becoming heavier, and the man was admitting a healing hand. For men were destroying themselves by mutual slaughters, and were breaking out into such audacity that they committed adulteries, and perjured themselves, and bound themselves to the nefarious crime of the Sodomites, and—which is the last in time, but the first in the atrocity of the crime—they attributed divine honors to idols, and transferred adoration from the Creator to creatures, and worshipped and served the creature rather than the Creator 60. ^C

Col. 634 C. *Since these required greater help, etc.* The meaning of these words, "Since these required greater help, they also received greater," is: Whereas men previously, more moderately and tolerably ^D

were sinning, they had the law as a helper, and the prophets as preachers, and were chastised through signs. But after they rushed into most grievous sins, they had need of a greater help. Furthermore, this greater help, both by the law and the prophets and by signs, was the Son of God, who came to His own image, that is, to man, who was marked by His own image. And not only is He spoken of as having been made man in the image of God, but He is also named the image of God in Scripture. For it is written in the Wisdom of Solomon: "God created man for incorruption and immortality, and made him an image of His own eternity." ^A The Son of God Himself therefore came to His own image, according to that word of Isaiah: "Not a messenger, not an angel, but the Lord Himself," who, as John says: "In the beginning was the Word." He is older than the ages. For the Creator of time is by no means subject to time, inasmuch as it is through Him that the Father also made the ages, as it is with Paul. Invisible: "For no man at any time has seen God," that is, the nature of God. Incomprehensible, that is, difficult to comprehend. For that reflection also, which is gathered from the imagination of His works, flees before it can be rightly grasped. Or incomprehensible is the same as boundless, and uncircumscribed, and exceeding the grasp of the mind. For He can neither be conceived by the intellect nor circumscribed. Incorporeal: This was added by the Theologian because of the incarnation and humanity of Christ, to ^B which he is soon about to come. "From a principle, the principle." For the Father is the principle of all things that are, as the cause; the Son is also a principle, as a sharer of the cause. For David, speaking words to the Father, says: "With You is the principle." The Son is therefore a principle from a principle, that is, from the Father. "Light from light." John in his first Epistle says: "God is light." And Christ of Himself: "I am the light of the world." And hence those Fathers who edited the sacrosanct Symbol borrowed this saving doctrine, and said "Light from light," that the Son shines forth from the Father, so as to show that generation to be incorporeal and simple; again they added these words, "From Him, and in Him," so that each might be understood to subsist in a peculiar manner. For the Father is the Father, and not the Son; ^C the Son likewise is the Son, and not the Father: and in the identity of nature, the essence of both is proper. "Fountain of life and immortality." These also were taken from the prophets. For Jeremiah speaks thus: "They have forsaken the Lord, the fountain of living water." And David: "With You is the fountain of life." Moreover, Christ says of Himself: "I am the way, the truth, and the life." He is called a fountain because of His eternity; but life, as the fountain of life, not only of this brief and temporally perishing life, but also of everlasting life. For the word "immortality," which he adds, declares this. "Expression of the archetype," that is, a likeness, a seal, and as it were an express effigy of God. But *ekmageion* is said from the verb *ekmassein*, that is, to express, and as it were to draw ^D a form. But form, when it treats of the divinity, signifies nature. That unmoved seal, that is, which is not altered, nor changed into another form. But in poems a seal having motion is called the Son, that is, living. Thus, in a different respect, it is both. For inasmuch as He is firm and immutable in nature, the Son is said to be an unmoved seal; but inasmuch as that seal is by no means dead, but living, He will be called mobile. But the name of seal is taken from Scripture. For He says: "Him has the Father, God, sealed." An image similar in all things. The Son is called the image of the Father because He is from the Father: but the Father is not, conversely, from Him. This is how the matter stands more clearly here. For in images made by art, the image lacks motion, whereas the model is endowed with life and is moved. But here, the image is both of a living archetype and is itself alive, and has a far greater similarity than that which relates Seth to Adam, or whatever is begotten expresses that from which it is generated. For such is the nature of simple things, that they are not partly similar and partly dissimilar, but the whole is a figure of the whole, and has rather the account of identity than of similarity.

"Both the terminator and the reason of the Father." In this way the Son is called, as showing and defining the Father, and rendering Him visible to men, because He is the Father, and also because He was begotten by Him without any passion or flux, just as speech is from the mind. For thus the Son stands in relation to the Father, just as speech to the mind, not only because of a generation void of all passion, but also because of the connection. For the Son cannot be separated from the Father, just as speech cannot be separated from the mind. Then also He can be called so because of His enunciative power; for as speech brings forth and enunciates its parent mind, so the Son [enunciates] the Father. These two can also be taken for the same: *horos* (term) and *logos* (word/reason/definition), since definition is also called *logos*, as we say thus: "The definition of man is a rational and mortal animal." Whatever account, therefore, a definition has to the thing defined, the same does the Son have to the Father. For He declares the Father just as a definition declares that which is defined by it. Wherefore also Christ said: "He who has understood me (for this is what it means: He who has seen me) has also understood the Father"; for the Son is the compendious demonstration of the paternal nature. For every offspring is the silent reason or definition of its parent. Therefore, this Son of God approaches His own image, that is, man, whom He created to His own image, and on account of human flesh, He assumes flesh, and on account of the soul, which the man had covered with darkness and had weakened, having received it by divine insufflation, the rational and intel-

intellectual soul He accepts, so that by the flesh He assumed He might cleanse the flesh of Adam, which was defiled by the filth of sin, and by the soul, the same soul, He might bring salvation to the whole to me, since the whole of Adam had fallen. These things Gregory says while fighting against the heresy of Apollinarius, who asserted that Christ had flesh, but was devoid of mind and soul, because he thought that the divinity was sufficient in place of mind and soul. The things which follow also pertain to the same matter. For in all things, he says, man becomes full and perfect, with the exception of sin alone. For sin has its origin not from nature, but from the will. Wherefore the Lord, while taking upon Himself all natural things, did not accept sin, as being alien to nature. For the Apostle says: "We have a high priest who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin." But in what way is He a full and perfect man, with the exception of sin alone? Surely because both His conception was more sublime than the human condition, as being devoid of seed, and His birth was ignorant of corruption. For the seals of virginity were not broken, since generation proceeding through corruption must be attributed to sin, as David says: "For behold, I was conceived in iniquities, and in sins my mother conceived me." For after the transgression, Adam, stirred by the goad of lust, knew his wife Eve, and she conceived and brought forth. Thus sin is the cause of conception, [and] conception of birth, and so both are under sin. But since it was necessary that His birth, just as His beneficence toward the human race, should be excellent and admirable, He is born of a Virgin maiden, so that, insofar as He is born, He may honor marriage and generation (for "marriage is honorable and the bed undefiled"); but insofar as He is of a Virgin, He may prefer virginity as being more excellent than matrimony. He was conceived, therefore—that is, He was carried in the womb of the pregnant Virgin, who indeed, through the coming upon her of the Holy Spirit, was purified both in soul and in body. For through Him she was purged from that sin which she drew along with herself from birth, that which flowed from the first parent and was spilled and propagated to his entire race. For thus the angel spoke to her: "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you." But let us return to the matter: the Lord was carried in a virginal womb, but He came forth and was born with the assumed flesh, existing as one out of two natures, namely flesh and spirit—that is, divinity and humanity—which, though contrary to each other, that is, diverse (insofar as one part was divine nature, the other human), concurred into one person of God. For on account of the hypostatic union of these two natures, He became one Christ with the assumed humanity, not indeed ^A one nature existing, but by the joining and concurrence of two natures into one hypostasis. For in it the person of the Word of God, which was before, having the same hypostasis as the created flesh of Him, and those parts having met and being joined together after such a concurrence, remained indivisible: not that they cannot be separated by mind and thought and by the diversity of them, but that in reality and in act they can in no way be discerned and divided. For strictly, one is born out of two natures: of which one, namely the divine, bestowed [grace] upon the human through divinity; but the other, that is the human, received divinity from the divine. But when Gregory had said that God was born with assumed flesh, and that the same one was born with the assumed humanity, being one Son, and not two, he is seized with admiration, and as if struck with stupor, he doubts whether these ^B concurring natures are tempered, or rather commingled. For if they are tempered, it is necessary that they be also confused (for such is the nature of those things which are tempered, like wine and water): but if they are only commingled, it will necessarily follow that they are also sometimes divided in act. For this is the nature of those things which are mixed together, like wheat and barley. Yet they are not confused, and still, once having met, they have remained indivisible, preserving their own difference even after the joining and concurrence. Therefore, that tempering in the one Christ was new and utterly stupendous, as was the commingling of two natures warring with each other. Wherefore, since the Theologian could not speak either of mixture alone, or simply of tempering, he necessarily used both terms, and that with an addition. For he called one "new," the other "admirable." For this ^C mixture knows no confusion, yet it is not subject to division: which is surely to be wondered at. Therefore, the mixture, that is, the tempering, which is added to each in either way, preserves a perfect explanation of the doctrine, absolute in all respects. Now, let us examine what follows: "He who is, becomes," etc. In diverse ways that which is, is said to come to be. First, when, the pre-existing substance having been corrupted, some other thing is made from it. In this signification we say that an egg becomes a bird, and milk cheese, and clay a vessel, and sand glass. In a second way, when, the pre-existing substance remaining whole and unchanged, something else is incidentally effected in addition: in which sense we say that a statue is made from bronze. For the substance of the bronze remaining safe and whole, the form is added from above: thus we also say that a man has become just and holy. In a third way, when, the preceding substance remaining entire, ^D another substance is taken on in addition: according to which signification we say that a soldier has been made an armored man. And in this third meaning these words are to be understood: "He who is, becomes." For when He was God, He also became man, and after the manner of a soldier, putting on flesh, He overcame the enemy of our nature. Furthermore, these words "He who is, becomes," and "the uncreated is created," are

interpreted as figures by which, on account of the hypostatic identity and the mutual interchange of one into the other, each nature communicates its properties to the other. In this way it is permitted for us to speak of Christ in this manner: "This our God has been seen on earth." And: "This human is uncreated, and alien to passions, and incomprehensible;" just as the Theologian also said in this place: "He who is, becomes, and the uncreated is created." Indeed, that the one who is should become, and the one who is uncreated should be created, although it is marvelous, yet it is not to be understood as being according to mutation, but according to assumption. For while remaining what He was, He assumed what He was not. But what he says, that He who can be contained and held by no place is contained, this indeed is a mystery of life and difficult, so that it can be explained by no reason; nor can anything other be said than that, on account of the excellent magnitude of His power, this is perfect. And he also explains the mode of this comprehension. For the soul, he says, acted as a medium between the divinity and the thickness of the body; that is, being placed as a medium, God was joined with the flesh. For the soul, on account of the dignity of the image and the power of understanding, is more closely joined to God. And consequently, this first part, as being devoid of matter, was made a partaker of the divinity, and through it, the flesh also. For it could not happen otherwise than that what is joined by hypostatic union should be a partaker of the glory of the divinity. Thus, the soul was placed as a medium between the divinity and the flesh, and through it, the divinity was also joined to the substance of the flesh itself. Gregory added the term "thickness," in order to show the ineffable humility and abjection of God, who embraced men with such love that, for their sake, He did not hesitate to be joined to matter: "He who enriches others, is made poor," not in regard to money, but in regard to human flesh. For the flesh is poor, as needing many things for its own preservation. On the contrary, God is rich, as having need of absolutely nothing. These words, however, he borrowed from the second Epistle to the Corinthians, in which it is written thus: "For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor, that you by His poverty might become rich." And these he indeed took from that passage. But he himself added and explained what these riches are which we have obtained, namely, divinity. He who is full, as God, is emptied, inasmuch as He is made man. He calls "emptying" that submission of divine glory and the abjection of sublimity. For He is said to be emptied, in that He has fullness in His own nature before the emptying, insofar as He is considered as God. Yet all these things are to be understood not by reason of mutation, but by reason of the assumed humanity. For what He was, and what He had, on account of the counsel of the restoration of the human race, concealing what He was not and did not have, He assumed, so that I might become a partaker of that perfection, namely, becoming also a god. Furthermore, the name of "emptying" is taken from Paul's Epistle to the Philippians, where it is written of Christ thus: "He emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant." The name of "fullness," however, is from the Gospel of John: "Of His fullness," he says, "we have all received." That emptying, moreover, was a proof of supreme power. For it was a mark of an exquisite and overflowing power that the Most High was able to be so humbled. Wherefore the Theologian connects these things with admiration, saying: "What are these riches of divine goodness, and what are the abundances of the goodness of God? What is this mystery that surrounds me, an arcane and hidden thing?" As if he were saying: "What does God mean for Himself, that He takes my flesh?" Afterwards, he solves that doubt which he had raised with admiration, and says: "I have received the image, and I have not kept it whole and intact, but have defiled it through sin." For this reason Christ, seeing all that He had placed of His own in my body entirely destroyed by pestiferous sin, becomes a partaker of my flesh, so that, supplying what was lacking to me, He, the image—that is, the dignity of the soul—might keep it unharmed, and through His resurrection from the dead, bring immortality to the flesh. Moreover, this present communion, by which He is joined to us on account of the hypostatic union, is more admirable and more sublime than that former one. For then the union was by reason of the image; now, however, it is by reason of the hypostasis. Moreover, man was made deiform then, indeed, through the communion of the image: but now, through the hypostatic union, he is made not only deiform, but also god; just as our same author says in another place, speaking of the assumption of humanity: "I also say boldly, *condeity*."

1246 PSELLUS. The definition and rationale of the Father (Gr. ὅρος and λόγος).

^A Since it is moved by its own impulse. In those things, therefore, in which *logos* signifies reason, it is also the cause of those things whose cause it is. For example, for the stag it is the cause of its living for a very long time, because it lacks bile; similarly, the dryness of the eagle. In those things, however, in which *logos* signifies not a cause but a connection of nature, in these that which is the effect, while that with which it exists, recognizes no cause. Therefore the *logos* of the Father is the Son, not as the cause of Him, but as the same nature with the Father. Now this is the difference between a term or definition and a reason, that a definition defines that which is defined, and it is impossible that the definition should exceed that which is defined along with it; but the *logos* of connection does not have the meaning of termination. What then, someone will say, is the Father terminated by the Son, if indeed the Son is His term, so that the paternal nature is enclosed and circumscribed by the nature of the Son? Yes, undoubtedly. For although there is no term at all for the paternal essence, just as there is none for the other two persons: nevertheless, the Son is the term of the appellation of the Father. For since these names belong to a class of things which are referred to something, they terminate one another: therefore the Son is also the term for the Father. For the Father is the father of the Son, and he who has heard the paternal name has also simultaneously embraced the Son in his mind and thought, and at the same time satisfies that relation by which the Father looks upon the Son. But in demonstrations and arguments, a term does not convey the same conception of the mind in the least, but just as in those cases the *logos* is far different from that which is treated here: so also the terms are very different. For in those cases, the term is called the cause of its effect, since whoever prepares to define an effect, immediately assumes the cause itself for its definition. For since all things are confirmed by arguments, and the foundation of an argument is the term, therefore the causes of their effects are terms. Of this kind is that which Aristotle says, that the freezing and thickness is the term and reason of the coagulum, and likewise that the breadth of the leaves is the reason why the vine sheds its leaves, and he pronounces all causes of their effects to be reasons and terms. ^B After the discourse on the divinity and nature and the incarnation, he now proceeds correctly and in order to the proposed argument: and he introduces a certain person with a more ardent zeal for this feast, and desiring both to speak and to hear only about it, and therefore using these words: "What at length is the value of these words? Why do you not abandon these digressions, and according to the old proverb, by which those are marked who wander further than is fitting, do you not urge the horse toward the goal? That is, why do you not incite it with spurs within the turn and the track, and cease galloping in a circle? Transfer your speech to the intended subject, and recount to us the mysteries of this feast. For we sit here for this reason, that we might hear them from you." Having spoken this under an alien persona, he promises that he will do so, although he did not begin the speech from the proposed argument, but led the exordium from somewhat higher, that is, from a treatise on divinity and natural philosophy: "For," he says, "both love and reason compelled me to take a higher beginning of speaking." Love indeed, because to remember God is both lovely for me and sweet and pleasant. For the memory of God is the head and sum of the feast. Reason, however, because it demanded the narration and order of things done from the beginning. For we celebrate Easter on account of the Resurrection of the Savior. But the Savior died according to his humanity: moreover, he was made man for the sake of man, whom he himself had formed in his own image. Wherefore it was necessary for mention to be made by us first of the Creator and God, and then of the creatures, in the number of which man also was, and then of the mystery of the assumed humanity, and thus at last to come to those things which are proper to the feast. Nor indeed would it be foreign to this time to explain what the name of Easter signifies. For this addition, added to our speech, will not be superfluous, but elegant and useful. This, therefore, the Hebrews in their language call *Pascha*, which, if you interpret it, means "passing over": according to the historical sense, indeed, because they, having been vindicated from Egyptian servitude into liberty, passed into Palestine, that is, Jerusalem (for the Theologian calls this Canaan, because the Canaanites lived in it previously); but according to the allegorical sense, because we pass from earthly things to heavenly ones, and to the celestial kingdom, which God promised to us as he once promised Palestine to the Hebrews. And such is the meaning of this name. Some, however, thinking that this feast was called *Pascha* from *tou paschein*, that is, from the fact that Christ suffered for us, inverted this word, changing the aspirated letter into a smooth *pi*, and again changing the *theta* into *chi*. And afterwards, custom prevailing, it strengthened this word as being more holy, having antiquata and abrogated the prior diction. ^D Col. 635 B. *But to what end these things?* etc. After the Theologian had discoursed sufficiently copiously about the divinity, when he was treating of the immense and incomprehensible nature of God, and also disputed about the reason of natural things, when he was speaking about the intelligible and sensible mode, and said many things also about man, namely, how he was created by the hand of God, and fulfilled with the delights of paradise, and received the first law, and by what punishment he was punished for the contempt and violation of the commandment, and furthermore that his affairs were in such a state that he had need of some great aid, and that for this cause the whole economy and the assumption of humanity of our Savior had occurred, since its part was also the resurrection, for the sake of which we celebrate the feast of Easter, and for whose praises the Theologian had instituted this oration, Col. 638 A. *Indeed, the universal law*, etc. About to explain the mysteries of this feast allegorically, he speaks in general, and says that not only those laws of the Old Testament concerning the feast of Easter [were] an adumbration of future things.

but that the entire law also had a rationale for its shadows. For the Apostle, speaking of the legal priests, says they serve ^A the exemplar and shadow, and again testifies that the law had a shadow of the good things to come, but not the very image of the things themselves. Furthermore, God Himself, when dictating the laws concerning these things, while addressing Moses, called the legal ceremonies a figure: "For you shall make everything," he says, "according to the figure shown to you on the mountain." Nor indeed are these adverbs—rashly, inconsiderately, abjectly—placed there in vain. For that which is done in vain and without any utility is done rashly. That which is done without any just cause is done inconsiderately. Finally, that which is done humbly, paltry, and sordidly is done abjectly. Nothing, therefore, was commanded or ordained rashly, nor inconsiderately, nor abjectly; since He who commanded these things is Wisdom itself, and the minister was instructed by Wisdom, even if we are unable to devise the appropriate speculation for each individual shadow and figure, that is, the exposition and allegory. For who could contemplate and explain why God commanded the ark to be constructed in such a figure, and of such material, and of such measure: and what this means, that it was carried by the Levites, that is, the priests who ministered to the priestly and legal cult and religion; and likewise what the sacrifices and purifications and offerings signify? Furthermore, by sacrifices, understand all things that were accustomed to be sacrificed, such as sheep, oxen, calves, turtledoves, pigeons. By purifications, however, [understand] those purifications which were performed through blood or ashes, and cleansed the polluted and defiled: finally, by the ^B *apairemata* [tributes/parts], [understand] those parts which were extracted from the victims, of which sort were the breast, the right arm, and the lobe of the liver. For mysteries of this kind are known only to those who imitate Moses in virtue, or who are not far removed from his excellence and erudition.

*Ibid.* B. *For on the mountain itself, God [appeared] to men, etc.* Here he begins to enter the field of allegorical exposition. For he understands Moses' ascent to the mountain anagogically. For just as the mountain is a higher land, but far inferior to heaven: in the same way, it is necessary that we also be lifted up from earthly and corporeal things. But God descends. Yet the depression of God is not as great as our subjection, but, as we have said, [it occurs] according to the proportion of the mountain and the heaven. Wherefore this vision of God on the mountain also has a designative power. For God descended and lifted up Moses, so that we might learn that whenever man is joined to God, [it happens partly] that God, as the Most High and superior to all things, does not disdain to descend, and partly that man, who has been rolling upon the ground in abject and earthly things, is drawn up to the sublime. [This is] so that that Incomprehensible One may be conceived—that is, so that He who fills all things might be grasped, in a small way, by created nature. He used the word *phantazetai*, that is, He is seen obscurely. For ^A only mist, and gloom, and fire, and smoke were seen. For no one has ever truly seen God: for in what way could He be seen, who lacks form? See, however, how accurately and exactly Gregory speaks. For when he had said [that] God descends partly, he did not add, [that] we ascend partly, but, [that] we are partly lifted up by Him. By which words he declares that God is the author even of this our ascent. For it is written in Exodus: *And the Lord called Moses to the top of the mountain*. And again: *Ascend to Me*. Nor indeed is this to be attributed to the weakness of God, that He cannot be wholly grasped by us, but rather to [His] providence. For insofar as it is safe and possible for us, so much is He conceived. But regarding what he said above concerning imagination and conception, the same [God] he now calls *phantasia*, that is, the particular knowledge of the works of God. For God is not adumbrated to the mind according to His nature, but according to His works and [His] creation: yet the mass of this earthly body, he says, and the density of our mind, being constrained by the body, and therefore in a certain way filled with the density of the body, cannot receive even a tiny bit of the knowledge of God, unless it be divinely aided, and as it were led by the hand—namely, through the descent of God and the lifting up of man, just as once happened on the mountain. For then they were not at all held worthy in the same place and order, but in a diverse one, insofar as, I think, they brought with them a purified mind. Some were even entirely expelled, those who, namely, by the turpitude and obscenity of their life, resembled cattle and ^C beasts. For the Lord said to Moses: *Ascend to Me, you, and Aaron, and Nadab, and Abiu, and seventy of the elders of Israel, and they shall worship the Lord from afar, and Moses alone shall approach to God, but they shall not approach.* And again: *Descending, testify to the people, lest perhaps they approach, to see Me, and a multitude of them fall.* And a little further down: *Everyone who touches the mountain shall be put to death.* His hand shall not touch it, but he shall be overwhelmed with stones, or pierced with a javelin, whether it be man or beast, he shall not live. And these things are thus contained in the book of Exodus. That, however, the theologian commemorates that not all were held worthy in the same state and order: in order, indeed, he says that in the enumeration he placed Moses in the first place, then Aaron, soon the seventy elders. Therefore, in state, since they stood as they ascended, as they were called. But the beasts he mentioned, allegorically, I think, as he explains the cattle, of which mention is made in the same book of Exodus. For although by the name of cattle are properly signified tame and domestic animals, while by the name of wild beasts are called the savage ones, Scripture nevertheless for the most part includes wild beasts under the name of cattle, as in the Psalmist: *Moreover, also the cattle of the field*. Perceive ^D clearly

that it consists there of all four-footed animals. And again, by the name of beasts, tame animals are also signified, as in that passage: *And God created from the earth all the beasts of the field, and all the birds of the air*. Indeed, if one must speak accurately, it seems to me that when Gregory calls certain things wild beasts, he looks not to the Old Testament, but to the divine Paul, writing to the Hebrews: *Even if a beast touch the mountain, it shall be stoned*, which indeed is not found expressed word-for-word in the Old Testament. Unless perhaps one might say that the Apostle, hearing these words: *Even if a beast of burden shall have ascended onto the mountain, it shall not live*, understood wild beasts also under the name of beast of burden. But that must be known, that because in us there are double affections, namely anger and greed, therefore those who were endowed with wild and angry characters in the manner of wild beasts, and those who because of sins were cast down toward the earth for the sake of nourishment, and who basely and foully served their lusts, were removed from divine contemplation.

Col. 638 C. *We, however, by a certain middle way between them*, etc. Since virtue is situated in mediocrity, but excess and defect in vice, therefore Gregory, about to enter upon allegory, promises that he will do so—that he will tread a certain middle way: that is, he will accept for allegory only those things that admit it, and leave the rest to be understood in the sense that the letter offers at first glance. For all things that are contained in the Old Law to interpret only in a bodily way and according to the literal and clear sense is for coarse and stupid men, and for those utterly sluggish and inert toward contemplation, and similar to the Jews. For they understand the entire Law according to the letter and accept nothing in a spiritual sense. Conversely, to explain everything, even the smallest details, allegorically is for a meddlesome mind and for one that in its mode of anagogy holds neither measure nor mediocrity. And that is surely ridiculous, and clearly worthy of a conjurer of dreams. For all dreams consist in signs and shadows. Whoever, therefore, refers all things to an anagogical sense seems to be interpreting dreams. Furthermore, to cling stubbornly to the letter and never to rise higher is a defect: conversely, to drag everything to an allegorical sense is an excess, and both are vicious. But to maintain propriety in that matter is mediocrity and virtue; and it is not absurd, as the tenacious embrace of the literal and historical sense, nor ridiculous, as the dream-like manner of explaining all those things allegorically. ^A Since indeed we, from the beginning, etc. The view of this passage seems difficult and obscure, because this period is cut short by long hyperbata. It has, however, this meaning. We think, he says, that because we had fallen as far as idolatry, and it was necessary for us to be aroused and raised up, therefore the old Law was given to us, which contains many other precepts that drew us away from the worship of idols, and then also those things that pertained to the manner of sacrifices. And such is the meaning. Let us now examine things individually. By sin, he says, we have fallen already from the beginning—that is, from the time when the first parent fell, and we were deceived by desire and urged into fraud, not only through that first one (for it is written that the tree was good for food, and pleasant to the eyes to look upon, and beautiful to understand ^B) but also through that by which all sin is infused. For pleasure precedes all sin, and mocks us, and leads us into fraud, and ensnares us as if we were fish. And indeed we were so miserably circumvented that we proceeded to the crime of idolatry, and to nefarious blood-sheddings, which are called nefarious because they are wickedly and impiously offered to demons—or he even calls them nefarious because of men slaughtered for the sake of sacrifice. For they had sacrificed, he says, their sons and their daughters to demons ^C. Therefore, it was necessary for us, affected by these evils, to be recalled by God, as those wandering from the right way, and to be restored to our ancient state—that is, to the knowledge of God, which once shone in our souls before idolatry—and indeed to be restored not because of our works (for we had none), but according to that prophecy of Zechariah in Luke, because of the bowels of the mercy of our God ^D, not enduring the loss of so great a work of His hands. He said "so great," however, not in quantity, but in quality: *For man is a great thing*, he says, *and a glorious and excellent thing, a man*. Whom he also called a specimen of higher wisdom, and a great world in little: and that not only for the reason that he contains all things that this sensible world contains, and furthermore is instructed by reason, but also because the world was created for his sake. But that which was made for the sake of something is inferior to that for which it was made. But man was made by the divine hand, according to what is written: *Thy hands have made me, and fashioned me*. In which place hands, as is worthy of God, are to be understood, namely, for the fabrication of God. Since, therefore, it was necessary for man to be restored and recalled from error, in what way, finally, was it fitting that this be done? Prudently, certainly, and providently. For just as a physician wishing to cleanse a wound, or to purge it in another way...

if he should apply his hand too roughly, will not only fail to cleanse it, but will even increase the pain and cause ulceration: so too the soul, oppressed by wounds, unless one handles it skillfully and gently, will not only fail to derive benefit, but will be further harmed and rendered more stubborn. Therefore, a more violent form of medicine was to be repudiated and rejected, for it would not only have failed to bend men, but would have inflicted a new wound and, for those living wickedly, would have added shamelessness to their sinning, on account of the swelling caused by the long passage of time—that is, on account of the inveterate habit of sinning that had turned into nature. For habit and custom have almost the force of nature. Consequently, for the correction of life, one had to be brought back by a more moderate manner of living; this does not demand sudden health, but brings the sick person to it gradually. For even a bent branch would by no means withstand a sudden bending from crookedness to straightness. Rather, if one were to attempt to raise it up by force suddenly, he would break it rather than straighten it. Even a horse, fierce and untamed, of marvelous size, and untamed by the heat of its age, would by no means accept the bit unless it were soothed by clicking sounds. A *poppysmus* is a species of soothing for horses. This name is derived by onomatopoeia from the sound that flows from the groom's mouth when they seek to calm horses with a flattering touch. And therefore, because it was fitting to choose a gentler and softer method of healing man, ignoring the harshness, the Law was ^A given to us for our aid, to use the words of Isaiah. For the healing of the Law is easy and gentle, leading us meekly away from error and drawing us back to the truth. And it serves as a kind of wall and partition for us. For just as a partition is a hindrance, so that those who are within it are not joined with those on the outside: so too the Law was a certain barrier, placed between God and idols; and it led us away from idols, while leading us back to God. And I pray you, consider the counsel and providence of God. For since we were offering sacrifices—and that to idols—although God wished to take away and abolish those very sacrifices, so that we might obtain complete health, and might offer ourselves up to be known by Him; yet, knowing that a sudden change is admitted with difficulty, He lowered Himself to our infirmity, and when two evils were proposed—one the graver, namely ignorance of God, and the other the lighter, namely bloody sacrifices—He conceded to our infirmity that which was lighter, that is, sacrifices, so that He might receive what was greater, that is, that we might know the true God Himself, and later, at a convenient time, might also take away the sacrifices themselves and introduce that manner of adoration which consists in spirit and in truth. For this reason, He did not establish all things that He desired at once, ^B but wisely and industriously changed us through subtractions made little by little. For He had first removed the worship of idols, and He was also going to remove the sacrifices themselves, and He was about to lead our spirits from the stench and blood of the sacrifices to an unbloody sacrifice and a rational and evangelical worship. But when was He to do this? Surely when He found us sufficiently accustomed and exercised in obedience, and already having rightly and nobly fulfilled the command which we had received. And what was that? Surely the perfect contempt of idols, after which the victims, which were offered according to the prescription of the Law, also had to be abolished. For before we had complied with the first precept, it would have been superfluous to hand down the second. ^C

Column 639 C. Thus, therefore, and for these causes, the Law is called written, etc. The Theologian calls the Mosaic Law "written" in distinction to the unwritten law which was given at different times to Adam and those who descended from him. Or also to distinguish between it and the Gospel: which itself also was not consigned to any letters, but was delivered to the holy apostles. Concerning which God also said through Jeremiah: This is the testament and covenant which I will strike with them, giving my laws, I will write them in their mind and in their heart. Therefore, the written Law was given in the way that I have recounted, and for these causes which I have brought forward—that is, because harshness was pernicious and dangerous, while gentleness is useful and fitting for handling minds. And furthermore, the Law was introduced, that is, prescribed, so that by reading it we might be excited to the recognition of the Creator. In the same way, sacrifices were conceded on account of the infirmity of those who were sacrificing. For, being accustomed to these, we could by no means abandon them suddenly. And this is the reason for the sacrifices, that is, the cause, as is my reasoning, that is, as I myself understand it. But this figure is called by rhetoricians "extenuation," by which he pretends to the weakness of his own knowledge and doctrine, as if, forsooth, someone else could perhaps conceive and bring forth a more sublime cause than that which he himself produced. Therefore, these sacrifices were indeed permitted for these reasons. But that you may understand the immense depth of divine wisdom, which does all things ^D wisely and beyond human comprehension, and that you may have known the riches—(this means things which not only cannot be known, but cannot even be investigated)—of His judgments and counsels, He did not leave the sacrifices, even those conceded for a little while, devoid of all mystery (Gr. *anypontos*, that is, having nothing sacrosanct and spiritual and allegorical), nor useless, that is, contributing nothing to anything more sublime or bringing utility, nor fixed only on naked and simple blood. For "naked" blood is said to be that which is poured out simply and according to the sense, and has nothing abstruse or recondite of mystery. Of which kind are...

^A the sacrifices of the Gentiles. For their blood was merely naked, since it was neither sanctified by the Holy Spirit, nor did it bear the figure of any other sacrifice, but rather was an unholy, satanic, and deadly thing.

But as to what he says regarding the depth of wisdom and the unsearchable judgments of God, he takes this from the Apostle, who, writing to the Romans, uses these words: O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out! And in the Epistle to the Ephesians: Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ.

But let us return to the sacrifices, and let us say with the Theologian that God, when He allowed these things, by no means left them fruitless, but that the mystery of Christ was buried and mingled within them as if in a figure. For the Scriptures have called the mystery of Christ a figure, and the victims of that same mystery what Gregory calls great and unimmolated. In which it must be noted that when he calls it great, he does not mean "greater" in such a way as to evade any comparison with another of its kind. He calls the victim, however, because it was slain for the world, great; but regarding the humility, he calls it unimmolated; and finally, regarding the primary nature—that is, the Divinity—which neither suffered nor was sacrificed. For the primary nature is the Divinity, both as the beginning, and as the cause of other natures, and finally as excelling in humanity.

When he had called the one and the same Christ both mactated (sacrificed) and unimmolated, ^C feeling that this was like a certain riddle, he added: "To speak thus," meaning in these words, softening what might have seemed a harsher and bolder statement. And, I pray you, weigh these incomparable comparisons of mine for me. First, he named Christ a victim, not "greater" by comparison, but simply "great"; then "unimmolated"; afterward an eternal expiation for the whole world—not of some small part, nor for a certain brief time, as those legal sacrifices were, which purified only the region of the Jews, that is, a very small particle of the world, and were instituted for a brief time and for the expiation of certain sins. Henceforth, there was need of those sprinklings and expiations.

Col. 659 C. *Consequently, the lamb is taken, etc.* Consequently, that is to say, because the figures of Christ, the great sacrifice, were sprinkled into the legal sacrifices. For it is written in Exodus: *Let every man take a perfect lamb, a male, of the first year.* That he says "immaculate," however, is not found in Exodus, but is taken from Leviticus, where there exist many laws concerning the nature of sacrifices. Therefore, the lamb is taken as a figure of Christ on account of its simplicity and innocence. For it does not cry out, even when it is led to the slaughter, nor does it make a sound when it is shorn. In the same way Christ, as it is in Isaiah, was led away to the slaughter, and as an innocent lamb before its shearer is dumb, so He opened not His mouth.

Nor is the lamb assumed only on account of its innocence, but also because, just as it provides us with garments of its wool, so too Christ, ^B slain for the sake of our salvation, becomes a garment for us—and indeed one so effective that it brings immortality, namely through baptism. That garment of incorruption is taken from the Clementine Octateuch, where these words are: "That He may hold them worthy of the laver of regeneration, which is the garment of incorruption."

In truth, a perfect sheep, as far as the real sense is concerned, is one that has completed one year (since lambs in the space of one year grow to their full age); but allegorically, because Christ is both perfect God and perfect man. For nothing is more perfect than the Divinity, as being that from which perfection flows to all other things; moreover, all signs of the Divinity shone forth in Christ. Furthermore, the humanity, being anointed by the Divinity, became that which the part by which it was anointed—that is, the associate of the Divinity—is; not indeed by nature, but by the attainment of the Divinity, just as iron ignited is called fire, not by nature, but by inflammation. For it did not depart from its own nature. Again, even in a pious sense, the Lord's flesh is called God on account of the highest union.

Furthermore, Christ is perfect for this reason also, because no part of justice is lacking in Him. For thus He speaks of Himself: *For thus it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness.* Then: "Let," he says, "the lamb be a male; for the male is more perfect than the female, and more worthy of preeminence." Thus, truly, Christ is also the King of nature, as the male is to the female, and therefore He is the only spouse of the entire human nature, as if of a maiden of marriageable age, who has sown the seeds of divine knowledge into our souls.

Besides these causes, Gregory also brings forward this one, why Christ is a male lamb: namely, because He was offered primarily for Adam. That "primarily" shows that He was offered for the sake of the woman as well, though more for the man, since he also had sinned more grievously, as one who was endowed with both a firmer mind and had received the commandment. Adam was therefore firmer than the woman: but Christ is firmer and more robust than Adam. For the former was overcome by sin: but Christ broke and routed sin. Wherefore it is not without reason that the more robust was sacrificed for the robust. Why so? Because, he says, Adam the first fell into sin. But did not the woman sin first? It is indeed so. But because the weakness of nature made her sin lighter, the whole crime was assigned to Adam. And this is the first reason why Christ is said to be a male. The second is because Christ has nothing feminine in Himself, that is, nothing soft and dissolute toward pleasure, and has not faltered in the least toward any vicious affection. The third is because the power of Christ is distinguished; he calls this violence, which, being applied beyond the law of nature...

did not open the gates of virginity. Yet maternal and virginal joined together on account of the miracle of the thing. For these two, namely virginity and birth, met here. Isaiah also calls Christ a male child, when he says: *And I approached the prophetess, and she conceived, and bore a son, and before the pains of birth came, she escaped, and brought forth a male*. For the prophetess was the Theotokos, as having prophesied concerning herself; *For behold*, she says, *all generations shall call me blessed*. And he will be, he says, a yearling, or according to time, so that he might not be rejected as imperfect if he had not yet completed the time of a year of life; or because they were about to celebrate the anniversary of the Passover, that is, every year, making gain for us because of the passion fulfilled for our sake. A yearling lamb is also assumed for this reason, ^B because the Lord is new on earth, and has nothing of human age. Wherefore, if anyone asserts that the divinity was conceded to the Lord Jesus by benefit and grace, and is not true, such a one does not have the male lamb sacrificed for him. In a similar manner, if anyone refers anything of human age or old age to Christ, he does not have the yearling. Nay, even Christ is to be called a yearling, as the Sun of Justice, according to that of Malachi: *There shall rise for you who fear my name the Sun of Justice*. In which place Christ is called the sun, first because he sheds light upon our spiritual senses and the whole intelligible world; then because he is the cause why all things exist, and are begotten, and grow, and bring forth fruit. Then because his presence brings light, and his absence brings darkness. Further, because he effects seasons, that is, the virtues of the soul. Then because he dispenses all things for utility, not only those which are favorable and prosperous, but also those which seem bitter, not otherwise than this visible sun, which is the cause not only of spring and summer, but also of autumn and winter. And just as first the light was created, then that house of light, which is the body of the sun: so Christ, that true light, according to his divine nature was first, but according to the later assumption of humanity and flesh, he can be compared to the body of the sun. And for these reasons Christ is named the sun: of justice, however, as he has encompassed in himself every virtue, both divine and human. Or because he is the author of all justice to mortals, since whatever is done by men rightly and with praise must be referred ^C to him. There is also another reason why Christ should be called the sun, namely, as the creator of times, just as this sun of ours is the effector of the year. And just as this, as the year turns, is turned to the same point from which it had begun its course: in the same way, Christ, having gone forth from divine glory without an exodus, his course of dispensation having been completed, has returned again to himself, that is, to his original glory and power. From here, therefore, Christ set out and came here, that is, from the Father and heaven, where, the business of our salvation being completed, he betakes himself.

And just as the sun, as far as the light is concerned, cannot be circumscribed, but as far as its orb is concerned, it is circumscribed: so Christ, as far as the divinity is concerned, can in no way be circumscribed; as far as the visible part is concerned, that is, the flesh, he is circumscribed. And Christ is also the blessed crown of benignity, according to that Davidic saying: *You shall bless the crown of the year of your benignity*. The year was taken from the sun, but the crown from the year (for the circle of the year is encompassed by four-part seasons), and from the crown, in turn, equality: for the crown, on account of the circle, is equal. Therefore, Christ is the crown, inasmuch as he adorns and decorates the minds of believers. But the year of benignity was that time in which Christ, moved by goodness, was proclaiming the Gospel, as Isaiah says of him: *He sent me to preach the Gospel to the poor, to call the acceptable year of the Lord*. Therefore, the crown is equal to itself in every part. For if one leads a line from the upper circumference to the lower, and does the same transversely, he will find equal intervals. Likewise, the crown is similar to itself, because its figure is seen to be similar in every part: for it is seen to be round on every side. Consequently, Christ, as far as his humanity is concerned, is called the crown of benignity, as being composed of all virtues, and having no end of goodness and justice, the proper mark of which justice is equality, that is, that it neither exceeds nor falls short. For excess and defect do not arise from virtue and justice, but from vice and injustice. And just as the sun is equal in quantity, so that it neither increases nor decreases, and is similar in quality, as one that becomes neither hotter nor colder than itself: so that divine and immutable nature is not moved according to quantity, nor according to quality, nor according to any other species of motion. Consequently, Christ is also equal, so that he does not decline to excess or defect, but possesses all the equality of virtue: and likewise equal, in that he shows nothing contrary in himself, nor suggests it to others, but both does and teaches all things that are similar. Nor is Christ called the sun for these reasons alone, but also as one bringing forth a circle of virtues. For he fosters the seeds of virtues implanted in our minds, and moves them toward fertility, not otherwise than the visible sun imparts certain powers during the four seasons of the year, through which the fruits of the earth mature and are perfected. It is to be noted, however, that Gregory did not say God creates virtues, but *zoogonein*, that is, to bring forth, or rather to produce unto life, so that we might understand that while virtue is in us by nature, it is brought forth through his help and assistance, that is, to receive a certain impetus and motion, and finally be perfected. And that, indeed, with good reason. For if warmth is the cause of life, when Christ is named the sun, he surely warms and fosters the virtues implanted in us, and finally makes them alive and active. And just as the seasons of the year gently

^A mingle with one another—for the transition from one contrary to another does not happen suddenly, but as if through the intervention and conciliation of an intermediate time; nor do we pass at once from summer to winter, but we grow accustomed to both through the medium of autumn. Likewise, there is no change from spring to autumn immediately (for these also differ from each other; the former moves the things that are born, while the latter rots and destroys them; but summer, placed in between, reconciles them, inasmuch as it is the end of movement, and the beginning of corruption and decay). The same may be observed in the virtues; for they are joined to one another mildly and gently. For example, clemency seems indeed to be the adversary of fortitude, and yet long-suffering, intervening, joins both the one with the other. For long-suffering seems to signify a certain delay of anger, awaiting a suitable time for the punishment to be inflicted. But clemency indicates a state of a tranquil mind and the perfect compression of anger. And for this reason, long-suffering has the praise of prudence, but he who is in possession of clemency is considered blessed, as having attained a virtue perfect in all its parts. The same reasoning applies to prudence. For both simplicity is a virtue of the rational part of the soul, and cleverness and wisdom. But these are joined to each other through the intervention of the discerning virtue. This, too, can be found in the rest. Certainly, not only are virtues joined to one another, but they are also tempered—that is, they are blended whole with whole. For it can happen that someone might be at once both simple and clever, clement and full of fortitude, continent and temperate. Furthermore, they are joined by the law of friendship and order: of friendship, because of concord; of order, because one is first, the other second, and so on. For just as a certain order may be perceived in the times of the year, so also in the virtues. For usually, the moral ones precede the speculative ones. And thus, even among the moral ones themselves, there is a very great distinction and a remarkable order. For fear is more rudimentary; charity, however, is more perfect. But contemplate the circle of the virtues: fear produces continence, this produces patience, patience produces the hope of tranquility, the mother from whom fear is again born. For there is a twofold fear: the one elementary, which is expressed by the fear of punishment, of which the Scripture says: *The beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord*; and: *Perfect charity casts out fear*. The other has a perfecting power, not allowing us to fall into contempt through immoderate license. Of this, David speaks thus: *The fear of the Lord is holy*. And again: *There is no want to those who fear Him*. Furthermore, the four general virtues—fortitude, prudence, temperance, and justice—can also be called circular, because the governing mind circles about them, going around them and encompassing them. And these things said regarding the explanation of the ring shall suffice. Now I shall say why the lamb must be immaculate and incorrupt. Immaculate ^B is the lamb that is spoiled by no stain; incorrupt, however, is that which is not reprobate or to be rejected for any other reason. But Christ is not only immaculate and incorrupt himself, but he also makes us such. He heals, moreover, the vices and filth flowing from sin. *Elattomata*, furthermore, are defects of virtue; but the filth are the accretions of vice. For we are in vice in two ways: either because we fall short in the good, or because we add evil. Just as, conversely, virtue consists either in the avoidance of evil or in the performance of the good. For although the Lord took on our sins, although he also bore the sicknesses of our souls, he himself, however, never thought or admitted anything that would require medicine, just as if a physician could remove a disease from a sick man, while he himself is not infected. For the Lord was indeed tempted in all things *according to our likeness, yet without sin*. For the light shines in darkness, that is, in this murky life, surrounded by a dense fog of passions; and the opposing darkness—that is, he who, because of pride, has become darkness—persecuted and tempted Christ; however, he could not comprehend or overcome him, but retreated defeated and confounded.

Col. 642 C. What besides? *The first month, etc.* And let these things about the lamb, he says, be considered and weighed by us. But what, then, remains? Namely, that we understand what that month is in which the lamb is sacrificed. For it is written in Exodus: *This month shall be unto you the beginning of months, it shall be the first for you*, etc. Let us perceive the allegory of these words. The month of the Passover, therefore—which is called Pharmuthi by the Egyptians, Xanthicus by the Macedonians, Nisan by the Hebrews, March by the Romans—this is introduced and decreed as the first among the months, and the beginning of the months of the year, perhaps because it was already by its beginning first in order. For this is a secret doctrine among the Hebrews, that this is the time in which God created the whole mass of substances. Furthermore, this is the spring season, in which the earth also brings forth plants. It is also the time when the Hebrews departed from Egypt. Perhaps, then, for this reason also, this month is called the first, because the mystery of the Passover was celebrated in it. In the beginning of the year, then, and in the first month, the time of the sacrifice is prescribed, because Christ also is the beginning of all things, and not recent, on account of his birth from the Father, which is superior to all ages. In the same way, for us too, the sacrifice of the true Passover is the beginning of eternal life. For the year denotes the age, since, moving in a circle, it is always turned back upon itself, and does not rest at any end. The lamb, moreover, is taken on the tenth of the month, because ten is the fullest number, as the very etymology of the name teaches. For it is called *dekas*, ὡς δεκτινὴ πάντων τῶν ἀριθμῶν, that is, because it receives all numbers. For when ^D [it] arrives at them...

their progress reaches an end, and thereafter they are only repeated and revolved. The first decade, however, is called the perfect unit and the generator of perfection, because there is another unit, namely, the first unit. But although that is the beginning of numbers and generates them, it is by no means perfect. But the first decade has these two prerogatives: the one, that it is perfect, inasmuch as the numbers proceed up to this point and then revolve back; the other, that it is the generator of perfection. For it produces the number one hundred, which is most perfect. And if you should contend that the number six is also perfect, yet in this respect it yields to the decade, because although it is perfect, it does not beget perfection. Moreover, the number six is said to be perfect, not because in it the numbers cease their progression, as happens with the decade, but it is called perfect for another reason, namely, that it is compounded of its parts. For the half of six, and the third, and the sixth, collected into a sum, make up six. Now, the lamb is kept until the fifth day, that is, from the tenth to the fourteenth day: perhaps because Christ, our victim, purges the five external senses: for these are the windows of the house of the soul, concerning which Jeremiah says: *Death is ascended through our windows*, that is, through the senses, by which sin enters—not as efficient causes, but as secondary ones. And around these the battle is waged, admitting the arrow of sin falling from without. There is also another hidden reason why the lamb is indeed taken on the tenth, but sacrificed on the fourteenth, toward evening. For the fact that it is not taken on the first day, but on the tenth, indicates that those ages which preceded our creation, in which God always was, were long; but after this, our age enters—which is divided, as if by five days, into five periods: namely, into that which flowed from Adam to Noah, into that which [flowed] from Noah to Abraham, into that which [flowed] from Abraham to Moses, into that which [flowed] from Moses to the presence of Christ, and finally into that very time of His presence, in which, through that great sacrifice, salvation was proposed to all. Now, the parable of the vineyard also divided the day into those five spaces. For it narrates that some were called around the first hour, others around the third, others around the sixth, others around the ninth, and others finally around the eleventh. At which time also the reward of work performed is paid in the first place to those who arrived last. For we are the first to receive regeneration, for whom Christ was sacrificed, and recalled from death, He breathed the Holy Spirit upon us for the sake of the renewal of our souls. Therefore, the lamb is taken on the first day of this five-day period, that is, on the tenth of the month, holding the figure of the beginning of this age, and having been kept until the final time, that is, the fourteenth, it is sacrificed toward evening. Toward evening, I say, so that you may again ^A understand that the mystery of Christ is by no means recent, ^B but from the foreknowledge of the Father was preserved from the very creation of the world, though for our sake He underwent death in the final times. But if another reason should be brought forward why the lamb is sacrificed on the fourteenth day of the month, it must be said that this happens because on this day the lunar cycle is perfected in every part, and as if with an alien light it illuminates the globe, but finally it begins to diminish and cease: that from this you may understand, as from a certain image, that by all parts of the world the prince of darkness was celebrated (for the moon is placed in the principality of the night) and, pouring the wisdom of the world—like some falsified light—into the hearts of erring men, he attained the fullest glory for himself. But the true Lamb, dying for us, oppressed the glory of the devil. For He will compel it to cease and be consumed in the future. And this, indeed, was what was sung in the Psalms: *Justice shall arise in his days, and abundance of peace, until the moon be removed in turn*. In which place it is to be observed that he did not say: "remove," but, "removed in turn." For as though he had already removed the man, the devil himself is in turn removed from the midst. But if you wish in this place to understand the moon in a good sense, we look to the fourteenth day for this reason: that through that light which falls into our view, and consists of matter, we may conceive by a certain image that which is spiritual and lacking in matter, so that in appearance we seek the full moon, which affords us its light for the whole night; but in reality this ceremony stands in the place of the law for us, commanding that all time, which is divided into day and night, may be perpetually clear to us, and have no dark deeds mixed in. But returning to the history, let us ask what the reason is why the lamb is not only selected from the lambs which are stationed on the right side, but also from the kids which the judge stations on the left, ^C as possessing no action on the right. For He says: *He set the sheep on the right, but the kids on the left.* Perhaps this is done because Christ died for all, as well for the sheep as for the kids, and for these also most especially, as those who have need of greater mercy. Perhaps also because Christ, being truly just, underwent death, therefore the lamb is taken to His figure: ^D but because in human opinion He was sacrificed as a criminal, on that account the kid is also slaughtered. For the lamb is understood as the immaculate sacrifice, dedicated by the prescription of the law for perpetual sacrifices; but the kid is offered for sins. Which two, indeed, you will find in Christ. For He was the same, both as an immaculate victim, namely, offering Himself to the Father for an odor of sweetness: and as a kid, while He was sacrificed for our sins. And that I may reduce the matter in a few words, the sheep indeed, according to Isaiah, designates the gentleness of Christ; but the kid, according to the law, is a sacrifice for sin. Therefore, gently, like a sheep, led to punishment, as a goat for sin...

^A sacrificed, exposing himself to death for the sake of the salvation of men. Or, if you prefer, as a kid leaps up into high places, so Christ ascends into heaven and lifts you up with him. For he died for your sake, so that you might live with him. What, then, is the meaning of the law in ordering that the lamb be sacrificed in every house, but if the householders are few and poor, that neighbors also be present, and that in this way the sacrifice be completed by a contribution? Since it is indeed more excellent that each person should suffice for his own perfection and not need the help and assistance of others for virtue, but rather, as the Apostle writes 17, show himself a sacrifice to God, not an inanimate one, such as that which is performed by brute animals, which was offered to God only after it had been slaughtered, but a living sacrifice, like the martyrs who offered themselves alive to God and then suffered death for him. Every person ought to offer himself as such a sacrifice to God, and always, and in all matters, be sacrificed. This will come to pass if we suppress and mortify our members for the commission of sin. But if anyone, alone and by himself, is not capable of ascending to the mystery of Christ through understanding on account of the poverty and feebleness of his mind, he will take to himself partners and assistants, namely, those whom he accepts who are endowed with the same faith. For sometimes we rise to more sublime speculations through mutual cooperation, taking as partners those who are equal and near to us in virtue. But here one might deservedly ask, since Christ is one, who is preached through the law and the prophets and indeed through created things, how will it be that the law, ^B celebrating the figure of Christ, commands many lambs to be sacrificed through houses of families? To this I respond: just as each of those who have embraced Christ by faith, according to the measure of his own strength, is spiritually crucified with Christ—one, indeed, fastening himself to the cross only as regards actual sin, another as regards even the very agitations of the soul, another as regards the very imaginations of the affections, and finally another as regards the very thoughts of the affections—so each of us in the degree and order of virtue appropriate to him, as though in a certain house, sacrifices the lamb, and becomes a partaker of his flesh, and is filled to satisfaction by the Lord Jesus. For Jesus Christ is made the proper lamb of each one, and he becomes whole, and for the whole, and all things to all. And by the neighbor who is assumed for the eating of the lamb, the Gentiles can also be signified. For because the Jews, on account of the poverty of their soul, could not conceive this mystery, for that reason, moreover, ^C pagans were taken into the society and fellowship of the sacrifice. Moreover, in each house the lamb was perfect, nor was it divided into different houses. For Christ is one and indivisible, and faith is one.

Col. 645 A. *Hence the sacred night and of the present life, that is,* etc. Subsequently, he says, and in order, the mystical and sacrosanct night arrives, an enemy and foe of this dark life, which is called night also for ^D this reason, that in it, as in the night, both virtues and vices are in the dark, and also on account of the ignorance and error and sin poured out into it, which is propagated and presses upon all with its dominion. But hear how that divine night, in which Christ was to die, was the enemy of the night of sin. Just as in the creation of the world, once sensible light was produced, the darkness which is called primeval was dispersed—not that it was endowed with substance and created, but because it subsisted, as it were, over the heaven and the earth, things endowed with substance. For there is no essence and subsistence of darkness; but they exist through obstruction and obstacle, and have the nature of an accident, not a substance. Therefore, just as after the light was created and the darkness removed, the earth began to be seen and the order of the elements is distinct—everything having been informed—and heaven received its adornment, and the earth in turn its own, and in this way that previously unformed matter was adorned with forms: so also in this sacrosanct night, in which Christ for the sake of our salvation accepted and took away death, the ignorance and malice clinging to us, having the character of night, was routed and dissolved; and the phases of things were so changed that for us truth shone forth instead of shadow, knowledge instead of ignorance, faith instead of unbelief, righteousness instead of sin. Here also, one may understand the sin of our first parents through the primeval darkness, through which all things were disturbed and overturned. But in Christ, the true light, these shadows of sin were dissolved and utterly removed, but they did not pass away or recede elsewhere; and he who said that light should shine out of darkness illuminated all things, so that those things which before lacked form might be informed; he, I say, the architect and fabricator of true beauty and virtues, who, having observed our affairs, which were immoderately agitated and fluctuating, brought them from the disorderly into order. For light, and adornment, and order signify knowledge and virtue; while darkness and confusion, on the contrary, which previously besieged human life, designate vice and ignorance.

Col. 645 A. *Hence we flee Egypt, that is, the sad,* etc. After this, he says, we flee sin as a certain Egypt, which is indeed to be called sad, as bringing the cause of sadness, but pursuing bitterly, as making incursions for the destruction of man. Although, otherwise, Egypt, if you interpret it, sounds "darkness": and these are sad. But the Egyptians pursued the Israelites so that they might apprehend them. Nor do we flee only sin, the parent of sadness, but also the works servile to the prince of dark demons, by which the mind is oppressed; and we flee the demons themselves who rule, who are never not pressing and harshly and bitterly urging and driving us to the work of sin, and for that reason are called the overseers of works.

Just as the Israelites traveled toward the land of promise, so too we travel toward the celestial world. And just as they were liberated from the making of mud and bricks, in the same way we are liberated from the slippery and treacherous compaction of this body, which is fashioned from the earth, whence come both the bricks and the mud. Furthermore, the very structure of the body, inclined by its own nature toward transgression and sin, is in many men—especially the more inward and slothful—so easily dissolved by pleasures and is carried off by an unbridled impulse that it cannot be restrained or bound even by meager and slight arguments, like bricks by straw; rather, it loosens and spreads out like mud toward pleasures. For it was fitting that we, constructed of dense and solid and spiritual arguments, should be restrained from foul pleasures for the sake of the love of God. But now, even the most wicked are not held or caught by even flimsy and light arguments, so that if they do not abstain from flagrant sins for the sake of God, they might at least abstain for the sake of earning the praise of men. ^B

Ibid. *Hence the last and most grievous plague to the persecutors, etc.* The Lord inflicted ten plagues upon the Egyptians for the sake of the Hebrews. The first was that blood which was drawn from the collection of waters; the second, frogs; the third, gnats; the fourth, the dog-fly; the fifth, the death of cattle; the sixth, boils; the seventh, hail destroying the wheat; the eighth, locusts devouring all green things; the ninth, palpable darkness; the tenth, the oppression of the firstborn. And this plague was indeed the last in order, but the first in the gravity of the punishment. For the Egyptians could not endure it, but at that time granted the Israelites the power to depart. In the same way, this seems to be the most grievous punishment for the demons, the persecutors of our souls, when in a mind alienated from all ostentation and humble and abject, as it were in a certain night, the firstborn of sin—that is, the first origin and principle of vice—are extinguished by us; just as Christ teaches in the Gospel, when He commands us to be of an unfrightened heart once our desire and anger are compressed and removed, and to no longer fear either the crime of adultery or the guilt of murder. For neither of these can consist of itself, unless ^C lust has brought forth adultery, and anger has brought forth murder. Therefore, since he who produces the vicious offspring gives birth to lust before adultery, and to anger before murder, if indeed he has destroyed the firstborn, he will without doubt have destroyed also the offspring that follows the firstborn. But let us see what are the firstborn of thoughts, and likewise of actions, which Egypt—that is, sin—pursues with mourning as if they were perishing. Filthy and foul thoughts are divided into these three: into intention, into congress—which is also called struggle—and into consent. Therefore, a firstborn thought can be called the primary intention and appetite, disturbed by the passions. But the firstborn of actions are the vicious reasonings and thoughts from which that sin proceeds, which the law instructs to be smeared with the blood of the animals upon the doorposts of the houses. By these, action and contemplation can be signified. Since our philosophy is also twofold, active and speculative, or habit and act. Moreover, I call our philosophy that way of life which is instituted according to the doctrine of Christ. And indeed, active philosophy is that life upon which no reproach falls; speculative, however, is the right judgment of the doctrine of the faith. Again, habit is the long-standing affection of the soul toward virtue, and of such a kind that it can hardly be shaken off; act, however, is the action itself. Now indeed, the portals are spoken of in this place as the movements of the mind and dogmas—movements, when the mind searches for something and revolves it with itself; dogmas, however, when it retains certain notions that generate faith by themselves, and holds them as set and firm dogmatically. These movements are opened, moreover, as often as the mind has found something coming to its knowledge and perception, and is about to receive it; but they are closed when that which is sought surpasses its understanding. Since there is a certain mode of the comprehensions of the mind as well. For the comprehensions of the mind have their own mode, and the mind perceives those things which it is granted to attain. Sometimes, however, the mind, closing its doors, repels the movements and thrusts them from itself. Hence, both our action and contemplation, and habit and act, are to be signed with the royal sign, ^D that is, the blood of Christ, not so that they may be shut up and do nothing, but so that they may be inscribed, and that they may keep such a sign and exemplary marks entire within themselves. Or also, so that they may strike terror into the hostile forces, just as the royal sign is wont to be fearsome.

Ibid. *Hence the lamb is slaughtered, and action, etc.* Since our soul has a tripartite reason (for it is divided into the rational, the concupiscible, and the irascible), on the doorposts can be compared anger and concupiscence; on the threshold, however, the ratio, the conciliator and collector of these, joined to each and sustained by each. For it is strengthened toward fortitude by anger; toward the fellowship of the highest good, it is carried up by concupiscence. Therefore, the lamb being slaughtered, we perform it with the assent of the mind, and at length it proceeds to action. Such a plague, therefore, is worthy of the night. For the works of night and of disgrace and of ignominy are deserving of being overwhelmed by night and darkness and oblivion. Indeed, Isaiah calls these firstborn the Chaldean seed, bringing God to address the Israelitic people thus: *Loving you, I have fulfilled your will regarding Babylon, that I might remove the seed of the Chaldeans.* The sense of which words is: You desired, O Israel, that the Chaldeans and Babylonians, who were attacking you in war, be removed from your midst and utterly destroyed. And so I have done it. Wherefore, if they also [wish] us [to have] the confusion with which we are pressed, as

in fact Babylon signifies, desiring it to be removed from us, we shall find God satisfying our will, and exterminating our shameful and impure thoughts, when they are not yet mature, but are still tender and possess the nature of seed. Now David calls the principles and roots of such sin "the little ones of Babylon," saying: "O daughter of Babylon, miserable [as thou art], blessed shall he be who will repay thee thy retribution, which thou hast repaid us. Blessed is he who shall take and dash thy little ones against the rock." ^A For because the Babylonians, according to the historical sense, attacked the Jews in war, pressed them with captivity, and led them to Babylon, and dashed many of the children of the Israelites against the ground and slaughtered them, the Prophet pronounces them blessed who shall be able to inflict the same examples of cruelty upon the Babylonians. But according to the allegorical sense, Babylon is confusion. Its daughter is iniquity, which the Prophet even calls "miserable," being that it does not exist, nor does it subsist, but is composed out of nothing by our own negligence and subsists, and again perishes through our virtue and rightly done deeds, and returns to nothingness. To this, therefore, the Prophet speaks thus: "Blessed shall he be who will repay thee thy retribution, which thou hast repaid us." But what have we given? Our will, that is, our liberty: for a slave has no will. What, moreover, have we received? Sin. Wherefore, it must be returned. And to return it is nothing else than not to admit it in the future. "Blessed," he says, "he who shall take" those wicked thoughts, while they are still tender and imperfect, before they are nourished into his own destruction and reach maturity, and, having reduced them to his power, shall slay them, running for refuge, of course, to Christ and His aid. For He Himself is the rock, through whom evil thoughts are dissolved. ^B Moreover, he who confesses to Christ dashes against Him the sins that are born from thoughts and actions. And whoever shakes off perverted dogmas—which afflict with perturbation the mind of him by whom they are admitted—by the doctrine of truth, and kills and extinguishes them in Christ, and does not permit them to grow and mature, but overcomes with his wisdom the offspring of a confused and perturbed mind, and then dashes it against Christ, the true rock: this is he who dashes the children of Babylon against the rock. But let the discourse be turned again to the firstborn, at whose perishing all things among the Egyptians resound with clamor and wailing. For the demons mourn and groan when they see vicious thoughts being extinguished in us before they have grown, and the perturbations of the soul still recent being rooted out and excised. Therefore, the Egyptian offspring of sin are slain before they mature in evil; while Israelite and upright thoughts are fortified by the shedding of blood, so that virtue may reach maturity. And there, indeed, the first impulse of sin is broken, while here the first entrance of sin is turned away from the true lamb. ^C For we do not expel the exterminator by art and counsel and cast him out, but we watch and provide so that he may in no way creep into our souls. Now this caution consists in unction and sealing. For the exterminator, finding this in us, feels reverence and fear and withdraws, and death springs no further. And since a double entrance to us lies open to death (for we sin either by judgment and reason, as when we do not reason soundly or rightly; or we slip, moved by the affections, as when we are rashly angry and covetous), for this reason the sign of blood is also double. And reason, indeed, as the prince, is like the upper lintel; but affection, like the doorpost, is subjected to the upper lintel.

Col. 643 C. Then the leaven for the span of seven days, etc.

Col. 643 C. And let them indeed mourn: etc.

^A put on our Lord Jesus Christ through baptism, receive his divine body. But let us look again at what is written in Exodus concerning the lamb: "And the whole multitude of the congregation of the children of Israel shall kill it in the evening." And a little further on: "You shall not eat of it raw, nor sodden in water, but roasted with fire." The evening, therefore, as the end of the day, foreshadows the end of the ages, in which Christ also was sacrificed for our sake by the entire synagogue, and the sun reclined, sympathizing with its Creator. Indeed, Christ himself also delivered the mystical supper to the disciples in the evening, so that he might fulfill the figure (for according to the Law, the lamb was sacrificed in the evening), and drive away the thick darkness of sin, having revealed a most illustrious and holy mystery. Certainly, the man who has a sluggish and cold faith, and does not equip it with the wings of excellent actions, nor attenuate Christian doctrine through careful investigation, receives that holy food raw, ^B since one who eats raw food cannot be equal to digesting it; indeed, such food does not even yield to the teeth in any way. But he who serves pleasures eats the sacrosanct food sodden. For things that are sodden require variety and condiments, and indicate a soft life flowing with luxury, and food that drags out a long delay in the stomach. But he who excels in alacrity of soul and integrity receives this food roasted, and does not mix the condiments of base pleasure with virtue. For that which is roasted by fire is prepared purely and frugally. For that which is sodden is cooked by the action of water, and consequently cannot be discerned, as it is hidden in the water: and it is also watery and easily dissolved. But that which is roasted is roasted immediately by fire, and for that reason it is illuminated, dried out, and condensed. Therefore, the Law forbids the lamb from being eaten sodden in water, that is, a watery and dissolute opinion and sentiment regarding Christ, indicating that such food would be not at all healthy for those endowed with faith. Just as if someone were to think that Christ is not God by nature: for this is not the opinion of a solid, constant, and mature faith: and likewise if one denies that, as God, he can do all that he wills. For this opinion has not been tested and explored by the fire of the Spirit, nor has it achieved the speculation that befitted it. And for that reason, it is ^D neither compact nor compressed and solid, but, on the contrary, rejected, unexamined, fluid, and soluble. For he who investigates the conception and generation of Christ and the rest of this kind in a natural way does not distinguish the more excellent from the inferior, just as fire does not distinguish gold from other materials, nor does he render doctrine pure and free from every coarse and unworthy thought, as the similitude of fire requires, which consumes the matter and the coarseness, but renders the gold pure and refined. For he who clings to the vestiges of human nature, and weighs the conception of it, as if it were the same as that of other men, he does not separate the more excellent from the inferior. But let us be joined to those who roast the lamb, being, namely, fervent in spirit, as Paul exhorts. That we might be helped by the Lord through those good coals that enlighten and purge our intellect.

I cannot sufficiently admire and praise the Theologian’s discourse, which is brief indeed, but filled to abundance with profound reflections. Heavens, how many places of Scripture he has summarized in this brief commemoration of coals! For as many phrases as that Father uses, just as many testimonies of Scripture will be numbered. And he spoke of "good" coals, so that he might distinguish them from the "bad" ones, which David calls "desolate," that is, avenging. But as for his saying, "that we might be helped," he took the occasion for this word from Isaiah, speaking thus: "You have coals of fire, sit upon them. These shall be an aid to you." But the phrase, "enlightening our intellect," he took from Solomon, and interpreted it acutely and learnedly. For he writes in a certain place: "If your enemy is hungry, feed him, and if he thirsts, give him something to drink: for by doing this you shall heap coals of fire upon his head." But here, by these coals, he understood divine and spiritual thoughts, which affect the mind with heat and ignite it. Finally, he added the word "purging," mindful of that coal and the Seraphim, and remembering from this the purification compared to the holy Isaiah. Such coals Christ offers us for the sake of our aid, saying: "I have come to cast fire upon the earth, and what do I wish, but that it be kindled?" In which place, fire signifies the fervor of the Spirit, or the acrimony of the spiritual life and the evangelical precepts, by which the entire state of a vicious soul is reduced to ash and consumed, wherefore the Lord desires it to be kindled as soon as possible, as a benefit, and not as an avenger and tormentor.

Col. 646 A. "Whatever further the doctrine contains that is carnal and edible," etc. It is written again in Exodus: "And they shall eat the flesh in that night, roasted with fire, the head with the feet and the entrails." The Theologian, however, ascending from history to allegory: "Whatever," he says, "in our faith and doctrine is carnal, that is, edible, shall be eaten." And that we may explain the sense of these words; a very learned man seems to say something of this sort: All the doctrine of the divinity and humanity of Christ, which yields to the spiritual teeth just as flesh yields to the corporeal ones, and if it is rightly understood, is able to nourish the soul and profit it: this, I say, all the doctrine, as it falls into our cognition, is eaten by the mind, and will be accommodated to it, and distributed for spiritual digestion. Thus it will come to pass that those who perceive it are changed into that which they perceived, and each one to the member from him, in a spirit-

-^Aual way, according to the conception of each member, becomes a partaker of reason, according to his own strength, order, and the grace of the Spirit that pertains to him. For example, he receives the head who, from rejected principles, has attained to a faith that entirely dismisses the teaching of theological reason. Ears, however, receive him who wisely accepts divine discourses, and through them is subjected to God until death. Eyes, he who considers created things spiritually, and who gathers together all the senses of doctrine, both literal and allegorical, to the sole glory of God, free from all offense. Now, he becomes a partaker of the chest who has filled his heart with theological speculations and doctrines. But the hand is for him who does not execute any of the work prescribed by divine command sluggishly or negligently, but who has all that impulse of the soul which is concerned with action ready and intent for the fulfillment of divine laws. Furthermore, the belly for him who has a perpetually overflowing generative part of the soul, abounding in spiritual contemplations, and who has been seized by a most ardent and insatiable love and desire for the Lord’s encounter, free from every vicious affection. But truly, he eats the intestines who examines the deep things of God with a more abstruse search of the mind, and is, as it were, gorged with hidden mysteries. Legs, however, are for him who has reason incumbent upon that part of the soul which is agitated by passions—placed, as it were, in a higher position—and who holds in subjection those parts of the soul in which perturbations exist, ^Band who uproots every coarse and earthly movement from it. But he feeds on the knees who, with an affection of compassion, deliberately lowers himself to those who are prostrate and weak in faith, and emulates the lowering of the Word to us. Finally, he feeds on the shins and feet who has steps of the soul fixed and immovable in faith and virtue and knowledge. In this way, that Lamb of God can be eaten and perceived by all, and the Spirit transforms those by whom He is perceived into Himself. Moreover, this is worthy of observation, that our Theologian, if at any time he has put forth some word more obscure than can be understood by the simpler-minded, is accustomed immediately to interpret it by another, clearer word: just as he does here also. For when he had said, "Whatever is carnal," he added, "And edible," making it clear that he calls the carnal "edible." Again, when he had said, "From the intestines," he immediately shows clearly that he calls by that name things hidden and recondite. What the Theologian wishes to indicate by the carnal and the hidden has, I believe, this meaning. Just as the entrails of the lamb are hidden within, but the flesh is on the outer part: so also in the dogmas of our faith and doctrine, some things are more arcane and abstruse, others more obvious and perspicuous, not otherwise than as the entrails are hidden there, but the flesh is ^Copen and placed before the eyes: Wherefore, he says, we ought not only to examine that which is carnal, that is, easy to understand; but furthermore, it is fitting to investigate those hidden things of the mind, that is, the mystical, which our mind might meanwhile hide from crasser men. We can perhaps also explain it in this manner. Since Christ is of a dual nature, namely God and man at once, we must, he says, be brought to the point where we not only look upon His visible flesh, but also contemplate the secrets of his mind, that is, of his divinity. And let us not leave untouched the head and the feet (that is, such thoughts concerning the anointing divinity as are not abhorrent to God, and again such meditations on his assumed humanity as are appropriate to human nature). But we shall attain this if we acknowledge Christ as God indeed from the head, as more ancient than all ages, but from the feet as man, made in the last times, and finally from the intestines, because the divine power was covered and hidden in the flesh. Or perhaps it is also to be thought that the head signifies knowing that the Word, as God, was in the beginning, that is, in the Father and with the Spirit. But the feet signify having the most persuasive certainty that God, even while still existing, is about to return to us again, to put an end to his human dispensation and governance. For the feet are at the end and extremity of the whole body. The intestines, finally, represent those hidden and as it were middle things, and the intestines of the assumed humanity, that we might understand the eternal Christ by the complex of three times, and by the head that which was in us, by the feet that which will be, and by the intestines that which always is. Concerning which John also seems to me to have spoken when he said: Who is, who was, and who is to come, ^Dencompassing the beginning, the middle, and the end at once.

PSELLUS. Since a power has been granted to me also, after Gregory, to interpret this history and to decide in what manner the Word is to be eaten, I shall offer a more subtle division than he has made, making mention of the members of the lamb individually, and transferring the structure and creation of the body to spiritual speculation. The head therefore holds a place in the prior part of the lamb, with its parts. Then the neck, intercepted by vertebrae, ends in a straight extension toward the shoulders, from which the front feet are fashioned. After these, in the upper part, the back and the spine of the back are stretched, and in the lower part the hollow of the belly is fashioned. The hind feet follow, ending in a tail. Between these parts, however, is the head, which is higher, or to speak more aptly, more prominent and forward. For Aristotle asserts in his book *On the Parts of Animals* that the high and the sublime are predicated of the formation of man. But the feet fix their gait lower and near the earth. In this way, therefore...

the divine lamb is also constituted, from head and feet ^A—that is, from divinity and humanity—which one should divide only by contemplation, while at the same time uniting them, and by eating them, transfer them appropriately to the reception of the soul. But the reception of the soul is a faculty capable of spiritual contemplations, which, indeed, receives the doctrine easily by dividing it, and by warming it through the fervor of the spirit, and by altering it, digests it for assimilation and transfuses it into its own essence. Therefore, the vertex of our divine head—that is, of the divine Word—is the Father, from whom He was begotten in an incorporeal and inexplicable way. Hence, we must also eat the vertex, that is, understand that this generation is in no way similar to the production of bodies. Also, that the Word is indeed from Him, but not after Him. Finally, that, with regard to the cause, the Father is greater than the Son. Since, however, the hairs also cover the vertex (that is, that darkness removed from contemplation which covers the paternal substance), we must necessarily divide these too, as much as the matter requires, and thus apply the faculty of the soul to reach those things which are superior in both discourse and contemplation. Now let us also eat the divine ears of the divine lamb, that is, by hearing spiritually that He was incarnate, that the Word became flesh. For we do not preach that the Word was changed into flesh, nor that His incorporeal essence thickened into flesh, but rather that He remained what He was, and assumed what He was not. Furthermore, let us eat the eyes, by discerning spiritually, and not being intercepted by the bodies of those things which fall under sight, but by penetrating in an intellectual way into the divine illuminations. Let us not leave even a part of the eyebrows intact, but by covering the keen-sighted faculty of the soul, lest the flux of airy spirits, infused from somewhere above with salt and bitterness, injure the eye itself. What then? Shall we not also touch the nostrils themselves, those that exhale the divine ointment with which the Lord Himself was anointed before His passion? For we are the good spiritual odor, according to the Apostle. ^B Therefore, every purity of the contemplations must be drawn into us through the attracting faculty of the soul, as if through certain nostrils: but whatever is nebulous and dark in them must be left outside, and the nostrils are to be held back, lest they draw in this nebulous thickness. Let us not spare even the mouth, which is indeed that fountain of life and immortality, to which whoever brings his lips will drink divine fluids: but let us not rush toward that fluid with reckless impulse, but first distinguish the lips, so that the clarity of the fountain may remain for it. As for the teeth, let us adopt the method of looking at them, but by no means crushing them. For since it is impossible to divide and understand the Father just as we do this divine lamb (and for this reason the teeth are placed in a dark seat, covered by both jaws and lips), we should touch the coverings sparingly, but what is discovered beneath them—that is, the supernal treasures—let us leave without any investigation. Nor let us be devoid of the neck, surely carrying the divine yoke: let us also take up the divine shoulders, adding to them the soul through prayers, which exhort us to endure adverse circumstances. We must also gnaw that cartilaginous part of the trachea, which is situated in the front and draws in the breath. This, moreover, signifies the spiritual ascent, through which we draw in the intellectual air and breathe it into the innermost part of the soul, and as if surround ourselves with it. Furthermore, let us eat the whole chest and thorax. For this part covers the vital heart above all, that is, every spiritual contemplation, which indeed warms the most spiritual food and changes it to be wonderfully slippery and mobile for the flow, and renders it such that it may flow with an easy duct into the divine channels, through which the irrigation of the Spirit is transmitted to the parts of the soul. Let us not spare the intestines themselves, but let us eat the heart itself first, namely, because of Him who for our salvation humbled Himself, by crushing and humbling our heart, to the extent that it can be done, and by cleansing the chief part of the soul, and not admitting those reasonings which ascend from the earth into the chest. Since, however, the heart is not sufficient for life, being as it is redundant with excessive fire, unless it is blown upon by the lungs, which indeed are by their nature a soft body that is easily consumed, let us also eat the lungs, that is, by preserving our soul whole and incorrupt in its reasonings. Let us also take the stomach and the intestines, keeping it simple, and not oppressing it with a multitude of foods, from which a smoky vapor ascends into the brain, and fills its membrane with a gloomy darkness, and makes our mind swell by being filled again with the interstitial air, and tears it apart with the wind, and especially on account of the blind intestine—that is, the perverse thought, which receives impurity and uncleanness from this, and brings about a vicious habit of the soul. Now let us also eat the liver, with its lobes and ridges, now stretching our desire toward high and sublime things, now toward those things which are of an inferior cognition, that is, to the first and second natures. Moreover, let us gently and moderately touch the spleen, purifying that faculty which is averted from reason, in which a wicked demon, like some black humor, resides, and infects the purity of the soul with hidden and pestiferous seeds sown within. Finally, let us instruct even the part devoid of reason so that it may obey the precepts of reason. Thus it will happen that not even it itself is left untouched by us. And these things, as far as it is possible, we should hesitantly eat, in order to nourish our soul. But there is one thing to be guarded against: that we do not let our teeth fall upon the bones. For they cannot be consumed without the greatest difficulty, nor are they admitted into food. Which, however, is to be attributed not to their nature but to our infirmity. The bones, moreover, are that arcane doctrine of the divinity of the Word, and the counsels of the assumed humanity, thus arcane and

obscure, that they cannot be explained by any speech. ^A

Col. 646 A. *Neither indeed shall we carry anything forth*, etc. These things concerning the lamb are also written in Exodus: *You shall not carry anything of the flesh outside, and you shall not leave thereof until the morning.* Furthermore, from the fact that the law prohibits anything being carried outside, we are taught that the mystery of our faith ought not to be imparted to those on the outside, that is, to the adversaries of our faith and to those who reproach our dogmas. But from the fact that it forbids anything to be left until the morning, it is signified to us that after this life, which is called by the names of night and darkness, there will remain no purgation in the future morning. For this present time is of action and labor, the future is of restitution. Furthermore, that the true and perfect knowledge of this mystery is not to be delayed nor put off to another time, nor committed to those who have once become participants of it, so that they may reserve a full and absolute perception for themselves for a season of grace that is too late. Those, however, do this who, having indeed tasted the dogmas of the Christian religion through a rudimentary instruction, nevertheless produce for that splendor which baptism brings, too long delays—that is, they put it off until old age. Wherefore, such delay by those who are participants of the true doctrine is by no means to be approved. But just as the law of Christ truly wills that we should not be angry at all (for this is by far the safest path), but if we have fallen into that perturbation of mind, that we should at least compress the fury before evening (for the sun, it says, *let not the sun go down upon your anger*), this sun moving the sense temporally, which is the measure of time: but in an allegorical sense, the Sun of righteousness. For He sets to those who are affected by the error of the mind, just as He shines upon every good and most excellent man; in this same manner also, this spiritual food, that is, the Christian doctrine, is by no means to be reserved for the following day, but is to be admitted immediately. Moreover, these words: *You shall not leave thereof until the morning,* St. Paul interprets most excellently, saying that the commemoration of our Lord's passion is to be made by us *until He comes*, that is, that we must be baptized and proclaim the death of the Lord as long as we are in this life. For the death of Christ is commemorated in this night, that is, in the present age, but it is seen in the future life, certainly at His second coming.

Col. 646 B. *Whatever, moreover, is bony*, etc. This also is held concerning the lamb in the book of Exodus. *You shall not break a bone thereof, but whatever remains thereof you shall burn with fire.* Which words are to be expounded in an allegorical sense as follows. In divine precepts it is fitting to enter upon such a reason, so that those things which can be understood promptly and easily (for this is what is signified by the carnal ^B as we have said) not sluggishly and as if forced, but as if famished, we may fulfill our mind with the food set before us with the highest avidity: but those speculations whose reason is removed from the cognition of men—just as seeking what the essence of God is, what was before the creation of things, what is outside those things which are perceived by the eyes, what was the necessity of those things which were made, and what things are placed in the same category, and are inquired into by ^C curious men—these we should leave to be known only by the Holy Spirit, who, as it is with Paul, *searches the deep things of God.* The same precept is also urged upon us by Wisdom in these words: *Do not search into things stronger than you,* that is, do not break the bones of the Word; for there is no need for you to look into the hidden things. Moreover, heretics break them, as far as they are able, perverting and distorting right dogmas. And here, too, the Theologian retains his custom. For when he had said: *Whatever is bony*, he added to the declaration of this word: *That which cannot be eaten*; and he interpreted this again, subjoining: *Nor discerned by the eyes of the mind.* Whatever dogmas, therefore, he says, exceed the capacity of the mind, and are solid and hidden, these are not to be broken (they are broken, however, if they are divided wickedly, that is, misunderstood); and thus they are not to be offered for adjudication to unworthy men, by whom they will be torn apart, no differently than a bone which is thrown to dogs, just as Christ says: *Do not give what is holy to the dogs, nor cast your pearls before swine,* that is, do not commit the mysteries of the faith to heretics who tear them apart, nor the clear and divine doctrine to those who are as if clothed in bristles in the mire of shameful affections: but such speculations and dogmas, the firmness of which surpasses our mind, are to be consumed by fire, not a material fire, but a divine one, by which even burnt offerings are consumed. But who is this fire? The Holy Spirit, who ^D came to the apostles in the form of fire, who searches all things and knows them. In what way, however, are those most solid dogmas consumed by the Holy Spirit, that is, understood? It is by being attenuated, that is, held as worthy of the thinnest, most subtle, and most accurate speculation, and be kept and guarded by Him, the Spirit Himself attenuating them, and not perishing, nor being scattered into water, like that molten golden calf, which was rashly and fortuitously fashioned into such a form, in order to reprove the obstinacy and hardness of the Jews. For for this reason the form of a calf, and not of some other animal, was fashioned by fire, because this animal is both of hard flesh, and with nerves and bones, just like the Hebrews, who are hard in mind. But let us briefly set forth the history of this calf. When Moses had ascended the mountain to receive the tables of the law, he spent forty days there. In the meantime, the Hebrews conspired against Aaron.

He, fearing the violence and audacity of the people, commanded the golden ornaments of the women to be brought to him. When they were brought, he cast them into the fire, and a calf’s form was at once forged from them, and this calf the senseless Hebrews followed with divine honors. Moses, descending and inflamed with anger on account of this making of the calf, broke those tables which he had received on the mountain, and burned the calf that they had made with fire, and ground it into fine parts, and scattered it into the water. And these things came into the mind of the Theologian incidentally, occasion being taken from this ^A one word for the sake of attenuation. Therefore, to return to the subject, the bones of the lamb are not to be broken for this reason which I have mentioned. For I omit saying that in the historical sense, Jesus’ legs were not broken, even though the Jews urged his death. For the Law said: If a judgment of death shall be upon a certain man, and you hang him on a tree, his body shall not remain overnight on the tree, but you shall bury him on the same day. The Jews, therefore, lest the bodies should remain on the cross, both moved by the edict of the law and because it was the evening of that Preparation, and that Sabbath which was religiously observed by them was at hand, requested of Pilate that the legs of those who had been raised onto the cross should be broken and they should be taken down. The soldiers, however, broke the legs of the thieves because they found them still breathing. But when they came to Jesus, as they saw that he was already ^B dead, they did not break his legs, that the Scripture might be fulfilled: You shall not break a bone of it. But not only in the bodily sense were Christ’s bones not broken, but they shall not be broken even spiritually and allegorically: because that strength which was in him remained unconquered, and yielded not at all to sin: nay, not even his flesh, because it had been created in a divine and not a carnal manner, saw corruption.

Ibid. *With wild lettuces, etc.* The fact that the law commands us to eat unleavened bread for seven days is a document to us that we should live in simplicity and purity for all the time of our life. By the wild lettuces, a life that is hard and a tamer of pleasures, and one like this, so that it can be grasped with difficulty by the senses, is signified to us. Since all discipline for the present seems not to be of joy, ^C but of sorrow. The manner of life that is required according to the plumb line of the divine law is also bitter to those beginning it. For although you hear Christ saying: *My yoke is sweet, and my burden is light*; it is not said in that sense because this burden is light, but it is made such by reason of the reward and wage. For the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared to the future glory which shall be revealed in us, as the Apostle says. And in another place: That which is momentary of our present tribulation, works for us above measure an eternal weight of glory, while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal. By this reason, the evangelical precepts are easy. Otherwise, the evangelical law is more troublesome and laborious than those of the legal ones. For indeed the law only prohibits the boundaries of sins; but Christ in E- ^D [Col. 646 C] *Not even the method of eating, etc.* He says, let us not pass over even the method of eating the lamb: since not even the law deemed that it should be passed over, but it accurately and diligently explained, even to the method itself, the narrative which is contained in the letter, as something that does not embrace a deeper meaning than its outer husk presents. For these are the words of the law: *Thus you shall eat it: Your loins shall be girt, and shoes on your feet, and staves in your hands. You shall eat it with haste; you shall eat unleavened bread with wild lettuces. It is the Lord's Passover.* And these are the words of the law, prescribing the manner of eating. Let us see now what each of these signifies. Therefore, that he says it must be eaten in haste, this indicates to us that he who is about to be a partaker of the lamb should not be sluggish or slothful.

^A For thus, at last, you shall worthily eat the Pascha, if you have, through temperance, contracted and restrained the expansiveness of those things in this life which are diligently sought after, like a garment flowing down to the feet and wrapped about you. For that the belt designates temperance, that place where it is applied sufficiently confirms. Then if, according to the counsel of Paul, 47 you have mortified the members which are upon the earth. He did not say of the body (for the members of this are the head, hands, feet, and others of this sort), but those things which are upon the earth, that is, the members of earthly affect, namely fornication, uncleanness, lust, and evil concupiscence. In short, if you imitate the belt of John. Now, anyone imitates this who, by the help and strength of continence, actually restrains the genital faculty of the soul through knowledge and so guards it that it cannot be poured out toward commerce with earthly things; that is, he who has extinguished the desire of base pleasures. This he calls the genital power and faculty of the soul, which the reason implanted in us—that is, the rational power—constrains: and he keeps it indissoluble, that is, by no means prone and liable to love of the things of matter. For John had a leather belt about his loins. Furthermore, the skin is dead, and designates a deadened thing. Now, truly, he can be called a solitary who has rendered his soul's habit pure from every turbulent motion. But the Forerunner, who through true and sincere repentance, the attendant of justice, and through virtue shining in the eyes of all, announces the approaching advent of knowledge. The great herald of truth at the end, who confirms the faith of the doctrine of truth, which he proclaims by voice, through the purity of his life.

The Gospel also forbids the very causes of things as if they were their ends. ^B And indeed, he who prohibits that which is primary has not left behind the secondary; for he who takes away and roots out the seed forbids also that the crop should spring up: for with the principles removed, nothing of evil will exist. And consequently, he who does not permit these, but establishes the cause in almost the same degree of crime as the end, has much more surely done away with their effects. You shall not commit adultery, says the law 49; but you shall not even covet, nor shall you look upon a woman with a base and obscene gaze, nor shall you fix your eyes with curiosity upon the beauty of another's form, so that you might ignite the flame of love with a diligent and anxious look. For this is the cause of adultery. Again: You shall not commit murder, says the law 50; but Christ has prohibited even anger itself, from which murder is born: For I say to you, he says, that you should not resist evil 51, namely the man; but if anyone strikes you a blow on your right cheek, turn the other to him. Again: It was said to those of old: You shall not perjure yourself. But I say to you, do not swear at all from the beginning. For perjury arises from frequent and familiar use of oaths. It was said again through Isaiah: Woe to those who join house with house, and field with field, so that they may snatch away something from their neighbor 52. But, on the contrary, Christ speaks thus in Mark: Go, sell whatever you have, and give to the poor, and you shall have treasure in heaven, and come, follow me 54. In which passage the cross signifies the oppression of carnal affect, and the rejection of foul pleasure, and the sense of pain conjoined with virtue, and the lifting up of the soul from earthly things. But the meaning of this entire saying is this: So far from laying a hand upon another's things, you should even pour out and distribute to the poor those things which you have sought by honest means, so that you may easily bear the cross (for poverty makes us bear the burden of affliction lightly), and in place of fleeting things and those falling under sight, you may obtain incorruptible and everlasting goods.

^C Col. 647 C. Now to the loins, in senseless animals, etc. Now he interprets this: Let your loins be girded 55, and says: In brute animals the loins, that is, that part which is nourished by pleasure, are loose and in no way compressed or restrained: since they are void of reason, which has dominion over brute pleasure and that which is averted from reason, nor are they governed by the judgment of the soul's movements. For they are not endowed with liberty of will, unless someone should say that they also know the measure of very many natural motions and impulses toward venereal congress. For the loin signifies the appetite for copulating with a female. To you, however, who have received the use of reason in addition to the freedom of the will, it must be done so that by temperance, as if by a certain belt, you may constrain the base and insane greed and lust which is signified by the loins. Which Jeremiah, attacking and cutting open, calls a neighing, saying: Horses, heated with an insane love for females, are made 56.

Col. 647 C. But I also know of another belt, etc. There is, he says, a double kind of belt that I know of: one by which a tunic that is excessively expanded is restrained, by which signification those who eat the Pascha gird their loins, that is, they contract superfluous desires. The other is military, from which in the book of Kings I find certain soldiers called [euzonoi] and [monozonoi]; [euzonoi], indeed, because they are light and nimble. For such without doubt are soldiers who are lightly girded, and bind up their single garment, and are therefore more frequently called [monozonoi], as using one belt for one garment. And also God, addressing Job himself, said: Gird, this is, do not hold your silence, but confirm yourself, and respond strenuously. For this signifies what he says: Gird up your loins like a man 58. Therefore, according to the signification of the military belt, David also says to God: You have girded me with strength for battle 59. And making remarks about God: The Lord is clothed with strength and has girded himself 60, effectively arming himself against the wicked. Unless perhaps someone might say by these words: He has girded on strength, this is signified, that God is in no way...

using his power against the wicked (for who could withstand it?) but that he has restrained its exuberant and overflowing abundance. Of the same kind also is that of David: Who covers himself with light as with a garment 61, that is, putting on and restraining the exuberant abundance of light, no differently than a garment let down to such an extent. For the power of God and the light, unless they are restrained, are equally intolerable to all.

Col. 650 A. I ask what the loins have in common with truth, etc. The Theologian proceeds to the explanation of the loins, and since he hears Paul writing thus to the Ephesians: Stand therefore, having girded your loins in truth 62, he asks what the loin has in common with truth, and finds it. For since the kidneys are in the loins, that is, behind the loins toward the spine of the back, and the concupiscible part is situated about the kidneys, therefore the Apostle called the seat of concupiscence by the name of the loins. Again, because the faculty by which we contemplate is occupied with truth, investigating those things which truly are, he therefore imposed the name of truth upon the contemplative faculty, from that which it seeks. When this had been perceived by the Theologian, he interprets this passage thus: Girded in the loins in truth, that is, the contemplation of Christ restricts our loin and concupiscence, and does not allow it, being wholly transformed and derived into the love of divine things, to be poured out and scattered. For one who is inflamed with the love of some one thing cannot be affected in the same way toward other things.

Ibid. B. Now, he who is impressed upon the holy land and divine footprints, etc. Footgear is sometimes taken for vicious mortification (for they are also made of dead skin), and sometimes for caution and protection. For these also ward off injury from the feet. And Moses, indeed, hears on the mountain: Do not come near here, take off the sandals from your feet. For the place on which you stand is holy ground 63. Which words signify to us that he who devotes his soul to contemplation (for this is the holy ground in which God appears through an image) ought to cast off worldly cares as dead and unfruitful and as intercepting the approach to God. In a similar way, he who is sent to preach the Gospel is forbidden to have money, or a staff, or two tunics, or sandals 64. In which, by the fact that he is commanded to be devoid of money, the contempt of riches is taught; but by the fact that he is forbidden to carry a staff, he learns to be of a placid mind and one alien to anger. For a staff presents the appearance of an agitated and angry mind. Whence also the Apostle, writing to the Corinthians, used to say: What do you wish? Shall I come to you with a rod, or in love and a spirit of gentleness? 65. Now, by the tunic, a life simple and free from all craftiness and wickedness is designated. Finally, by the fact that the disciples are commanded to walk barefoot, this doctrine is prescribed for them, that they should bear no mortality in them; so that that saying of Isaiah might be fulfilled, who says: How beautiful are the feet of those who announce peace and good things 66, that is, that the steps of those who announce the Gospel of peace might appear pure from all reproach. Moses, therefore, trampling upon divine ground, and the disciple who is sent to the province of preaching, should unbind the vicious and dead sandal. But he who flees Egypt and the things of Egypt, that is, sin and its offspring, lest he be harmed by the thorns of this life (that is, by sins which are able to be in the place of thorns to feet that are bare and exposed and careless), he guards his feet with the firmness of sandals. But these sandals are nothing other than a continent and rough life, which breaks and crushes the point of thorns, and prevents sin from slipping gradually from a small and obscure beginning into the inner parts. Nor, indeed, should he use sandals only because of thorns, but also because of the demons, who cunningly and wickedly and secretly lay snares, whom sin nourishes to a great degree. Concerning whom the Lord says in the Gospel: Behold, I have given to you power to tread upon serpents and scorpions 67. In which place, serpents are perhaps called those sins which are clearly grave and atrocious: but scorpions are those vices which, although they may seem small in the opinion of men, yet wound the soul with the sting of death and strike it dead. But separately, in the beginning of Genesis, it is written concerning the serpent: He shall watch your head, and you shall watch his heel 68. For man ought first to beware of and observe the onset of the spiritual serpent and the principle of evil (for this is what Scripture calls the head): lest by chance the remaining part of the body follows the head: but the serpent observes the end of man's action, just as the heel, or even the end of his very progress and life.

Col. 650 C. Now concerning the staff and its meaning, etc. There is also, he says, a twofold staff: one chastising those who use reason like cattle, according to that: You shall feed them with an iron rod 69; the other supporting the weak, according to that which was said by Zechariah: Old men shall yet sit in the streets of Jerusalem, each one having his staff in his hand, because of the multitude of days 70. And hence, I suppose, the Theologian borrowed what he said above: Bearing a staff in the manner of an old man. But to you now, eating the lamb, let it be supporting and sustaining in your hands, so that even if you hear of the blood and passion and death of God, surely with the Word claiming for himself the properties of his own flesh through the communication of idioms, you may not waver in mind, nor impiously fall away from the doctrine of the right faith, so that you either attribute the passion to the impassible divinity, or, while you take on the patronage of this, you think that he who suffers is a mere man, and that he cannot bring salvation to us. For what salvation could proceed from a pure and simple man? Do you not hear the Savior saying:

^A *Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you will not have life in you.* Why then, if you are afflicted by a longing for life, do you not, with all doubt removed, eat the body of the true Lamb and God and drink his blood? For the Word brings all life by his own power, as does that temple brought forth from the Virgin, holding the true Word within himself. For it was his own body, and not as if it were an alien work or burden. Wherefore, if the very flesh he assumed is called God's, then surely the properties of the flesh are also called God's. And therefore do not abrogate, either, the faith in those things that are said concerning the flesh, when you hear that the Son of God assumed it, and united it to himself, and, having raised it on high, deified it: nor, again, commit the error of being offended at those things that are said concerning the passion, when we say that God suffered. For we ^B do not affirm that he suffered according to the flesh, but that he suffered in his own body. Moreover, keep here also the habit of those who were eating the lamb. For just as they were eating while standing, so you too stand fixed and stable in the truth, leaning upon the staff of faith, and let yourself not be moved by every wind of doctrine. Stand at your summit, and do not let yourself be cast down into base and abject thoughts. Say with David: *Our feet were standing in your courts, O Jerusalem*, that is, we walk and dwell in the doctrine of the Church, and we believe and profess nothing alien to our own cause. Fix your feet upon the rock, and the Rock is Christ, and our faith and confession in him: by whose benefit, may you attain to this, that your steps may not be moved, being upright and pleasing to God.

Ibid. D. What do you say? Is it then fixed and decreed, etc. Now the Theologian questions the auditor and says to him: What do you say? You, I mean, who are commanded to perform spiritually those things which were celebrated among the Jews in figure. Know that these things were so decreed, that according to what is held in Deuteronomy, *from the iron furnace*, that is, from Egypt, you might depart. Furthermore, the iron furnace is a sharp and vehement flame of the passions. Moreover, he who is turned away from the right faith, and also he who serves foul pleasures, worships many gods. For individual demons preside over individual [things], and through these they are worshipped. Now, Moses allegorically is Christ, whose law is the Gospel, and whose military command is that army drawn up against the demons. ^D Finally, Gregory wishes to lead the auditor to deceive; but because deceiving is forbidden to a Christian, he therefore softens what he is about to say, and says: I shall offer you a certain piece of advice, by no means my own, for it is not [the place] of us to persuade anyone to deceive: yet if you understand this fraud in a spiritual sense, this method of deceiving is actually befitting to us. For to deceive the demons, and cunningly to circumvent them, is very just and praiseworthy. But let us first look at the history of Exodus, and then let us betake ourselves to the allegory: *And the Lord said to Moses: Speak secretly to the ears of the people, and let every man ask his neighbor, and every woman her neighbor, for vessels of gold and silver and garments. And the Lord gave grace to his people before the Egyptians, and they lent to them*, that is, they lent them for use. For they said: As soon as we have sacrificed on the mountain, we will return immediately. Nor indeed was it an iniquitous judgment, not even according to history, to command those who had been afflicted by long-standing labors to despoil the Egyptians, but [rather the command] of a most upright and incorrupt judge, who proclaims it to be equitable that a laborer should enjoy his food. But in the allegorical sense, by the Egyptians demons can be understood, and by the golden and silver vessels, our riches, which are fashioned from various materials, of which they themselves are the masters, but [which you] use—using their dispensers—and entrust to be spent for such uses as you have been commanded. Therefore, when you depart from a wicked life (for this is what Egypt is to be thought to signify), ask for these things to be used, as things belonging to others, inasmuch as they are administered according to the counsel of demons; but use your own, as things granted to you by divine gift, so that you may dispense them as is fitting. Furthermore, riches will accompany you when they are offered to God through the hands of the poor. Follow the example of the Israelites, and in the same way as they, after having served the Egyptians for many years, though they could not openly demand the wages of their servitude, prosecuted their request by art and deceit—God, indeed, suggesting this—in the same way, you too have served the spiritual Pharaoh, occupying yourself with the earth and the study of earthly things (which not without reason are called brick-making works) and therefore a wage is due to you. Wherefore despoil the Egyptians, the demons, rightly scattering what you have wickedly accumulated. Be it so; I myself also confess that you have endured grave hardships while struggling with this muddy body and building houses, things belonging to others, because when you are dead others will possess them, and things which are perishable, since they are built of perishable and fragile material: upon the collapse of which the memory, along with that fame which was stirred up by them, perishes. This is what Scripture says concerning cities, that is, concerning the houses that some build. For the fame and memory of the builders is but a sound. For when the houses collapse, the name of the owner is overwhelmed along with it. This, I think, is what is signified by "with a sound." Since, therefore, you have been afflicted by wretched servitude, why do you go away gratis and without gain? Why do you leave behind to the demons those things in which they have no right? For all things are God's, who says through Haggai: *Mine is the gold and the silver*, and through Daniel adding: *And to whom I will, I give them*. Yesterday they were the demons' (to be sure, when they were being badly administered), with God so permitting. Today the Lord offers them to you, so that you may use these for salvation, the friendship of the poor, indeed, being reconciled to you from the mammon of iniquity. Moreover, mammon is wealth sought by iniquitous means. Which...

^A in number must also be placed, those things which exceed use and necessity. For what is superfluous belongs to the poor. Indeed, even through Egyptian riches, moral and natural philosophy, and those studies practiced in discourse, can be signified, as well as all those disciplines to the study of which those who are alien to the Church apply themselves. Therefore, the Theologian commands those who pursue a free life through virtue to acquire also the external riches of doctrine, and, as far as the end is concerned, to possess those things received from aliens in the name of a loan, so that they may be profitable in time—namely, when the matter has turned out such that the ark of the Church must be adorned with these spiritual riches. Now, indeed, through those three cities, Pithom, Rameses, and On, which the Hebrews built for Pharaoh, some have thought that these three thoughts are signified: namely, of lust, avarice, and ambition, from which all sin is compounded. The memory of the destruction of these cities will not be in the hidden and secret, but shall be with a sound, that is, it shall be audible, and will extend to all nations.

^B Col. 651 B. If you are a certain Rachel, etc. Rachel, departing from her father Laban, stole his idols. But when Laban, pursuing the fugitives, searched Leah and Jacob and the handmaids, he prepared to search her also, who had placed them in the camel’s litter and was sitting upon them; Rachel said: "Do not be angry, sir; I cannot rise before you, for the custom of women is upon me." The Theologian, however, placed Leah with Rachel as one privy to the theft. For it is probable that she was not unaware of her sister's theft, even if she had kept it hidden. Moreover, Leah in Hebrew denotes "labor" or "weary," and therefore is taken for action, and she is joined in marriage to Jacob first. But Rachel is the same as "grazing," or "one who is grazed," and designates contemplation; and Jacob takes her as wife after Leah. For action is the foundation of contemplation. Rachel, therefore, is every soul studious of contemplation, which is nourished by the law of God as if by water, and directs its movements according to the precept of the divine law, and first subjects the fleshly thoughts and affections to the procreation of virtue, and thus, following the entrance into knowledge, entirely destroys them. Leah, indeed, is every soul embracing action, which is oppressed by labors for the sake of virtue, whom anyone who devotes his mind to the study of divine philosophy takes to himself as a companion first of all. But by the wise Israelite, the mind dedicated to contemplation is indicated to us, which carries the thoughts and inventions of this age to the land of knowledge, just as the Israelites carried the gold and silver vessels of the Egyptians to Jerusalem. Now Jerusalem, if anyone interprets it, signifies "vision of peace," or the spirit of grace. Laban, therefore, may fittingly be called this world, and his idols the foul and disturbed thoughts and earthly images of things. Wherefore, if anyone, as if loving the father, and then joined to Christ through action and contemplation, should wish to abjure the world because of a way of life begun with Christ, let him steal the idols of the father—that is, let him expel from his soul the foul and gross appearances of things which the world presents—and first indeed throw them into the fertility of virtue (since Rachel also placed the idols under the saddle upon which she sat), but after he has been exhausted by long labor in suppressing the affections, and has arrived at peace of spirit or knowledge, then let him finally pluck out and remove the vicious impressions, that is, those thoughts, from the midst. He calls "labor" in this place that study and effort which is undertaken in abolishing the affections of the flesh, since Rachel herself, going to Bethel from Shechem, buried her father's idols in the ground. Shechem, moreover, in the Hebrew tongue sounds "shoulder" (by which expression that labor is designated which is exhausted in taming the affections: for the shoulder is a symbol of fortitude and labor), and Bethel "house of God"; for God dwells in tranquility and freedom from affections, and in knowledge. Truly, let someone thus steal the gross and disturbed thoughts of this age, not that he may enjoy them, but that he may destroy and abolish them, just as Rachel also stole her father's idols, not that she might worship them, but that she might hide them in the earth as something obscene and shameful and worthy of oblivion. A wise Israelite may ^C also be called one who brings every thought into captivity to Christ and carries off profane learning with him, as a certain excellent provision for the journey, and carries it over to the edification of the Church of God, and inflicts the greatest pain upon the devil from this, that he has himself consecrated to God the external disciplines, in which the aliens—that is, men turned away from the right faith—marvelously glory, and has adorned the Church, and has deceived the very artificer of malice by his own art; for since he had labored much in the studies and disciplines of the Gentiles, he had therefore brought that impure spirit into that opinion, so that he thought through them that he [the Israelite] had been made his own property and slave; yet he received no detriment from them, but rather used such learning, as if it were a certain matter, for the best things, and exposed the folly and empty hopes of the tyrant who thought that he would oppress with slavery men who were superior and more sublime than his own arts and tricks. These things can also be explained concerning riches which fall into the senses. For he who has carried his riches from Egypt—that is, from this world—through the hands of the poor to the land of promise, that is, into heaven, he is without doubt a wise Israelite: and the devil is tormented, seeing that where his treasure is stored, there also is the heart of him who stored it.

Col. 651 C. If you will have done this, and thus from Egypt, etc. The history of the river, and the sun, and the moon, and the walls, is contained in the book of Joshua: the rest is in Exodus. For it is written that, when the Jews had gone out from Egypt, God preceded them, by day ^D of this life...

^A in a pillar of cloud, showing them the way, and by night in a pillar of fire: nor did the pillar of cloud by day, nor the pillar of fire by night, cease to shine upon the whole multitude of the people; and the desert was at Anathom, not far from Egypt, through which the forces of the Jews made their journey. Now Anathom in our language signifies a "response." For the Jews had their camps so close to Egypt that their own voices could almost be heard, and responses could be given from near by. Again, the Lord divided the water: and the children of Israel entered through the midst of the Red Sea: but Pharaoh, when the waters returned, was overwhelmed with all his army. The history follows concerning the manna, and the smitten rock, and the king of the Amalekites, who, while he strives to block the way for the Hebrews, was routed and put to flight, Joshua indeed leading the army, while Moses poured forth prayers and, through the stretching out of his hands, which Hur and Aaron supported on either side, ^B prefigured the cross. Concerning the river Jordan, you have it in Joshua; concerning the walls of the city of Jericho, chapter vi; concerning the course of the sun and moon being inhibited, chapter x. Now concerning the hornets, it is written thus in Exodus xxiii, 28: I will send hornets before thee, etc. And in the Book of Wisdom: Thou didst send the forerunners of thine army, the hornets, that they might little by little exterminate the ungodly. But let us now explain all these histories allegorically. The pillar of cloud, therefore, as it also pleases Paul, is the Holy Spirit, who overshadows and cools those who are laboring to repress the turbulent motions of the soul, and wards off from us the heat and burning of the sun taken in a bad sense, from which also those seeds entrusted to the rocks are dried up. Concerning which it is also said in the Psalms: By day the sun shall not burn thee, nor the moon by night. The pillar of fire, again, is either the Holy Spirit, who came to the apostles in the form of fire, or even Christ himself, who is called a pillar because of the tripart dimension of the body: fire, however, because of his divinity: For our God is a consuming fire. This pillar of fire, therefore, ^C leads those wandering in the night of error to the truth, namely, by bearing before them the torch of knowledge. The desert, however, is the soul becoming softened, which at first indeed was wild and pathless, producing no fruit of wholesome nourishment, but afterward, being softened by the spirit of gentleness, and cultivated through the divine access, it brought forth fruit. Now the sea which is divided is the storm of the passions, and the bitterness of this fluctuating and tempestuous life. Pharaoh, however, drowned, and Amalek oppressed in war, is the devil. The arms are divine aid; the hands are actions; the bread is spiritual food. The rock is Christ, from whom the water of life flows. The river which is restrained is the flood of lust. The standing sun is the Sun of Justice. And O blessed man, who through the whole day, that is, the time of this life, holds within himself ^D the unsetting [Sun], and is not constrained by the evening of vice and ignorance, so that he may be able to break with lawful force the impure and wicked demons making an assault upon him, and turn them to flight. The moon which is held back is our mutable nature, which remains fixed and immovable in holy men, because of the habit of virtue which does not admit of change. The walls which are cast down are the bulwarks of malice, and every height which is lifted up against God. The hornets going before are certain divine powers, succoring us and attacking the demons who are our enemies. And that I may not prolong the discourse, you acquire through divine favor, egressing from Egypt, not only those things which I have commemorated, but also other things which were delivered by sacred history afterward, that is, in succession: and along with these. For these and those are contained in one context of history.

Col. 651 D. And such is the feast, etc.

the liberal sacrifices, he handed down the spiritual sacrifices, which are complete in every respect; for he initiated his own into the mystery of the new supper, and said: "Do this in my remembrance." ^A For we no longer have a lamb, nor bitter lettuces, nor bread devoid of leaven, but instead of the lamb, Christ himself—him, I say, the Lamb of God, taking away the sins of the world, whom the law prefigured, Isaiah indicated, and John demonstrated; and instead of the unleavened bread and bitter lettuces, the most pure life in Christ, which is not obtained without bitterness and afflictions. For that is the very reason why Christ came through passion to glory, so that by what he himself suffered, he might teach us too that pains and afflictions must be undergone for the sake of piety; but by the fact that he attained glory, he brings it about for us, that we may be in the same glory with him. For if we suffer with him, says Paul, we shall also be glorified with him.

^B Here, however, is the excellence of justice, for the Father condemned the devil, as one who had unjustly procured death for his own Son. For death is the punishment of sin; but Christ never sinned. And accordingly, the Father liberated us from the condemned tyrant, and we were brought up to him through the Son. For he, placed as a mediator, smoothed and pointed out the path for us, and in honor of the Father, dispensed this. For he was made man, and suffered, and offered his blood to the Father, so that the Father might condemn the enemy, and appear all the more as the liberator of our race, even though the Son performed this glorious deed. For everywhere in the Gospel, honoring the Father, he ascribes his excellent works to him. Note, however, that when this word, λύτρον, has two properties: one, because it asserts into liberty those who are held captive; the other, because it is necessary that a price be paid to him by whom they are held; in this place, regarding this price which the Lord paid for the sake of our redemption, the one property was present (for he liberated the captives), the other was absent. For the devil did not receive this kind of price—far be it—but the Father did, due to the struggle of the Son, voluntarily undertaken for our salvation. That, indeed, the evil spirit had in his hope, but instead of that hope, he received the overturning of his entire empire.

Ibid. PSELLUS. *The matter and the doctrine* (Gr. πρᾶγμα καὶ δόγμα). *The matter* is that which, when it happens, offers no contradiction to spectators. For that a dolphin moves through the waters is a matter that does not at all fall into a variety of opinion. For it does not seem to some to swim, and to others otherwise. But that which happens in such a way that it is meanwhile divided by the various opinions of those looking on or understanding, this, besides being a thing that happens, is also decided upon. For *doctrine* is a sentence pronounced upon a doubtful and controversial matter after careful inquiry. Just as we say Plato established and decided that the soul is immortal, since Simmias and Cebes felt differently about it, indeed asserting it to be a certain harmony that perishes along with the bodies: others also held different views about it.

Col. 654 A. *Indeed it would not be foreign to inquire into the matter and the doctrine, etc.* In this place he professes that he is about to inquire into something great, and he calls it a "matter," as being an event, but a "doctrine," as being something debatable—that is, bringing to us a certain opinion and sentiment about itself. For, he says, that blood of Christ, exhausted for our sake (who is also called Pontiff, so as to present and reconcile us to God, and sacrifice, because he was offered) — to whom, in the end, was it given, and for what reason? For there is no doubt that we were held captive by the devil, sold under sin, just as the Apostle writes to the Romans, having borrowed from Isaiah. For as soon as we voluntarily violated the law of God, and admitted the assault of the devil, we immediately opened the entrance to him ourselves, adding sin to ourselves, and exchanging vice with pleasure; for the committing of it seems pleasant. But if he who holds the captives must also receive the price of redemption, I ask, to whom was the blood of Christ offered? To the devil? And yet this would be of extreme insult, if the devil received such a price and such a reward—namely, God himself—for whom it would have been entirely fitting that even that robber should spare us. Was it given to the Father? And yet we were not held by him at all. Otherwise, what is this reasoning and explanation, that we should say the Father is delighted with the blood of his Son, who did not even permit the slaughter of Isaac, but substituted a ram to be sacrificed in his stead? What, then, is the solution to this question? It must be said that the Father indeed accepted it, yet not because he asked for it or had need of it, but because of the dispensation. For it had been ordained that Christ should die for us, so that through the blood of the assumed flesh (for this is what he calls humanity) the nature of the human race might attain sanctity, and that the Father might redeem us, having overcome the tyrant by force. Force, however, properly signifies the exuberance of power:

Ibid. B. *And let these things said to us about Christ, etc.* Let these things, he says, suffice to have said about Christ and the things gloriously accomplished by him; and we shall follow up with more things in silent honor, by passing over the discourse, both so we do not cause boredom to the listeners by excessive prolixity, and because we are pressed by the shortness of time, and also because of the difficult and very obscure explanation of such great mysteries. But the history of the bronze serpent is written in the book of Numbers. For when many of the sons of Israel were perishing because of their murmuring, having been bitten by serpents, at length God, mitigated by the prayers of Moses, said to him: "Make for thyself a serpent, and place it in a sign," that is, on wood. "And whoever, having been struck, shall look at it, shall live." Furthermore, "Make for thyself" shows this, that since out of those things which were happening, other

reasons were coming into play, and other human ones, it is said in this place: To yourself, for the reason of Moses, and of the whole multitude originating from the same kind. Come, now let us come, as it were, from the figure to ourselves. For we also offend God, and indeed we fall into the bite of the spiritual serpents, which, wounding us with every kind of sin, were afflicting us with death. How, then, have we attained salvation? We ourselves also looked upon the serpent on the wood, that is, Christ, and by looking upon him and believing in him, we obtain salvation. But for what reason is God, who is good by nature, called a serpent? Because, like us, by free will evil, he was made sin through the likeness of flesh, and was reckoned with the wicked. Therefore, Christ is a serpent, as if in the likeness of sin, because he was made man. And for this reason, to him who assumed that he was a mere man, he said: "Why do you call me good?" Indeed, that bronze serpent was not truly a serpent, but it had the figure of a serpent, yet it had no poison. In the same way Christ, insofar as he did not have the poison of sin, was not one of us, who have undergone the form of the serpent. For every sin is truly a serpent, and he who admits it becomes a serpent himself. Truly, for this reason also, the serpent which Moses raised on the cross bears the figure of Christ, since, just as the bodily serpent not only has poison, by which those who are struck by it are destroyed, but also a remedy of life, by which, once received, those who were struck are recalled to life: so, from the slain Adam, a medicine has been found for man, which is the Lord's body, by whose power every virus of sin is abolished from believers. But the Theologian deems that the bronze serpent is not a type of Christ (for it is neither lawful nor pious to call a perverse spirit a type of Christ), but an antitype, that is, a contrary figure. For the serpent from the beginning brought destruction to man; but Christ afterwards brought salvation. The former led into error, the latter pointed out the way. There, the serpent was not true; here, Christ is true man. Moreover, the former killed serpents endowed with the same shape, but Christ brings life to men joined to him by nature. Furthermore, Christ makes those who believe he lives, and believe he is life, saved: but the devil is the cause of salvation to those who look upon him, provided they have believed, not that he himself lives, but that he has been oppressed and extinguished by the cross, at least as far as his tyranny is concerned; and he even brought destruction upon the powers that rebelled against him. For Christ, having beheaded the leader, also routed his army. Therefore, it is to be noted that the serpent thus far bore the figure of Christ, because it hung on the wood, but in all other respects it was contrary to the figure, that is, it was a figure not simply, but with contrariety, as was declared above.

Since, therefore, the wicked spirit is extinguished, come, let us weave a suitable epitaph for him, and let us say with Hosea: "O death, where is thy sting? O hell, where is thy victory?" For the devil is the minister of death; but death is the minister of Hades. For the devil was delivering those wounded by sin to death; but death was transmitting those slain to Hades. But now the Theologian calls the devil by the name of Hades and of death, as the cause of both. His sting, however, is sin, and the goad is pleasure: the victory, that is fraud; by which things he was striving to reduce us under his empire and power. But both have been destroyed through Christ. For he did not commit sin, nor was he deluded and circumvented by the tempter. Nay, rather, the tempter himself was wounded and annihilated by the cross of Christ, as far as his tyranny is concerned, and is marked by ignominy through the bronze and inanimate serpent. For that which was fixed on the wood and triumphed, prefigured the tempter, who was destroyed through the life-giving and vital wood of the cross, and thus it retains the form of a serpent, so that it can perform none of those things which are of the serpent, at least not in Christ. For in him, all the power and faculty of the dragon ceased in vain.

Col. 654 C. "Now truly we shall be partakers of the Passover," etc. The Theologian brings forth a triple Passover: the Jewish, our own, and the future. And indeed he says the Jewish is a figure of ours, and ours is the figure of the future: the Jewish is more obscure than ours, ours, if indeed it is compared with the Jewish, is perfect, but if it is compared with the future, it is imperfect. ^C But he teaches what kind of future Passover it is in the following words. What he says, "For I will not fear to say," he added this because it might seem new and absurd to call our Passover a figure. But we shall be partakers of the Passover in a more perfect manner in the other life; because now we celebrate the feast in the hope of our resurrection: but then we shall celebrate it in reality, when, indeed, its promise as well shall have been fulfilled, which he made with these words: "I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine until that day, when I drink it new with you in the kingdom of my Father." At this place, some doctors understood by the kingdom of Christ his resurrection, and by the new drink that food which he received when he had risen from the dead. For it was new, because he was not eating because he had need of food, but to confirm the nature of his body, and to give faith of his resurrection to the disciples. But the Theologian interprets the kingdom as the state of that future life, and the new drink as a more absolute manner of instruction. And this is the Passover, namely, the mysteries at that time arcane, as much of his divinity as of his humanity, to worthy men…

^A partaking. For "we know in part," says the Apostle, "and we perceive in part; then face to face," that is, clearly and manifestly. And for this reason, this Passover of ours can be called a figure of the future Passover, because as long as we dwell in this world, we are still grosser participants in Christ, namely through his holy flesh; but there, we participate more richly and perfectly. Furthermore, the perception of his flesh and blood also encompasses a commemoration of Christ’s passion and death. "For as often," he says, "as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim my death." Wherefore, in this present age, through the perception of those things we have mentioned, we proclaim his death; but when later he shall arrive in the glory of the Father, we shall by no means offer to him a confession that is appropriate because of his passion, but we shall recognize him purely as God, face to face; and then Christ will drink the new ^B drink with us—new, indeed, as being fresh and then for the first time made known to us. But Christ is about to drink with us, because not only is he the one being taught, but he is also the one who performs the office of teaching, and is nourished by the disciplines that he imparts. Now that drink is a 'potio' and not food, since just as that virtue which is situated in 'action' is called food—because it is harder and more difficult to digest—so that which consists in 'contemplation' is more accustomed to be called a drink. When, therefore, this active virtue has reached its end, then indeed the contemplative [virtue] shall be cultivated and exercised, and those things which Christ now has revealed to them less fully shall be more clearly disclosed to holy men.

Col. 655 A. "But come, let us also become participants of the law," etc. Gregory wishes us to be participants of the law, as he also decrees concerning the Passover, and indeed to be participants not like the Jews, adhering to the naked letter—that is, eating the lamb in a sensible manner (for they ate it imperfectly, celebrating the feast figuratively and not in truth)—but rather, as the Gospel prescribes, that is, receiving the body and blood of the Lord. Now the Gospel delivers perfection. Wherefore, instead of a capital and metropolis, let us establish heaven, as the Hebrews did Jerusalem, to which alone they flocked from all sides to celebrate their feasts. Now that the earthly Jerusalem was to be trodden down by armies, Christ had predicted in Luke with these words: "And Jerusalem shall be trodden down by the Gentiles" (for by this name he signifies that army which, under Vespasian and Titus, besieged and laid waste Jerusalem with hostile standards) "until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled." Let us sacrifice to God, not those things which were accustomed to be offered according to the prescription of the Law, such as calves and tender lambs growing horns and hoofs, which two things—namely, horns and hoofs—are dead matter and lack perception, and are therefore by no means congruous and suitable to be offered in sacrifice to the living God; but truly, with the angels, let us offer the unbloody victim, this ^C sacrifice of praise and canticles, and let us offer reasonable service in the place of sacrifice. And just as in the old tabernacle there was a first veil for the one about to enter, by which that place which was called the 'Holy' was distinguished, and after this there was again another inner veil by which that place was partitioned off, which they called the 'Holy of Holies': so let us also penetrate and divide all corporeal things and those falling into the senses, as a first and neighboring veil to us, and let us approach the second—that is, to heaven—which separates sensible things from intellectual ones. And having become close to heaven, raised upward from earthly things by the wings of active virtue, let us look into heaven itself; and with eyes gifted with the faculty of contemplation, let us contemplate mystical beauties that do not fall into the sense of the eyes, drawing near spiritually to the Trinity itself, and offering the sacrifice of the Lamb—that is, that most holy sacrifice which we are taught to celebrate, or even greater: for it is intended that we offer and consecrate our own selves entirely to God, in all our days and agitations (which are indeed considered either in thought, or in word, or in deed) and that we sustain all things for Christ, or even for the sake of the doctrine of piety (for the word *logos* signifies both), preparing ourselves for martyrdom, if the time should so require, and undergoing the punishment of the cross, if it should be necessary. For sweet are the nails, on account of the imitation of the Lord’s nails, and the delight placed in hope, although they may be sharp in sense on account of the body’s pain. Furthermore, through the passions of Christ, he imitates the passion who endures spontaneous labors ^D and involuntary accidents with a firm and robust mind. But he honors the Lord's blood with his blood, not only he who sheds his own blood through martyrdom, but also he who diminishes it for the love of Christ through continence. By what manner, then, does someone ascend the cross not only in a corporeal but also in a spiritual way? Indeed when, through troubles and afflictions, he rises above earthly things, and willingly receives temptations that burn pain into the flesh as if they were certain nails, since they bring the sweetness of a blessed life.

Ibid. C. "If you are Simon the Cyrenian," etc. Simon, if anyone interprets it, signifies obedience; Cyrene, however, signifies promptitude of mind. Whoever, therefore, is prepared to obey the Gospel, and with a ready mind, through the mortification of the members which are upon the earth, undergoes the labors and afflictions of a philosophy situated in action, is a Simon the Cyrenian, cultivating virtue of his own accord, carrying the cross on his shoulders, and following Christ—that is, exhibiting a mode of pious life entirely distracted from the earth. In the same way, you also if...

you are endowed with obedience of mind, gird yourself with a ready spirit to bear the oppression of the carnal will. For the cross was also the slayer of the body. Thus it will come to pass that you follow Christ’s commands. ^A

Ibid. C. *If you are like the thief crucified at the same time, etc.* He is lifted onto the cross as a thief who pays the penalty for crimes. Yet, if he is persuaded that he is justly crucified and that it is God who governs the world and provides for all things, he is upright and sincere, as one who acknowledges the truth. Wherefore, both as a sufferer and as one bearing his torments with an equable mind, he is in paradise. But if he bears his lot impatiently and accuses providence, or denies it, he is wicked and a murmurer; and therefore he shall not enter into paradise, just as the Hebrews, who murmured in the desert, did not enter into the land of promise. Therefore, you too, if you are afflicted with punishment on account of your sins, imitate that upright and sincere thief, and while you are being crucified, acknowledge God and His providence, as one who truly desires to purge you through the pains of this life. If Christ, as it is in Isaiah, was "reputed among the wicked" (for He was lifted onto the cross with thieves as a criminal, and this was to expiate your sin; for you were liable to punishment; but He, as one who had committed no sin, suffered undeservedly, that He might free you from sin and punishment): you, for His sake, strive to make yourself righteous, clinging to the footsteps of the evangelical law, and worship through the office of a grateful mind—that is, yield and prostrate yourself; acknowledging that you are afflicted with merited punishments, and that human affairs are looked upon and administered by God; for this can be signified by adoration. He also, while hanging—that is, while you are being punished by God—reap some utility and gain from the tribulation itself. Greek *kakias*, which word can be taken either for affliction, or for sin and wickedness. But in what way will sin be for your utility? Namely, that you may understand that you are being punished on account of it, and render God appeased toward you, and purchase salvation. For if you do this, you will enter into the perception of eternal goods, and at the same time you will reign with Christ, and will be a partaker of His inheritance. And see how aptly and accurately the Theologian speaks. He did not say, Christ *became* wicked, but was *reputed* so. Again, he did not say: Do you *repute* yourself just? but *make* yourself so. For it is not estimation, but the very truth of the fact, that either renders a man just, or condemns him. Now ponder also these things which follow more deeply. Adore, he says, Him who hangs for your sake, since He, counted as a criminal, was affixed to the cross and endured death for you: that you may understand that you, as one who is truly a criminal, must attain righteousness through pains and afflictions. When you have perceived this, suspend yourself—that is, lift yourself up from the terrestrial affection of the flesh, and with it extinguished, achieve salvation, and enter paradise in your mind, that celestial life from which you had fallen. ^B

Ibid. C. *If you are Joseph of Arimathea, from him, etc.* Joseph is the same as "addition" and "increment"; Arimathea the same as "taking away." Whoever, therefore, applies himself to action and contemplation at the same time can be called Joseph of Arimathea: indeed, through action, he is one who takes away and roots out from himself every gross and earthly affection, while by contemplation he increases unto spiritual knowledge. Therefore, if you also have "addition," that is, an increment of divine love, take and carry religiously the body of Jesus—the mystical one, clearly—perceiving Him worthily, and seek it—that is, seize it—from the crucifier, that is, from him who perceives unworthily and therefore inflicts insult, and who is guilty of the body and blood of Christ. And may that become yours which purges and sanctifies all by whom it is received worthily. In another way also, the body of Christ is anyone who believes in Him: its members are precepts and virtues. But the devil lifts this body onto the cross, not allowing those members to perform their action according to nature within us. But he who has the addition of faith is a spiritual Joseph, who can receive the body and bury it honorably, and place it in his breast out of faith, as if hewn from a rock, and wrap the Son of God as if in a shroud with spiritual discourses about this age. ^C

Col. 656 A. *If you are Nicodemus, the nocturnal, etc.* That Nicodemus is one who is indeed firm and solid in his mind regarding the knowledge of Christ, but, while he gratifies the flesh, he recoils from applying himself to the observance of the commandments with keen contention of mind, as if fainthearted, on account of the fear of the Jews—that is, the perturbations of the mind, or the assaults of demons. To such a man, however, it seems a clear matter for praise and commendation to at least judge rightly concerning Christ, and not to utter contumelious words. He bedews the Lord’s body for burial with ointments, he who treats piously the sermons and disputations which he has concerning Him, and pours them forth exuding a sweet odor or even smelling of it.

Ibid. D. *If you are a certain Mary, if another Mary, etc.* Since Christ cast out seven demons from Mary Magdalene, that soul can be called Mary Magdalene who is miserably vexed by impure spirits, which are opposed to the seven good spirits enumerated by Isaiah, whom the doctrine of the Gospel afterwards purged. But that we may speak more exactly, Mary Magdalene is the soul rejoicing in all action, purged as if from certain demons by the doctrine of the evangelical precepts from the terror of this sevenfold age: from which the Word of God frees souls, lifting them up above those things that are in time. But the other Mary, whom Gregory mentions in this place, properly ^D

is the mother of the Lord, or rather of James the Less. For when the Mother of the Lord had gone to the tomb in that first perfection alone, and having been made certain of the resurrection of Christ, she remained at rest. But allegorically, the other Mary is the soul studious of contemplation, which has obtained kinship with the Son of God not by nature, but by grace, through true knowledge. And to sum it up in one word, by the two Marys is designated the soul embracing both contemplation and action. Salome, however (which word in our tongue signifies peace), may be that soul which, when the perturbations of the mind have been removed and expelled, enjoys tranquil peace, and by the affection of the flesh being subject to the law of the spirit, has attained according to its strength the knowledge of eternal things through the speculation of spiritual conceptions of the mind. Joanna, however, sounds to the word "dove," and by her is signified that soul which has gently cast off turbulent motions and has ardent spiritual growth and fruitfulness of knowledge; that is, it is vacant of vice and brings forth numerous fruits of virtue. Therefore, if you are a soul of these types that we have enumerated, weep at daybreak, shedding tears that have the power to obtain knowledge—that is, inquiring with great alacrity and zeal about the knowledge of the orthodox faith—and indeed, pray that the true knowledge of the mystery of our faith may be given to you by God. For daybreak indicates speed. For if you thus seek the most excellent doctrine of all virtue and knowledge, you will see first that blindness of obscure doctrine which was incumbent upon your heart removed. But this having been set aside, you shall assuredly see two angels, one at the head, which is the doctrine of the Divinity, the other at the feet, namely, [humanity] ^A of the humanity and incarnation. Or if you prefer, understand by the angels the motions of conscience, once extinguished in you through vice, now proclaiming the resurrection of the Son of God. For Christ does not exert His force in the soul of an obscene and execrable man, but is in a manner extinguished by flagitious and wicked actions. Finally, you will behold Christ Himself appearing clearly, and without any signs and figures, filling your spiritual conceptions with spiritual delight. Say something, inquiring about Christ and pious doctrine. Listen to the voice, that is, the doctrine and revelation exceeding your grasp. But if you hear a higher doctrine and speculation, saying to you almost: "Do not touch me, stand at a distance," do not therefore conceive sorrow, as someone to whom the power of attaining more sublime doctrine is not yet given. For this kind of doctrine knows to whom it is first to be looked upon—namely, those who have made greater progress toward contemplation, so that you may celebrate the dedication of the resurrection, that is, a feast day, to John and Peter, and for the resurrection of your soul from the affections, rejoice and triumph. Succor Eve. But what will be the manner of bringing help? She who first fell through sin [is the one ^B to whom you must restore] doctrine known and illustrious. For *Aspasmos* in this place signifies greeting and address. For when Mary recognized the voice of Jesus, she said to Him: *Rabboni*, which is interpreted Master. Therefore, succor Eve, namely, correcting her own fault with the contrary virtue. For she reported fraud to the man, but Mary reported salvation to the apostles. You also are to do the same if you teach the ignorant.

^C Col. 658 A. Imitate Peter or John, hasten to the sepulcher, etc. It is written in John: *Peter went out, and that other disciple. And they ran both together: and that other disciple did outrun Peter, and came first to the sepulcher. And when he had stooped down, he saw the linen clothes lying; yet went he not in. Then cometh Simon Peter following him, and went into the sepulcher.* Peter, therefore, is he who is endowed with certain and solid faith, and is also adorned with that virtue which is busied in action. John, however, who because of his gentleness and remarkable purity of heart is loved by Christ, and for that cause obtains the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, and by that, because he reclined upon His breast, received the power and faculty of theology. But the sepulcher, to which he who studies both contemplation and action hastens, is that deep (place) in which the doctrine that contains the knowledge of celestial and terrestrial things is hidden. But the two run vying with each other, the one according to virtue placed in action, the other according to contemplation placed in the intellect. But by this reason, Peter is said to run competing with John, because the former embraced active virtue, the latter ^D contemplative, which indeed seem to conflict with one another. Both nonetheless hasten with a concordant run, because one and the same goal to be praised was perceived in both: for they were doing this, so that they might know whether the Lord had truly come back to life. These two, therefore, run together in the purpose and intention of the mind, each striving for his own proper good with equal success. And to speak more openly, they run vying for the sake of a praiseworthy emulation, while each strives to surpass the other, the former by action, the latter by contemplation. But they run with concordant minds, because they tend toward one goal of knowledge, both he who is busied in action and he who is in speculation. And in speed, indeed, he who has devoted himself to contemplation outstrips the student of action, as being less burdened by heavy matter: but in the study of speculation, he is surpassed by the one who is instructed in active virtue, as being more laborious. Furthermore, he who delights in contemplation only understands; but he who rejoices in action gains knowledge by experience: just as John only stooped into the monument, but Peter actually went in.

Ibid. But if anyone, like Thomas, (is removed) from the gathering of the disciples, whoever doubts in the doctrine of the faith, etc.

^A Thomas is, and in the same way Didymus, who is brought with difficulty by a certain Christian to believe that the resurrection will come to pass, since the virtue and knowledge implanted in him had died through the sin he had committed. But they are disciples who believe with certain faith that Christ—that is, the virtue that had previously died—has revived within them through divine power. And just as they are united in place as Christ's disciples, so are they united in concord, in the firmness of their judgment, and in constancy, to whom Christ’s grace also flows. If, therefore, it happens that you are absent from their assembly—that is, that you believe less on your own—at least assign faith to those who have made the venture of such a resurrection and confirm that the matter is so. If not even to these, then at least let the memory of old sins, impressed upon your mind without passion, produce faith in you. Memory devoid of passion is nothing other than an impression of past things without pleasure and sorrow, having no punctures from wounds, because of the tranquil state of soul that followed thereafter—a state which, if one has not felt, one will not even believe in others, just as happened to Thomas. Memory, therefore, is a trace and impression of sins; but as for the nails, they are the sins themselves, transfixing those who fall. Therefore, when you have the strength to be able to recall those things without any agitation of the soul, then at last be persuaded that such virtue has revived in you.

Ibid. If he descends into hell, descend with him, etc. As Christ descends into hell, follow him also through contemplation, not on account of evil, but so that you may learn the excellent reason for those things which are being accomplished there. And inquire what was the cause of Christ's twofold descent, one of course from heaven to earth, the other from earth to hell: perhaps so that on earth, through faith and a pure and innocent manner of living one's life, he might save souls along with their bodies, but in hell, [he might save] souls without bodies through faith alone? Therefore, whoever has a discussion about the death of the soul originating from sin, and again about the resurrection happening through Christ, he also descends into hell, so that the habit and act of vice, which was in someone, might obtain a return to virtue and knowledge through the benefit of the Word. Indeed, Christ, descending into hell, did not save all, but only those who believed (23). Chrysostom himself affirms that no one in hell received salvation from Christ, except those who were worthy of salvation when they had departed from this life. But perhaps those who believed then were held worthy of salvation. Something of this sort is circulated in the histories of the Fathers regarding the pagan Plato. For when, long before, he had finished his life, ^B or had been lacerated by some impious and wicked man, he came by night to his reviler and accused the man, as for unjustly pursuing him with curses. "For I," he said, "do not by any means deny that I am a sinner. But when Christ descended into hell, no one before me approached the faith." This is recorded regarding Plato: whether it is to be believed or not, I leave to the judgment of the listeners.

If he ascends into heaven, ascend with him, etc. David, Psalm XXIII, introduces the angels, partly accompanying Christ and saying to the higher angels: "Lift up your gates, you princes, and be lifted up, you eternal gates, and the King of glory shall enter in"; and partly even asking: "Who is this King of glory?" ^C and those in turn responding: "The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord strong in battle." And again, the same interrogation, and a response consistent with this, is introduced by the angels to the other angels. The Theologian therefore exhorts the auditor to accompany Christ as he ascends into heaven, namely in mind and thought, and to join himself either with the angels escorting him or with those receiving him. But he joins himself to those who weigh the words spoken on both sides, and examines their interrogations and responses, and their causes. He also commands the gates (namely, by diligently inquiring) what is the reason why the angels say, "Lift up your gates." The Theologian himself provides the cause for this lifting up—namely, that the gates are lifted up so that they may receive Christ, who has become more sublime on account of the passion. For they do not say, "Open," but "Lift up," that is "Raise up." And in this place he explains that which was said by the Apostle to the Philippians concerning Christ: "He humbled himself, becoming obedient unto death, even death on a cross. For which cause God also exalted him," etc. And therefore, having been raised into the highest sublimity, he asks that more sublime gates also be made for his reception. But if the receiving angels are mentally perplexed, seeing Christ ascending with a body and bearing the signs of the passion—which, indeed, he did not have when he was descending from heaven—and for that reason ask: "Who is this?" he who feels rightly concerning Christ, as is proper, will respond to them: "This is the One who is mighty, as in all other things, so also in the battle which he has now waged for the salvation of the human race against the devil." And he will give a double response, as if remaining constant in those things which he has decreed, and confirming his opinion through the repetition of the same statement, according to that saying: "In the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word stand." And thus these things will be able to be understood in a humbler sense. Otherwise also, through the angels proceeding ^D in his first epistle, chapter 3, namely that Christ preached to those who were in prison: from which passage Nazianzen suspects that Christ dealt with them in such a way that he led into heaven those who indeed embraced the faith at his arrival; but those who did not wish to have faith in him, he left in punishments.

^A The doctrine of divine Providence can be signified through the reception of the doctrine of divinity, and through the ascent from earth to heaven, and the raising of the mind from the thought of the humanity of Christ to his divinity, and the leading forth from action to contemplation. Whoever, therefore, has, as far as his powers allow, passed through spiritual knowledge to the doctrine of Providence, is raised from it to the doctrine of divinity; and by ascending step by step, he makes the higher gates of the soul ready for the reception of the supreme and divine Word, and migrates from Christ's humanity to his divinity, as if from earth to heaven, and ascends from action to contemplation, and is raised up together with the divine Word who draws him upward. And in this manner these words of David may be explained. But similar things are also read in Isaiah. For in him as well, Christ, ascending into heaven bearing the marks of the passion, exhibited a spectacle truly new, unusual, and amazing to the heavenly angels. For they were struck with amazement, watching him ascend, and for that reason said: *Who is this that cometh from Edom*, ^B that is, from earthly things, *the red of his garment from Bosor?* For Bosor denotes flesh, and therefore by his stole and garment, humanity is signified. And red, because the Lord's flesh was tinged with the blood flowing from his side, and adorned by the passion. Wherefore the prophet also adds: *This one is beautiful in his stole.* Then he introduces the Saviour himself answering: *I speak justice and the judgment of salvation.* He calls the proclamation of the Gospel justice, by which the earth was justified; and after Christ has spoken this, the angels ask him again and say: *Why are thy garments red, and thy clothing, even as of the trodden winepress?* ^C For the flesh was perceived to be suffused with gore, and tinged to a red color as if from must. But Christ answers a second time: *I have trodden the winepress alone, and of the Gentiles there was not a man with me*, that is, no one was present to me in my suffering, nor did anyone offer himself as a companion in the struggle; but I alone pressed the whole power of the devil as if in a winepress, and I crushed the hard and contumacious Jews. The Theologian called these questions and responses in Isaiah a "dramaturgy," not implying a false composition (the sort that fabulous acts are), but a method of writing so instituted that it has persons speaking. For some of the angels are introduced as if asking, others as if answering, according to the structure of words that the prophet established. If, therefore (says the Theologian), they should inquire: "Who is this that ascends from the earth, or how, insofar as he is God, is the covering of his body red, as it is incorporeal and lacks blood?" if they ^D ask these things, I say, bring forth the answer from the opposite side, that is, reply: "His stole is beautiful," that is, his body, which has suffered, partly on account of the passion, through which it has been glorified, partly on account of the divinity, by which it has been illuminated, for there is nothing more beautiful.

Col. 658 C. *What do the sycophants say to us concerning these things,* etc. Having finished the narrative, Gregory turns his oration to the heretics, and first calls them sycophants, as slandering the Son, as if he were not truly and properly God: but also bitter examiners, as rash arbiters of divinity, dividing it by the differences of persons; and detractors of praiseworthy things, in that they seize upon the actions of the incarnate Son, which are congruent to human nature, towards his immutation, when they actually deserve praise rather than blame; and also as measuring and circumscribing his divinity, because he assumed passible flesh, so that he might heal our passions. Furthermore, he calls them dark concerning the light, as if they closed their eyes to the truth which is clearer than the sun, or even to Christ himself, who is the true light. And ignorant concerning wisdom, that is, concerning Christ himself, who is truly subsisting as the wisdom of the Father, or also as not at all understanding that the works of the Saviour are full of wisdom. For Christ died in vain for these. For he gained the salvation only of the pious. These also are ungrateful creatures; for in return for the fact that it was proper to offer thanks to the Creator, because for their sake he also became a creature, they conversely dragged such a benefit into an occasion for blasphemy, blathering that his divinity was created, and not his humanity. These can also be deservedly called figments of the devil, not as if they were created by him, but as being imbued with malice by him. For the devil is a fashioner, not of subsisting things, but of characters, according to that which Christ was saying to the Jews: *You are of your father the devil.* Having spoken these things, the Theologian, and having assailed the heretics with all these points, he meets them as if openly and to their face, and trusting in arguments and interrogations, he urges and confuses them, and says: "Do you thus complain against my Christ because of the benefit bestowed upon you? For his incarnation became our benefit." But they, finding in the Scriptures that he was created, according to that, *The Lord created me,* item, that he was called a servant, well serving many, and other things of that kind which are said concerning the humanity, and referring them to the divinity of the Only-Begotten, they were branding him with ignominy, separating him from the nature of the Father, and reducing him to the order of creatures: and thus they were turning a benefit into a crime. "Do you therefore," he says, "object this to God as a cause of degradation?" Afterwards he divides the benefit into its species, and in the meantime explains that evangelical parable of the one hundred sheep. And by the sheep indeed, which departed from the hundred-fold flock and went astray, he understands our nature; but by the shepherd, Christ himself; for so he himself names himself: *I am the good Shepherd.* He came to us, that is, to the straying sheep,

and found it on the mountains and hills, in which we were sacrificing, according to Hosea and Isaiah. For among the idolaters it was customary to perform sacrifices on mountains and in shady groves. Therefore, he did not at all neglect our nature that was wandering, but embraced it with extraordinary honor. For he took it upon the very same shoulders upon which he carried the wood of the cross. For he went forth carrying his own cross, before Simon had been compelled to carry it, just as Isaiah had prophesied concerning him, saying: *Whose government is upon his shoulder.* But he led back our nature, which he had received, to the heavenly life from which we had fallen, and gathered it to the angels, who remain constant in the good. For those are designated by the ninety-nine sheep, leaving whom the shepherd comes to the one that is straying, so that he might find it and join it with those who do not stray from the flock, which he also did.

^B Col. 659 A. *Because the lamp, that is, his own flesh, etc.* The parable of the hundred sheep is immediately followed in Luke by the parable of the drachma. Yet these are his own words: *If any woman having ten drachmas, if she shall lose one drachma, does she not light a lamp, and sweep the house, and seek diligently until she shall find the drachma which she had lost?* Here therefore, the woman is—or rather, in her place is—Christ: the lamp is his own flesh, pure, I say, and free from the filth of sin, illuminating the world with the light of divinity, and cleansing it from the darkness of sin, not otherwise than as one might a house that has much filth and rubbish. The drachma, however, is the soul, as if signed with the royal image, which indeed had been overwhelmed and buried by foul affections, but afterwards was found by Christ who was seeking it. And the angels, who love both men and God, are filled with joy at its finding and salvation; to whom also the mystery of the incarnation was first handed down, and we were afterwards imbued by them with the knowledge of the same.

Ibid. *Because the lamp, that precursor, that most clear light, etc.* The precursor, or forerunner, was John the Baptist, as is clear from his father’s prophecy: *For he shall go before the face of the Lord.* But he was called a lamp by the Lord himself, in these words: *He was a burning lamp.* Furthermore, he called him a lamp ^C in that he did not have the light of doctrine from himself, but from the grace of the Holy Spirit, and because he was to be obscured by the exceedingly bright light of the Sun of righteousness. He is again called a Voice, not only because of the audibility of his preaching (for he is, according to the prophecy of Isaiah, *the Voice of one crying in the wilderness*); but also as being prior to Christ the Savior, as far as his humanity is concerned, just as a voice precedes speech. He is called a groomsman, in that he paves the way for Christ to the bride, that is, the Church (for *Prepare,* he says, *the way of the Lord*), ^D as well as to compare, that is, to reconcile, and to espouse to the Lord Christ the excellent people, that is, the abundant and outstanding one, and one more excellent than all other substances and creatures of his; for Christ is the bridegroom of the Church, having been joined to himself by faith. For so John the Baptist speaks: *He who has the bride is the bridegroom: but the groomsman, who stands and hears him, rejoices with joy because of the bridegroom’s voice.* He calls himself, however, a precursor. But now, John was already performing a preliminary cleansing for men to receive the Spirit through water: *For I, indeed,* he says, *baptize you in water: but he shall baptize you in the Holy Spirit.* Therefore, the baptism of John was a preliminary cleansing, leading to the spiritual baptism of Christ, which has the power both of cleansing and of perfecting.

Ibid. B. *Are you objecting these things to God and therefore, etc.* Above, he was speaking in the singular number, *Do you object this to God?* speaking of a benefit; for there the discourse was general. Now, dividing that into several species, he says, Do you object these things to God, and therefore consider him inferior and lesser than the Father, because he washed the feet of his disciples, so that you might learn to be exalted through humility? For he says, *Whoever desires to be the first among you, let him be the last of all;* and: *He who humbles himself shall be exalted.* But concerning the bent woman, it is written in Luke that Christ cured a woman *having a spirit of infirmity, and who was bent downwards and bowed together, and unable to lift herself up.* The Theologian says that this woman signifies, in an allegorical sense, the human soul, pressing downwards and depressed by the weight of sin. But why, he says, do you also reproach that, just as the Pharisees did, that he does not refuse to have publicans as his companions, that he associates with publicans, and does not disdain their company and table, and that he moreover draws some from the duty of tax-collecting to discipleship, such as Matthew: that, because publicans are greedy for gain, the Savior might also incidentally procure their salvation, as they are those who would derive utility from his doctrine: just as a physician also lowers himself to foul diseases, and himself unaffected by the pains which solicit the medicine, brings health to the sick, and as he also who according to the law’s precept lays hold of a fallen animal, and himself not having fallen, pulls it out. But if they derive wondrous praise from this, what indeed can be brought forward, so that the Lord should not excite a far greater admiration in us, who endured our foul corruption and descended into the very lowest pit, that he might restore to wholeness man who was swarming with the ulcers of his affections, and pull him upwards, who had been oppressed by such a great calamity that he had lost all sense and reason like a beast, so that he was not even able to provide aid for himself, nor did he perceive the physician standing by.

Indeed, he would need a rational power—that is, Christ—who is moved by his own impulse of love and mercy towards the human race.

^A “He was indeed sent, but as man,” etc. Heretics, hearing Christ say, “The Father sent me,” craftily and perversely inferred from the fact that the Son was sent and had served according to the plan of the incarnation, that he was sent as inferior to the Father and that he obeyed. For it seems that those who are sent are subjects and inferiors. Therefore the Theologian briefly solves this point, which was an argument for their blasphemy. Since Christ had a dual nature, namely divine and human, understand that all those words which you find uttered about him in a lofty and magnificent way belong to his divinity; but ascribe all those that are humble and lowly to his humanity. If you interpret this mission in terms of his humanity, there will be no room for objection. For as man, he was sent, was afflicted by hunger and thirst, was wearied and seized by anguish, and shed tears. But if you twist this kind of mission toward his divinity, a pious scope will nevertheless remain. For we interpret the will of the Father as his good pleasure. For the Son descended to earth at the Father’s will, and he who does anything according to the counsel and judgment of another, appears to be moved by him. For what one approves, that he is also considered to urge and advise. ^B The Son rightly ascribes his own deeds to the Father for a twofold reason: the one, because the Father is the origin of the Son (an origin, however, regarding cause, not regarding time); the other, so that he might not appear to oppose God. For those humble words of the Son do not tend toward showing him as inferior to the Father, but rather to declare his concord and agreement of will with the Father, just as if a friend were said to be sent by a friend—not as an inferior, but as an equal, and one possessing the same will; or, if you prefer, just as we say the sun has sent forth a ray, which is by no means of a different substance, but of the same substance as the sun. That in one and the same Christ some things are said as of God and others as of man, is clearly evident from this. For Scripture testifies that the Father has delivered him, and recalled him from the dead, and received him: which indeed have the significance of good pleasure or of humanity. Yet we also find that he himself delivered himself, and raised himself from the dead, and ascended into heaven. By these words his divine power is declared. Truly, the heretic ineptly brings forward the humble words about Christ, which belong to humanity alone, and tosses them up and down, but passes over in silence the sublime things expressing his divine nature. Indeed, he shakes out what he suffered, yet does not add that he suffered it voluntarily. ^C But come, let us produce those passages in which the Son is said to have his resurrection, and his being delivered, and his ascension, partly from the Father, and partly from himself. Paul writes to the Romans concerning the Father: “He who did not spare his own Son, but delivered him up for us all.” But to Titus he speaks thus concerning the Son: “Who delivered himself for us, that he might redeem us from all sin.” And in the Epistle to the Galatians: “Who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil age.” Again, speaking to the Corinthians about the Father, he says: “God both raised the Lord.” And writing to the Galatians: “Through Jesus Christ and the Father, who raised him from the dead.” But in the Gospel, the Son himself says of himself: “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” And again: “I have power to lay down my life, and I have power to take it up again.” Now concerning his ascension into heaven, it is written in the Acts: “While they watched, he was taken up, and a cloud received him.” But in the book of Psalms: “Ascending on high, he led captivity captive.” And in the Gospel: “No one ascended into heaven, but he who descended from heaven.”

^D

Alas! What does the Word suffer even now!

call him, just as one who dissolves the Sabbath and certain Jewish ceremonies. For the Samaritans hold half of the Jewish religion. But what follows, I shall be silent about. What is this? That he was beset by a demon. For the Jews said: *Thou art a Samaritan, and hast a devil* ^A: which Gregory now, because of the magnitude and atrocity of the blasphemy, passes over in silence. But you, do you not have faith in the divinity of the Only-Begotten, nor admit that he is equal to God the Father? Not even the demons have rushed to such an extent of audacity as to say this. Thus you seem to outdo the demons in infidelity, and the Jews in ingratitude, or rather in ignorance and dullness (for ἀγνωμοσύνη signifies both). For the Jews, after Christ had said, *My Father worketh until now, and I work* ^B, sought to kill him, because he called God his own Father, making himself equal to ^C God. For they thought that the name "Son" was a word of equal honor; that is, they supposed that if they confessed Christ to be the Son of God, they also necessarily had to confess that he was equal to Him and the same in honor. Therefore they did not grant the name of Son to Christ, lest they also be forced to grant equality with the Father to him. But the demons knew Christ to be God, when they were invisibly driven away and tormented by him. Whence they also said: *I know who thou art*; and again: *What have we to do with thee, thou Son of God? Art thou come hither to torment us before the time* ^D? And these things, indeed, the Jews and the demons did. But you, you neither admit the equality, like the Jews (for you assert that he is created), nor do you confess his divinity, like the demons. Wherefore it would have been better for you to have a circumcised foreskin by the Jewish rite, and to be vexed by the demons, to say something pointedly, just as those in the Gospel, by whose mouth the demons spoke and confessed Christ to be God, than, while you have a foreskin—that is, are not circumcised—and are not beset by a demon, but have a sound mind, to think so wickedly and impiously, and separate the Son from the Father's divinity.

Col. 662 B. *But this war, which we wage with them*, etc. The war, he says, which we wage against the heretics, should indeed be restrained if they should ever at least wish to return to a better mind: but if they do not wish to, let it rest for the present, and be put off to another time. For this struggle will certainly not be a source of terror to us, who wage war for God and with God. Now, however, the discourse must be brought to its conclusion, and stated summarily: For this reason we were created by God, that we might be benefited, and indeed we have been benefited; and that benefit was that paradise was committed to us, so that we might enjoy divine delights. We received a commandment, that by keeping it we might attain to glory. For it was fitting that man should first be tested, and should be perfected by experiment through the keeping of the commandment, and thus then, as a reward for virtue, obtain immortality. For a man whose virtue has been proven by no argument, is worthy of neither praise nor reward. We receive, moreover, the commandment, not because God was ignorant that we would transgress it, but that He might promulgate to us the freedom of our will, as if by a broad law. For what is done by force and under compulsion cannot obtain the name of virtue. What then? Driven by the envy of the devil, and circumvented by guile, we violated the law, we fell from paradise, and for this reason we fast, because we did not fast then, when we yielded to the pleasure of the tree of knowledge, from which God had prescribed that we should abstain. For the commandment of fasting is old, and simultaneously born with the human race. For that first commandment which Adam received: *Of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat* ^D, was a law of fasting and temperance. But if Eve had abstained from the eat of this tree, we would have no need of this fasting now. For *they that are whole need not a physician, but they that are sick*. Since, therefore, we did not fast then, the fast is rightly prescribed to us now, so that what we lost by not keeping the fast, we may regain by keeping it. But what is that which we lost because the fast was not kept? Paradise, to which access will be opened to us through fasting. And for that reason God put on flesh, and underwent death, that we who died through sin might revive. Nay, we ourselves, also fasting before the time of the saving passion, have died with Christ, certainly by pressing and extinguishing the turbulent motions of the soul, so that we might be purified: and having been mortified at the same time, we have also risen at the same time, namely by a glorious and saving resurrection, and consequently have also been glorified at the same time.

Col. 662 D. *Although, however, very many things of that time*, etc. Very many are those miracles which happened around the passion and the cross: what are they? God is fixed to the cross, not insofar as He is God, but insofar as He is also man. And this is a figure of communication, by which each nature, on account of the hypostatic identity, and the mutual passing of one into the other, communicates its properties to the other: darkness from the sixth hour even to the ninth, with the sun evidently mourning for the suffering Lord, and in a way condoling with him; the veil rent, on account of the mourning, and so that it might become clear that the divine power, which was in the temple, had departed, and had left the house deserted, and to be cut down and overturned by the Gentiles. Perhaps the veil was rent for this reason, that the Gentiles might see the Holy things, which the Jews by no means saw, as the thickness of the letter stood in the way. For when the sanctification was not yet given, but was preserved for the advent and presence of the Lord, He Himself, with the veil broken, and the mysteries of the holy places, which were covered to the ungrateful and stubborn Jews, having been opened, paved for us a way to the heavenly kinship. Blood and water flowing from his side, one for the blotting out of the handwriting of our servitude: the other for our liberty through sub-

confirmation in the royal manner. Furthermore, by that twofold outpouring, a twofold baptism was signified: one which is accomplished by water; the other which is accomplished by martyrdom, namely, when the time of persecution brings us into danger. Again, the flowing blood bore witness against man, while the water showed that He was above the human condition. The earth was shaken by an earthquake, declaring a change to a better state, or perhaps it blazed with anger against those who, insolently and furiously, had killed Christ after having vexed Him with the most bitter insults. The rocks were rent for the sake of the Rock—that is, for the sake of Christ—and [they served] to rebuke the madness of the Jews: for although they [the rocks] were devoid of soul, they were broken by fear, while those men, on the contrary, degenerated into the nature of stones, remaining both stupid toward fear and ungrateful toward benefits. ^B The dead rising and entering the city serve for the confirmation of the general resurrection and for the restoration of the dead to the life above. These signs were wrought partly at the sepulcher and partly after the sepulcher, such as Christ’s rising from the sealed monument, as well as the earthquake, the rolling away of the stone, the visions of angels, the linen cloths, and the napkin. These miracles are indeed many and illustrious, but none is to be compared with the miracle of my own salvation. For a few drops of blood restored the whole world—that is, they so renewed it that it might follow a new path of life—and they joined and bound us together, just as rennet, if it be cast into milk, condenses what is dispersed and fluid within it, and binds and collects it into one solid body. Now, the rennet is that milky substance which is in the fig ^C and which some also use for curdling milk.

Col. 663 A. "But O Pascha, great," I say, "and holy Pascha," etc. These words, "O Pascha great," he refers to the feast itself, as if it were endowed with life. Those, however, "O Word of God," and the words that follow in succession, he directs toward Christ, the spiritual Pascha, by way of acclamation. Christ, moreover, is called the Word, because of His generation which is devoid of passion, and because He declares the Father to us. Light, however, is the splendor of souls, which are purified both by life and by speech. For if ignorance and sin are darkness, then knowledge and a righteous and divine life surely deserve the name of light. ^D They are also to have life. Furthermore, it is called [the source of] life, because it gathers together every rational nature and brings it into being. "For in Him we live, and move, and have our being" (Acts xvii, 28). Wisdom, however, as having knowledge of all things, [knows] both divine and human things. For He who founded all things has also the causes and reasons of these things clearly before Him. Power, indeed, [is attributed to Him] as the preserver of those things which were created by Him, bestowing upon them the strength to be preserved and to cohere. Again, as the offspring of the mind, the Word is connected with His begetter, and was generated without passion, just as speech proceeds from the mind. The Seal, moreover, [is attributed to Him] in that He has the whole Father expressed within Himself, and shows Him, not otherwise than as a seal reflects its exemplar. Now, indeed, one and the same Christ, as Word and God, is understood by reason, but is not seen. For the divine nature escapes every sense of the eyes; but as man, He is even seen. He who, according to the Apostle (Hebr. i, 3), supports and contains all things, bound and constrained by the word and command of His power. For, as he said, "so they were made; as He said, so they remain" (Ps. xxxii, 9, 11). The Theologian offers his discourse to Him, which he wishes to name the "first-fruits," as if he were to offer others also after it, but he hesitates, and says that this discourse is perhaps not the first-fruits, but the end and complement. For, he says, because of my old age, I know not whether a longer life will be granted to me, so that I may be able to offer others, and thus, by virtue of their arrangement, this discourse might be named the "first-fruits." This, furthermore, I offer, partly giving thanks for the benefits conferred upon me, and partly supplicating that I may suffer no hardship beyond my sacred and necessary cares. For it is necessary to labor and suffer for these; nor do I refuse or shirk them. Gregory calls the tyranny of the body a disease (perhaps it was gout), from which he also prays to be released, as it was vehemently constricting him; or rather, not a disease, but the sentence of God, by which this disease had been decreed for his own purification. The Theologian promises, however, that if he should complete the final day of his life, as he desires, and be received into the eternal tabernacles, there also he will offer grateful sacrifices upon the altar of God. Which words he borrowed from Isaiah, in whose writings God speaks thus: "And they shall offer acceptable gifts upon my altar" (Isa. lx, 7).

CONCERNING ORATION XLIV, FORMERLY XLIII.

ARGUMENT

^A Or because the *encaenia* of our resurrection are celebrated on it, or because it bears the figure of that eighth day in which all things shall be new. Gregory wrote this oration in the city of Nazianzus, indeed, but delivered it in the temple of the holy martyr Mamas, situated near the city, which is celebrated, then and to this very day, on the Sunday nearest to Easter, by a wondrous crowd of inhabitants. And for this reason, this oration, as one delivered to a promiscuous and plebeian multitude, is more tempered toward clarity and ease, and has more of the persuasive kind than of the demonstrative.

Col. 607 A. *On honoring the Encaenia, the law is old*, etc. The *Encaenia*, when it concerns a temple, is its first consecration, shortly after the final hand has been applied to its structure. But when it concerns a house, it is its first habitation. But in this place, the *Encaenia* is that regeneration which we attain through resurrection, and the transmutation to immortality. Furthermore, the Theologian calls the old law a custom. For custom is an unwritten law. And he praises this law, by which the *Encaenia* are honored, and he praises it indeed, adding his own assessment and opinion that this law is excellently established, which commands that honor be held for the *Encaenia*. Although it is not the *Encaenia* themselves that are honored, but rather the new things on account of which we celebrate the *Encaenia*. And this happens not once, but annually, indeed when, through the turning of time—that is, the revolution—this day on which that event occurred has returned. For this reason, we celebrate the *Encaenia* more often, ^B so that excellent events may be preserved in memory, and not be obliterated by the injury of time, and, obscured and covered and overwhelmed by the whirlpool of oblivion, perish. For those things are properly called *exita* [efflorescent] which have lost their bloom, and, as the etymology of the name indicates, *ta exo tou tethnēkenai* [beyond having faded/withered], that is, those things which have shed their flowers.

Ibid. *The islands are renewed to God*, etc. He produces testimonies of the *Encaenia* from Sacred Scripture. And first he puts forward Isaiah, through whom God speaks thus: *Be renewed to me, islands*: in which place, by islands, the reception of the Gentiles is signified, who, emerging from false and bitter infidelity, receive a seat that is untrampled and stable in Christ. Be renewed, therefore, O islands, he says, that is, cast out from your hearts the oldness contracted from error and sin, and be renewed through repentance and faith.

Ibid. *It is renewed also among another prophet*, etc. A brazen wall is found in Jeremiah: *For behold*, he says, *I have set you as a fortified city, and as a brazen wall*. But a wall simply renewed, and not brazen, is found in Isaiah. ^C It is read when he says: *My belly shall sound like a harp for Moab, and my inner parts like the wall which you have renewed*. It seems, therefore, that the Theologian took the brazen [quality] from Jeremiah, but the renewal from Isaiah. And perhaps the Theologian appears to have taken less notice when he referred the renewal of the wall to another prophet, and not to Isaiah, among whom it is found. Truly, explaining the prophet's saying, he says that by the wall the soul is signified, which is indeed hard and firm (for such is a wall of this kind); golden, however, because the form of bronze also recalls the color of gold; and fresh, because it is compact toward piety, on account of the renewal. For those things are dedicated which are new and recently fixed and established. Perhaps it can also be said that Gregory was led by this reason to understand a brazen wall, even if he did not find this word explicitly among the prophets, since Isaiah said: *My inner parts shall sound like a wall*; but *to chein* [the sounding] is said of bronze. Furthermore, Isaiah professes that he is about to expound the slaughters and calamities of the Moabites, having become, as it were, a harp and an instrument of the Holy Spirit, and renewed and inspired by Him; and he says that he possesses both his belly and intestines—that is, his thoughts and power of understanding—like a certain impregnable wall, so that, evidently, evil thoughts may in no way be able to creep into it.

Col. 607 B. *To these things, a new song to the Lord*, etc. David in Psalm CXLIX says: *Sing to the Lord a new song*. But it is a new song, if you look at history, that famous and remarkable chant which is sung because of a certain prosperous success and victory; but if you seek the allegorical sense, it is a song of the New Testament. For then all things were made new: both a new creature, and a new man, and new life, and new commandments, and new grace, and new promises, and new sacraments, and new precepts. And on that account it is called the New Testament, not only from the time, but also from the nature of those things which occurred in it, since all things have been renewed, and first of all man, for whose sake all things came into existence. And indeed according to history, since some of the Hebrews were led captive to Babylon, and returning safe and sound to Jerusalem, while others remained in Jerusalem: David exhorts both to sing a new song, some because they remained in their ancestral seats, others because they returned home. But according to the anagogical sense, Babylon is confusion, and the obscuring of the mind injected by the turbulent movements and perturbations of the soul. For Babylon means confusion. Jerusalem, however, is a tranquil ^D and peaceful state of soul, and an abandonment of the affection[...]

affections and of noise. For if, as interpreted, Jerusalem signifies the vision of peace, just as it was not permitted for the Jews to sing the divine hymns in a foreign land—even if they did not lack the instruments, but rather said: "How shall we sing the Lord’s song in a strange land?"—so also, even if we possess a mouth and tongue, which are the organs of speech, it is not permitted for us to use the liberty of speaking, that is, to confidently and freely seek and implore his help, as long as we serve sin, than which no barbarians are more cruel tyrants, and have been under another government. For the Prophet blocks our mouth, saying: "But to the sinner God has said, 'Why do you declare my statutes, and take up my covenant through your mouth?'" But after we have returned from spiritual captivity through repentance, as if by a right of return, and have again entered upon a new way of life and conduct, then at last, on account of this new life, we also sing a new song. Furthermore, those who have not at all endured spiritual captivity, but have remained in virtue as if in their own country, and by advancing make constant new progress in virtue, also sing a new song to God.

^A which God the Father approved with good will, and the Holy Spirit, of whom the wise Bezalel bears the figure, perfected by his labor and industry. And the spiritual Moses, Christ, in the manner of a craftsman, effected this through himself, namely by weaving human nature into himself through the hypostatic union. Lastly, the Ark could signify the creation of all things, which the Father devised as Mind, the Son established as Word, and finally the Holy Spirit perfected in all respects.

Ibid. C. *Now the kingdom is also renewed for David, etc.* First, David was anointed by Samuel in Bethlehem, as is held in 1 Kings, chapter 5 [16]. Then, after Saul was extinguished, he was greeted as king in Hebron, as the second book testifies; thirdly, after the death of Mephibosheth, by all the tribes. Therefore, when the kingdom was renewed for him after the anointing, he celebrated a feast; and again, when the principate was renewed for him through the salutation of the entire people, he followed that day with joy and solemnity, taking up the administration of the kingdom. Now according to the allegory, the spiritual David is Christ, the true one, I say, that king of the new Israel and of him who sees God, as one born from the lineage of David according to the flesh. He was anointed in his first advent as far as his humanity is concerned; but in the second and illustrious one, he will be proclaimed as God and Lord, and King and Creator of all creation, or rather he has also been proclaimed [as such], since all power in heaven and on earth was given to him as a human being. Moreover, his kingdom, if we look at the first anointing, is renewed on the feast of his conception or nativity; if, however, we look at the second proclamation, [it is renewed] on the celebrated feast of the Resurrection.

^C Ibid. *Then also the ark of the testimony is renewed, etc.* It is written in the book of Numbers: After Moses set up the ark, the twelve princes, that is, the heads of the tribes, offered their gifts for the dedication of the altar, namely silver bowls, and silver basins, and golden censers, and animals for the holocaust. Furthermore, God commanded Moses to construct this ark of the testimony: "For you shall make it," he says, "according to all things which I show you on the mountain," that is, according to the exemplar of the ark which I show you, etc. Now Bezalel, born from the tribe of Judah, whom God ordered to perform the duty of architect having filled him with the spirit of wisdom, finished it, with Moses prescribing its form according to the exemplar shown to him by God on the mountain. But Moses himself set it up, just as it is written at great length about all these things in the book of Exodus. Moreover, it is called the ark of the testimony, either because it held closed the chest in which the tablets of the Testament and the jar of his manna, were [kept], as a testimony and confirmation of those things which had then been done and ordained by the law; or because therein the Lord, showing himself to be seen, gave forth to Moses oracles and protests of things to be done or not to be done, from which it received its name: "Testify," he says, that is, "command, this people"; or it was also named so from the law, which is itself called "testimony," according to that: "Your testimonies have been made very credible." Moses celebrated the dedication and first use of this ark, for which it had been built magnificently and at great expense. Furthermore, the ark of the testimony could also signify that mystical counsel of God regarding the incarnation of the Word,

^D Ibid. *The Dedication also occurred in Jerusalem, etc.* In this place he understands the Dedication, not of that former structure of the temple which was made while Solomon reigned, but of that later one which followed the return of the Jews from the Babylonian captivity. Therefore, when the Israelites were celebrating that Dedication, not only was there a natural and sensible winter, as John commemorates, but also a spiritual one, namely of perfidy and unbelief, as our Gregory explains. But Jesus was also present, who as God precedes all time, but is recent and new, as is the temple and the human—the temple, I say, of which the Savior himself said: "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up." For the temple of the body was destroyed in one and the same day (namely, of the passion), and raised up on the third day after; and it no longer dies, but, to use the words of Daniel, remains into the ages. And indeed Christ underwent death, so that to me, that is, to all, he might bring salvation. He rose, however, that he might raise me from the ancient fall, and by restoring the new from the old, make it [whole].

Col. 610 A. *But the divine David also [prays] to create a clean heart in himself, etc.* The faculty and power of understanding is called "heart" by David; however, the movements of the mind are called by the name of "viscera." And the purity of the intellectual faculty and the renewal of the spirit in

^A His thoughts he seeks, not as if not having them, but as desiring that something newer might accrue to him daily. For "innovation" signifies a new progress and accretion arising daily.

Ibid. *But why is it necessary for me to collect more Encænia*, etc. Why, he says, is it necessary to recount more Encænia, when I can explain these Encænia which we now celebrate for our salvation? For we not only flee from a double death—the one, of course, of corruption and destruction, and the other of sin, which has been abolished and extinguished in Christ—but we are also joined to a double life obtained for us in Christ: namely, the one that is immortal and placed in hope, and the one that is established in the oppression of sin. For Christ died and rose again, so that we might die to sin and walk in newness of life. ^B Now, the name of "Encænia" being repeated a second time has a reason connected to it by the Theologian himself. For those things which affect our souls with a sense of pleasure, we repeat again and again for joy: yet we do not seem to have expressed all that we wish. *Bring ears that are renewed.* For the ear is renewed into which something new sounds, and which hears those things which it had never heard before.

^C This, I say, is matter consisting of worldly light falling into sight. For it is both cut off by the night, and in turn intersects the night with equal portions; for sometimes it surpasses it in magnitude, and sometimes in turn is surpassed by it: and as much as it takes from it, so much is in turn extorted from it, now indeed with the longest day succeeding the shortest night, and now on the contrary with the longest night succeeding the shortest day; so that neither in the number of hours, nor in the space and interval, is one surpassed by the other, but they contend between themselves in a peaceful and tranquil emulation, and the longest day corresponds to the longest night, and the shortest to the shortest. This light, therefore, is poured out and expanded in the air, which its own nature had made dark and altogether compressed and commingled within itself. Yet it is committed and given to the sight and the eyes. For if the sight were removed, the gift of light would be empty and superfluous. It receives what it gives. For it brings the power of discerning to the eyes, and is first perceived by the eyes: just as Dion of Prusa wrote learnedly. For not only does sight behold objects subjected to the eyes when the light is removed, but the light illuminates the eyes, and first it enters the eyes, and then by its work other things also fall into view. For being poured around the things which are perceived by sight, it grants them liberty and clarity, that is, it causes them to appear and be discerned. It also brings freedom, so that each one may attend to his own work and duty. For in the night, and when darkness dominates, all rest from action, nor do they dare to set foot out of the house.

Ibid. ^D *One and inaccessible light*, etc. The Theologian, having professed that he would hand down to us what these Encænia are, which are celebrated by us, does not immediately fulfill the faith of his promise, but starting more deeply from theology and natural philosophy, and then descending to the plan of the humanity assumed by Christ, he then at last treats of the Encænia. And indeed, speaking of the divinity, he calls God "light," and "one light" (for the divinity is one, although in three persons) and "inaccessible," which indeed is more than imperceptible. For this is called inaccessible, to which no one can even approach, much less comprehend it. And he also affirms that the light of the divinity is devoid of succession, in contrast to solar light, to which night succeeds. Now, he teaches that it has neither beginning nor end, but is more sublime than all measure and circumscription. Furthermore, he calls it perpetually radiant, as being in no way subject to succession and always shining, and thus "thrice-radiant," inasmuch as it shines in three persons. And when he had said that that light, to the extent that it is, could be perceived and beheld by few, he immediately seized upon this statement as being by no means conformable to the truth, and correcting himself, he stated exactly and openly, or rather, that it could not be perceived by even a few, and thus he declared that light of this kind could in no way be perceived or comprehended. God, therefore, is the prince of light and the fountain of lights. But the secondary lights, receiving light from Him, are the celestial virtues surrounding God, and as Paul writes to the Hebrews, they are "ministering spirits, sent forth for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation." But this light of ours is neither lacking in beginning nor in succession, as if it were divine, but also

Col. 610 C. *For when God from visible and invisible things*, etc. He still dwells on the discourse concerning light, and says: The intellectual and spiritual world, created by God, had God Himself, the greatest light, and consequently there was nothing for which it would require a second light. And for the lower things, and those placed around us, before other things, He produced the power and faculty of this sensible light. For it was fitting for the great Light, that is, God, when preparing to make these lower things, to derive the beginning of His work from no other source than from light, by which He also dissolves the darkness and the vast heap and confusion, which previously occupied all things. For since light was not yet created, this universe was unformed and inordinate. But after the creation of heaven and earth, you can at once perceive the order: *For let there be*, he says, *a firmament*. Then, *Let the earth sprout*, and the rest in the same way. But where there is a first thing, and a second, who would deny that there is order? Now he borrowed these things from Plato, whose words are these: When God had taken whatever might fall into the sense of sight, He brought it from an inordinate state into order, not tranquil and quiet, but immoderately agitated and fluctuating. But perhaps someone might have doubted, when Moses says: *In the beginning God created heaven and earth*,

and afterwards subjoins: *And God said: Let there be light*, what the cause might be why the Theologian says that God began his work with light. He says this not only in this place, but in his poetry as well, in which he sang thus:

In the beginning, the supreme Moderator of Olympus made light, that with the approach of light the face of the great work might be more pleasant: and afterwards he led the starry heaven, a wondrous deed, into its orbit.

And what follows.

But one can resolve this doubt in many ways, and show that the words of the Theologian in no way conflict with the words of Moses. First, because Moses himself also asserts that after the creation of the first heaven, light was made, and then the firmament, in which both the sun and the stars were placed. For in the same way the Theologian also says that light was first created, then this heaven distinguished by stars, which is also named the firmament, and is lower than this first heaven, which even by profane writers who steal Moses' doctrine and claim it for themselves is called the heaven devoid of stars. Secondly, according to the opinion of Gregory of Nyssa, we can explain this knot thus: God created the whole of matter at once, from which all things were produced. This being created, the first light, as being more efficacious, was separated and set apart, and sprang forth. After that, other matter was taken up for the creation of the heaven, and other for the construction of the earth, and thus the universe was perfected. The third solution to the difficulty, and that the most accurate one, can be this. Many other learned men, as well as the holy and philosophical Justin, who is also famous for the praise of martyrdom, make a distinction between "creation" (*effectionem*) and "fabrication" (*fabricationem*). For a creator (*factor*) creates a work by his own power and might, needing no other thing. But a craftsman (*fabricator*) fabricates a work taking the power of his craft from matter. Since, therefore, this has been assumed beforehand, and is held as certain and confessed—namely, that the creator makes from nothing, but the craftsman from subject matter—it remains now to see and observe how exactly and truly the Theologian spoke these things. For he did not say: "It was fitting for God to begin creation from light" (for that would have been foreign to the truth), but "workmanship," which is indeed true. For heaven, and earth, and the other elements were made from no pre-existing matter, and this is called creation; but living creatures, and plants, and seeds were made from these, that is to say, from the four elements: earth, water, air, and fire, and that is named "workmanship." Therefore, God did not begin his creation, but his workmanship, from light. For when he wished to make ^A living creatures and plants and seeds from the elements already produced by him, then first he said: *Let there be light*: then, *Let the earth sprout*: and: *Let the waters bring forth reptiles and winged things*, and: *Let the earth bring forth living soul, quadrupeds, and reptiles, and beasts*. And this sensible light God did not show from the beginning to be organic, ^B that is, as if in a certain organ and body (as in a vessel) circumscribed and enclosed, such as it is seen now, when it is contained by the disk of the sun, but rather incorporeal and without the sun. For when it was not yet circumscribed by the solar disk, it was incorporeal; for this is what *avfjtov* signifies. Afterwards he gave it to the sun and the stars, that is, the supreme architect placed the primordial light into those luminaries: not that he was pressed by the need for other light, but that that light might not remain inert and sluggish. For the luminary is not light itself, but a receptacle of light. But what was the cause why he created first light, and then the receptacle of light, that is, the solar disk? It is surely that he might present a certain great and remarkable miracle. For since in the other creatures he had first established matter (and matter is that which underlies each thing for its essence, such as the four elements), and afterwards had infused form: here, however, he first created the form, that is, light (for the form of the sun is light, but the sun is the matter of light), and afterwards he fashioned the matter, that is, the solar body, and created the sun, the parent of the day. Thus, with light produced, the first day is numbered, and the second, and so on as far as the seventh, on which God rested from all the works ^C which he had made, just as Scripture testifies. For the workmanship of God is divided into days. For on the first, light was made, which, both diffused and collected, made three days before the creation of the sun; on the second, the firmament; on the third, the collection of waters and the germination of the earth; on the fourth, the luminaries; on the fifth, the animals produced from the waters; on the sixth, the terrestrial animals, and man. But that these works were established in that order, so that one might be first, another second, and so on, was not done rashly and in vain, but on account of certain secret and ineffable reasons. For there was need of order for created things. Furthermore, number is familiar and suitable to order, as Philo the Hebrew wrote. Therefore, the Creator Word, and Son of God, did not bring all things into the nature of things suddenly and in a heap, although he could do all things otherwise, not only by command and decree, but also by thought alone. For he said, *and they were made; he commanded, and they were created*. But what do I say: *He spoke, and they were made*, when thought alone places and represents a perfect work of God? The Theologian, however, accepted the meaning of these words from the book of Judith, of God addressing in these words: *You thought, and all things which you ^D made were present to you*. But if man was produced last, and that, since he was made to the image of God and fashioned by the divine hand, it is not at all to be wondered at. For since he was to have the kingdom and rule of those things which are contained in the compass of the earth, the palace had to be adorned first, and the living creatures over which he was to preside had to be procreated.

^A And so that first Sunday is as it were a dividing boundary between the funeral and burial which is celebrated on Great Saturday, and the resurrection which occurs on that same Sunday, having indeed the end of the burial but the beginning of the resurrection. And consequently, as being placed in the middle, it is a participant in both sorrow and joy: and this New Sunday is no longer a boundary, such that it might bring something sad with it, but it is clearly a day of regeneration and resurrection, just as the first creation began from the Lord’s day (and this is most clearly evident from the fact that in the creation of the world, the seventh day, the Sabbath, is numbered from the Lord's day, on which God rested from his works), so too the second creation might receive its beginning from the same day. And this also you must observe, that this New Sunday, besides the fact that it has the same prerogatives as the first Sunday, has also other privileges besides, which that one lacks. For just as that one is the first of the former creation, so this one too is the first of the second, that is, the new one. In addition to this, it is also the first of those which follow after it. For this ^B holds a distinction, the New Sunday, that it is also the eighth day from those which preceded it. Wherefore if anyone should wish to compare the New Sunday with the Sunday of the Resurrection, he will affirm this one to be more sublime and more wonderful, as being a kind of prelude to the spiritual life, which is devoid of matter, and the firstfruits of the blessed life—that is, a second creation, which will follow the resurrection, or a new manner of life and reasoning of life, which is to be in the eighth century, subject to no succession.

Col. 611 B. *But if we had remained what we were,* etc. Man was created neither actually mortal nor immortal, but was made a middle being between God and matter, the cause of which was that if he obeyed the divine precept, he might be united to God and affirmed in immortality; but if he had broken the law, he would be rendered subject to death, and from impassible would become passible, and from immortal would become mortal. This even the Theologian indicates in this place, when he says: *If we had remained what we were*, that is, pure, we would have been what we were not, that is, immortal, namely by approaching the tree of immortal life, having passed over the tree of knowledge. Now, what those plants were has been explained by us quite copiously in the commentary of the higher oration. But after, in accordance with what is held in the book of Wisdom: *By the envy of the devil, death entered into the world* [Sap. II, 24], and he carried off man by deception, therefore God becomes man, and descends to such poverty, that he is compacted and thickens into flesh, so that we, according to the Apostle [II Cor. VIII, 9], might be enriched by his poverty. And he suffers, not as God, but by our passion; that is, as man. For it is our and a human thing so to suffer. Furthermore, just as passion flowed from the incarnation, so death flowed from passion: then the resurrection, from which is a new creature, ^C that is, the recreation of our nature and the renewal, healing and raising up the fall and fracture of the first generation. And for this reason, after the feast of Pascha, we all celebrate the feast of the Encaenia [Dedication], and I come forward again to declaim, in the manner and reason of the Encaenia, keeping the feast of my salvation.

Ibid. C. *What then, someone might say,* etc. When he had called this Sunday the Encaenia, he introduces someone by way of a retort asking: What are you saying? Was not the first Sunday an Encaenia, I mean that one which followed the night of the Great Sabbath and that lighting of lamps which is celebrated then? Why then do you attribute the name of Encaenia to this second Sunday? This objection he solves, saying that that Sunday of the Resurrection is life-giving. For in it we have attained salvation, namely by its benefit from death and corruption to immortal life and eternal incorruption: but this New Sunday is the birthday of that one and its commemoration. For that was the resurrection, but this is the feast and Encaenia of that resurrection. And just as birthdays, when they are celebrated, have a commemoration of those who are born, with the annual circle of time bringing back the day of their procreation: so also this New Sunday, which the septenary circuit of days effects or restores, is called the birthday of the first Sunday, because it is its ^D feast and commemoration.

At this point some raise an objection, saying: What, finally, does the Theologian mean, when having said that the Sunday of the Resurrection is superior to all feasts, now he again prefers the day of the Encaenia to the day of the Resurrection, and in some way fights with himself? To the solution of this objection it is permitted to bring what he says a little further down in this same oration: But neither are these things said by me, because I wish you to remain always in the same state, but that you may be moved by a perpetual and praiseworthy motion, and be an entirely new creature. Just as, therefore, we perceive him who is renewed becoming more sublime and more divine than himself, shining with the excessive progress and increments of virtue: so also we must believe that all the solemn days devised for our sake become more sublime in us than themselves, when the mystery that is signified through them produces in us its own power and faculty, perfected in all numbers. Wherefore, it is not without reason that the Theologian called the New Sunday more sublime than the sublime, because it is always the same day with us, and surpasses itself. For the first Sunday brings this alone to us by its mystery, that it purges life from every gross and earthly imagination: but by the benefit of the New Sunday we attain this, that through all good things, of which the prior Sunday had brought as it were certain firstfruits,

^A a figure is signified, and those old things, from which the transgression arose for us and the contrary use of the senses, are to be remembered by you for this one purpose, that you may flee them, lest through forgetfulness of them you fall into the same state again. Otherwise, these things ought not even to be recalled to memory, except for this one reason, that we may avoid those things which brought condemnation upon us.

^B Ibid. "She saw that the tree was good for food," etc. This sense instructs us, through which the entrance to death was opened up. For it is written in the book of Genesis: *And the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and pleasant to the eyes to understand* 78. Since, therefore, that fruit was both most beautiful to the sight and most sweet to the perception, and it ensnared and destroyed us through our first parents, let us henceforth flee the brightness of colors, that sight which holds ^C the first place among the senses, and let us discipline the eyes. Let us not turn them toward external things, but toward ourselves, according to that precept of Deuteronomy: *Attend to thyself* 79, and let us listen to the author of the Proverbs, Solomon, saying 80: *Let not the desire of excessive beauty overcome thee, neither be thou carried away with thine eyelids*, that is, not only from a vain and curious look, but, if it is possible, not even from a chance and incidental one; rather, even for a slight and neglected glance upon the common, compress your eyes. But on account of the difficulty of the matter, it is added: *If it is possible*. For "to see" is nothing else than simply to look upon. To this, on both sides, are opposed to look curiously and to look neglectfully and incidentally, like an excess and a defect. Therefore, you must see to it that you are not carried away by your eyelids, and you must hold before your mind Eve, who was indeed a sweet imposture because of her conspicuous form, and a dear enchantment because of her alluring and soothing pleasure. For a woman, like bait, draws the male toward her, and infects him with poison, and with voluptuous gestures, and words, and actions—as if by certain juggleries—she mocks him, by which he, once enticed, is dragged to the most bitter destruction and ruin of his soul. For if she, who was his own and had been given as a companion and helper, destroyed the man, how will a harlot and a stranger be of help to his salvation? Therefore, let the eyes be so checked within the eyelids, as if they were dwelling in a bridal chamber, in a virginal manner, and not exciting a sting with bold and immodest movements. ^D And furthermore, turn away pleasure even from the sense of taste and the throat, to which all food is devolved: and that which before perception was held dear, the same, once perceived, vanishes and is held in contempt. Moreover, you must also beware lest the sense of smell should effeminate you. For it is a disgraceful thing, and womanish, and alien to a man to use ointments and the sweetness of odors: otherwise, even an immoderate use of such things renders males more lascivious and more prone to venereal congress. For they say that the Emperor Commodus, when a pestilence was raging...

sometimes used ointments; and from that circumstance he conceived even greater flames of lust. Therefore, do not be effeminated by the sense of smell, nor enervated and softened by the sense of touch; rather, flee all levity and softness. By touch, however, he does not mean just that which occurs through the hand, but also that which is maintained throughout the whole body. For the power and faculty of touching is spread and diffused throughout the entire flesh, except for the hair, bones, nails, and nerves. For these alone lack sensation. What more? Hearing has cast you into deception, and once led astray, it has led you away from the truth, just as it once did our first parents. Neither let it be unrestrained for the future, but let it be open to good words, while being obstructed against shameful speech, deception, and curiosity. Hear Solomon, and "open your mouth to the Word of God," ^A that is, when you are about to speak some useful and fruitful word, then at last open your mouth, so that you also may say with David: "I opened my mouth and drew in the spirit." But if you open your mouth to utter filthy and obscene words, then you will by no means draw in the spirit, but rather death. For our mouth is one of those windows through which, when they are not at all covered when opened, death enters, as Jeremiah testifies.

^B Ibid. "When anything of those things that are forbidden," etc. The Theologian has taught how we ought to use the five senses, from which sight discerns straight lines, while smell and hearing do not only grasp their proper sensibles along a straight line, but from every direction—naturally, the former, odors; the latter, voices. Furthermore, touch—which is common to all living creatures—and taste do not recognize the things subject to them either along a straight line or from every direction; rather, they do so only when they are close to them. After he has discussed these things, he now discourses on the faculty of memorizing, which is the cause and storehouse of memory and reminiscence. The organ and seat of this is the posterior tunic of the brain. The soul is said "to remember" when it retains the forms and impressions of those things which it has conceived by opinion. Therefore, discussing the power of memory and its act, he says: If any of those things that were not allowed, but were forbidden, tempt your soul with some allurements, and is about to cast you into deception, keep in your ^C memory who you were before the commandment of God was violated—namely, a citizen of paradise, and a king of those things which are held in the embrace of the earth, and placed in a rational condition of blessed life, from which you fell and perished. If you have strayed even a little from the true and right doctrine, seize again the right path, and return from error and digression to yourself, before you fall away from reason entirely and degenerate into the nature of brute beasts, and rush headlong to the destruction and ruin of your soul. And from the old, create a new man—that is, a good man out of a wicked one, casting away the filth, and moving toward virtue, and so prepare yourself that the innovation and the renewed condition of your life may be a feast for your soul.

Ibid. "Let your wrath be stirred up against the serpent alone," etc. After he has instructed the senses quite accurately, he now also hands down precepts regarding the three parts of the soul. For the faculties of the soul are divided into the rational part and that which is void of reason. Then there are two parts of that which is alien to reason: one which does not listen to reason in any way, but is governed by the command of nature—of which kind is that which has the power of nourishing and begetting, and the faculty by which the arteries are pulsed. The other is that which obeys reason, which is also divided into wrath and desire. Moreover, wrath is, as it were, a certain soldier, an attendant of reason, a defender of desire. For when we are seized by the desire for any object, and an obstacle is brought against us by someone, we are kindled with wrath against him, as if affected by an injury, with reason, of course, judging that thing to be worthy of wrath and indignation. Since, therefore, no injury so great has been inflicted upon us by anyone as that which has been inflicted by the serpent, and by him who spoke through him and in him, the devil (for by his fraud and wickedness we fell from both paradise and immortality), therefore the Theologian says: Let it be stirred up against the serpent justly and according to nature for you, by whom you have been most gravely harmed, and with whom you have also been commanded to wage enmity. "I will put enmities," he says, "between you and between the serpent." But let desire be directed not to any harmful or dangerous thing, but entirely to God—whom the Law has prescribed for you to love with your whole heart, so that you may truly be able to say with David: "Lord, before you is all my desire." Let reason, the most excellent part of the soul and most divine, preside over all things like a charioteer—that is, over both ^D wrath, and desire, and the senses—and let not that which is more excellent, that is, the mind, be depressed by the inferior, that is, by that part which is agitated by the affects and is averse to reason. This also must be guarded against: that you do not pursue your brother with hatred on behalf of the serpent, and that in vain. For why in vain? When you are angry at others because another person is acting and impelling, and the same thing happens to you as happens to dogs, who bite the stones, but do not touch those who threw them? Direct the flame of your indignation toward that murderer, toward that architect and craftsman of sin; but have mercy on your brother, who sins at his impulse, for whom, as the Apostle writes to the Romans, Christ died, and although he was God and Lord, he was made your brother. For he himself, as Paul testifies, is the firstborn among many brothers. And thus he himself speaks to the Father in David: "I will declare your name to my brethren." And besides this, he himself said to the women in the Gospel: "Go, tell my brethren." Do not envy him who flourishes in the splendor and glory of virtues.

considering that you too have felt the malice of the devil, and have been so swayed by it as to be persuaded that God envied you when He forbade the tree of knowledge, which was the cause of your own fall. Do not cruelly despise the tear of a man who looks to you, who weeps, and who is in need of mercy, reflecting that you yourself have endured things worthy of many tears: for you were cast out of paradise, addicted to death and corruption, and involved in and defiled by six hundred kinds of sin. And yet you have obtained mercy, and have regained by the benefit of the new Adam the paradise which you had lost by the fault of the old Adam. Do not command the empty-handed poor person to leave you; for since you too were pressed by the extreme destitution of all blessings, you escaped to such a wealth of goods through baptism that you became a god. For divine baptism is a pledge of deity. But if you do not wish to relieve the poverty of the poor man with your own liberality, let at least this much be obtained from you, that you do not abuse the aid of your riches for the oppression of the poor. For that also is to be counted in the place of no small benefit, when the greedy refrain themselves from injury. Do not despise the stranger, lest you be forced to be an exile from paradise again; rather receive him, since even Christ Himself, for his sake, has lived among us as a stranger. For He came ^A to His own as if He were a stranger, so that He might adorn and enlighten the stranger. Of which Christ we are all comers and guests, both because we have nothing of our own—for all things are His, according to that word of David: "The earth is the Lord's, and the fullness thereof"—and because we do not have a firm and stable seat here, but are hastening to a ^B heavenly fatherland. This fact did not escape David, and for this reason he said to God: "I am a sojourner before Thee and a stranger, as all my fathers were." Supply the needy with shelter, clothes, and food; that is, a small lodging, and clothing, and bread, and the necessary things in which you yourself abundantly flow, beyond what use requires. You do not simply have a house, but a spacious and magnificent one; nor one garment, but many, finished with various workmanship; nor bread measured out for the necessity of the body, but granaries filled with every kind of fruit. Do not seek riches, unless you are about to bring solace to the indigence of the needy. Remit what is due to him who owes—whether it be money, or some injury, or even a simple expostulation—since Christ has also forgiven you the sins committed against Him. Have mercy on the one worthy of mercy, since Christ has also bestowed mercy upon you. Through kindness toward the needy, procure for yourself the goodness and humanity of God (for that just Judge expends His own mercy upon our mercy) as long as the time of life holds out. Through a laudable and glorious change, innovate your life and your manner of life, that is, whether it be celibacy, or marriage, or some other kind of life ^C and path that you have chosen, apply yourself to making new progress therein daily.

Col. 615 B. "You who are under the yoke, give something even to God, being preoccupied," etc. The Theologian establishes laws as much for married women as for those free from the yoke of marriage, having seized an opportunity from the Apostle, who, writing to the Corinthians, calls marriage a bond, but virginity a release and freedom. For he says: "Art thou bound unto a wife? seek not to be loosed. Art thou loosed from a wife? seek not a wife." And again: "She that is unmarried careth for the things that belong to the Lord, that she may be holy both in body and in spirit. She that is married careth for the things that are of the world, how she may please her husband." Let us see, therefore, how beautifully the Theologian’s counsel harmonizes with the apostolic words. "You," he says, "who are under the yoke, joined to the yoke of marriage: since you are preoccupied, that is, commanded and strictly bound by the ties of marriage, see that you give some part of yourselves to God, and do not become entirely bound up in the world. But you, virgins, who are bound to the world by no ties, but care only for those things ^D which are of God, give all wholly. For you are not under a yoke, such that only some part should be required from you; but you are freed, and loose from worldly cares. And therefore, what is but a part for the married, represents the whole for you virgins. To these things that have been said, it must necessarily be added that, even if someone seems to cultivate virginity as far as the body is concerned, if nonetheless she harbors a certain small root of lust in her soul, she retains neither liberty nor virginity; but, from the base and foul pleasure she has furtively snatched, she falls into servitude, fleeing from the liberty of virginity. Since you know this to be proven, O virgins, you must look out all the more studiously, lest you basely and sordidly and stealthily seize an impure and adulterous pleasure, and flee from virginal liberty, namely by living with those whom they call *syneisaktous*, that is, introductitii; who, indeed, even if they are by no means your husbands by the law of marriage, are nevertheless men by nature. Furthermore, just as fire brought near to straw is dangerous, in the same way it is little safe for virgins to have introductitii men as companions under the pretext of care and fraternal office. For even if they perhaps possess a reputation for chastity, it cannot yet be that, when they see them, they are not touched by the thought of pleasure, and are not tortured by perpetual incitements of love, and have a kindling for the flame. I, however, not only wish this sort of close fellowship to be forbidden, but I also execrate that custom which is contracted by looking out through windows at those passing by through the middle of the air. For it often happens that, through an ill-timed gaze, the stings of death creep into the heart. Moreover, some are ignorant, as it seems, of who those are who are called introductitii

whom Gregory here labels not indeed as men, but yet as men; they interpret them wrongly, asserting that many women, in order to cultivate an opinion of virginity among the masses, are accustomed to prostituting their bodies to eunuchs, because these men lack seed—men who indeed ought not to be called men, as they lack the power of procreation, and yet are men, since they can engage in the commerce of lewdness with women.

Col. 615 B. *Do you who are powerful fear the nobles, etc.* The Theologian instructs princes and prefects with fitting and useful precepts. Princes, he says, fear God, who exceeds you in power, and do not abuse your authority for avarice. And you who are pleased with yourselves on high thrones and lift up your eyebrows, dread the Most High, nor be carried away proudly and arrogantly against your inferiors, nor oppress your subjects with iniquitous judgments. ^B

*Do not marvel at anything, etc.* After having given distinct precepts to the married, to the cultivators of virginity, and again to princes and prefects, and having offered counsel suitable to every order, he now addresses the entire body of the pious in common, using these words to every individual: *Do not marvel, O man, at things that should not excite wonder in themselves, such as those which do not remain firmly but desert us; nor, again, pass over with contempt things that are worthy of admiration, such as are certain and stable things; nor restrain those things that flow away while they are being held, as if you were going to retain them.* For just as it is impossible that he who has taken water in his hand should retain it by clenching it (for it will slip through the middle of his fingers), in the same way, flickering riches, if you attempt to retain them, will flow away. And therefore David was saying: *If riches flow, do not set your heart upon them.* Follow with ardent zeal those things that are not subject to envy—that is, the illustrious and the praiseworthy. But do not greedily seek those things which make men not envied, but hated and odious—that is, vices. *Do not lift yourself up higher, lest you fall more deeply.* For just as, according to sense and sight, he who stands a little distance from the earth, even if he should fall often, is not shattered, yet he who has been greatly raised and carried to a high altitude, if he should fall from there, will undoubtedly be crushed; so also, according to the spiritual sense, the higher one has exalted oneself through arrogance, the more deeply one is brought low and falls: and that falling corresponds in proportion to the height of pride. Do not be affected by vain glory, and think that you have achieved something great if you overcome the wicked: rather, be tormented in your soul that you are overcome by the good. A brother has slipped and sinned; do not insult him, but ensure that you do not fall yourself: and bring aid to the one lying there, so that he may rise again from that fall. Has some heavy sadness of soul laid siege to your mind because of someone's happy success? Do not cast away the hope and desire for a more favorable fortune. ^C You experience all things, and therefore are you cheerful and tranquil in spirit? Expect also sadness, born from adversity. There are four seasons of the year: spring, summer, autumn, winter: but from one moment of time, many changes of things arise. And in this place he paraphrased that statement of Demosthenes: *Future time is obscure to all mortals, and small moments are the causes of great things.* Therefore, in prosperous affairs we ought to be of a moderate mind, and to look toward the future. Of the same nature is that saying of Sirach: *From morning until evening the time is changed.* ^D When you have these things confirmed, it is to be diligently cared for that, if you are enjoying pleasure and mental alacrity and joy, you restrain it with the care and thought of an adverse change. But if, however, you are affected by anguish and trouble, you should compress it in turn with a better hope, reflecting with yourself that your affairs will not always remain in the same state, but that joy will succeed sadness. By this reasoning, a man is able to be renewed. This is the true honor of the Encænia (Feast of Dedication), which is performed not in corporeal delights but in spiritual ones, not in sensible foods but in intellectual ones.

*Ibid. C. You shall not appear, etc.* In Exodus and Deuteronomy, God says through Moses: *You shall not appear before me empty,*—that is, in none of the celebrations of the three festivals, namely, the Feast of Unleavened Bread, Pentecost, and the Feast of Tabernacles; but you shall bring the most excellent things with you. And now, appear new, not according to this scriptural *tou kenaou*, that is, empty and having nothing, but according to the other meaning *tou kainou*, that is, new, and by the progress and increase of virtue, renewed and thoroughly changed, whether from vice to virtue, or from lesser virtue to greater. *Old things have passed away,* the Apostle says, *behold all things have been made new.* But we understand "old things" to mean not only legal and shadowed things, which have passed away at the approach of truth, but also those things which are joined with vice. For when the spiritual life begins to exert its radiance, no work is given to the carnal life anymore. Therefore, you also bring this as a gift and offering to the festival of the Encænia, so that you may be laudably changed. And if you have attained this, do not lift up your mind, but say with David: *This change, by which I have been changed, is from the right hand of the Most High,* and not from my own industry or power. For as to what must be referred to Him—whatever men do excellently—He Himself declares: *Because without me you can do nothing.* Truly, when you hear: *Be made new,* this must be understood by you as being demanded of you in these words: that you do not remain in the same state of affairs, but that you are always agitated by a laudable motion, and render yourself altogether a new creature; for this apostolic precept demands from you that if indeed you sin, you do not remain in vice, but spring back to virtue: but if you live rightly and according to duty, you should not have a slothful virtue, nor one that has not been augmented by any growths and accessions, but

^A cultivate it, and make others temperate. For this is the property of one who is sober. If today you are gorged with wine, quench your thirst tomorrow with water. If today you are being harassed in miserable ways—as by the prophet Amos, lying lasciviously upon ivory beds and anointed with the most exquisite and precious ointments—see to it that on the following day you are called blessed, by curing yesterday’s softness through a humble bedding and a vigil. And, to conclude the matter in a word, substitute all the most beautiful things for all the most shameful: for laughter, gravity and sadness; for an ambitious interest in dress, a simple and entirely unadorned style; for pride and a swelling of the spirit, humility in external matters and in those things that strike the sight; for magnificent houses and gleaming golden ceilings, a narrow dwelling; for a haughty countenance and a neck held straight on high, a countenance that is humble and abject. If you do this, it will be for you, to speak with Isaiah, a new heaven and a new earth. For while these things seemed to be one thing before the incarnation of the Savior, they were known to be another afterwards. For previously they were held to be gods, but afterwards, creatures. To you, however, these will be new in another way, as you perceive and understand other things—such as their situation, shape, elegance, magnitude, usefulness, and over and above these, the cause and reason for which each of these things was made in this way. For indeed, as it has been said, to one who thinks in this manner, knowledge itself will be changed for the better. We can also explain this passage in another way, so as to understand with Gregory of Nyssa the "new heaven" as the firmament of faith in Christ, and the "new earth" as a pure and whole heart, drinking into itself the rain.

^B Col. 618 A. "Yesterday, according to the whim of the time," etc. Because he had said: "If you live rightly, hasten your course; but if you sin, repent," he teaches now by what manner one can be converted, and says: "Yesterday, according to the state of the times, you were shaping yourself in various ways, and accommodating your faith to the time in which heretics held the reins of power; today, learn the faith of God. How long will you limp on both legs?" ^C That is, in both directions, walking with a steady foot in neither faith, but being infirm both according to the doctrine of God and according to the faith of the times. For if you were not infirm, you would by no means be so easily changed. Furthermore, these are the words of Elijah, speaking in this way to the ignominious prophets: "How long will you limp on both legs, now adhering to Baal, now to God?" For the Israelites, who were held under the empire of Ahab, were both addicted to the worship of idols and were adoring God. Whence he added: "If the Lord is God, follow him; but if Baal is God, follow him." For he says that God does not wish for honor to be held by fictitious gods, nor do they wish for the true God to be adored. You, however, doing now these things, now those, preserve no certain and constant benevolence toward either. Now, he limps on both legs who is lame in both feet. For the *gnuous* (posterior parts of the knees) are called so from the verb *gnyuesthai*, which signifies to be broken and bent. Do not, by some counsel, it is true, but not from the heart, always say or do things that are not proper: rather, because a dispensation of this kind has been devised by you for your own ruin and destruction, let these things go, and at long last, take thought for the salvation either of your own self, who is infected and corrupted by a pestiferous doctrine, or of others to whom this kind of dispensation of yours brings occasion for stumbling. Yesterday you deemed it honorific if you were seen to be either wise, or just, or pious, while you were alienated from these virtues, and vainly and insolently claimed them for yourself: today, having abandoned this estimation, do not study to appear, but to be the best. For opinion is a fallacious dream. For we seem to ourselves while dreaming and sleeping to possess something, yet we do not have it. But being itself holds the truth of things. Furthermore, riches that are held in the hands are better than those that are fashioned through a dream. Therefore, let there be an older study for you of certain and subsisting truth than of vain opinion. Yesterday you were applying your mind to vain spectacles, and you were defiling your sight and all your other senses through the aspect of obscene things: today, with your mind withdrawn from things that move the sense, operate intellectually, placing your study and labor in the speculation of everlasting things. Yesterday you were a reviler and petulant, that is, cruel and impudent: today, pursue everyone with auspicious words, and migrate from savagery and ferocity to humanity. Yesterday you were given to banquets and gluttony: today, cultivate gravity and temperance, and render others temperate. For this is the property of one who is sober.

^D Ibid. "But now also to the feast of the time," etc. Since, he says, we have pursued the new Sunday with praises, let us go now so that we may also celebrate the spring season with a fitting festivity. For this time coincides with the feast of the Dedication, and all things seem to rejoice at the resurrection of Christ. And that we may bring forth a most pleasant description of a pleasant time, let us follow the painting oration as spectators, and let us see what it describes and places as it were before our eyes. Among the seasons of the year, spring holds the primacy, on account of the delights which it brings. That Sunday on which Christ rose likewise holds the primacy among the days. And so the king of the seasons, that is, the vernal constitution, performs a joyful parade for this queen of days, that is, Sunday; that is, it performs a certain ministry for it, and as a servant of the mistress, acknowledging the empire of this day, offers whatever it has that is most beautiful and most pleasing to the senses. And, if you like, let us recount the amenities of the spring season. Now the sky is more splendid, having been stripped of dark and misty clouds as if of a certain black garment. Now the sun is more sublime; for it is already traveling from the lower and southern parts toward the northern, and, as is wont to be said, to the Arctic chariot, even if in the meantime it is not far from the Equinoctial.

^A Now the lunar orb is brighter: for in winter it was more dismal and more obscure, on account of the thickness of the air. And the chorus of stars is purer in the time of spring: because thick vapors are no longer stirred up on account of immoderate humidity. Now the waves, clouds, winds, earth, and plants are peaceful and tranquil, even if during the winter they were conflicting with one another through most grave dissensions and wars. For before the pleasant and charming spring had shone upon us, the waves were beating the shores with violent force, and clouds were obscuring the sun, and winds were stirring up the air. Moreover, the earth was depriving the plants of their accustomed nourishment: they likewise denied pleasure to the eyes. But now, after the arrival of spring has compressed these dissensions, the waves already enjoy tranquility, greeting the shores and gently embracing them; the clouds do not hinder the sun with their thickness, the air will enjoy quiet, the plants will germinate, the earth—nourishing them like a mother, and impelling them toward the principles of producing fruits—and thereafter our eyes will be exhilarated by the delight of these things. Now also the fountains bubble more clearly, as they are no longer troubled by vehement rains, but send forth pure waters. Now the rivers flow more abundantly, with the snows and ice having melted, of course: by which things their flow was impeded and checked during the winter time. Nay, even the meadows and gardens give forth sweet odors, and the plants turn green and bring forth their ornament; and the newly sprouted grass is mown, and the lambs dance playfully in the verdant fields with tender feet.

Col. 618 D. Now the ship with the boatswain’s calls, etc. Those who have treated of natural things, when they affirm other elements, likewise affirm that water has a spherical figure. Therefore, when a ship is carried from port into the deep, it is said to be *anagein* (ἀνάγεσθαι), as if ascending from a lower place to a higher; but when it arrives at port from the sea, then it *katagetai* (κατάγεται), that is, it descends, of course from the high and convex part into the lower. The Theologian, having noted this, says: Now the ship with boatswain’s calls sets out from port. Now boatswain’s calls are those songs which sailors are accustomed to modulate when they raise the sails. Moreover, he calls them pleasing to God, as they embrace the memory of God and invoke His very help; he says it is *pente* (πεποῦσθαι) ^B to be instructed, he says, when the sail is applied to the ship—perhaps having borrowed this word from Homer, because he called the sails the wings of the ship, or perhaps also from Isaiah, speaking thus of certain ones: "They shall fly in ships." By which word he expressed the speed of sailing and rowing, when he compared such agitation with flight, when, with full sails and the wind blowing conveniently and suitably toward the stern, they are carried on the sea. And the dolphin also, he says, with most pleasant breathing, is *anapinetai* (ἀναπήνεται) from the deep to the surface of the water, that is, it is carried up and ascends, and pursues the joyful and cheerful passengers. For the jumpings of fish of this kind indicate tranquility. Now also the farmer fashions and composes his plow, and binds the plowing oxen with the yoke, ^C and stretches his eyes toward God, and invokes Him as the author and provider of fruits, and while cutting the furrow he does not count the present labor, but is recreated and delighted by the hope of the future harvest.

Col. 619 A. Now the shepherd and the cowherd fit their pipes, etc. Now also the shepherd and the cowherd make and fashion pastoral pipes from cut reeds, and, breathing and blowing into them, modulate a pastoral song, and enjoy the pleasure of spring, sitting on rocks or in shady trees, on account of the breeze and the moderate heat of the sun. Now also the tiller of plants hoes around the plants, and cleanses them, and cultivates them with every method: and the bird-catcher, taking certain reeds, builds cages for small birds from them, and gazes at the sticky branches, whether they are correctly arranged, and he curiously explores the feathers and flight of the birds, that is, whether they are flying toward the branches smeared with bird-lime, or are being carried elsewhere. And the fisherman also looks into the deep, and prepares his net, and fishing, he sits on a certain high rock.

Ibid. Now the industrious bees, with wings unfurled, etc. ^D Even in the time of spring, the wise and industrious bee, as it is with Solomon, loosens its wing, which was numb from the winter cold as if by a certain bond, and as if restricted, and goes out from the hives, in which it dwells, and stores honey as if in granaries, and flies into the gardens and places pleasant with flowers, and indeed openly collects wax from the flowers; but honey—that is, the moisture sprinkled on the flowers—attracted by the mouth, it introduces into the cavities of the combs. Which is also the cause why it is bitter and sharp at the beginning, but in the progress of time, having been concocted, it returns to its proper constitution and sweetness. *Syringes* (σύριγγες), moreover, are called those hollow and oblong double storehouses of honey. But they respond to each other in a diverse and opposite way, because some are placed in a straight line, others are in the place of a foundation for those above, and are the supports of the honey, no less for the beauty of the work than for safety. So cleverly and skillfully the bee builds its honey-stores. For while stretching the wax into a thin membrane, it spreads out dense and continuous cavities among themselves, so that that dense composition of the smallest things among themselves supports and props up the entire structure. For one cell adheres to another, separated and at the same time conjoined by a thin septum. Then these pipes are so built that they have two and even three stories. For it is true that it makes one for the whole cavity, so that the moisture, depressed by gravity, might not slide to the outer part. For now all the pipes of the combs are hexagonal and equilateral, but not resting one upon another in a straight line, so that the lowest parts, conjoined with empty spaces, might not be pressed too much; rather, the angles of the lower hexagons provide the role of a base and support for those which hold the higher place, so that weights are safely supported on them, and the moisture is privately channeled to each individual cavity.

^A Establishing its work after the manner of the bee, and alternating straight lines with angles, that is, drawing them together (for when two straight lines are inserted into one another, that is, bound together and intersecting each other, an angle is born), it brings forth a sweet fruit suited for the curator, acquired not by any labor or plowing, but free from every hardship and bodily vexation: would that we also, who are the apiary of Christ, might provide to Him a spiritual fruit worthy of ourselves, we who have received such an example—partly of wisdom, partly of industry and diligence—from the bee. For Solomon in the Proverbs attributes both kinds of praise to the bee, saying: *Go to the bee, and learn how industrious she is, and how honest and noble is the labor she performs; the fruits of whose toils both princes and private citizens obtain for the sake of their health; and though she is weak in strength, yet she is beloved and illustrious among all, and has been created by God instructed with the praise of wisdom.*

Col. 619 B. *Now let a bird build a nest, etc.* Even now, birds partly build their nests by taking up certain twigs or refuse; partly they convey themselves to and fro from a distance to the nest; partly they now move into it and enter; partly they fly above the nest and make a shrill sound and chatter about their native place, and receive humanity with a kind of address. And accordingly, it is not only the heavens that *declare the glory of God*, even if they do not utter a voice; but all other things as well, and even the sparrows themselves, proclaim the praises of God with mute voices. For because of all these things, which lack reason and the use of speech, thanks are rendered to the Creator through me, to whom the faculty of reason and speech has been granted, and in this way my praise of them is accomplished, inasmuch as I take from them the matter and subject for praising God. Indeed, to laugh is not the property of just any living creature, but is peculiar to man alone. Wherefore the expression here is used figuratively—that every kind of living creature "laughs"—that is, rejoices and finds pleasure. Furthermore, all our senses are nourished as is fitting for each. For we perceive the fruits of delights from those sensible things upon which every single sense acts. Moreover, what is said here concerning the horse, the Theologian has quoted and paraphrased from Homer. For thus the poet speaks: *As when some stalled horse*, etc.

Ibid. C. *Why should I commemorate the rest?* Now the martyrs, etc. The text says: Why is it necessary to relate the other advantages of spring? The martyrs now keep the people in the open air and outside under the sky, partly on account of the weather, which has none of the gloom of winter, and partly on account of the multitude of those converging, which is so great that the houses can neither cover nor contain them. And they celebrate a procession, that is, they come forth in a distinguished display ^B and meet with triumph, and call the lovers of God and Christ to this festival, and publish the narrations of their contests and the account of every struggle undertaken for Christ by means of public reading. Mamas increases the number of these martyrs—my martyr, indeed, since he also is a Cappadocian, though he is not laid to rest near me, being buried in a foreign land, namely, at Horia. For the body of the divine Mamas is situated at Caesarea: but he who was speaking these things was born at Arianzus. Furthermore, because Gregory was delivering this oration in the presence of Basil the Great, he therefore wisely added: *Let envy cease*, as if he were saying: Do not be angry with me, divine Basil, if I claim as my own what is yours through a feeling of benevolence, and call it mine. For the good thing which I assert to be mine is of such a kind that it knows no loss, and Mamas is a perennial and inexhaustible treasure. He who previously used to milk hinds on the mountain, with each one running up with wondrous contention and zeal, and striving to offer its udder to the martyr before all others, so that the saint might be nourished by that wondrous and unusual milk: now, however, he feeds the people of Caesarea. For about a stadium from the city, a temple has been constructed for the martyr, which that same Ammia who had reared him is said to have built in that place with singular magnificence, where, after that final martyr’s lance from the theater, holding in his already protruding bowels, he was scarcely able, through burning desire, to arrive and breathe out his soul. In this temple, therefore, the festival of the *Encainia* (Dedication) was fittingly celebrated with the concourse of the whole city. And the martyr, he says, in this festival of the *Encainia* renews a spiritual spring for those congregating from everywhere. And just as the earthly and natural spring brings forth manifold and varied species of flowers, so this divine spring, too, is varied and diverse in the ornaments of virtue, insofar as from those who meet there, one brings one virtue with him, another brings another: it is also varied in triumphal speeches, because some narrate the martyr’s contests and pursue them with praises in one way, others in another, according to the ability of their talent. And, to sum up, that spring of probity and virtue, which is made by the people, is worthy of the illustrious pastors of the people, and corresponds in the best way. ^{C D} Finally, that I may encompass the matter in one word, we have a double spring: one is worldly and falls under the gaze, fitting for bodies; the other is spiritual and removed from the eyes' gaze, and most conducive to souls. Which, I pray, it may be our lot to enjoy in the other life. We shall enjoy it, moreover, if we live honestly and laudably in this life, and thus depart to that new life.

ADDENDA. ON ORATION XLI, FORMERLY XLIV.

ARGUMENT

This oration also bears the appearance of the demonstrative genre. It is, however, not more demonstrative than it is judicial, on account of the oppositions occurring from the opposite side and the necessary solutions that follow; the starting point is taken from the subject matter itself, while the confirmation of the proposition is taken from the cause.

^A Col. 427 A. Let us discourse briefly on this feast, etc. The Theologian, through modesty of soul, disparaging his own powers as he is generally wont to do, calls the things he is about to say regarding the feast "small," although they are great: either because all things that anyone could say or philosophize about the Holy Spirit are altogether small in comparison to the dignity of the Spirit (for it is a tremendous thing, a discourse about the Divinity, greater than can be explained according to its dignity; and every oration held about God is short, groveling upon the ground, and can in no way attain to the divine magnitude); or also, as some suppose, because he says few words about this feast, that is, about Pentecost, and throughout the rest of the course of the oration disputes about the Holy Spirit. Then he gives the reason for this disputation: That we may, he says, keep the feast day in a spiritual manner, that is, that we may speak and philosophize about the feast to the glory of God. Afterward, he attaches another confirmation to this confirmation, that one should discourse concerning Pentecost. For others are amused by other ways of celebrating a feast, such as the soft and delicate person by delights, the intemperate person by lust, and each one by the thing he loves: but the worshiper of the Word that subsists, that is, of the Son of God, or even the student of doctrine, has a discourse for the feast, and indeed one that is fitting for this season. Neither does anyone who is a student of honesty embrace anything honest and elegant with as much affection as the lover of the feast embraces the spiritual celebration of feasts. And, if you please, let us discuss the matter thus. The Jews also keep feast days, but according to the letter, that is, according to the external form and corporal sense and understanding of the law. For, as Paul says, writing to the Romans: *Israel, following after the law of righteousness, hath not attained unto the law of righteousness* [Rom. ix, 31], that is, seeking and fulfilling the corporeal law, they did not reach the spiritual law, which lay hidden under the letter and surpassed the external form and sense of the letter, and demanded sublime contemplation. For though, by God's prescription, sacrifices, the blood of victims, and foods and drinks were religiously observed, they were nevertheless performed in a crasser way. The Gentiles also act out feast days, but according to the body, that is, according to the corporeal movements of the soul and the pleasures, ^B and according to the obscene affections of those who are indeed worshiped as gods by them, but are held by us to be demons. Some of these are the authors of obscene things, as the Gentiles themselves affirm. For they assert that Mars is the president and minister of wrath and the architect of slaughter; Venus [is the author] of concupiscence and lust; Mercury, likewise, of the art of thieving; Bacchus of drunkenness, and others of other vices. Others have gained honor from obscene acts, as Hercules, since in one night he deflowered the fifty daughters of Thespius, and others likewise have been inscribed in the album of the gods because of other filthiness and obscenity. Hence it comes about that among the followers of the Greek superstition, the manner of observing feasts is also vicious. For they worship each one of their gods with a congruent vice: so that that very thing which they sin, redounds to the honor of the god to whom they flee as if to seek refuge in the vice itself, as in some honest and commendable thing. For when the Gentiles were convicted of some crime, they not only were not ashamed, but they boasted as if having performed some glorious deed, and they held that god whom they worshiped as a place of refuge for defense and purgation, saying that the god was the inventor of such a vice, and that for that reason they did what they were doing in his honor and worship. Let us also keep festival, that is, we Christians, but as is pleasing to the Holy Spirit. It is, moreover, pleasing that feasts be celebrated by us in such a way that we store up in them something of the things that are or do, and that we store up the treasure of the virtues of the soul, which both remain with it and accompany it when it departs: ^C and not those things that withdraw and slip away, of which kind are riches, power, glory, and other things of that sort which indeed mildly soothe the senses and entice them, but for the most part and in the highest degree do harm, as I myself feel and affirm. For it is satisfying enough and more than enough for the body to have its own domestic and internal rabies and malice, that is, its propensity and impropriety toward earthly things. For the body, seeing that it was created from matter, is prone toward things that are constant and cognate to matter and corporeal, and especially toward those things that bring pleasure, toward which it is borne by natural impulse. And, to say it plainly, the body is a flame and a wild beast. What need, therefore, is there to cast more fuel upon this flame of ours, through the external supply of gross and corporeal things? Why offer more food to an indomitable and atrocious beast and lavish it profusely, indeed through the delights and pleasures of life, ^D

^A when we are unable to easily soothe and restrain even the internal heat and ferocity of the body? Perhaps by the "flame" and the "beast," the Theologian understands that part of the soul which is excited by perturbations; designating lust by the flame, and irascibility by the beast. Therefore, he also makes mention of reason, which holds that part prone to affections under its command. And as a horse is subject to the charioteer, so also are desire and anger subject to it. Accordingly, if we have supplied materials and fuel that possess the power of inflaming to anger and lust, these affections will acquire a horrific ferocity, and with reason as their leader, they will be all the more violent, no longer obeying the charioteer who drives them, but rather snatching him away and driving him astray.

^B Col. 430 B. *Wherefore, to us spiritually, etc.* Wherefore, he says, so that we may differ from the Jews and the Gentiles, and so that the agitations of the soul might not overcome the powers of reason, we must act so that we may be treated spiritually. Furthermore, the discussion regarding the number seven will first occupy the place of the discourse. One must deal with it first, even if we might seem to depart a little from the instituted subject, since, having proposed to speak about Pentecost at the beginning, we are now discussing the number seven. And one must labor in the speculation of numbers, so that we may mingle it into the discourse for the praise of the feast, as if it were a certain condiment. For foods that are not at all necessary, but are introduced from without for the delectation of the sense at banquets, are called *hēdysmata*; and for that name, he called the explanation of the number seven a "condiment," and he signified that it is not at all necessary to the discourse, but is not unlike a condiment and is not foreign to the subject at hand. Therefore, as we have promised, this shall be the beginning of our discourse. The Hebrews hold the number seven in honor according to the prescription of the Mosaic Law: for Moses assumes this seventh number in many places in his laws. From which it is manifest that it possesses a certain preeminent and mystical power; especially when he commands that the Sabbath be honored with cessation and rest, which is the seventh of days, which the Hebrews also observe honorably. Just as the Pythagoreans did later with the number four. For Pythagoras of Samos lived after Moses. And his disciples used to swear, as it is written in his so-called Golden Verses:

By him who transmitted the *tetraktys* to our souls, The fountain of ever-flowing nature, (24) etc.:

For they used to call this number the fountain of things on account of the four elements, from which all the nature of mundane things is collected together: and because from them, just as living beings and plants arise by succession, so too does everything else through the same elements ^C participating in them and flowing forth perpetually. But indeed, someone might say, "Theologian, the disciples did not swear by the number four, but by Pythagoras." So indeed, he says: but since they bestowed divine honors upon Pythagoras because of the number four, they used this formula of oath, as one who had handed down to them the arcane and mystical power of that number. Wherefore Pythagoras was ranked second to the number four by them, and through him they clearly swore in this manner. Now, indeed, Simon and Marcion were heresiarchs. And the Simonians held the number eight in honor on account of those eight *aeons* of their master. For he fabled that Mind and Truth were procreated from the union of *Bythos* with *Sige*, and thus he invented the first parents, as has already been said, *Bythos* and *Sige*; from them, secondly, Mind and Truth, thirdly again, Word and Life, and from them at last, fourthly, Man and the Church. But the Marcionists, increasing the sickness, revered the number thirty on account of the thirty *aeons* which they introduced. For they trifled that from the *aeons* of the Simonians, Word and Life produced ten more *aeons*; and likewise Man and the Church another twelve *aeons*. Which, if they are added to the aforementioned eight *aeons*, will make thirty. But it would be superfluous to provide their names, on account of their old-womanish, laughable, and loathsome ineptitude. This, however, must be known: that they assign an equal number of *aeons* to these numbers, namely, the Simonians eight, and the Marcionists thirty.

Et quidem, *qua proportionis ratione, etc.* And indeed, he says, the Hebrews honor the number seven (for the discourse returns to this again) I know not by what ratio of proportion. He pretends to ignore it out of the integrity of his soul and character. For that is a mark of a noble soul and one who thinks moderately of himself. And he calls the ratio the "cause," but he calls the proportion the "likeness" and "congruence" which it has with intellectual things. For among mathematicians, too, there is a definition of ratio and proportion, such that ratio is the relation which exists between two terms; for example, of eight to four, or of four to two. For it has the ratio of the double, eight to four, and four to two, and conversely, two to four, and four to eight, has the ratio of the sub-double. And the ratio is of such a kind. But proportion is the likeness of such ratios, and the collection into one and the same. For example, the ratio that eight has to four, the same does four have to two, namely, the double. And conversely, the ratio that two has to four, the same does four have to eight, namely, the sub-double. I do not know, therefore, he says, according to what ratio of proportion ^D the Hebrews hold the number seven in honor, or for what reason...

(24) Which words can be translated thus somehow: I swear by him who gave to our souls the arcane number four, Who is the cause of things and of the perennial fountain.

Regarding this oath of the Pythagoreans, and the power of the number four, see Plutarch, book *On the Opinions of the Philosophers*, ch. 3, where he treats of first principles.

1439 ADDENDA 1440

is the seven held in honor, or because of the power of this number—that is, whether because this number alone among all those less than ten neither is generated by another nor generates another (for which reason also arithmeticians call this number "the virgin," ^A *septada* (25) *to septon*, that is, attributing to it veneration and excellence)—or whether they are led to it by some other reason. Yet a clear reason can be brought forward why they honor it: because when God had produced and shaped matter, and had adorned it with all-embracing species, that is, with distinct works and mixtures (this is, with those things (26) which are tempered and joined, of which sort are the elements and their qualities), and had created this visible world, on the seventh day at last, as Scripture bears witness *, He rested from His works. In the same way, the very name of the Sabbath indicates this, which, if you interpret it, sounds "rest." And this indeed is a ready and plain reason why the seventh day is held in honor. But if there is also some other reason, more sublime and more mystical, others may bring it forward in turn.

Col. 431 A. Furthermore, this honor among them is not in days, etc. The honor of the number seven among the Hebrews is not only in days, but also extends to years. And indeed, the honor of the seven in days is the Sabbath, which the Jews honorably observe perpetually and throughout all weeks, just as the use of leaven is forbidden for seven days. However, the honor of this number in years is the seventh year, of which Scripture speaks thus in Deuteronomy: ^B "In every seventh year you shall make a remission. You shall forgive every private debt for which your neighbor is bound to you; nor shall you demand it from your brother, but from a stranger. But if your brother has been sold to you, he shall serve you for six years, and in the seventh you shall send him away free, and provide him with provisions." Therefore, the Theologian called this year the "remission." Nor, indeed, does its honor consist only in weeks of seven, but also in weeks of weeks. We call them weeks, not only of days, but also of years. And indeed, the weeks of days form Pentecost, a day significant and noble among the Hebrews, and one that has obtained its name from God. But the weeks of years make the Jubilee, which in our language signifies "remission." Concerning which it is written in Leviticus: "You shall count for yourself seven rests of years, seven years seven times. And there shall be to you seven weeks of years, [amounting to] forty-nine years. And you shall sanctify the fiftieth year. And you shall proclaim remission in the land." Therefore, in the seventh year, they were ^C commanded to leave the land uncultivated and unplowed for the sake of the rest itself, and to be content with those things that grew of their own accord, and to remit every debt, and to set free those Hebrews who were bound in servitude; but in the fiftieth year, not only to do these same things, but also to manumit foreign slaves, and to yield to the old owners the possession of purchased properties. For this nation of the Hebrews is accustomed to dedicate and consecrate to God not only the first-fruits of the winepress and the threshing floor and the first-born, but also those of days and years. Thus, therefore, as has been said, the excellent seven introduced the honor of Pentecost. For the seven, being led into itself, generates the fiftieth, with one day ^D desired to complete the sum. Furthermore, we have added this one, from Him who is properly One, as an image and figure of the future age; we call it both the eighth and the first: the eighth, by the reason and junction of the preceding numbers, and because it follows the seventh (for the seventh is the present age, inasmuch as it is numbered by weeks); but the first, as the beginning of the divine and heavenly commonwealth and of immortal life, or as excellent and preeminent, or, to speak more correctly, because it is called the first day by the reckoning of the second and third and the others that follow in order. But the day of the future age has no other days succeeding it, nor is it extinguished by the setting of the sun; therefore, alone that one is to be named such, as lacking a successor, and knowing no end, and no longer cut off by night, but shining with eternal brilliance, having a sun that never sets. And deservedly we have received this one day, which is desired to complete the fiftieth, from the future age. For it is necessary that that sabbatism, which comes to our souls in this life, should end in the state of that age—that is, that cessation from worldly works which death brings—just as the seven ends in the eight, so that by this reason we may bestow a part of our care on seven, that is, on this life, and thus finally on eight, that is, on the future, so that we may be touched not only by the care and solicitude of this life, but also by that of the future. For thus some have understood that place of Solomon: "Give a part to seven, and also to eight," receiving through seven, clearly, the present life, and through eight, the future. But some have understood the state of the soul in this life, by the sabbatism of souls, whereby it is agitated in this life only by moderate storms of the passions.

^A And it is finally the transition to the true tranquility of the future age, and a cessation from agitation. Others, again, have declared that by the sabbatism of the souls this is signified: that all those things which are moved will, in the future age, reach an end of being moved, and that there will no longer be any procreation of souls. But the great and divine Maximus brings forward something of this kind: Since the Lord is to appear on the eighth day (27)—that is, at the day of judgment and of His own coming—and will bestow eternity and blessedness upon those who have lived holily and honestly, but will afflict those who have lived wickedly with everlasting punishments, we must understand by the sabbatism of the souls death, that is, that cessation from worldly works which death brings to man after life is finished. For then souls enjoy a Sabbath, having obtained rest from all motion, and having no agitation at all after the manifestation of that supreme good which was previously sought, by which it becomes clear to those who seek it as to what was sought. For when that which was sought has appeared, the motion of all those things which were being moved ceases.

Concerning the Sabbatism of the Seventh Day, etc.

^A For who would judge him worthy of pardon, who for that reason envies anyone, because he enjoys the benevolence and love of God? This is already one, and an inexpiable sin. Again, this is shown to be more atrocious when one envies a brother, and that, too, an undeserving one. Behold, here again, is no common sin. Added to this, he plotted guile, drawing him into the field to circumvent him, and not even respecting nature itself. The fourth crime is the slaughter itself, which he committed. The fifth, that he brought death upon a brother—a brother, I say, born from the same womb. The sixth, because he was the first to introduce the genus of slaughter. The seventh, because he did not hesitate to lie when questioned by God. And so, for the reason that he dared to lay hands on his brother, he draws seven punishments upon himself. ^B But the crime of Lamech will be avenged seventy-seven times, that is, multiply. Since Lamech killed a man and a youth, and that after the law, that is, after the sentence pronounced against Cain by God. For the written law had not yet been given. Moreover, seven punishments correspond to the seven sins of Cain. First, he sinned because he was moved by envy; second, because he plotted guile; third, because he committed slaughter; fourth, because he cut down his brother; fifth, because he was the first to perform slaughter; sixth, because he brought cause for mourning to his parents; seventh, because he lied to God. It follows now that we should sum up the number of punishments. "Cursed is the earth because of you," this is the first punishment. "You shall work the earth," that is, you shall be harassed by the labors of agriculture without any intermission or relaxation, the second. And it shall not grant its strength to you, this is the third punishment, namely, the sterility of labors. "Groaning and trembling you shall be upon the earth," to these three punishments he added two: perpetual groaning and trembling of the body, so that he was moved and shaken, and could not even easily lift food and drink to his mouth. There follows another punishment, which Cain himself exposed, saying: "If now you cast me from the earth," that is, if you separate me from the comforts of the earth, "and I shall be hidden from your face." A more atrocious punishment among those who are of sound mind is separation from God. "And God placed a sign upon him," this is the seventh punishment, in order that not even the punishment itself should be obscure, but that by a manifest sign, as if by the voice of a herald, it might be declared to all that this was the architect of that nefarious crime: and to one who judges rightly, this infamy is the gravest of all. But Lamech, after the condemnation of Cain, constrained by a double slaughter, rightly says: "If seven-fold vengeance is taken on Cain, on me, Lamech, it will be taken seventy-seven-fold," that is: If God’s judgment against Cain is just, that he should be afflicted with seven punishments, I indeed am worthy of being tortured with four hundred and ninety punishments. For he, since he had not learned from another how grave a crime it was to commit slaughter, had likewise not seen any murderer ^C paying the penalty. But I, seeing one with my own eyes, using such an example, was neither made better nor deterred from the crime. Therefore, with the best right, much greater torments are inflicted upon me.

Some, however, have explained this passage in this way. From Cain until the flood, seven generations flowed, and then the punishment of the earth was signaled, because sin had been poured out far and wide. But the sin of Lamech no longer had need of the flood for its cure, but of Him who Himself takes away the sin of the world. Therefore, calculate all the generations from Adam until Christ, and according to that review of the lineage which Luke presents, you will find that the Lord was born in the seventy-seventh age. But let these things concerning Cain and Lamech be mentioned by way of digression. We must return to the testimonies by which it is shown that the number seven has been held in honor, and that not only in remitting an offense, but also in observing and punishing crimes. David, therefore, as if in the person of the Jews, says to God: "Render sevenfold into their bosom to our neighbors." For the Jews, having returned from the second Babylonian captivity and desiring to restore the temple, the neighboring Jews were obstructing. And for that reason, they pray against them that they may have a sevenfold affliction in their bosom, that is, inseparable. Again, in Proverbs, Solomon speaks in this manner: "Wisdom has built herself a house, she has set up seven pillars." In which place, by Wisdom, he understands the subsistent Wisdom of God, the only-begotten Word, I say: but by the house built, the temple of the body, which He assumed from the holy Virgin; and by the seven pillars, the gifts of the Spirit which all shone forth in Christ. Furthermore, through the prophet Zechariah, God and Father speaks thus concerning Christ: "Behold, I bring my servant, the Rising (Oriens) is his name. For the stone that I have given before the face of Jesus, upon one stone are seven eyes." And a little later: "And they shall see the tin stone in the hands of Zerubbabel." These seven are the eyes of the Lord, which inspect the whole earth. This history happened after the return from captivity. At which time Jesus, son of Josedech, was performing the sacerdotal office; but the kingdom was held by Zerubbabel, son of Salathiel, who, when he had woven a splendid stone into the ephod, and then, as they say, had made six holes in it, placed six other stones of different colors, which indeed, by the variety of their color, shone like eyes. In truth, the prophecy calls Christ a servant, who comes to us in the form of a servant: and "the Rising," because He is the true light. Moreover, it also calls that same stone the one having seven eyes given before the face of Jesus. For it was necessary that the legal priesthood, of which Jesus bears the figure, should always have before its eyes that elect stone, that is Christ, who brightens all things with many eyes and...

^A looks upon them. For the number seven almost always designates either that which has an end, or that which is perfect. Again, Christ is called a tin stone for this reason. They say that tin is mixed and tempered from copper and lead. Wherefore it is neither entirely devoid of hardness, nor does it again reject all softness. In almost the same way, Emmanuel also is composed of a divinity that is most firm and subject to no fracturing, and of a humanity that is soft and, if I may so speak, stirred by affections. Furthermore, tin, or lead, is necessarily assumed for the purification of other material that needs fire, and especially by those who are accustomed to make some work out of silver. Therefore, Christ is compared to tin or lead, as one who spiritually melts away and purges filth. Moreover, tin connects things that are apart from one another, as it has the power of gluing. Christ has performed something of this kind in us, if that saying is true: that He creates the two peoples into one new man. And furthermore, through Him, the mode of inspection has come to us, namely by Him surveying all things with vigilant eyes. Nor indeed would it be absurd to affirm that the holy prelates and arbiters of sacred matters have been placed in the stead of eyes, as they are superior to others and have therefore attained the name of bishops. For through them, Christ visits the people who believe in Him.

Now, Zerubbabel also bears the figure of Christ. For just as Zerubbabel was not carried away a captive, but was born of captives in Babylon and became their redeemer, in the same way Christ, undefiled by any stain of sin, has liberated us from a deadly and pernicious empire. The faith we have in Him is this stone. Wherefore the Lord, by carrying the stone in His hand, teaches us that the faith with which we embrace Him must by no means be idle and inert, but adorned with the seven eyes of the Lord, that is, with the seven operations of the Holy Spirit. A tin stone is also introduced for this reason, because just as tin at first turns black and then puts on a splendid color, in the same way those who are endowed with the piety of faith, even if they contract blackness by sinning, they become splendid again by repenting. And let these things be said by us concerning the stone of Zerubbabel.

Now let us proceed in our discourse to the honor of the number seven. Therefore, David uses these words to God: *Seven times a day I have given praise to thee*, ^D that is, very often. Moreover, in II Kings, Anna, the mother of Samuel, is introduced speaking thus in her canticle: *Because the barren hath borne seven, and she that had many children is weakened*. ^B The history is such: Anna and Phenenna were joined in matrimony to Elcana; and Phenenna indeed gave birth to children, but Anna did not bear at all. But when the chains of sterility were finally loosened through prayer, she bore that excellent prophet Samuel, who indeed was for his mother like seven, that is, in the place of a numerous offspring. But to be imperfect in children is said of Phenenna, who had many sons; for this voice: "many," is indefinite: and what is indefinite is surely also imperfect. Or it can also be called imperfect, because it did not bring forth an absolute number of all virtues, like Samuel. And he also called this number seven, as being perfect and polished with all virtues. Furthermore, I have called this number perfect, not because it is constituted by its parts, like those which are called perfect numbers among arithmeticians, such as six; but just as in another place He calls the number ten perfect, as the end of numbers, so now also the number seven, because the seventh day perfects and closes those in which God created the world. Anna is opposed to Phenenna, that is, placed in opposition, both because Phenenna had many children, while Anna had borne only Samuel, and because the one was imperfect in children, the other perfect. Therefore, the number seven can also be said to be perfect because, through the series of succession and composition, it generates the twenty-eighth, which is a perfect number.

[Col. 454 A] But if one should also consider ancient histories, etc. Come, let us also review ancient histories, in which the number seven is not expressed in explicit words, but is found in the thing itself. The seventh from Adam in generation was Enoch, who by no means completed the fate of death, but was translated so that he would not see death. The twenty-first is Abraham, designating both the number seven and the holy Trinity. For whoever compounds the number seven three times ^C will produce twenty-one. And furthermore, Abraham is the first among the patriarchs by the accession of a greater mystery. For although the number seven is mystical because of its aforementioned powers and faculties, yet the number three is understood as more mystical, as it bears the image of the holy Trinity. Wherefore the mystery of it is also more sublime. Indeed, the seventy-seventh person will also be found to be the Lord, if one examines the generation of Christ as reported by Luke in reverse order. For Luke starts from Christ and ends at Adam. But if one begins to count in a backward order and in an inverted way in Luke from Adam up to Christ, he will find the seventy-seventh. And these histories show from the events themselves that the number seven is noble and honorable. But those that follow demonstrate the same thing in words. For it is written in the book of Jesus the son of Nave, that seven priests with as many trumpets went about the city of Jericho for seven days, blowing the trumpets, going around it once on the other days, but seven times on the seventh day; and then the walls collapsed without the impulse of any being. And those things that are recorded of Elias are indeed written in the third book of Kings, but nothing of his sevenfold conversion has been committed to the monuments of history.

^A What therefore must be said of this inversion? Is it that the Theologian spoke these things contrary to the truth of history? By no means. But the word "inversion" here crept in through the error of a transcriber. And indeed, certain codices that are not at all corrupted do not have this word. And that mystical triple insufflation of the prophet Elias, by which life was breathed into the son of the Sarephtan widow—history also records this, that Elias breathed upon the son of the Sarephtan three times, and thus called him back to life. ^B And to this triple insufflation, an equal—that is to say, a threefold—pouring out of fragments of wood is to be understood. For sacred history teaches this as well. For when Elias had constructed an altar on the spur of the moment, and had laid pieces of wood upon it, and afterward had placed the holocaust upon the wood, he said: "Take jars of water for me, and pour them upon the holocaust, and upon the wood." And they did so. And he said: "Do this a second time"; and they did it a second time. "Do this a third time"; and they did it a third time. When these things were finished, at his prayers the fire of the Lord fell from heaven, and devoured the holocaust, and the wood, and the altar, and the water, and the dust. Since, however, some number this flood as sevenfold, we also shall explain our opinion. Arithmeticians take the pronunciations of numbers according to the manner of the things subjected, not according to quantity. Elias therefore says first: "Pour out," then: "Pour again," afterward: "Do this a third time." Thus two joined to one make three; to which three others being added make six. ^C But to the senary, the first unit added completes the perfect number. Or, if you prefer, join to the six pourings the seventh, namely that which happened through the fire sent divinely, after Elias killed the four hundred and fifty priests worthy of ignominy, as servants of the foul and obscene idol Baal. For when he had challenged them to a new sacrificial holocaust, and they could not bring down fire from heaven for the consumption of the proposed sacrifice, as had been agreed between him and them, he himself, having done this in the name of God, subjected them to extreme punishment after they were condemned. The same man, the sky having been closed for three years and six months, when the bond of drought was already about to be loosed, ordered the little boy he was using as an attendant to keep watch, and to see if any cloud might arise. And because it had not yet risen, he ordered him to do this seven times. At the seventh inspection he saw a certain little cloud, like the footprint of a man, bringing water, by which it was greatly increased, the sky was covered, and immediately rain was poured upon the earth. So much for Elias the Thesbite. In the same book of Kings the bowing of Eliseus is also contained. For when the son of the Sunamitess had yielded up the final spirit of his life, the prophet, descending from the mountain, entered her house, ascended into the upper room, and upon the boy ^D he bowed himself, that is, he contracted and bent himself over him, so that he joined mouth to mouth, and eyes to eyes. The Theologian called such agitation and bending an inversion, by which the spirit was awakened, that is, the vital spirit was recreated. Having said these things, Gregory seems indeed to pass over the history of the candelabra, but he nevertheless encompasses this also in his discourse, and using the figure of preterition, he at once meets the satiety and weariness of the listener, and creates a varied oration. The description of this candelabrum is placed in the book of Exodus. And indeed, history commemorates only one shaft of the candelabrum, but six reeds around the shaft and seven lamps, adjacent to the shaft and the reeds. Truly, the Theologian, placing and numbering the reeds with the shaft, called this also by the name of shafts. And thus this whole candelabrum was, but otherwise it was seven-flamed and seven-lamped, namely on account of the shafts and the lamps placed upon them. As, therefore, he says, that I might pass over the seven-tapered candelabrum of the temple, it is of the same doctrine and speculation, regarding the septenary number, namely, that he who is chosen to the dignity of the priesthood sits in the temple, and his hands are consecrated over the space of seven days, just as is prescribed in Exodus. Of the same doctrine also is that which says the one who is infected with leprosy is purified for seven days, as has been edicted and commanded in Leviticus. To the same also must be referred that the temple is dedicated by Solomon, its builder, for seven days, just as is held in the third book of Kings. To this is added that the people returned from the Babylonian captivity in the seventieth year, as Jeremias had predicted and the outcome of events confirmed, so that the septenary, which is distinguished in units, might become the same also in decades, this is the illustrious and most mystical decadic number of the septenary, on account of the redemption of the people, and it has something of mystery as well, namely, the proclamation of the people’s liberty. But monadic numbers are said to be those which progress from unity up to the decade, but decadic those which are from the denary to the centesimal, from which number is the seventieth, formed by multiplication from the septenary into the denary. He called the denary more perfect than the septenary, as a number closing and terminating. For after the denary there is no number, but a revolution; but the mystery of the septenary is the mystical speculation of itself. Col. 454 C. But what do I collect distant things? Jesus himself, etc. Why, he says, is there need to commemorate old and distant things for me? Christ himself, who is pure and true perfection, being entirely perfect, and not like the aforementioned numbers, which are said to be perfect only in part, not only feeds five thousand men with five loaves, but also four thousand with seven. And indeed from five loaves

twelve baskets remained, because of the apostles, so that Judas also might bear his own; but there were seven hampers ^A from the seven loaves, because of the honor of the number seven. Now, in an allegorical sense, the five loaves are that natural doctrine concerning God which is born from the five senses: by which those who lead only a sensual life are nourished, and cannot be raised by their mind to a more sublime contemplation. Whence it is also signified by the barley loaves that this doctrine is ready and at hand, and that one possesses an imperfect natural contemplation; since nothing is more base than a barley loaf. But whereas they eat with women and children, this signifies that they are not yet entirely free or removed from the desires of the passions and the imperfect infancy of reason. Finally, the twelve baskets, which remain after the multitude has been satisfied, signify the natural, moral, and theological doctrine. For these remained, because they did not undergo—that is, did not penetrate or understand—any of these, having arrived at the knowledge of the Creator merely from the senses, as if they were dull and stupid. But if you read (28) ^B *hyperbebēkasin*—that is, they surpassed and went beyond—and not *hypobebēkasin*—that is, they underwent—then it is to be understood thus: Although those five thousand (for he calls them *monadikous*) lived according to the prescription of the senses, and sought the knowledge of God by the work and help of the senses, yet they failed in this, that they did not transcend—that is, leave behind—the natural, moral, or theological doctrine. For to those who are moved to seek the knowledge of God through natural speculation, the Word of God, breaking the spiritual loaves of nature, bestows every abundance and satiety of goods: ^C as the twelve baskets gathered from those things which remained indicate. And the ternary is indeed theological doctrine, because of the holy Trinity of the one divinity. The quaternary is moral, because of the four primary and general virtues: prudence, fortitude, temperance, and justice; but the quinary is natural, because of matter, which, being composed from the four elements, has a fifth form adjoined to it. For nature falling into the sense is nothing else than matter clothed in form. And such indeed are the feasts of those who simply tend toward God, nor are they yet fully purged from the inveterate affection of the soul, brought into a habit, toward that part of the soul which is agitated by disturbances and is averse to reason. And the feasts of the more perfect ^D are much more excellent and sublime: for these are also four thousand, both because they are fewer than five thousand—for they are superior in the number of evils—and because they have the character of the perfection of the general virtues and doctrine. And the spiritual food of these, too, is seven loaves, because of the purity and mystical power of this number. For the number seven is chaste and virginal. And it is also indicated by the fact that what remains from the banquet is pure and incorrupt through the seven. For such are divine and secret and spiritual contemplations. For there are also seven spiritual graces. Wherefore those who constantly persist in the triple philosophy, as if for three days, are at length nourished by the divine Word with the natural, the written, and the spiritual law. By that same reasoning, the five thousand are fed first, because one must first apply oneself to the care of the senses, and thus progress to more perfect things. Now, indeed, the baskets, which are of woven material—that is, of wicker—designate that laborious and troublesome life which is engaged in action, which those who are ruled by the instruction and discipline of someone else have need of. But the hampers, which are made from palm branches, signify that victory which more perfect men attain, having tamed and vanquished the turbulent motions of the soul. For such a branch is accustomed to be received as a sign of victory in the games. Nor, indeed, was any of these miracles performed rashly—that is, without a cause (for this is unworthy of the Spirit)—but the diversity of the miracles and the different remains of the satisfied people arrived, beyond doubt, through a certain best reason and mystical contemplation, by no means foreign to the divinity of the Lord. Indeed, you also find many numbers which have something more profound than what they show at first glance—that is, signifying something else besides that which is discerned at the first instant of looking, and is obvious to everyone. This, indeed, must be said, which is fitting for the present subject: namely, that because of the reasons mentioned above concerning the number fifty, or even the number seven, or because of other reasons quite close to these, or because of certain more divine causes and those more hidden and mystical ones which we have adduced, we celebrate the fiftieth day in the manner of the Hebrews. However, the difference is that they hold this day in high esteem because of the number seven, but we because of the coming of the Spirit. Just as there are other certain things in the Hebrew law which are performed and celebrated among them by figure and adumbration, but are mystically and truly restored and perfected by us. In this genus is their circumcision, and our baptism; their Passover, the sensible lamb, and our Passover, Christ; and very many other things, which it would not be easy to recount specifically now. [Col. 435 A] And let these things be said by us concerning the day, etc. And let our discussion concerning the day have its end here: we, however, do not read Nicetas. And, indeed, I suspect that it was inserted by someone.

^A and what follows concerning the things that are to happen hereafter, by saying “so that we may follow.” That which followed, and from whence we proceeded by way of digression so that we might speak concerning the nature of the day, was this: namely, that we must celebrate the feast spiritually. Therefore, the things that are being said by us at present must be accommodated to those matters; and that is how we must proceed in a certain sense. We celebrate Pentecost, not for the number simply, but also for the coming of the Spirit, then he approached the disciples; and this was ^B the day which Christ had appointed for the fulfillment of his promise, when he said to the apostles: “But you shall be baptized in the Holy Spirit not many days from now” (Acts 1, 5). For the promise indeed consisted in the fact that he had promised to them the coming of the Holy Spirit; but the term was a declaration of time and place: “Sit, he says, in the city of Jerusalem, until you be endued with power from on high” (Luc. 24, 49). Now the expectation of these things was of hope, which the event finally fulfilled. And, good God, how great is this mystery. That word, “how much,” must be uttered with admiration, and this is clear from what is subjoined: “How great and venerable.” For when he says “how much,” he requires the magnitude and quantity of the feast. And the Theologian, explaining this, says: “How great,” that is, very great. But when he had said: “They have an end,” of the corporeal [properties] of Christ, sensing that he had accepted a certain common name, which could signify not only those things that pertain to his corporeal presence and his habits among men, about which he is going to speak hereafter, but also the natural properties of the body, such as the triple dimension, form, ^C quantity and quality, and others of this kind, lest he give an opportunity to heretics to think that Christ, when he was received into heaven, had also cast away the body itself, and had ascended into heaven in divinity alone (29), as the Manichaeans thought, who produced this place of David for the patronage of their dogma: “He has set his tabernacle in the sun” (Psal. xviii, 6); he cures this suspicion with acute precaution, subjoining: “I fear to say things pertaining to the body,” that is, I flee and dread to say things of the body—that is, the body itself—insofar as anyone’s speech might persuade me (it will never persuade me, however) that it is better and more excellent for the body, and more illustrious for glory and honor, to have been cast away, no differently than some superfluous vessel or useless and infamous garment, and to have been deposited in the sun alone, in accordance with the delirium of the Manichaeans. There is also another reason for these words. Since some asserted that the assumed humanity was indeed always united with the divinity, but [said] that its ^D properties [had been] cast off after the resurrection: because they said that it could not be that a thing which had quantity and quality and form could be joined to a thing that lacked all these things; he overturns a dogma of this kind, saying: “I fear indeed to say that the properties of the body have flowed away and slipped off.” For with these being removed, the thing itself is also taken away and vanishes, as it is something from which they cannot be separated by any means, nor can they be distracted even by thought. ‘Ἀπεσκευάσθαι, however, that is, “to have shaken off,” he said—a metaphor drawn from those who carry certain vessels and set them down as if they were a heavy burden. Therefore, he did not say that the corporeal [properties] of Christ have an end, but those things which pertain to his corporeal and earthly presence. But they take the beginning of the Spirit’s action. For after Christ, having finished every corporeal task, was received into heaven, the Holy Spirit descended and began to exercise his force and action upon the apostles, in the division of the fiery tongues, by which name we celebrate the feast day. Now, lest anyone should doubt and inquire what those things are that pertain to the corporeal presence of Christ, let us expound them in express and clear words. What, then, are these things? The Virgin instead of a woman, birth instead of creation, the manger for the sake of paradise, swaddling clothes for the sake of nakedness, angels celebrating that heavenly one, then the earthly one, and the Angel of the great counsel of the Father, shepherds running to the Lamb and Shepherd, a star running before him (for creature worships Creator), Magi approaching to his feet and offering gifts, the first-fruits and entrance of the Gentiles, and the ruin and oppression of idolatry, the slaughter of the children carried out by Herod (that is, of the tender and childish figures of the Law), for the Old Testament was a figure of the New (removal and extinction); Jesus fleeing into Egypt, so that we too, vexed by persecutions, may migrate from city to city, returning again from Egypt after he had shaken and cast down its idols; circumcised, bathed in the water of baptism. And yet, someone might say, before he had fled into Egypt, he had been circumcised on the eighth day of life. So it is indeed. But because circumcision bore the figure of baptism, therefore the Theologian placed it next to baptism. But a washing of this kind was the purification of our sins. Approved by a testimony sent from heaven: for he had encountered him from thence, and it was of the same substance as the one testifying. Tempted in the desert by the devil; but the temptation was an inquiry into the divinity hidden by humanity. Assailed with stones for our sake: for "they took up," he says, "stones to cast at him" (Joan. viii, 59). And suffering these things for our sake, that is, for the cause of our instruction. For to us of affliction, for the sake of evangelical preaching and faith

a form and example needed to be given. Betrayed by a disciple while he was eating his bread. Pierced with a nail, that he might pierce through my sin, that is, kill and destroy it. Dead ^A in the flesh, that he might take away my death. Laid in the earth, that he might heal the return of our nature to the soil. Restored to life, that he might deliver us from the underworld and restore us to life. Ascending, that he might raise me up also. He suffers much of these things even now, as much of those that involve contempt and ignominy as those that involve honor. For of the things that have been mentioned by us, some were done for his honor, others for contempt and ignominy. For we say that he suffers not only from evil, but also from the good. For Christ suffers from the impious those things that carry ignominy, and in his gentleness he endures them; but from the pious and those endowed with his love, he receives those things which are joined with honor. And he does not bring wrath upon the former, whom he gathers like a treasure, nor does he, on the other hand, immediately repay those by whom he is worshipped with his own goods: but he delays both the punishment for the former and the kindness of rewards for us, that he may both give the former time for repentance, and test us ^B and experience whether, struggling for piety, we shall be broken in our souls and weakened. For this has been the reason and cause of the divine dispensation and of his own imperceptible judgments, by which he wisely recites and administers our affairs, since long ago and from the beginning. That God's counsels, however, are more abstruse than anyone can attain to, David cries out, saying: Thy judgments are a great abyss [*]; hence also Paul, with great wonder and astonishment: How unsearchable are his judgments and his ways past finding out [*]! But, someone might say, If God’s judgments cannot be perceived, how does it come about that the Theologian [Gregory], as if having attained to knowledge of them, brings forward a cause for God’s procrastination? One can respond that he brought it forward by conjecture; for it is for that reason he added, Perhaps. Then, because the Son of God has very often revealed to us the more common causes and reasons of things, even if not all of them; but the particular and singular ones he keeps imperceptible. And such are those things that pertain to Christ, whether passions or actions; and those that will follow afterward, that is, those that pertain to his second presence, which we shall then behold more gloriously, and would that we ourselves might be beheld ^C by Christ above all. But that we shall then behold and be beheld more perfectly, faith must be given to David speaking thus: But I will appear in justice in thy sight, I will be satisfied when thy glory shall appear [*]. For now, God has provided to men endowed with integrity and sanctity of life as it were a certain taste and earnest of it: but the full and heaped-up beatitude, which they will enjoy to the point of satiety, they will then finally perceive. But as for me, setting out to speak of the Spirit, would that the Spirit himself might be present, and that by his benefit there might be given to me as much oratory as I desire; or if not as much (because this might be untimely and less useful), let him grant at least such a discourse as may be equal to the celebration of this feast, and by a moderation may, as it were, cut back the immoderate cupidity of human nature. And truly in a lordly manner and by his own command (just as we, by the Spirit's ^D inspiration, both feel and profess), and not in a servile manner performing another's command and empire, as the Macedonians—who, bearing war against the Holy Spirit, think that they are also inspired by a contrary spirit—suggest. For the Spirit, where he wills, breathes, as Christ says in John, that is, in whatever place of the world he wills, and over whom he wills; but he wills, if he finds those whom he himself wills: and when he wills, that is, at a fitting time. For instance, he imbues one with sanctity from his mother’s womb through foreknowledge, another he finds tending flocks of sheep, another doing something else. And as much as he wills; for there is a certain mode, and a diversity of graces and inspiration. And observe that: where, to signify the place; over whom, the persons that are inspired; when, the time; as much, the mode. Truly, Christ in this place by "spirit" understands not the Holy Spirit, but the aerial and windy blast, bringing forward as an example this, in a more perfect way than those earlier ones. For when Nicodemus had said: How can a man be born again [*]? as if ignorant of that birth of which the Lord was speaking, Christ, for the sake of an example, proposed to him the wind: If the wind, which you see, and whose voice you hear, you know not whence it comes and whither it goes, by what reason then will you be able to understand the spiritual birth, when you do not yet know anything beyond those things which strike the senses and the eyes? But the Theologian, having shown in this place that the Holy Spirit has dominion and empire by himself, and is not a creature, nor a servant performing commands, says: The Holy Spirit breathes where he wills, and in whom he wills, and at what time, and as much as he wills.

Col. 438 A. "Who [says] the Holy Spirit [is] in the works of creation," etc. Some used to say that the Holy Spirit was only a force and faculty, others that he was a creature, others that he was God, others were affected in a kind of intermediate way, namely, neither worshipping him nor holding him in contempt. Furthermore, those who thought he was God himself, in part had piety in their souls, and in part confessed God with their lips. The Theologian, therefore, calls those who asserted that the Spirit was a creature and made by the Son, contumelious, and says they are those who repudiate and reject his empire, and rise up like perfidious men against their Lord; but those who thought the Spirit was God in their souls, he says are endowed with a splendid spirit; but those who not only believed him to be God, but also preached it—if indeed they said this among equitable and upright hearers, and those endowed with the piety of faith—he calls sublime and worthy of wondrous praises. If, however, they spoke among the humble and imperfect and those having a mind depressed to the ground...

and for that reason not at all bearing the name of God being attributed to the Holy Spirit, he says that such men are lacking in prudence and consideration. For just as weak ears cannot endure the sound of thunder, nor weak eyes gaze upon the light and the splendor of the sun, nor is it advantageous to offer solid food to those who still use the nourishment of milk: so also, to those who are still being imbued in the first rudiments of faith, perfect doctrine should not be entrusted. For it is fitting to have consideration for time and persons, and to arrange words in judgment ^A, not suddenly, but sensitively and step by step to lead them toward more sublime things, and to those gradually illuminated by a lesser light, and instructed by more obscure truth, finally to impart a greater light and more illustrious truth. Since even Christ revealed the Holy Spirit gradually. For first, lest He should appear to any as an adversary of God, He said: I will ask the Father, and He will send you another Paraclete. But afterwards, He says: He will send in my name, (that is, not as a servant or a subordinate, but in my name—that is, as God consubstantial, as He Himself is of the same substance with the Father. For these words mean: In my name); but this word, I will ask, He no longer inserted. Then He said: I will send, clearly manifesting His own dignity and authority. And finally, He spoke thus: The Spirit will come—so that He might show the free power of the Spirit. You see in what manner splendors shine upon us in a certain order. Thus light is found in light. If we also keep this order of the Theologian, we shall have done rightly, namely, that we do not disclose heavenly doctrine collectively and suddenly, lest we wound those alien to the faith, and grieve them gravely—just as those who attempt to fill dark and weak eyes with excessive light suddenly, weaken the source of light; nor again that we perpetually hold it hidden and abstruse, nor turn our own away from the orthodox faith and lose them: but that we prudently and sensibly and gently lead the alien to the truth: because it is not yet the time for pouring forth more perfect doctrine, which surpasses the hearing and comprehension of the promiscuous crowd. ^B Col. 438 B. If, indeed, O men, He is neither unbegotten, etc. The Theologian has disputed more accurately and exactly concerning the contrary opinions regarding the Holy Spirit in the oration on the Holy Spirit. He uses this division, therefore: The Holy Spirit either subsists by Himself, and is essence: or He is considered in another, and then He will be called an accident. If He is an accident, He will surely be the act of God. Furthermore, if He is an act, He will surely be acted upon, but He will not act: and as soon as He is an act, He will have an end. For the nature of an act is of this kind. Yet the Spirit acts, and says certain things, and segregates, and is affected with sorrow, and is irritated, and other things of that kind, which do not befit motion, but that which had motion—that is, the agent, and not the act. Therefore, the Holy Spirit is not an act. Now, if He is substance ^C of a certain kind, He must be considered either a creature or God: for there is nothing intermediate. If a creature, how do we believe in Him? If God, why is He not worshipped together with the Father and the Son? These are the words of the Theologian in the oration on the Holy Spirit. But in this place he contends again in this manner with the heretics: O excellent men, if you do not admit that the Holy Spirit is unbegotten and exempt from time, but ascribe Him to the number of created things, and for that reason subject Him to time (for whatever is created is subject to time, even if not everything that is circumscribed by the measure of motion has the same reason)—if, I say, you say this, then this inspiration is by no means from the good Spirit, but from a perverse demon and an adversary of the truth—an impure one, I say, and his servant and creature, who insultingly lowers to the same order of creatures with himself that which is not created. For you will grant pardon if, moved by divine zeal, I attack you with somewhat sharper words, and proceed to such audacity, that, breaking forth into such great blasphemy, I say you are filled with a contrary spirit. But if you are sane to the extent that you flee from manifest impiety, and do not call the Spirit a servant—He who makes us also free (for the law of the Spirit, that is, the power of the Spirit of life, says Paul, has liberated me from the law of sin and death). And even the same Apostle writes thus to the Galatians: God sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying: Abba, Father. Therefore thou art now no longer a servant, but a son. Furthermore, the Spirit of the Son is called the Holy Spirit, inasmuch as He is of the same substance and power with the Son: if, I say, you do not dare to call the Holy Spirit a servant, what follows, and is gathered from this, consider with us and with the Holy Spirit. For in some measure you are partakers of Him, and for that reason I do not altogether cast you out from our assembly and colloquy, as I do those completely alien, who are agitated by the intemperance of demons, and affirm that the Spirit is a creature; but rather I admit you, and with you, just as with those who have already joined our side, or, as I hope, will be joined, I desire to discuss and ponder the doctrine concerning the Holy Spirit together. But what is this discussion? Of contraries, some lack a middle, as complete and superfluous, light and darkness (for of these there is no middle), others have a middle. Again, of those that have a middle, some have one middle, as just and unjust (for the middle of these is that which is neither); others, however, have several middles, as white and black: for of these there are many middles—dull, pale, red, yellow, blue. In the same way, therefore, lordship and servitude, when it concerns fortuitous things, have a middle (for liberty is interposed between them at times); but when discourse is held concerning natural things, they altogether lack a middle. But if you contend that there is something of a middle between lordship and servitude, bring forth that middle,

^A and set it forth, that I may there place the Spirit. But there can be no middle brought forward between servitude and lordship. Compelled, therefore, by the truth, and constrained, you will be driven to confess that the Holy Spirit is God and Lord. For if you shrink from calling Him a servant, as is right, you will of necessity have to confess Him to be Lord and God. For he who is questioned concerning direct opposites must necessarily answer one of the two; it is not so with things that have a middle. These things are said by Gregory for this reason, because some of those who had declared war on the Holy Spirit did not endure to call Him Lord and God, because this was not openly expressed in Scripture: nor, on the other hand, did they dare to call Him a servant. From them, therefore, he extorts this, so that they might not deny both, namely, that the Holy Spirit is neither servant nor Lord: since there is nothing third that they can offer in answer; truly, because they refuse to call Him a servant, he strives to persuade them to confess what is left, that the Spirit is Lord: since between lord and servant there is no middle. But are you troubled by the syllables? That is, by this name, God, because in Scripture the Holy Spirit is not called God by an express name: and for this reason you stumble at this word, as if at a certain stone, and this is to you a cause of offense and division: nor is it a wonder, since Christ Himself was also a stumbling-block to some on account of His flesh, just as Isaiah had predicted, and Paul, writing to the Romans, interpreted: He says, "He stumbles ^C at the stone of stumbling, as it is written: Behold I lay in Sion a stone of stumbling, and a rock of scandal." Wherefore, if this offends you, that it is nowhere expressed in the words of Scripture that the Spirit is God, you have fallen into human error, and we forgive you. Come then, let us settle the controversy, that is, let us be made friendly and peaceful among ourselves and let us do this not simply but spiritually, that is, as is pleasing to the Spirit. It is pleasing, however, that, leaving aside private contentions and opinions, we should with all tranquility procure the benefits of others: which indeed they do who are seized not by love of themselves, but of their brothers and neighbors. But he is held by love of himself who seeks what is his own; but he is *philadelphos* (a lover of his brothers) who serves the advantages of others. But what will be the method of entering upon a praiseworthy concord? Give yourselves the power and potency of divinity, that is, everything that divinity can do, everything that is proper to It, everything that by certain signs expresses divinity: and we in turn will for a while grant you this word, God, by no means demanding it of you. For if you only confess the power and potency, we will move no contention at all about the word. Confess the nature and divinity of the Holy Spirit in other expressions, having the same power, and fitting for God, to which you attribute more, ^A than the things which you honor and venerate more, as being proved and expressed in Scripture. For since you are reluctant to give us this single word, God, give at least others, for example, that the Holy Spirit is uncreated, that He is omnipotent, and the rest of this kind, from which by a compendious artifice we may also infer that He is indeed God. We, however, will by no means execrate you as depraved and wicked, but we will cure you in the manner of physicians, you who stumble concerning the doctrine of faith through ignorance rather than madness, and who, on account of the languor and imbecility of your mind, do not dare to utter such a word. But we will hold to that method in curing you, that we will by no means offer you a doctrine pure from the divinity of the Holy Spirit, but will also mingle in some words which are more pleasing to you: not otherwise than physicians indulge the sick with certain pleasant things, so that they may the more easily admit the medicine. For it is shameful and entirely absurd that you, while being mentally sound and whole (insofar as you most rightly deem the Holy Spirit to be God), should create a dispute minutely about the sound of a word, and tenaciously linger, not wishing to say that which you believe in your mind, namely, hiding the truth that the Holy Spirit is God—a true treasure which you have in your chest—so that you rouse suspicion, whether you do this for a reason, or because you are envious of others, and wish to enjoy this knowledge and science alone, or because you fear that the holiness of your tongues may be compared by the very pronunciation: just as the soul has been sanctified through the right faith concerning the Holy Spirit. But it is more shameful for us if we are found to admit the same thing which we object to you, that is, when we accuse you, as being jejune and parsimonious in your affection concerning the sound of the word, and not intending it, we pursue the same four letters (which are, God) with too much anxiety, and do not accept you otherwise than if you pronounce them: just as if piety were placed in names, and not in things. ^D Col. 439 B. "Confess, O men, that the Trinity is of one deity," etc. Confess, he says, O friends, that the holy Trinity is of one divinity and nature; and I will pray to the Spirit that this word, God, may be inspired into you. These things, however, the Theologian says for this reason, because it seemed lighter to them to say that the Trinity is of one nature, than that these three are one God, although the force of the words was the same. Then he subjoins: "He who has given the first, namely that you confess that the Trinity is of one nature, will also give the second, namely that you openly confess that the Spirit is God." For if the Trinity is of one nature and divinity, since indeed the Holy Spirit completes it, He Himself is also God. But He will give you such a word and confession, if only your conflict proceeds from spiritual timidity (because you perhaps fear to say what Scripture has not expressed in open words); but not from

^A a diabolical lust for contradiction, since you desire to subscribe to your own dogma, however weak and full of vanity it may be. And, to speak more concisely, let us deal with each other such that neither do you accuse us on account of a more lofty term—that is, because we speak grand things concerning the Holy Spirit and ascend to the summit of perfect theology by declaring Him to be God (for such a theological ascent merits neither envy nor reproach)—nor, in turn, do we bring charges against you, who are still weak and untaught, because of that term of which alone you are as yet capable. For although you have not called the Holy Spirit "God" by name, if you have expressed another word having the same force in a different sound of words, we shall by no means accuse or reproach you on that account: provided that, like travelers taking different paths and words, you arrive at the same inn and lodging of this word, "God." For we do not aim to win a victory over you, as is the habit of those driven by self-love; but as brothers endowed with charity, we desire to gather you, now joined with us in the unity of the faith, for whose secession we are tormented no less bitterly than if we were being torn from our own limbs.

Ibid. *And let these things be said to you, etc.* And these things, he says, we discuss with you, in whom we find something vital. What is this? A sound doctrine and faith concerning the Son. For the Macedonians thought correctly in half the part, and were even called Semi-Arians, as those who blasphemed only against the Holy Spirit, but not against the Son. While we look with favor upon their illustrious manner of life, devoted to the zeal of practicing piety, we by no means approve of their doctrine, ^B as it is not a rightly divided sect (30). Therefore, since you have the fruit of the Spirit, that is, spiritual actions, take up the Spirit also in addition, discussing His divinity as is fitting; so that (since, according to the Apostle, even if one competes, he is not crowned unless he competes lawfully) you may not only compete, but also compete lawfully. For the honor of the crown is obtained from this, namely, from a lawful contest. For it is the mark of a foolish and stupid mind to labor in spiritual things, yet not receive the crown of labor because such labor is not undertaken as it ought to be. Furthermore, he competes lawfully who is not only equipped for the contest and has entered the arena, but has also satisfied the laws of the contest and has overcome his adversary. For I truly desire that this reward of a praiseworthy life be given to you, that you might confess the Spirit excellently. And while I embrace and kiss your other right deeds, I also embrace this pallor brought on by the continence and frugality of your life, ^C as if I were putting forth for you that word of the Apostle: ^D I would not hesitate: I desired to be anathema from Christ, that is, disjoined and separated. For Paul was imitating Moses, grieving for the plight of his own kinsmen and fellow-tribesmen, and addressing God with these words: *If you will forgive them their sin, forgive; but if not, blot me also out of the book which you have written* (32). And he considered the salvation of many to be more fruitful and more excellent than the salvation of himself alone: which is the act of a man who both loves his neighbor as himself, and, most of all, loves Christ, and at the same time fulfills the two first and great commandments. In the same way, therefore, he himself also does not refuse to suffer somewhat, as one condemned, on the condition that you stand with us and celebrate the Trinity with common minds. For what shall I say of others, namely of the Arians and Eunomians, who belch forth blasphemous words not only against the Spirit, but also against the Son, and therefore, as far as the soul is concerned, are utterly dead and extinguished? For the death of the soul is separation from God, just as the death of the body is its own disjunction from the soul. For to recall these, who are dead through disbelief and treachery, to life is the work of Christ alone (who, as is in Paul, makes alive the dead, according to the ineffable power of His divinity). What, then, of the Arians? While feigning piety, they are craftily and astutely separated in place from the rest of the assertors of the same doctrine, namely from the Eunomians, yet they are by no means living as though they abhorred their dogma; rather, as far as doctrine and sect are concerned, they remain joined to them by an inseparable bond, and although they seem to differ among themselves concerning the doctrine of the faith because they are separated by intervals of place, they do not, however, dissent, since they are carried toward one and the same thing with concordant minds. And just as two distorted eyes, although they may seem to oppose each other due to a perverse and unequal position, do not in the least oppose one another, because they behold the same thing (for they do not differ in regard to vision, but in position; nor are they contrary to each other in regard to the act): so also the Arians by no means fight among themselves in regard to the doctrine of the faith; for they aim at the same impiety, truly in regard to the location by which they are separated from one another. Furthermore, there is this difference in this comparison, that the corrupt and distorted eyes see in some way; but these, if I may speak more aptly, are utterly dim-sighted in the eyes of their mind. And, to use another example that may be found in roads and rivers, so that they are cut off from one another and yet flow back into one, the same happens to heretics. For they dissent in certain things, and in certain things they consent again: so that it cannot be plainly perceived in what they differ, or by what communion of doctrine they are joined. (31) These words and these things we discuss with you, as they refer to the followers of Macedonius.

^A For the Arians and Eunomians fought with such contention of spirit among themselves that they could not even endure the sight or meeting of one another. He says that these are surely dead, plunging into such impudence that they assail both the Son and the Holy Spirit with impious reproaches. Gregory desires that this reward of a most virtuous life might be given to the Macedonians—that they might confess the Holy Spirit as God, and proclaim Him God along with the Christians; or even before us, that is, apart from us; or he even wants this, that before they come to this confession, which clearly proclaims the Holy Spirit to be God, they might confess Him through other words that signify the same thing. For these words: "As much as His dignity requires," seem to me to have the force of expressing the divinity. Or also: "He said it before us," that is, in the sight of all, and openly and freely.

Col. 442. *After I have, however, discoursed with you in some way, etc.* After I have, he says, discoursed with you in some way, you who, professing the dogma of Macedonius, are led by sound judgment concerning the divinity of the Son, come now, let the discourse turn to the Holy Spirit. And you also, as I think, persuaded by what we have brought forward, putting aside contention, will follow him who speaks, and will listen to our words kindly and candidly. ^B From here, however, we shall begin. The Holy Spirit neither began to be (for He always was), nor will He cease to be; rather, He is, and will be, and is joined and numbered with the Father and the Son, but is not subordinated or subnumbered, as pleases the heretics who desire to diminish His dignity. For they say that the word "numbered" is suitable for equals and those having the same substance, but that the term "subnumbered" is appropriate for inferiors and those having a different substance, or a single declaration. And they call numbering the contraction that is made into one number, as when we say "three gods" or "three men": not, however, numbering, but a singular enunciation, when we say "one and one": and finally, "subnumbering" is the lowest degree in enumeration, as "the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit." Lo, they say, the Spirit is counted and pronounced last, and is subnumbered to the Father and the Son. And these things they themselves say, promulgating their doctrine as if by a broad law, but receding from the truth. For in reality the Holy Spirit is not always placed in the last position in Scripture, but is sometimes numbered in the first position; the Father, however, in the latter, as when the Apostle says: "There are divisions of graces, but the same Spirit, who works divisions of graces (according to the reason, I think, and merit of those who receive them); and there are ^C divisions of ministries, but the same Lord; and there are divisions of operations, but the same God." For he mentions the Holy Spirit first here, then the Son, and lastly the Father. Now, not only are those things numbered together which are the same in substance, but those things also which have a different substance. For John says: "There are three who give testimony, the Spirit, the water, and the blood." These, moreover, insofar as substance is concerned, are not the same. You see how that heretical disputation about numbering falls. The Spirit, therefore, is reckoned and glorified in the same order with the Father and the Son, as He through whom the divine operation itself is also fulfilled: "For the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ," says the Apostle, "and the charity of God the Father, and the participation of the Holy Spirit, be with you all." And this is the head of our salvation, and the perfect tradition concerning the divinity, that those who are dipped in the water of baptism, to obtain sanctification, are baptized in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. For that the holy Trinity is glorified in the same divine works is a most certain argument of the one divinity. And again, the Apostle speaks in this manner: "One God, of whom are all things, and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and one Holy Spirit, in whom are all things." Lo, in this place also, the Holy Spirit is put in the same order and number with the Father and the Son. For there would not otherwise be a Trinity, unless the Spirit were also numbered with them. And as that great man, whom the title of Thaumaturgus followed because of the miracles he performed, Gregory handed down, the Son was never lacking to the Father, nor the Spirit to the Son, ^D a thing which, however, the enemies of the Spirit assert. For that would result in the greatest ignominy of God. For from this it would be concluded that God was not perfect from the beginning, but afterwards, as if moved by repentance, assumed the person that was desired, that is, the Holy Spirit, and thus arrived at a divinity accumulated and perfect in all ways. Therefore, the Spirit was in the beginning, and is indeed perceived by every creature, which has need of Him for its own coherence and conversation: He himself, however, is made a participant of no thing. For He needs nothing, and is content with Himself. He perfects all things and even the angels themselves through sanctification: He himself, however, is not perfected, as He is by nature perfect and knowing no increment. He fills all things with His essence: "For the Spirit of the Lord hath filled the whole world," says Solomon; and David: "Whither shall I go from thy Spirit?" He himself, however, is not filled, as He is full and more than full: "And of his fullness we all have received, and do receive, and are filled." But He neither needs any thing, nor is He diminished: not otherwise than the sun shining on bodies, and perceived by them in various ways, is in no way diminished by those who perceive it. He sanctifies, as He is holy by nature: "You have been washed," he says, "and you have been sanctified in the name of the Lord."

^A That is to say, He possesses power by nature and through Himself; and for that reason He can do all things which He wills; yet He does not will all things which He can. For He can blot out and destroy the world, yet He does not will to do so. But if you should find anything said of Him that is more humble and abject, for example: that He is sent by the Father, or is given, or distributed, or intercedes, or anything else of this kind, know that all these things are referred to the primary cause, that is, to the Father, just as the Son also refers His own things to the same. For the Life Itself speaks thus: "I live because of the Father." And Power Itself says: "The Son can do nothing of Himself." And perfect Wisdom says: "I have received a commandment, what I should say, or what I should speak." And again: "I have not spoken on My own authority, but as the Father said to Me, so I do." Yet, in these words, He does not use this language because He lacks will and motion, and as if He were awaiting an imperial command; but that He might show His own intention to be joined and inseparably hanging from the Father, and through all these things might lead us on to the knowledge of the Father: to whom He refers the miracle of those things which are brought forth by Him, so that through Him we might be raised to the knowledge of the Father.

Furthermore, the Spirit also is life, and life-giving; for so says the Apostle: "The Spirit is life because of righteousness." And again: "The letter kills, but the Spirit gives life." And the Lord Himself confirms this with His own testimony: "It is the Spirit," He says, "who gives life; the flesh profits nothing." Moreover, He gives life along with God the Father who makes all things alive, and with the Son who gives life. For so says the Apostle: "He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to our mortal bodies through His Spirit dwelling in us." And Christ: "My sheep hear My voice, and I give them eternal life." And to sum it up in one word, just as heat cannot be separated from fire, nor splendor from light, so neither can sanctification, life-giving, goodness, or righteousness be separated from the Spirit. ^B Nor is any of these things adventitious to Him or later in arrival. He is Light and the giver of light. "In Your light," He says, "we shall see light," that is, in the Spirit [we shall see] the Son. And this oracle of David was thus fulfilled when, with Jesus baptized—as is recorded in John—the Holy Spirit bore witness to the Son's divinity, descending in the form of a dove; for then, in the Holy Spirit, we recognized the Son. Now the Holy Spirit is called Light because He dispels all ignorance and error from the souls into which He is poured; and also because He gathers into Himself all things which are contained by His splendor. He is Goodness Itself and the fountain of goodness, that is, the essential Good, from whom others also draw goodness as from a fountain. For David calls the Spirit Himself good; and the Theologian, magnifying His praise and showing that He is not good by participation, has named Him goodness itself, by whose benefit others also [possess] goodness.

^A A right and principal Spirit. These also are David's words: "Renew a right spirit within me." And: "Stablish me with a princely Spirit." And He is called "right," as being contrary to the shifting and crooked serpent. For, as Scripture says: "The holy Spirit shall flee from deceit." He is also called "right" because He Himself is justice and truth, having no deviations or deflections to either side. He is "principal" as a prince and ruler, and also as directing the princely mind. Thus the Apostle calls Him Lord, saying: "The Lord direct your hearts in the love of God, and in the patience of Christ." And in another place: "The Lord make you to increase and abound in charity one toward another, and to confirm your hearts unblameable in holiness before God, even our Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ." And elsewhere he expressly calls Him Lord, in these words: "Now the Lord is that Spirit." And again: "Even as by the Lord the Spirit." And also, the holy Spirit sends and separates. For Isaiah says: "The Lord has sent me, and his Spirit." It is also written in the Acts of the Apostles: "So they, being sent forth by the holy Ghost, departed unto Seleucia." And in the same book: "The holy Ghost said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them." Building for Himself a temple. This also is taken from the Apostle: "Know you not that you are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?" And again: "Your bodies are the temple of the holy Ghost which is in you." And the holy Spirit further points out the way: "The Spirit," he says, "went down from the Lord, and went before them." And David: "Thy good Spirit shall lead me into the land of uprightness." And the Lord: "When the Comforter is come, the Spirit of truth, he will guide you, and lead you into all truth." And lest you interpret this "leading" in a lower sense for me, Scripture attributes this work also to God: "Thou didst lead thy people like a flock." And: "Thou that leadest Joseph like a sheep." And: "Thou didst lead them in hope, and they feared not." Furthermore, the Spirit, as He wills, works and distributes gifts, just as Paul also testifies, saying: "But all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will." ^D The Spirit of adoption. Thus Paul again calls Him, speaking thus: "For you have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption." But the Lord Himself has named Him the Spirit of truth, saying: "When the Comforter is come, the Spirit of truth." And the names which follow thereafter, Isaiah enumerates, prophesying of Christ in this manner: "And there shall rest upon him the spirit of seven, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of godliness, the spirit of the fear of God shall fill him." Thus the holy Spirit is called, as the author and provider of these gifts. And also, the Father is known through the Spirit: "For the Spirit," as the Apostle says, "searches all things, yea, the deep things of God." And he says in the place: "For what man knows the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knows no man, but the Spirit of God." Through the Spirit, the Son is glorified. For the Only-Begotten Himself speaks thus of the Comforter in the Gospel of John: "He shall glorify me." For the Spirit glorifies the Lord worthily, not as a creature, but as the Spirit of truth, clearly and perspicuously showing the truth in Himself, and also as the Spirit of wisdom, revealing Christ, who is the wisdom of God, in His own greatness. ^C Then also, glory is twofold: one is natural, as the light of the sun is the glory of the sun; the other is external, by which those who are worthy of it are affected, out of the purpose and will and judgment of the mind. Of which there are also two kinds: for the Son, he says, glorifies His Father, and the servant his own master. Wherefore the glory of a servant is rendered by creatures: but filial and proper glory is bestowed by the Spirit. Thus, therefore, the Father is known through the Spirit, and the Son is glorified. But again, the Spirit is known only by these, that is, by the Father alone and the Son. And there is one rank of the holy Trinity, that is, unity and the same adoration. For we do not worship and adore the Father and the Son in one way, and the holy Spirit in another, but in one and the same way. One adoration, and one honor according to worship, not according to relation. One power of the three persons, immense and infinite. For the holy Trinity can do whatsoever He wills. One perfection and sanctification, which is brought by the three persons (32).

14. What need is there of more words? The Father, the Son, the holy Spirit, unbegottenness, generation, procession: see that you keep these properties in your memory. Why, he says, is it necessary to recount the rest? All things whatsoever the Father has are the Son's, except that He is not unbegotten, according to the voice of the Lord Himself, saying: "All things that the Father has are mine." For whatsoever things are present to the perfect principle of the form, the same are also of the image. And all things which the Son has are the holy Spirit's, except generation. For the Spirit is not begotten, but proceeding. The Spirit, in turn, is the image of the Son. But these names, namely unbegottenness, generation, and procession, although they are diverse in pronunciation, yet they by no means signify diverse substances.

they introduce, or partition them, as if they were essential differences, just as the Arians and Eunomians did: but, in my opinion, they are divided around one and the same substance, like the properties of distinct persons of an indistinct substance, nature, and divinity. For just as proper names—for example, Peter, Paul, and John—do not divide natures, but are divided around the same nature and distinguish persons (for although the names are different, their nature is one, namely, humanity), in the same way, the unbegottenness, the generation, and the procession, while not the same names among themselves, are the same in the things in which they inhere; nor do they sunder the substance, but are distinguished around the same substance and discern the persons. For these properties, considered like certain marks in the substance, divide the common thing by their own proper and peculiar marks, but they do not in the least disjoin the identity of the substance. For instance, divinity is indeed common: but the properties, paternity and filiation, are such that from the connection of both, the knowledge and comprehension of the truth are generated in us.

^C Col. 442 D. “Are you bringing forth objections?” But I—the flow of the discourse, etc. He turns the discourse toward the enemies of the Spirit, and says: “Are you bringing forth objections, and bursting forth again into contentious disputes? You are preparing to ask how the Holy Spirit, being from the Father not only by way of generation, but of procession, is God. But I am bringing forth the course and series of the instituted discourse. For this is a time of festive celebration, not of contention. Keep your tongue from evil; restrain it a little. We must speak of other tongues. Venerate these as conspicuous with fire, because they indicate divinity: for our God is a consuming fire; or fear, on account of the burning power which divinity possesses. Today let us teach—that is, let us faithfully and simply use the doctrine concerning the Holy Spirit which Scripture offers us; but tomorrow we shall discourse artfully, and we shall depart from what is honest and seemly—that is, we shall institute a dispute acutely and sophistically, and according to the laws and method of dialectical art.” Indeed, these words, "Let us teach," and "Let us celebrate the feast," are said with the intention of counsel. But these others, "We shall discourse artfully," and "We shall depart from what is honest and seemly," are said by one speaking ironically, and one who is averse to such things. Whence he calls them base and drunken, and rejects them to the forum and the theaters.

Ibid. “After we have removed the aliens,” etc. After we have removed and thrust out the aliens and heretics, come now, let us make our own people, endowed with the same faith, better. Therefore, ^D this Spirit, a holy one, that is, before the sensible nature was created, exerted its power among the angels. For by its benefit they have perfection: but the perfection of the angels is sanctification, and a constant remaining in it. And again, they have illumination, and such excellence that, whereas they were previously with difficulty driven to evil, now they cannot be driven in any way, and this not by nature, but by grace, through which they cling inseparably to the supreme good. For in what way could the angels say, "Glory to God in the highest," unless they had received that power from the Spirit? For "no one can say, 'Lord Jesus,' unless in the Holy Spirit." In what way, likewise, could those first powers after God enjoy a blessed life unless they always saw the face of the Father, who is in heaven? But this vision does not happen without the grace of the Spirit. For just as if you were to take the light away from a house at night, neither will it consist for the eyes to look upon, nor will the values and dignities of things be able to be recognized (for then, through ignorance, gold will be trodden upon just as earth): so, too, in the spiritual order of the angels, divine life cannot remain without the Spirit, certainly no more than the order and discipline of an army, unless the commander of the ranks is present, or the harmony of a choir, unless the master of the choir composes and orchestrates the voices. In what way, again, could the Seraphim "Holy, holy, holy" say it, unless they had learned from the Spirit how often such praise may be piously repeated? So it happens that that spiritual harmony cannot be maintained unless by the mastership and discipline of the Spirit. Moreover, afterwards it operated the Spirit in the fathers and in the prophets. For the blessings of the patriarchs, and the figures, and the prophecies were accomplished through the grace of the Spirit. For some of the righteous saw or knew God through an image. By an image, understand an obscure comprehension of God; by knowledge, however, that which is more illustrious and more perspicuous. Or even, because fantasy often brings imposture to the mind, for that reason the Theologian added "They knew," so that you might believe this vision to be true. Therefore the patriarchs saw God through an image: the prophets, however, also had things to come known beforehand, having the mind impressed by the Holy Spirit like wax, and seeing and hearing things to come as if they were present. Wherefore they also called prophecy a vision, and were themselves named seers. For such is the power of the Spirit; namely, illuminative, brightening all things for the knowledge of the supreme good. For to all things which are endowed with reason and intelligence, it is a spiritual light for the discovery of truth, and it brings to them, as it were, a certain transparency by itself.

^B “Then in Christ's disciples, etc.” Then, he says, the Holy Spirit was efficacious in the disciples of Christ. Nor can I say that He was also working in Christ. For He was present with Christ, not as breathing upon Him, as in other men who are breathed upon by the Holy Spirit, but as walking and existing together with Him as an equal, because of the inseparable conjunction of the Holy Trinity. Concerning which matter Basil speaks in these words: “Where there is a proper and connatural and inseparable fellowship, there the more appropriate and significant word is *synyparchein* [συνυπάρχειν], that is, to exist together, because this word offers to the mind the conception of an inseparable fellowship; but where united things can be separated, there the more common and congruent word is *enyparchein* [ἐνυπάρχειν], that is, to reside in.” Just as we say the life of the soul *synyparchei*, that is, coexists, whereas it *enyparchei*, that is, resides, in the body. For it can be separated from it. Therefore, in the same way, the Holy Spirit is said to coexist with the only-begotten Son, but to reside in other saints.

Thus, in a threefold manner, He displayed His power in the apostles, according to as they themselves were capable, and as the ratio of the three times allowed. The first, that is, before Christ’s passion, obscurely, when He sent them out to preach and gave them the power of casting out diseases and demons. All of which things were by no means done without the power of the Spirit. Second, after the resurrection, more expressly and clearly. For when Christ had breathed upon them, He said: “Receive the Holy Spirit,” not existing as another than He who had breathed [upon man] from the first creation of things, but the same one through whom the breathing had been given, then indeed strictly ^C with the soul, but now into the soul. Third, moreover, more perfectly, when Christ ascended into heaven, or was restored to divine glory, or by whatever name this ought to be called, I do not know. For I hesitate as to what name should be attributed to that ineffable ascension to the prior state. But how did the Spirit exercise His power more perfectly in the disciples in the division of tongues? Assuredly because the Holy Spirit was no longer present by operation, as before, but, so to speak, was essentially with them and stayed with them. But as to what he said, "If I may so speak," he said "essentially" to soften this word, as having been brought forward less properly and exactly due to a lack of more suitable diction. For the Holy Spirit did not dwell essentially with the Son in the apostles; but through divine indwelling and fiery tongues, and that breath, through which ^D *a (34) Then indeed. This is, in the creation of Adam, the insufflating was done with the soul, that is, cooperating with the soul, not that it was the same as the soul: but after the resurrection, when the insufflation was given to the disciples into the soul, that is, while they were living, it was together with the power of binding and loosing. Therefore, the insufflation with the soul, as was said before, signifies these two things: namely, that the human body is not accepted and created by God from the earth as the soul is, but produced by Him from nothing: then also it shows the power of binding and loosing sins, which the apostles received from the Lord after the resurrection. And thirdly, it also indicates that the human soul was not produced less easily than as if someone were able to emit a breath. Because these things were rashly and confusedly inserted into Nicetas's commentary in the Queen's manuscript, and are not contained in ours, we have thought they should be relegated here.

^B some might say that He existed and was present with them essentially. For since the Son had dealings with us in a sensible and conspicuous body, it was fitting that the Spirit also should appear corporally, just as He did appear, first in the form of a dove, and now in the form of fiery tongues. And when Christ, after the resurrection, had returned from those things which were fitting to the humanity He had assumed, to those things which were fitting to God, and had been restored to His own glory, which He had before the business of our salvation was undertaken (for He had been emptied for our sake for a short time; for He said: “Glorify Me, O Father, with Yourself with the glory which I had with You, before the world was”): it was fitting that the Spirit should descend to us after Christ. But if you hear Christ in the Gospel saying: “When the Paraclete comes, whom I will send,” and that: “Unless I go, the Paraclete will not come to you,” you must understand this in such a way that you understand the Holy Spirit coming as one who is Lord, and as God; but that his being sent is by a certain counsel and dispensation, and not in the least as an adversary to God. For these words indeed, *pempesthai* [πέμπεσθαι] and *apostellesthai* [ἀποστέλλεσθαι], that is, to be sent, and others of the same kind, by no means divide the natures at all, as the heretics think: but they show concord, as if one were to say: "A friend is sent by a friend," or "a letter by him who wrote it," or "a stone by him who throws it." Wherefore they do not always distract the natures, but sometimes they also confirm a concord with certainty, and equally produce now this, now that. Therefore, that the Spirit is said to be sent indicates His concord with Him by whom He was sent, and not a servile rank and subjection.

Col. 443 D. "Therefore after Christ, whom He acceded to," etc. The Theologian explains the cause why the Spirit descended after Christ's ascension; and he says: "Lest the Paraclete be absent from us." For even Christ is called a paraclete in the first Epistle of John: "If anyone," he says, "has sinned, we have a paraclete with the Father, Jesus Christ the just." With Christ the Paraclete departing, therefore, it was fitting that the Paraclete should come to us again, namely the Holy Spirit. For even the Lord Himself says in John: "I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Paraclete," that is, another equal to Me.

^A Regarding this word, "Another," it is placed for the sake of equality and not for diminution, and through it is indicated a fellowship of dominion, not contempt. For this word, "Another," is to be understood in such a way that it signifies to me one who is equal. Indeed, among those things which are of the same nature, we say one and another, such as one Peter and another Paul; but when discourse is held about those things which are of a different nature, we say one thing and another, as one thing is an ox and another is a horse. But since it is held in the Acts of the Apostles, that when they were sitting in the upper room, divided tongues as of fire appeared to them, and sat upon each of them, these things also must be examined. And first, why tongues? Perhaps the reason for this is that just as the tongue is the proper instrument of speech, so also the apostles were ready and prepared for the word of the Gospel, resonating it just like instruments and through their tongues signifying the congruence and aptitude of their preaching for Christian doctrine. Or, if it pleases more, understand Christ by this Word in this place. Therefore, with such a Word, the Holy Spirit has a kinship and connection, just like a tongue. For so great is the conjunction of the Holy Spirit with Christ, that He is also called the Spirit of Christ: "For if anyone," he says, "does not have the Spirit, this one is not His." But why in fiery tongues? Perhaps because the Spirit has the power and faculty of purging, just like that fire of which Christ was saying: "I have come to cast fire upon the earth." But here it has the faculty of consuming matter and vicious action and habit, which He also wishes to be kindled as soon as possible, that is, the evangelical preaching, which like fire purges and abolishes the sins of those who believe. Perhaps also on account of His essence. For it is written in Deuteronomy: "The Lord your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God." Therefore, by the name of fire, the essence of God is understood, not that He is fire, but for an allegorical reason, because by His own power He consumes and abolishes, and acts with wonderful vehemence. For God, as He is light to the just, so is He fire to sinners. For the same reason, therefore, the Spirit is also called fire, as being God, to express, if I am not mistaken, His equality of substance with the Father and the Son, even though the heretic is broken and pressed into a narrow space, because we conclude and openly prove that the Holy Spirit is consubstantial with the Father and the Son. For since God is fire, and the Spirit is also fire, surely since He is of the same substance as God, it is clearly evident that He is also God Himself. But why were the tongues divided? Because the graces of the Spirit are diverse and manifold. And to one, indeed, is given the spirit of wisdom, to another, however, the spirit of knowledge, to another, prophecy, to another, kinds of tongues, to another, some other ^B kind of grace. Although the Spirit Himself is simple and lacking parts, and indivisible, yet His graces are divided, and are distributed according to the merit and dignity of each. But for what reason did the tongues appear sitting upon the apostles? Because they themselves were made a royal throne of the King and of God, that is, of the Holy Spirit, and the Paraclete rested upon them. For so speaks David: "You who sit upon the Cherubim, manifest Yourself." And again: "He ascended upon the Cherubim, and flew." And Ezekiel had a vision of this kind, namely the Cherubim, and the likeness of thrones, and above it a likeness as of the form of a man. And furthermore he uses these words: "The glory of the Lord went out from the house of the sun, and ascended upon the Cherubim." But if I seem to anyone more curious than is fitting, as one who captures an allegory in all places, let me examine this also: for what reason, when the apostles were in the upper room, did the Spirit approach them? Perhaps to make it plain that those who are about to receive spiritual gifts must be lifted above earthly things: since even the upper rooms are covered by certain divine waters. For David says: "Who covers His upper rooms with waters." In which place, by upper rooms, men endowed with a sublime and exalted mind may be signified: by the waters, however, those covering them, the angelic powers. By which waters God is also celebrated with praises: "Praise Him," he says, "heavens of heavens, and the waters that are above the heavens." And even Christ Himself imparts the mystical supper to the disciples in the upper room, when they were already being imbued and instructed in more divine and perfect things. And, to say it in one word, by that ascent of the disciples into the upper room we are taught this, that it is necessary, partly that God should descend, namely through kindness and the submission of His majesty; partly that we ourselves should ascend, through the contempt of earthly things, with the divine amplitude surely mingled with our vileness: just as it happened ^C beforehand in Moses as well. For he too ascended into the mount Sinai: and God descended: and thus the fellowship was begun, and he received the Decalogue. Otherwise, if God remained in His majesty, and we in our humility, the goodness of God could in no way be mingled with us or communicated. Nor could that rich man be separated from Lazarus, and from asking of Abraham, because of the chasm placed between, that created, and therefore corruptible nature, appeared to be separated and removed from the uncreated and therefore incorruptible nature. ^D Col. 446 C. He is indeed preached by the prophets, etc. This Holy Spirit is preached by the prophets, as when Isaiah says in the person of Christ: "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me"; and again speaking of the same: "Seven spirits shall rest upon Him," that is, graces and powers and actions, which Zechariah named the seven eyes. It was said, moreover, concerning the Jews: "He descended..."

^A into separation; and therefore in hell there is no one who can confess to God and weave praise for Him. For the Spirit’s present aid does not shine upon them.

Col. 447 A. *This Spirit, and with the Son, etc.* The Holy Spirit was present in the beginning of the creation of things along with the Son, just as David says: "By the word of the Lord were the heavens established, and all the power of them by the Spirit of His mouth." Wherefore in this place, neither is the impression of air meant by "word"—which is produced through vocal organs—nor is "spirit of the mouth" meant as vapor, which is expelled from those parts by which we breathe; rather, this Word is living and subsistent, the one, indeed, which in the beginning was with God, and was God. And likewise the Spirit of the mouth of God is the Spirit of Truth, who proceeds from the Father. Observe, therefore, three things: the Father commanding, the Son fashioning, the Holy Spirit strengthening and supporting. Furthermore, strengthening is nothing other than that perfection which is acquired by sanctification, and firmness and constancy in the good. But sanctification is nothing without the Spirit. For the nature of those heavenly and blessed minds is not holy in itself; rather, their essence is perhaps an airy spirit, or fire devoid of matter; but sanctification, which is external to their essence, induces perfection in them through the communication of the Holy Spirit. He calls it fire devoid of matter as being ethereal, which is said to be immaterial in distinction to our fire. For this latter, being inferior and without matter, can neither remain nor subsist.

^C The living Word, therefore, is that in which the heavens were created; but the Life is that Spirit by whom the heavenly virtues are absolute and perfect. For God does not create by the pronunciation of a word; nor are the heavens adorned by the effusion of airy spirit: but the Spirit, being living power and divine nature, together with the living Word, produced the creatures, just as we say from David. Indeed, Job also speaks in a certain place: "The divine Spirit, which hath made me," and thus he ascribes the act of his creation to the Holy Spirit. Nor is he content with that, but he also assigns the grace of His wisdom to the same, and acknowledges Him as a teacher, saying: "But it is the breath of the Almighty that teacheth me." Which corresponds to this evangelical saying: "For it is not you that speak, but the Spirit of your Father that speaketh in you." To this, the Holy Spirit produces and effects our common resurrection together with Christ, just as David confirms with these words: "Thou shalt send forth Thy Spirit, and they shall be created, and Thou shalt renew the face of the earth." For the Holy Spirit renews created things unto immortality. By the "sending forth" of the Spirit, however, David understands His mission to act, not a migration from place to place: for "the Spirit of the Lord hath filled the whole world." Moreover, the Holy Spirit effects spiritual regeneration through baptism. That witness is in no way false regarding this matter.

^A nor is any man able to see the kingdom of God, unless he has been born from above. For no one shall receive the heavenly kingdom unless he has been purified from that prior and carnal procreation which takes its beginning in the night and in darkness. (For in the night, for the most part, there occurs the conjugal congress and the ejection of seed.) And indeed, from this sordid, obscene, and shadowy creation, he must be illuminated by the works of that luminous and daily generation of which David makes mention when speaking of the just: "They shall be formed," that is, in the light of the Holy Spirit. Furthermore, "daily fashioning and creation" signifies not only the regeneration that baptism brings, but also that purification which is acquired through virtues. And each man fashions both of these creations for himself—that is, by his own purpose and the will of his mind. For both the regeneration of baptism and the instruction of morals are voluntary and performed without force (and for this reason parents, or other kin and relatives, are questioned in the place of infants). Perhaps also what he says, "per sese" ("by itself"), signifies not only that both things proceed from free will, but also that neither of them requires any congress or conjunction of bodies, as happens in corporeal procreation.

^B Ibidem. "This Spirit, as being most wise," etc. Salomon says in a certain place: "The Spirit of all love is wisdom." The Theologian, therefore, explaining this by paraphrase, says that the Holy Spirit is not only most wise, but also most ready to bestow benefits. And in order to proclaim His wisdom and kindness, he shows how He has adorned with His graces—the shepherd, and the goatherd, and the youth, and the fishermen, and the publicans, and the persecutors, and, to say it in one word, those who, on account of their lowliness or even the wickedness of their morals, might have appeared unworthy. Moreover, he privately attributes such privileges to the Holy Spirit, because they are the gifts of the Spirit. For He called David "shepherd," because God took him from the flocks of sheep and herds and placed him over the kingdom of the Jews; and "citharode," as playing the cithara and enchanting the evil spirit and demon that was choking Saul, just as it is reported in the first book of Kings. Amos, however, was a goatherd, as he himself also testifies concerning himself: "I was not," he says, "a prophet, nor the son of a prophet, but I was a goatherd plucking sycamores, and the Lord took me." But *κνίζειν* (which we translate as "to pluck") is the same as cutting off the leaves of mulberry trees for the nourishment of goats. There are also those who think this word is the same as to clean and tend such trees, providing food for the flocks. Cyril, however, explains it as cutting off ^D the fruit, that is, the mulberry, and eating it.

The things written in the book of Daniel concerning the elders are as follows: (55) and the Theologian names Daniel an adolescent, elegant in mind and body, who, before adult age (for he was then passing his twelfth year), sat as judge of the elders. Twice, moreover, was Daniel cast into the lions' den: first indeed under Darius, because he had been found pouring out prayers to God, with the windows of his upper room opened toward Jerusalem; when it had been proclaimed by public edict that whosoever should ask anything from man or God, other than from the king, within thirty days, he was to be cast into the lions' den. Later, under Cyrus, when he overturned the statue of Bel and destroyed the dragon which was worshipped by the Babylonians with the utmost religious devotion. At this time also, Habakkuk, having his head seized by the hair by an angel, was carried aloft through the air from Judea to Babylon to bring dinner to Daniel, and was immediately restored to Judea. Thus far concerning Daniel.

Now let us return to the text: "The Holy Spirit," he says, "if He finds fishermen, He fishes them out for the Lord, so that they themselves may in turn fish the whole world with the nets of speech—that is, the evangelical preaching which, like a net, is woven from the Old and New Testaments." Now, furthermore, Christ named Jacob and John "Boanerges," that is, "sons of thunder." Moreover, John did not know the wisdom of God from himself, but attained it by the power of the Spirit, who, having entered his breast, made him a theologian. For he spoke such grand words that no wisdom could ever aspire to them. This Holy Spirit, even if He receives a publican provided he is of faith, such as was Matthew, makes him an evangelist, and causes him to be no longer a merchant of money, but a merchant of souls. If He finds a persecutor who repents, He makes him an apostle of the nations, a herald of the faith, a vessel of election, and finally a Paul instead of a Saul; that is, for that which he was accustomed to do—harassing and disturbing the Church—He procured for it rest and tranquility, and he was as keen and fervent for piety as he had been toward vice. For the zeal with which he was carried toward persecution, He turned toward piety. This is also the Spirit of gentleness (for Paul says concerning Him, to those who are caught in some transgression: "You who are spiritual, instruct such a one in the spirit of gentleness"). And again: "What will you? Shall I come to you with a rod, or in love and in the spirit of gentleness?", and yet He is stirred against those who sin: "For they, he says, "Isaiah, have been rebellious and provoked His Holy Spirit to anger." Not that the Spirit is truly moved by anger (for affections do not fall upon God), but because it is familiar to the Scriptures to inform such things regarding the divine nature in the human manner.

[alt-version omitted]

And to figure it out. Let us therefore confess the dignity of the Holy Spirit, that is, that He is of the same substance with the Father and the Son, and that He is God, lest we should wish to see Him implacably angry. For to him who shall blaspheme against the Holy Spirit, this injury shall not be forgiven. This also renders me a bold and intrepid preacher. And on both counts may there be grace to God, whether I suffer something from the snares of heretics, or be afflicted with no harms. For if I have suffered nothing, I give thanks to God that God has spared those who hold me in despite, and has not permitted them to be stained with blood: but if I have suffered, even so I give thanks, because this reward of instruction and doctrine is given to me, so that through the shedding of blood I may depart from this life.

^B But indeed, the apostles spoke in foreign, not native, languages, etc. It is written in the Acts of the Apostles: *They began to speak in other tongues*, that is, those of the hearers, and not their native ones. For the tongues of the hearers were not the native ones of those who were speaking. And the matter had this as a miracle, that the apostles were speaking a discourse which they had not learned at all, and, as the Apostle says: *Tongues are for a sign not to believers, but to unbelievers*, so that this sign might turn into an accusation against them, since, not even when this sign was seen, did they embrace the faith, as it is written: *For in other tongues I will speak*, etc. Where this passage is held, Chrysostom indeed attributes these words to Isaiah; but they are not found in Isaiah. Therefore, they were either maliciously removed, or passed over through forgetfulness.

Ibid. *But they heard.* But here pause a little, etc. This also is taken from the book of Acts: *Each man heard them speaking in his own language.* But the Theologian doubts in what way the ambiguity occurring in this place is to be distinguished and resolved, which is divided—that is, discerned—and dissolved by punctuation. Having therefore proposed two solutions by means of a question, he adds his own calculation to the second: For he says, were the apostles speaking in one and the same language, but to the hearers many were made, both because of the noise of the air, and because each of the hearers would discern his own language? Or shall we place the point at the word, *they heard*, and connect *them speaking* with what follows, so that the sense should be this: that the nations were hearing the apostles speaking in the languages of the auditors, that is, foreign ones, which related to those who were speaking? I also agree more with this opinion, since in the former way—that is, if the apostles had spoken in one language, and each of the auditors had separated his own dialect from the others—this would have been a miracle of the hearers; but if you place the point at the word *they heard*, and then join these words: *speaking to them in the proper languages of the hearers*, it will be a miracle of the apostles. Which is also clear from the fact that they are also accused of drunkenness, in that they were ^C speaking to the ears of the hearers moved by the Spirit. For each man hearing his own language, and seeing the apostles making sounds not only to himself but also to others who were of a foreign tongue, he was causing dizziness and madness to them, because they did not think that the discourse of the apostles was heard by those who were of a foreign region.

Ibid. *Though, however, praiseworthy*, etc. Gregory also praises that division of languages which occurred in the construction of the Babylonian tower, when a single language was cut into many, and an impious concord and agreement was dissolved, and the foolishly undertaken business was dissolved at the same time. For the builders of the tower were proposing this goal to themselves, that if at any time the earth should be buried by a new flood of waters, they might ascend this tower and despise the divine anger. Their madness some do not fear to imitate even now, wickedly concordant against the Holy Spirit, and building a tower of impiety. But the Theologian more vehemently praises and admires the miracle of this division. For, diffused from one Spirit into many apostles, it is again contracted and restored into one harmony of piety. Although indeed they were speaking in different languages, yet in all languages they were speaking the same things, namely those which concerned Christ and the evangelical preaching, no differently than a lyre sends forth a concordant sound from different strings and strokes. Indeed, that diversity of graces which has need of another grace for judgment, is prophecy and the gift of languages. For prophecy also has need of that gift and grace by which spirits are discerned, and the gift of languages has need of the gift of interpretation. Moreover, the gifts of prophecy and of languages surpass those gifts by whose aid they are in need of judgment and explanation—that is, of the discernment of spirits and of interpretation: for they are the causes and roots of these. The Theologian, having perceived this, says: To discern which grace of the Holy Spirit is more excellent. For the fact that the apostles speak in strange languages is a diversity of grace, having need of another grace, namely the gift of discernment, to discern which gift is better and more excellent—that is, whether this gift of languages is to be preferred to the others with which they had been adorned by divine benefit, or some other from among the rest: since in such diverse kinds of gifts there is none that does not merit praise. Nay, even that division is excellent for which David beseeches God, in these words: *Divide their tongues, who have loved the words of precipitation*, ^D clearly accusing the tongues of the Macedonians, which sever the divinity of the Spirit, and divide Him from the Father and the Son. But the words of precipitation are those utterances which abrogate the divinity from the Holy Spirit, in that they submerge those by whom they are uttered, and carry them off and cast them into the abyss of destruction. Let them be divided, therefore, he says, this...

^A of the heretics, their chatter and itch of tongue, and their conspiracy against the Holy Spirit. For such a division, too, is useful for those who agree upon the evil.

(36) By the diversity of graces, he understands the gift of tongues: which indeed stands in need of another gift, namely, of interpretation and an interpreter. For what, I ask, will he who applies himself to the prophets with a desire to learn gain in the way of help if he hears them speaking in Attic, while he is an Arab; or if one skilled in the Attic tongue hears them discussing in the Phoenician language? And since the others, who were adorned with spiritual graces, whether as helpers of souls, or governors, or interpreters, were less puffed up by the gift of graces, but those who spoke in various tongues, as though having the utterance of the Spirit, boasted of it and arrogantly brandished their gift, and considered themselves superior to those ^B who had received some other gift of the Spirit, for this reason the Apostle restrains and checks them, as providing less utility to the Church. Our great Gregory also signifies this, saying: "For my part, I would rather speak five words prudently in the church than ten thousand in a language and voice of an uncertain and obscure trumpet." In this passage, by "five words," he understands those who teach and interpret in the church; but by "ten thousand and obscure," he understands those who, while speaking in all languages, do not in the least stir the divine soldier to spiritual warfare.

Col. 450 A. And so much for these matters, etc. In the Acts of the Apostles, Luke writes: "There were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men from every nation that is under heaven." But the Theologian says concerning this word, "dwelling": If anyone finds this interpretation pleasing. For they did not dwell there permanently, but had gathered at that time for the sake of celebrating the feast. For being dispersed among all nations, they utilized the languages of the nations, but retained their ancestral religion, as did the Jews, and according to the prescription of the law they had flocked from everywhere to the city of Jerusalem for the feast. I ask, therefore, who these were, and from what captivity they had been dispersed to be present at the feast at that time. For the Egyptian and Babylonian captivity was circumscribed and limited by a certain space of places and times. For in Egypt alone ^C and indeed they spent four hundred years until their return to Palestine, and seventy in Babylon, which captivity was also resolved when the Jews returned to Jerusalem. Furthermore, that which they suffered from the Romans, under the emperors Vespasian and Titus, had not yet occurred at that time, but was to take place forty years after Christ was received into the heavens, as a vindicator of the fury and madness with which the Jews brought death upon Christ the Savior. Wherefore it remains that we should judge them to have returned from that captivity with which Antiochus afflicted the Jews, and even subjected the Maccabees to exquisite tortures. For this happened not many years prior, but preceded the incarnation of Christ by a small interval of time. But if anyone rejects this exposition as forced and wandering from the truth (since the Antiochene captivity was by no means ancient, nor spread out into many regions of the world), perhaps it would be more correct to explain it thus: that according to Ezra, the Jews had been led into captivity many times. Therefore, with the tribes being dispersed often into different nations, it is likely that some of them were present at the feast at that time, and conceived astonishment at the miracle of tongues. And these things, I hope, will not seem to have been expounded by us in vain to studious men. But if anyone has contributed something else to this solemnity, proclaiming its praises, he will also gather them for us, as if we had not fully performed the duty of praise. And here we shall conclude our discourse, and dismiss the multitude gathered for the purpose of hearing us. For we have held a complete and absolute oration, equal indeed to our purpose, if not to the dignity of the feast. For at the beginning of the oration, we professed that we would speak briefly about this feast. But in truth, we never cease to celebrate the feast of the Spirit: indeed, let us celebrate it in the present life in a bodily and spiritual manner alike, but after our departure from this life, in a purely spiritual way. At which time we shall also perceive more clearly and openly the causes of the feasts and the explanations of those things which we now seek, in Christ, who is the true feast and exultation of the just, with whom be glory and veneration to the Father and the Holy Spirit, both now and unto the ages of ages. Amen.