A with which I might break a heart crushed by sorrows, and pour over us the dust that is now ignominiously sprinkled upon us, and lament the common calamity, because charity, the root of the commandments, has failed? For this reason I embrace those present with an insatiable spiritual embrace, because they have shown a strange spectacle, being glued to one another. For we have each become by ourselves like sand, not joined to one another, but each of us divided by ourselves. For neither can a building stand if the binders are removed, nor can the Church grow into the heights if it is not bound together by the bond of peace and love. B
2. Grant us a patient hearing for a little while, not because we are speaking for display, but because we are hastening to include you in a communion of sorrows; for the communion of sighs brings consolation to those who mourn. And perhaps our sorrow, when united, will reach the Lord more powerfully. Or will each of us be heard privately because of the weakness of our deeds? That which we see is a remnant of the ancient charity of the Fathers. For this reason they devised these public gatherings, so that by meeting at certain seasons of the year, they might renew the alienation that had crept in through the passage of time, and so that those who live in far-off lands, by reaching this one place, might make this meeting a beginning of friendship and love for themselves. This is a spiritual gathering, which renews the ancient things; and which provides a beginning for things to come. For we have not come to make an exchange of goods, but to offer a mutual exchange of love; to give full love, and to receive full love. C These things our Fathers established. But as for us, who have received them as if handed down from hand to hand, the present spectacle shows into what a state we have degenerated. Most of those who are present are scouts of what is to be said, rather than disciples of what is taught. And the discourse is sought out, not for the edification of those present, but for the sake of causing grievance to those who lie in wait. And if anything is said that happens to suit the desires of those who reject the opinion, he who heard it went away having accepted it as if he had found his own [possessions] with us. Let these things be inscribed upon your hearts. Bear witness to the truth and to us against those who spread such things, namely that we have renewed the ancient gift. D
3. For these are the words of those who do not fear the Lord, but who open their mouths against us, as if we were proclaiming three gods. He who proclaims three gods is asking what—
A is he looking for in the Church of the Lord? In one place, a multitude of gods; in another place, the pious worship of God. He who speaks of three, let him also dare to speak of four; let him extend the number even to twelve. What, then, is the madness of those who have whetted their tongues against the truth? I am not faint-hearted in the face of refutation, but I await the judgment seat of Christ. There those who stitch together this slander will be set over against me: "The Lord knows those who are his," and, "He who slanders the poor man irritates Him who made him." If I hand down the faith of the Fathers, why, leaving the Fathers aside, do you attack me with war? If I believe in the Father, if I confess the Son, if I do not reject the Spirit—if he who confesses the Trinity names three gods, he abrogates baptism and makes war against the faith. Why, putting my person forward, do you attack the Lord? Who left it for us to baptize in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit B? Was it I, or the Lord? Whose are the words? Of a herald, or of Him who sent him? Why, because you find my person easily vulnerable to slanders, do you attack the truth through me? Through me, do you shake the fortress of the faith? I, indeed, can be easily attacked, but the faith remains unshaken. "One Lord," learn from the words of Paul, not two or three. Even if I call the Son Lord, I have not divided the lordship into two lords or many gods. The Father is Lord, the Son is Lord: "One faith," since there is one Lord. One follows upon one: to one Lord, one faith; to one faith, "one baptism." Thus one is confirmed from one through one. But if I do not cast down the Spirit, nor place him in the rank of a slave, on this account I receive that slander. Do not say what I do not say, and let us see the plausibility of your slander. Why do you hide your own slander? You lie C, you cursed man, when you say that three gods are proclaimed by us, and you do not say openly that we are the very ones who anathematize those who call the Holy Spirit a creature. This accusation I admit. For this cause I will undergo fire and whetted sword. Whether the wheel may crush me, or whether torments may be set in motion against me, with the same conviction of mind I will endure the torments by which the martyrs lying here were deemed worthy of crowns. Therefore, accuse me with this name: that I do not number the Holy Spirit among the creatures. But if you say anything further, you shall render an account to the Judge. Just now it was read, "When the Comforter shall come," which was just now being read—but you, by your slanders D
you have taken the occasion to calumniate, to use injury. The Paraclete, he says, is he who intercedes for you. By the very things through which he does you good, you show your ungrateful spirit. You do not, therefore, accept the benefit of the Paraclete. Or did not the Lord ordain that this appellation was fitting for Himself? "I will send you another Paraclete." When He said "another," did He not show Himself before the other? If I speak from my own self, do not listen to me; but if I declare what is written, submit yourself to the truth. One who is perfect is neither diminished nor increased. One is the unbegotten God; one is His only-begotten Son and God. Just as there is no other God co-unbegotten, so there is no other Son co-begotten. Just as the Father is not Father by word [only], so neither is the Son Son by word [only]. God is the Father, God is the Son; God is the perfect Father, and God is the perfect Son. The Father is incorporeal, the Son is incorporeal; the character and image of the B incorporeal. Do you believe that He was begotten? Do not ask, "How?" For if it is permitted to inquire how the unbegotten is unbegotten, it is permitted to inquire how the begotten was begotten. But if the unbegotten does not leave room for inquiry as to how He is unbegotten, so neither does the begotten leave room for inquiry as to how He was begotten. Do not seek the things that are unfindable, for you will not find them. For if you inquire, from whom do you have it to learn? From the earth? It did not exist. From the sea? It was not liquid. From heaven? It had not been raised up. From the sun and moon and stars? They had not been created. But from the ages? The Only-begotten is before the ages. Do not examine things that do not always exist in relation to Him who always exists. But if you do not desire this, but are contentious, I laugh at your folly, or rather, I deplore your audacity. C
4. "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." The "was" excludes the "was not," and "God" excludes "not God." Believe those things which are written; do not inquire into those things which are not written. This Word, the Son of God, became man for the sake of the fallen man, Adam. Because of Adam, the Incorporeal [was] in a body. Because of the body, the Word assumed the body as a cloud, so that He might not burn up visible things. He descended to the flesh so that the flesh might also be raised up with Him. He who is invisible [was] in the visible, that He might assume what is seen. As man, He is under time; as God, He is before times. The "as" does not indicate likeness, but in truth, He is both God and man in both respects. He was God, He became man by the economy. The "He became" is not first, and the "He was" second; but rather the "He was" is first, and then the "He became." Do not, then, let the "by the economy" of the Only-Begotten take away the
divinity. For these are A the evasions of heretics and the ravings of the Manichaeans. "For no man can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ." He was born through a woman, so that He might regenerate those who were born. He was crucified voluntarily, so that He might bring down those who were crucified against their will. He died voluntarily, so that He might raise up those who died against their will. He accepted the death He did not invite, so that He might bring to life those who were under death. Death devoured Him in ignorance; having devoured Him, it recognized Whom it had devoured. It devoured Life, and was devoured by Life. It devoured the One together with all, and because of the One, it lost all. It pounced as a lion, but its teeth were broken. For this reason, He is also despised as weak. We no longer fear Him as a lion, but tread upon Him as a hide. The generation of the Only-Begotten from the Father must be honored in silence. For He Himself knows, He who has begotten and He who has been begotten. For we ought to know what we must speak and what we must keep silent. Not all things can be uttered by the tongue, lest the mind, like an eye wishing to behold the entire sun, lose even the light it had. For in this you know, if you grasp it, that you have not comprehended it. Therefore, let us honor that generation, which is hidden and ineffable, with silence. But if we are unequal to conceiving even this, let us not be afflicted with sorrow. For that one is to be feared because of its nature; this one is unexplainable because of the novelty of the matter. John was indeed called the voice of one crying in the desert, but he was a man by nature. Do not, therefore, because of the name of the Word, do away with B the hypostasis of the Only-Begotten. But perhaps you will say: Why then is He who sits at the right hand more honorable? But if He had honor of Himself, He would be more honorable; but if He received it from Him who begat Him, the grace belongs to Him who gave it. There was no other Son, so that he might sit at the left. There is one unbegotten God, and one is His Only-Begotten, Son and God. It was fitting, therefore, that the Son should not yield the right hand to the Father, but rather the Father to the Son. Obviously, with the nature among us being separated, set apart also the concepts. For the father among us is from another father, and he has need of time, and of nourishment, and of increase, and of other care, and he does not beget what he wishes; but God, having power concurrent with His will, begat One worthy of Himself, begat as He Himself knows: to Whom be glory and power unto the ages of ages. Amen.