it is greatly delighted. Yet if anyone should contend more violently to fix the gaze of his eyes upon its orb, not only will he not see what he desires, but he will also destroy the integrity of his sight. I think that something similar happens to the mind that tries to examine these words more accurately: *In the beginning was the Word.* Who can understand what pertains to the beginning, as is right? What power of words can be found that is able to express in a manner worthy of the subject what has been conceived? Since John was about to deliver to us what pertains to the theology of the Son of God, he put forward no other beginning of his discourse than the beginning of all things. The Holy Spirit knew those who were about to attack the glory of the Only-Begotten; He foresaw those who were about to cast against us the sophisms which they themselves had devised for the subversion of their listeners. B Truly, "If He was begotten, He was not; and, Before He was begotten, He was not; likewise, He received subsistence from non-existent things." For tongues sharpened by persuasive words, more than any two-edged sword, speak such things. Therefore, that it may be permitted to no one to say such things, the Holy Spirit, anticipating this in the Gospel, said, "In the beginning," he says, "was the Word." If you hold fast to this utterance, you will suffer no evil from those evil artificers. For if he says, "If He was begotten, He was not," do you say, "In the beginning He was." But, he says, *before He was begotten*, how was He? Do not you release that "Was"; do not abandon that "In the beginning." The summit of the beginning is not apprehended; what is outside and beyond the beginning is not found. Let no one C deceive you by the varied signification of the word. For there are many beginnings of many things in this life; but there is one beginning above all things, which is beyond. For, says the Proverb, "The beginning of a good way." But the beginning of a way is the first movement, from which we start the journey, whose earlier part can be found. And, "The beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord." But there lies before this beginning also another, since the beginning of the perception of arts is the first instruction in elements. The element, therefore, of wisdom is the fear of the Lord; but there is something more ancient than this beginning: the state of the soul of one who has not yet been taught wisdom and has not yet accepted the fear of God. D Beginnings are also called civil dominions, namely, high dignities; but these beginnings are beginnings of certain things, and each one of them is referred to something. For the beginning of a line is a point, and the beginning of a surface is a line, and—
the beginning of a body is a surface; and the beginnings of a complex discourse are its elements.
2. A Certainly, that beginning is not of this kind. For it is bound to nothing, it is enslaved to nothing, it is not seen with anything; but it is free, without a master, released from any relation to anything else; it is insurmountable to the mind, such that it cannot be surpassed by the thoughts, and it is impossible to discover anything beyond it. For if you struggle in your imagination of mind to surpass the beginning, you will find it running ahead of you and meeting your thoughts. Allow your mind to run as much as it wishes and to extend itself toward things above; then you will find it has wandered in ten thousand ways, and has walked in vain in many respects, and is returning again to itself, because it is unable to make the beginning lower than itself. B For the beginning is always found to be more external and greater than that which is thought. "In the beginning, therefore, was the Word." O the wonder! How all the words have been yoked together with one another in equal honor! The "Was" has as much power as "In the beginning." Where is the blasphemer? Where is the tongue fighting against Christ, which says, "There was a time when He was not"? Hear the Gospel: "In the beginning was the Word." But if He was in the beginning, when was He not? Shall I lament their impiety, or shall I revile their ignorance? Yet, "before He was begotten, He was not." Do you know, forsooth, when He was begotten, that you might be able to attach the "before" to time? For the word, "before," is a word of time, setting one thing before another in antiquity. C But how is it reasonable for the Creator of time to have a generation subject to the terms of time? "He was, therefore, in the beginning." If you do not depart from the word "Was," you will permit no entrance to wicked blasphemy. For just as those who sail on the sea, when they fluctuate between two anchors, despise the storm; so you also will laugh at this wicked confusion, which has invaded the life of men through the spirits of wickedness, and which agitates the faith of many, if you keep your soul moored as if in a harbor and station by the security of these words.
3. D You inquire, our mind, who was in the beginning? The Word, he says. What kind of word? The human word, or the word of the angels? For the Apostle hinted to us that the angels also have their own language, saying: "If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels." But—
the term "word" has a double meaning. For one A kind is the word uttered by the voice, which perishes in the air after it has been brought forth; and another kind is the internal word, existing within our hearts—the word that is conceptual. And there is still another: the technical word. Take care that the homonymy of the term does not mislead you. For how could human word have existed "in the beginning," when man received the beginning of his generation only later? Before man were the beasts; before man, the cattle, all the creeping things, all things terrestrial and aquatic, the birds of the sky, the stars, the sun, the moon, herbs, seeds, earth, sea, and heaven. Therefore, the human word was not "in the beginning," nor even that of the angels. For all creation is inferior to the ages, having received the beginning of its existence from the Creator. The word that is within the heart is also later than each of the things conceived. But hear the word in a way worthy of God. For, discoursing to you about the Only-Begotten, he called Him "Word." Just as shortly he will say "Light," and "Life," and "Resurrection," and when you hear "Light," you do not run to this sensible light visible to the eyes, nor when you hear "Life" do you understand this common life which even irrational B animals live; so too, when you hear "Word," take care lest by the weakness of your own mind you be carried away to lowly and earthbound thoughts, but rather investigate the meaning of the term. Why "Word"? So it may be shown that He proceeded from the Mind. Why "Word"? Because He was begotten without passion. Why "Word"? Because He is the image of the One who begat Him, showing the Begetter entirely in Himself, separating nothing from Him, and existing perfect in Himself; just as our word also images our entire concept. For whatever we have conceived in the heart, this we bring forth by the word, and what is spoken is a likeness of the conception in the heart. C For "out of the abundance of the heart the word is brought forth." And our heart is as it were a spring, and the spoken word is as it were a conduit flowing from this spring. So great, then, is that which flows out, as that which is primarily referred; and as the hidden thing is, so also is that which appears. He said "Word," therefore, to set before you the passionless generation of the Father, and to declare the perfect existence of the Son, and to demonstrate thereby the timeless conjunction of the Son with the Father. For indeed, our own word is an offspring of the mind, being begotten without passion; for it is neither divided nor perishes in the air. Therefore, D look to the divine substance of the Son being perfect, and finally that through these things it should teach the eternal union of the Son with the Father.
A For neither is divided, nor does it flow; but the mind, remaining whole in its own nature, produces a word that is whole and absolute, and the word which proceeds contains within itself the entire power of the mind that generated it. As much, therefore, as is pious, take that from the word for the theology of the Only-begotten; but whatever you find appearing discordant and unsuitable, reject it, and bypass it with every artifice. *In the beginning was the Word.* For if he had said, "In the beginning was the Son," along with the designation of Son, the thought of suffering would have entered your mind. For since among us those things which generate, generate in time and with passion, for this reason he spoke first of the "Word," correcting in advance the unseemly suppositions, so that he might keep your soul unharmed.
B 4. *And the Word was with God.* Again, *with* those who impiously say that he was not. Where was the Word? Not in a place; for things that cannot be circumscribed are not contained in a place. Where then was he? C *With God.* Neither the Father is in a place, nor is the Son held within any scope or confessed circumscription; but the Father is infinite, and the Son is infinite. Whatever you conceive, and wherever you travel with your spirit, you will find it filled with God; everywhere you will find the hypostasis of the Son co-extended. *And the Word was with God.* Admire the precise selection of each word. He did not say, "The Word was *in* God," but, *With God*, so that he might represent the particularity of the hypostasis. He did not say "In God," so that he might not give an occasion for the confusion of the hypostasis. For that is a wicked blasphemy of those who attempt to mix all things together, and say that the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit are one subject, and that diverse names are ascribed to the one thing. A most wicked impiety, and no less to be avoided than those who with blasphemous mouth affirm that the Son of God is dissimilar in substance to God and Father. *And the Word was with God.* Then, after he had used the term "Word" to demonstrate the impassibility of the generation, he immediately provided a remedy for the harm that could arise from the name "Word." And as if rescuing him from the calumny of the blasphemers, "What," he says, "is the Word? The Word was God." Do not craftily invent for me certain distinctions of words, nor by your own malicious artifice cast any reproach upon the doctrine of the Spirit. D
A You have the decree: "Be subject to the Lord." The Word was God; this was in the beginning with God. Again, he recapitulates in a few words all of his own theology which the evangelist has handed down to us concerning the Only-Begotten. Who is this? This, the Word, God. For since he has articulated for you the concept concerning Him, as if stamping upon your soul through teaching the things that were unknown, and has made Christ the Word to dwell in your heart, he says, "This." What kind of "this"? Do not look outward, peering about for the one who is pointed out to you by this demonstrative word, but enter into the hidden depths of your own soul. And him whom you have been taught is God, who was in the beginning, who proceeded as the Word, who was with God—having recognized and marvelled at this one, and having worshipped B your own Master, who has been established within you through teaching, know that "this was in the beginning," that is, always with God his own Father. Keep these few words for me, impressing them upon your memories like a seal. These shall be a most unbreakable wall against the onslaughts of those who plot against you; these are a saving protection for the souls of those who set them forth and oppose them with them. If anyone comes to you and says, "When he was not, he was begotten; for if he was, how was he begotten?"—avert this as a voice of demons, this blasphemy against the glory of the Only-Begotten. You, however, turning back, flee to the voices of the Gospels: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." This was in the beginning with God. Say "was" four times, C and you will render their "He was not" void. Let these foundations of faith remain unshaken. Upon these, God willing, we shall build what remains. For it is not possible to discourse to you on everything at once, lest by excessive length of speech we make useless to you the things that have been laboriously gathered. For the mind, being too weak to grasp all things at once, suffers a fate similar to a stomach that is unable to digest food that has been passed into it because of an excess of satiety. I pray, therefore, that these things may be sweet to you in the tasting, and may be beneficial in their digestion. I, for my part, stand ready for you to minister the things that remain, in Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom be glory and power for ages of ages. Amen.
HOMILY XVII. On the martyr Barlaam.
1. In times past, the death of the saints was honored with lamentations and tears. Joseph wept bitterly for the dead Jacob, and the Jews lamented the death of Moses not a little; they also honored Samuel with many tears. But now, we rejoice at the departure of the saints. For the nature of sorrowful things has been changed after the Cross; we no longer accompany the deaths of the saints with wailing, but rather we lead divine dances around their tombs with spiritual choirs. For death is sleep to the righteous; or rather, it is a departure to a better life. Hence, the martyrs exult even as they are slaughtered. For the desire for a more blessed life kills the pain of the slaying. The martyr looks towards crowns, not towards dangers; he does not shudder at wounds, but counts his rewards; he does not see the executioners on earth raining down lashes, but envisions the angels above applauding him; he does not consider the temporal nature of his trials, but the eternal nature of his prizes. Even among us, they already possess a splendid pledge, as they are celebrated with divine acclamations and the applause of all, and gather a most numerous throng from their sepulchers. A
2. This very thing has indeed come to pass today in the courageous and stalwart Barlaam. For the martial trumpet of the martyr has sounded, and, as you see, it has called together the soldiers of piety. The champion of Christ lying [in death] has been proclaimed by the herald, and at once stirred the theater of the Church to hasten together. And just as the Lord of the faithful said: *He that believeth in me, though he be dead, yet shall he live*; that noble Barlaam is dead, and yet he gathers public assemblies; he is consumed in the grave, and yet he invites us to a feast. Now it is time for us to cry out: *Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the disputer of this world?* A rustic man is for us today B—the unconquered one of piety—