A Moreover, He who was invisible by nature appeared through the body. John, therefore, rejoicing with us and for himself—for all had need of the salvation which is from the Lord—preaching the gospel, and rejoicing in his own heart at the presence of the Bridegroom, says: “Behold,” he says, “what was expected; behold the hope; behold the salvation.” This fine hope for men is the body which He assumed; by it the devil is extinguished, the serpent is put to death: for He who assumed it is strong. Behold what was expected, behold what was hoped for, behold the object of admiration: sin is now being dissolved, death is being slain, corruption is being driven away: “Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.” Why, he says, do I labor, baptizing in repentance? Why do I sweat? For the baptism which was given by John was not capable of purification, because John could not B give remission of sins, but exhorted to repentance. For he was a servant, and he could not give: for it is permitted to the Lord alone to give His own gifts. Why, he says, do I now baptize unto repentance? Behold Him who takes away, behold Him who strips off, who eradicates, who utterly roots out sin, not of one or five or six men who are baptized by me, but of the whole world, he says. For man could not take away the sins of the whole world, because all men are from Adam, and not from God. Not that there is anyone who is not created by God through the Son, but every man is of the progeny of Adam, and is subject to the sins of his birth. For we are established in a moment and in this brief life, and we sin both in word and in deed. But He who did not sin, and in whose mouth there was no deceit, so that He sinned neither in deed nor in word, is righteousness itself. He, therefore, who did not have sins of His own, could bear the sins of the world: for he who is himself ill cannot heal another; and he who is subject to sins cannot bear the offenses of others. But He who did not sin, nor knows sin, He by His own power takes upon Himself and takes away the sin of others. For the Lord is baptized by John and takes upon Himself the offenses of others; and, by taking them up, He carries away those which He has assumed. Do you observe this visible sun which was made through God? This visible sun is surely one of all the things which were made through the Son. This [sun] touches defilements, and stenches, and mud. And those things which have a stench, it frees from the stench; but it does not itself become defiled by the things which it cleanses. If, therefore, this visible sun which rises and sets, which was not in the beginning, but was made on the fourth day through the Son; if this sun is not filled by the things it touches, much more the Lord of righteousness, who cleanses and purges, clarifies and illuminates, will not be contaminated by the things which He touches. For His nature cannot be contaminated. Nothing alien enters into Him. For what He is born, that He remains once for all. Nothing was lacking for it to be introduced, nothing is less in order to be fulfilled. A I shall indeed dare to speak the truth: that such a nature receives nothing evil as an addition, but neither does it receive good. If, therefore, it did not receive evil, because darkness is not mingled with light: yet it also does not need the addition of good, because the perfect Son was begotten by the Perfect: there is no promotion left for the Son. I do not say now, but not even before: for He was born perfect, and therefore He receives no addition, he acquires nothing: for He is the perfect progeny of the Perfect, sufficient indeed to give to all, while He Himself is in need of nothing, having received nothing from those things which the Son made: for, anticipating all things, He has them given to Him by the Father. Not when He appeared was there then also the Son; not when He was with us was He then also with God: but just as in the beginning was the Word, B in the beginning He was, yet not only in the latter times: in the beginning, yet not after the ages which were made through Him. In the beginning, before all things, with God, before the heavens: for He did not need the heavens as a dwelling; since not even then, when the heaven was made, was it made for the use of God, but for the benefit of the heaven itself, and for those who are under the heaven was the heaven created. In the beginning He was: observe what “was” means. For if you do not say, “He was,” He indeed remains what He was, but you will be defrauded of your existence. For the nature of things is not brought about by the things we say: but if we confess as the things appear to be, we shall be saved. But if, delirious, we have not spoken as the matter is; the things themselves remain, but we shall be judged. He was, and He was, and He was. In the beginning was the Word: behold, once He was: and the Word was with God, C and again He was: and the Word was God: behold, a third time He was. This one was in the beginning with God. After these four statements, do you still doubt that He was? And again, “Life was, and the life was the light of men.” If the evangelist, who drank from the breast of the Lord, says, “He was,” and this frequently: and of these things which have been said so often do you hold to not even one? And whom do you injure? For He who was, is, and has not ceased to be. You, however, will not be His unless you have confessed that He was, and is, and shall be: and He has never ceased not to be. The beginning of the Gospel says, “He was”: and you immediately doubt: you have not yet begun to read, and you have stumbled. The evangelist began from “He was,” and do you destroy “He was”? You have not yet read, and you contradict. D He was in the beginning before all things: for the Father is good, and is not divided in begetting the Son: He is powerful, and it was not impossible for Him to fulfill His own goodness. For times and ages and spaces are below. Do not attribute anything to that unique nature: nothing of those things which were made through Him; but confess the Father as unbegotten, and do not seek another unbegotten; for you will not find one. And confess the Son as the only-begotten, born of the Father: and do not seek another Son, but Him who is the one only-begotten, who from
A the Father is alone the Only One, from the One the One. For nothing is equal to the Only-begotten, nothing similar to the Son, nothing is compared to Him, nothing is equal to Him. While all things worship Him, on account of the honor of Him who begat Him: He is not one of those things that are through Him; He is not from this world, but the world is through Him. The heaven is not with the Son, but the heaven is through the Son. What need is there to demonstrate things by parts of nature? All things are through Him, and nothing is without Him: and thirdly, "What was made was through Him." Do not call Him a man, lest He who begat Him be angry. The evangelist John—if indeed it is John, and not the one who wrote through John—wrote about the Son, and also wrote about John the Baptist. Examine, therefore, how the evangelist speaks about God, and how about man: "In the beginning," he says, "was the Word": this he said about God the Son. He also speaks about John: "He was made a man." Read the former, sub-read the latter; and you will find how he speaks about God the Son, and John will set forth the man. "In the beginning was the Word," he says of the Son: "He was made a man," he posits about John. And "the Word was with God, and the Word was God," he says of the Son. But of John: "He was not that light," and again of the Only-begotten he says, "He was in the beginning with God." But of John, "He came for a testimony." For it is an injury even to prefer the Only-begotten to his servants. For that which is said—nothing is compared or equal to Him—is not great: but even for the needy, small things are great. For the Son is not one of the prophets, but He through whom all the prophets are; not one of the kings, but He through whom all kings are; not one of the just, but He is justice itself; not one of the servants, but the Son; not one of all things, but He through whom all things are; not of those who stand by and minister, but He who sits at the right hand of the Father; not one of those who are judged, but He who has taken upon Himself all judgment to judge. Not when He is with us is He then also with the Father. For then this saying would be broken. For He came dispensing toward us: then when He was as a sheep, when He was as the Lamb of God. In the beginning, however, "was God with God": for when He is with us, "God is with us, Emmanuel": not one B is with the Father, and another with us, and another He was; for remaining constituted in the form of God, He accepted this our form of a servant: not departing from the former He honored the latter: not exiting from the former He saved us: He did not leave the Shepherd and accept the sheep. For how could He who does not remain what He was be able to accept what He accepted? It was not possible for men to save men, because we men are subject both to our own sins and to destruction: verily, death and corruption held us, and the devil reigned as a tyrant, and the demons were reveling. But our own habit bound our chains more tightly. For lust was reveling in us and held concupiscence; and all things were being worshiped; and because the one who was to be worshiped was ignored, all things were offenses to us. For the sun did not illuminate, but it was itself an offense to us. But He through whom all things are came: He not only liberated us, but liberated the sun itself from this base honor. He surely liberated the moon from calumnies, and purified the stars so that they would not be worshiped. If, however, some still contend up to these things, they are the residue of evils commemorating the benefit. Now, therefore, even gold is clean. Now silver is useful for that for which it was created. Now brass is brass, and iron is iron, and stone is stone, and wood is wood, and God is God. Now it is rebuked to the demons as is proper, and they are not worshiped as is not proper. For the King has come and extinguished the tyrant; and the sheep has recognized the Shepherd, and the wolves have been put to flight. Who indeed came? Surely He who was in the world. "In the world," he says, "He was": since nothing was void of Him even before His advent. For it is not the case that when He appeared, then He came: but He was hidden; He who was hidden appeared. These are not my words, but the evangelist's. For he says, "He was in the world." But it seemed little to him who said, "He was in the world," and therefore he repeats the discourse religiously, and says, "and the world was made through Him." But so that he who says, "He was in the world," might not be held in contempt, he also said that He was before the world: and he says, "And the world was made through Him." This signifies that He was before the world. "In the world," he says, "He was." How was He in the world? "He was," he says, "the true light, which illuminates every man coming into this world." But so that he would not say "coming," C as if He were not in the world, and you would think that He who was not present indeed came: therefore, warding off this suspicion, he adds, "In the world He was." And lest you think again that He was made with the world, he repeats and says, "And the world was made through Him." If, therefore, the world was made through Him, the Son was surely before the world was made: because the world was made by Him. Finally, even hear from the Son Himself: "Give me," He says, "Father, the glory which I had with Thee before the world was made." How, therefore, he says, was He in the world? "He was in the world," and He came to the world. But how do you interpret that which is said: "The Lord has reigned"? For the King is unfailing: not now King, but then not, nor afterwards not. How therefore is it said, "The Lord has reigned," as if to say, "Men have been reigned over, or they have reigned"? For He did not accept what He did not have: but we are deemed worthy again of being judged by Him from whom we fell. We therefore are reigned over, and He reigns. He is not now assuming power: but we are liberated from tyranny. "In the world," he says, "He was." If He was in the world, how did He come into the world? He appears in the world. Why, therefore, is He not going out of the world? D He says
Ain truth: "Yet a little while the light is with you. I go to him who sent me: you will seek me, and you will not find me." 65 Now He goes, and leaves the world. But again He himself says: "Behold, I am with you even unto the consummation of the age." 66 He was present, therefore, and before He came, He is present even after He has departed. Consider, therefore, how He was in the world invisibly. For to those seeing the apostles, and with us He is even unto the consummation of the age: for an incorporeal nature is not circumscribed by places. But after He assumed a body, He did not assume it to be shut up: for He came to save, and not less to exalt, and not to humble (not that He did not humble Himself: for I say that to be humbled is to descend from His dignity), but rather to hide His dignity. For if He Himself descended from that which He was, being God, He did not surely recall us to that from which we fell. The Lord came therefore to save, yet not to lose what He had. He acted well, Himself remaining in that in which He was, 76 not falling away from His nature, but using the mercy of the Father. What, therefore, was proposed for us to say, which alone it is fitting to say? It is appropriate to say only that there is a Father in truth, and there is a Son in truth, and there is a Holy Spirit. Not idle discourses, not empty words, but a true nature. The Father is not begotten, and alone is not begotten; and the Son is the only-begotten, and He alone is the only-begotten; the Holy Spirit who is sent from the Son according to the will of the Father. Do you wish to be taught that these things are said truly? 77 The Lord came to the baptism of John, and you will see who it is B who says: "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." 67 Who says these things? Certainly the Father concerning God, who was seen as a man. He who speaks, therefore, is the Father; He of whom the testimony was, is the Son; the Spirit was in the form of a dove. And He who appeared as a man, and who dwelt in a man, and who was in a body, bore witness and said: "It is profitable for you that I go. For if," He says, "I do not go, the Spirit will not come: when I have gone, I will ask my Father." 68 Yet the Father will not send to you another advocate besides Me. He who goes, and He who is asked, and He who is sent, are not to be called two gods. For there is one God from whom are all things, and one Lord Jesus through whom are all things. But one God is not begotten, and one only-begotten Lord is begotten from God. For if I were to say that the unbegotten and the unbegotten, or the only-begotten and the only-begotten; then I would assert that which the Church does not say. What then does the Father say at the baptism of John? "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." 67 It is enough to hear from God even once, but He does not say it once. Since when the Lord had been transfigured on the mount with Moses and Elias present, He repeated the same and said: "This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased; listen to Him." [66*] For John also confesses similar things and says: "He who sent me to baptize in water, He said to me, Upon whom you C see the Spirit descending, this is He?" 69 If then the evangelist says, "He was"; but the Baptist says, "This is"; and the Spirit testifies that "He himself is"; and the Father demonstrating says, "This is"; and the Son says, "I am"; and the demons say, "You are": what impudence is this that you do not believe? For either believe the Father, or obey the Son, or consent to the Spirit, or agree with the prophets, or confess with the legislator, or certainly do not deny with the demons. For they say: "We know who you are," and they do not cease confessing. For as often as you have named to the demons the Son of God affixed to the cross, trembling they immediately confess with their first voice. For the Son is, and remains, and His kingdom has no end. But may the mouth of him who said that His kingdom has an end have an end. For the Father who begat does not repent of a good offspring, He does not devour His own Son. We envy the fables of the Gentiles, and we introduce the same again: not us, but he who dared to [speak to the] Galatians. For God begat not a voice but a Son, not a word but a life, not a saying but God. For [He is] with God, not in the mouth of God: at the right hand of God, yet not as one who is in a voice. The judge is He who gives life, the true light, the sun of justice. But the light is not such as it is among us: let us receive nothing visible for the exhibition of the invisible. Do not bring before me here fountains: do not bring the sun and its light. For those things which were made through the Son are not compared to the Son. For this light is not of the sun, but the efficiency of the sun: this light has not life, but the Son is life: this light does not open the eyes of the blind, but provides to those who have been created to see. But not even this by itself, but from Him who has granted it. This light does not shine in darkness: for the D darkness does not comprehend it. But concerning that light it has been said: "The light shines in darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it." 69 This light does not feed, it does not transfer water to wine: this light does not raise the dead, but is idle to the dead: and do not think because the name is common, that the nature is also common. This light, either on the first day, or with the sun on the fourth, as one might suppose, was made on the fourth day. But the Son is not on the first day, nor on the fourth, nor in total in a day, nor in an hour, nor in times, nor in ages. For these things are through the Son, yet the Son is not in these. For we ought not to confound the difference of nature from the communion of names. This light is through that light. Therefore we do not compare things unlike or like 78. Nor fountains and the flowings of fountains, and streams and rivers, because the Father does not flow down, but remains as He was. For He is He who is. Nor is it fitting to join passions to the impassible Father: because He is not divided, He is not cleft, He is not separated, but He remains and begets. He begets, however, as it becomes Him to be known, and us to adore. Do not say how, nor seek that generation which no one narrates, no one knows, no one…
A can comprehend. Give in, and confess your weakness. Let Christ overshadow you. For if you do not know how you were born, how is it that you, ignorant of yourself, either ask about the Father and the Son, or think that you know? Why then ought we not to confess God and the Son? Confess what has been written concerning the Father and the Son: and do not be curious to seek out what is not written. It is said, *In the beginning was*, and who will be so bold as to gainsay it? But if you also gainsay it, you harm yourself alone. *In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God.* And let these things be said frequently, and let nothing new be sought. Would that we read only these things! Would that we were content with the Scriptures alone B and no dispute occurred! For if anyone litigates or contradicts, and has become embroiled in disputes over those things which are written, he does not litigate against a man, but against God who wrote them. From whence, then, is a dispute engendered? When we bring forward those things which are from our own heart. For I think that no one has dared to dispute against God. Read what is written, and no one will dispute. The Father, as soon as He was called Father, this word requires the Son. The Son is named, and in that very naming, the Father is confessed. For "Father" is not an empty word, but one that exhibits the nature of the Son. The word that says "Son" is not empty either, but it confesses the preceding Father, not in time, not in space, but in dignity and honor. The Father loves the Son; He loves and is loved. Whence this dispute is, I do not find. There is peace, and here are disputes. There is love, and here is contention. If we love the Father, let us imitate the peace that is there C. If we love the Son, there is no God of dissension. You know? Teach. You are ignorant? Be taught. For a dispute neither teaches nor is taught. What you comprehend, seek that. You have found it? Give thanks. You know it? Hand it on. But I know that you do not know. Whence do I know? Because I am ignorant. Whence this, that I am ignorant? Because He is truthful who said: *No one has known* [note: John 1:18 omitted in source, assumed intended reference]. According to that word, therefore, whoever declares that he knows, lies. But perhaps you say: We are of God, and do we not know to what extent and how far we reach? Only this much: that He is; yet not of what quality and how great He is. Because, therefore, He is, we know; yet not of what quality. For it is not for us to measure the Immeasurable: it is not for us to comprehend the Incomprehensible. For when there is a remembrance of God, let the religious mind tremble: let the tongue also tremble. Not because God is harsh, D but because He is to be feared for His supereminent goodness. This sun dazzles the eyes, not because it is dark, but because it is very bright. And God is to be feared, because He is very good. Think within yourself who you are, humble one. For have you not heard Him saying: *You are from below; I am from above*? For as much as heaven is distant from the earth, so much is God distant from us. And certainly it is written: *As much as heaven is distant from the earth, so much are my ways from your ways*. So that this word is spoken to us for our good! For this is not the measure of distance: that we are neither compared, nor equaled: nor is there any point in which we are less. Not we alone, but neither angels, nor archangels, nor powers, nor dominions, nor anything else; but all things are left behind 80 by the Only-Begotten: He, however, does not yield to the one who is born alone 81. We are not Jews, for we confess the Son. We are not Gentiles, because we do not say there are many Fathers. We are not heretics, for we know the Spirit. But what are we? We are the spouse of the living Spouse through Christ. If, therefore, we who are through Christ—do you think that He indeed does not exist? Do the things that are through Him remain, and does He have an end, as some madmen dream? For He does not acquire something else that He is not: He does not assume it, but He even hides what He is: for this is what it signifies, *Give me, Father*: but He does not ask for something new: but, He says, give me what I had with you. Do you not have, Lord, what You had? But because, He says, my appearance is hidden: because my glory does not appear. *Glorify*, He says, *your Son*. And what did the Father answer? *I have glorified it*. If, therefore, He has glorified it, why does He seek to be glorified? But the Father says, *And I will glorify it again*. If You have already glorified it, how do You glorify it again? Will You add that You begat Him from the beginning? I do not add: but I show forth the glory of my Son even through the body. I have begotten, I have glorified, and I will glorify again. I make public, He says, what was hidden. For also the Apostle says: *And He superexalted Him, and gave Him a name which is above every name*. Not as a reward, as if because of obedience. For it is written how He was obedient even unto death, even the death of the cross. And therefore, He says, God hath superexalted Him. But if anyone reads the discourses harshly, perhaps he will think this superexaltation is a reward for obedience. You think so, but may the one who said these things not permit you to think so. For He says: *He who ascended is the same as He who descended*. Therefore, He exalted Him who descended. Yet He did not bring Him up from below to above. But Him who descended, He took up again. I say "taken up," not because the world will be deprived of the presence of the Only-Begotten. The world cannot be saved without a governor, the world cannot stand if the Only-Begotten should withdraw. But perhaps you say: Is not the Father sufficient? Not because the Father was not sufficient did He beget the Son: but because we, in the virtue of those born, were not able to endure what was made, therefore He speaks through a mediator. Seek: because we were not able to approach the One who is not known: therefore He exhorts through the way, and calls through the gate, and leads through the light. And the mediator is the Son, and the law is placed: the mediator is the Son, and the prophets speak: the mediator is the Son, and the New Testament is preached and the Old is fulfilled: the mediator is the Son, and angels are created: the mediator is the Son, and archangels are created: the mediator is the Son, and the Creator of every nature, and the gover
governor, and savior. For He did not create and abandon, because those things which exist are not without providence. He is not wearied by making. Nor, as it is with birds and fish, do they indeed bring forth, but then abandon. And surely, not even these produce and abandon, but they have diligence and they feed. If, therefore, these things are so, how much more is it the case that by Him through whom all things were created, by Him are all things governed and fed—not with the Father absent, but with the Father assenting; A and assenting, not with eyes, but as it befits an incorporeal Being, He assents in a manner that is becoming to Himself. The Son, however, acts as it befits the Son; the works are done as the Father wills, and the Son ministers. It was fitting that we should say these things, or rather, that all should read them from the Scriptures. For who am I? What do I have that I have not received? For all things are from One, and through One; both those things which have been made, and those things which are rightly spoken. How great, indeed, is the mercy of God! He begat the Son, because He is good; He created all things through Him, because He is a benefactor. We wandered, and He did not despise us; we fell, and He did not spurn us, B but sent His Son, obedient, that He might save the disobedient man. He sent Him without sin, that He might recall him who had sinned; He sent His Son, who does His pleasure, that He might save the servant who was unwilling to obey. He sent justice, that sin might be taken away; He sent life, that death might die. He sent Him who was from Himself, that those who were of man might be saved. He sent Him who was from the Virgin, that those who had been lost through a woman might be saved. He sent Him in the likeness of a man, that the man who had perished might be saved. He is fixed to the cross with thieves, that paradise might be opened even to the thieves. Consider the dignity, and estimate the greatness of the grace. For me, or for you, to be born from a woman is not above nature. To eat or to drink, to sleep and to rise, and to be laid in a manger—there is nothing new if humans suffer those things which belong to humans. But what is new, what is admirable, C what is pre-eminent, what is the debt we cannot repay to God? God sent His Son, the Father sent the Only-Begotten, the Unbegotten sent His offspring, the Good One sent the obedient One, He who begat sent Justice. Why did He send Him? For the sake of sinners. Why did He send Him? For the sake of Adam who despised the commandment. He came, therefore, who was obedient to these things: and the Judge is judged on account of the condemned; Life is crucified for the dead; the Glorious One is crowned with thorns; the sweet Fountain drinks gall. What shall we find to represent this? How shall we give thanks? Our tongues do not suffice, nor our mouths, even if they were a thousand. We do not suffice; let us seek helpers. Let the angels help us; let the archangels give thanks with us, that they too may rejoice. Indeed, every creature is ready. For it travaileth and groaneth D and waiteth for our salvation, that it too might be liberated from pain. For the sun is liberated, so that it may no longer be worshipped; and the moon, that it itself may not be calumniated as a deity; the stars also, that they may not be contaminated by sacrifices: that silver may no longer be wrongly forged, or gold, so that it might not be defiled. Men, that they may no longer fall into injury. Bulls and calves, that they may not be variously burnt. Wine, that it may not be poured out without cause. Earth and sea, that they may not be worshipped under changed names: for every nature had been contaminated; every creature had been deified. But He through whom they were also made did not despise them. For He came, He who would touch His own; He came, He who would take away the evil poison; He came, the medicine of His own life. He died, that He might kill death; He was condemned, that He might condemn corruption. He was crowned with thorns, that we might not have thorns; He took upon Himself the curse through the cross, that we might receive the blessed gift. I cannot say how much I know. I cannot know as much as is possible. If I know as much as is possible, I do not arrive at being able to say how great He is. For the Father is ineffable and incomprehensible. But such also is the Son of the Father Himself. For if He took us upon Himself for the sake of His own mercy, ought we to kill Him who saves us? What kind of evil is this, for men to think such things about the Son? Remain as He was, both in the body and in the manger: think nothing humble of Him who exalted you, nothing abject or incongruous. Do not spurn your Savior. For even if you should wish to humble Him with a word, His nature is not transferred to your tongue. But if we deny Him, He remains faithful and cannot deny Himself: that is, He does not fall away from His own nature. This Father to us is unbegotten, the one and only unbegotten One, not from another, nor of another. I say the same things often. Since John too, who spoke about the Son, *In the beginning was*, did not remain silent, but frequently said, *Was*. For what else ought to be said? The house of God? Whatever we say, it is, which is not of the Son: it is alien to the day. The Spirit is in our midst: if we have not spoken spiritual things, we grieve the Spirit in whom we were sealed. The glory of God, the truth of God, does not seek praises from you, nor from the angels. I do not say this because it seeks from you, but it seeks from you so that you might acknowledge Him: for can you be of profit to Him if you have acknowledged Him? Or does the light profit when you see it? So that we might say that it can profit God. For God wills that you should acknowledge Him. For the acknowledgment of God is eternal life; not to God, but to those who acknowledge Him. For so also the Lord declares. *This is eternal life, that they might know Thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent*. True God is the Father, in that He is unbegotten. True Son is the Son, in that He is only-begotten. For the True One did not beget a lie. But the true Father is God unbegotten: the true God is the Son only-begotten. For even that which was said, *Who alone hath immortality*, is true. For from Himself alone He has it. But just as the Father hath life in Himself, so also to the Son He gave to have life in Himself. One therefore is unbegotten, and one is only-begotten, and one is the Holy Spirit—
without strife, without wrangling, without contention. For God has called us to peace. For Christ himself is our peace; in him we have been called. Why, having dismissed peace, do we take up strife? Have you not heard him saying: "My peace I give to you, my peace I leave with you" (John xiv, 27)? The Lord gives us his own peace, and we, on the contrary, bring in quarrels. But let this be the end of our discourse. Glory to the one unborn God through the one only-begotten Son of God, in the one Holy Spirit, both now and always, and for all ages of ages. Amen.
This the one Church says: this is sealed in one baptism: these things are written in the blood of the martyrs, and before the martyrs in the blood of Christ. Do not despise his blood, which was poured out for you. For the Lord poured out his own blood that you might be saved, and do you dare to erase those things which have been written through his blood? But that which is written in blood is not erased. See to it indeed that you are not erased from the book of life. Adore the one unborn, and the one only-begotten, and do not despise the Holy Spirit. Adore the Father, and the Son will save you; adore the Son, and the Father will receive you through him. Confess the Spirit, and the Son will share the Spirit with you. Let these things be said, let these things be pondered, let these things be felt. For this is eternal life. In these things we shall be A.
BOOK TWO
I think my ears are still ringing with the memory of that blessed man, who frequently used that religious voice. For even your ears still retain the goodness of that voice. For I think I hear him saying: "The only-begotten Son of God" (John i, 18; iii, 18). For behold, that religious voice was always being uttered through his mouth. For it was a remembrance of the Only-begotten to the glory of the unborn Father. We have heard, however, the apostle commanding that presbyters are to be honored with double honor (1 Tim. v, 17): especially those who labor in word and doctrine. For he who practices chastity, it is a good thing for himself; and he who fasts, even if he does a good work, it is for himself; and he who has mercy, prepares mercy for himself and for him to whom he shows it. But he who teaches religion according to the truth, acquires the eternal way both for himself and for all who are taught. It is not a commandment to the apostles that they should feed the poor, but that they themselves should be fed. Therefore, the preaching of religion is greater than the mercy which is done to men: for it is necessary first to know him for whom the things that are done are done, and thus to perform mercy; for each one who works, acquires a work for himself; but this is the preaching of the truth, for the sake of which the Son also came in the flesh. The Lord did not say, Blessed are the eyes of those who fast, but, Blessed are the eyes of those who see, he says, the things which you see (Luc. x, 23). But I do not now accuse good acts; but just as star differs from star in glory (1 Cor. xv, 41), so also acts differ in honor. For the highest and primary and first foundation and root of all works that are done, is true faith. For the Lord says: "For this I came, and for this I was born, that I should bear witness to the truth" (John xviii, 37). B Even the Lord, rendering the cause of his coming into the world, says that he was born and came into the world for this, that he might bear witness to the truth, and do you deny it? For Peter too is called blessed (Matth. xvi, 17), blessed not because of fasting, nor because of any other work, but because the Father revealed the Son to him. And again the Father everywhere bears witness of the Son. For both in the baptism of John, and on the mount, he proclaimed nothing else but: "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased" (Matth. iii, 17; xvii, 5). Similarly, Paul also, when he was teaching, said: "No man can lay any foundation other than that which is laid, which is Christ Jesus" (1 Cor. iii, 11). If therefore the foundation is secure, the structure hopes to succeed; if the root is healthy, there is hope of receiving fruit from the branches. But if the foundation is weak, the things which are added upon it are in danger. C For the gold which is placed upon the foundation, and the silver, and the precious stones, and the hay, and the stubble, and the wood, signifies nothing else in this place than the preaching by means of gold and silver and precious stones. But those things which are outside the truth, being worthy of fire, he compared to hay and stubble and wood. For the Apostle did not say: If anyone does not give to the poor, let him be anathema. I do not deny this; but let the first things be first, and the second, second. First learn for whose sake you do it, and thus do it. For many of men are like cattle: they think it is not necessary to seek about those things which are possible to be sought. So then, if regarding those things which can be sought, it is laziness not to seek; so also regarding those things which it is not necessary to seek, D it is audacity to seek. What therefore...
ought to be sought? That which we find set down in the Scriptures: but that which we do not find in the Scriptures, let us not seek. For if it were intended for us to know them, the Holy Spirit would certainly have placed them in the Scriptures: for we are not wiser than the Holy Spirit. If the Holy Spirit says: *Who shall declare his generation?* (Isa. LIII, 8) do not seek it, neither from men nor from angels. Why did the Spirit deny it, saying *who shall declare his generation?* Yet the Spirit concedes for one to seek: *One God from whom are all things, and one Lord Jesus through whom are all things* (1 Cor. VIII, 6): however, as for the Son from the Father, believe Him who knows, Him who is known. But you seek, and who is there who promises to know? For everyone who promises that he knows, is a liar. For the Lord stated that no one knows the Son except the Father alone, and the Father except the Son (Matth. XI, 27). But some one says: Are we therefore ignorant that He is God, and that He is unbegotten, and do we not know that the Son is both Son and only-begotten? But how do we not know that He is begotten? Yet that He is, the whole of Scripture proclaims: but how He is, and how great He is, no nature is able to say, neither concerning the Father, nor concerning the Son. For He who said: *No one knows the Father, except the Son* (ibid.), He Himself said that no one also knows the Son, except the Father (ibid.). For how can those things which were made through the Son know Him through whom they were also made? If, therefore, the nature of that which is unbegotten does not reach to know the image, how can anyone comprehend the B first principle to know it? There are therefore some things that must be spoken by us, and some things that must be honored by silence. There are some things that must be moved in thought, and some things that must not be moved from reverence. There are those of which it is fitting to be wise: and there are those of which one ought to fear. There are those which can be interpreted by the tongue: and there are those which can be religiously kept silent. Say, therefore, *One God from whom are all things*, and no one will be able to find fault. But if anyone finds fault, not you, but Him who wrote it. But if anyone dares to find fault with Paul who wrote it, he finds fault not with Paul, but with Christ who always spoke in him (93). If, however, anyone has dared to find fault with the words of Christ, Christ Himself said: *The things which I speak are not mine, but the Father who sent me, He speaks through me* (Joan. XII, 49). For we are neither Gentiles, nor Jews, nor heretics. For we are not Gentiles, because we do not say "gods." We are not Jews, because we also confess Christ to be God. But we are not heretics for this reason, because we confess that He is the One who came, whom the Old Testament, presaging, foretold through the prophets would come. For if anyone does not desire strife, he has no work to do. There is a certain doubt among brethren: first let it be sought with charity, as among brethren. For God is not of dissension or of wrath, but of peace (1 Cor. XIV, 33): for A He called us in peace, yet not to strife: fighting does not teach, but rather incites: strife does not instruct, but ignites a flame. Contention is suitable for horses, yet not for the Church of God. Let him who knows those things which are possible to know, teach with modesty him who is ignorant, yet not with incitement: for incitement produces contention even regarding those things which are open: let us not be endangered in this way, but speak safely. If anything is not written, let it not even be said: but if anything is written, let it not be deleted. For we are not authors, but disciples. Not what we wish, but those things which we read: not those things which are from our heart, but those things which were placed by the Spirit in the holy Scriptures. For who are you who speak or who hear? Someone wishes to honor Christ; as Christ Himself wishes, yet not as you wish. But if you have honored Him beyond what He wishes, your honor will be turned into an insult. If you kill His Father, you have not honored the offspring. If you kill the Son, you have not left the Father in honor. For if you do not call the Father Father, and the Son Son, you confess neither the Father nor the Son. For he who says these things is without God. For if the Father is not the Father, for the Son Himself is as you say; again the Son is not the Son, for the Father Himself is also Father as B you say (94). The danger follows, that neither the Father is Father, nor the Son is Son, and what shall we hold? But the Father is truly Father, not a hollow word, but a nature of truth. Not a vain speech, but true God. Not who is said, but He who is: He is not fashioned from those things which we say, but that which is, is recognized. For the Father is neither from another, nor through another, nor something else, but He Himself is who is. Perhaps even from Himself and through Himself; to us, in a way, it is a convenient speech to be said. Yet that nature is not yet interpreted. For we speak so that we might not be silent. But we do not interpret what God is: for what interpretation of God is any of these—without beginning, unbegotten, immortal, incorrupt, immutable, immovable, inaccessible, ineffable, incomprehensible? By all these things, therefore, it is not said what He is, but what He is not: just as if someone, not being able to interpret what light is, should say that which is not is darkness. But to say that darkness is not, not only did not exhibit the nature of light, but even more denied the nature of the darkness itself. For He is called immortal, because He will not die, and incorrupt, because He is not corrupted. Unbegotten, who has no beginning. All these things do not say what God is, but what He is not. Thus, through those things which we say without interpretation, we confess Him. If we call Him the fountain of truth, the name does not exhibit the truth. But because we do not have what we may say, let us say from those things which we have, borrowing D from alien names (95) we use: for a fountain is recognized whence it is, but God does not have a "whence"; and a fountain...
A pours forth streams above streams, but God remains in that very thing which is: for neither is a suitable word found, nor does a comparison reach that nature: but so that we might not be silent, collecting what we have; but when we have said all things, we confess that what we say differs nothing from silence. The Father is recognized by this figure: that He is unbegotten. For He is one, who is not from another: He is one who is recognized from the fact that He is unbegotten. He has no brother, nor is there a Father of the Father, but He is of a singular nature: and in that which is unbegotten, He is truly shown as the only unbegotten Father: while that which is unbegotten remains what it is, undivided, uncut, impartible, impassible, the only-begotten Son is begotten: nor is there another who is unbegotten, nor another who is only-begotten; but there is one unbegotten Father, and one only-begotten Son. These things do not puff us up, keeping in mind that blessed man. Would that I were able to speak in such a way, as you always heard from him. But those things that are now said seem to have been pleasing to him. For it is the glory of good servants to speak truly concerning the Lord: and it is the honor of those fathers who taught well, if their doctrines are repeated. Therefore there is one unbegotten God: keep the "unbegotten" with the Father, and you will not have confusion in your soul: keep "only-begotten" with the Son, and you will not be troubled, nor will you any longer be uncertain as to how God and God [are], and not [two] Gods. For because you hold that there is one unbegotten God, and one only-begotten God; therefore there are not gods, because they are neither unbegotten nor only-begotten: keep the figure of the unbegotten, and confess the figure of the only-begotten, and there is no turmoil in the middle, no strife, no contention, no quarreling. The Father does not ascribe the Father to Himself: the Son alone ascribes the Father to Himself: the Father is from none, the Son is from one Father. These things do not invite strife or have room for doubt: *That they may know thee, the only true God* (John XVII, 3): not because the only-begotten Son of God is not true, but because from Himself, and of Himself, and through Himself—if indeed it ought to be said thus—the Father is the fountain and principle of all good things, who begat such a good offspring. For the Son is good, but yields the goodness to His begetter, not lying but knowing whence He is. Without beginning: but by "beginning" I mean not of times, nor of ages; for these things were made through the Son, and were not begotten with the Son: for not only is He not before the Son, so that if you wish to introduce something else with the Son, you will not save the only-begotten, but just as the Father alone is unbegotten, and if you say that the Son is unbegotten, you are in danger concerning that which you say: so if you have counted anything with the only-begotten, you do not know what you are saying. For there is one D unbegotten, and do not seek another unbegotten: there is one only-begotten, and do not seek another Son, lest you interrupt the only-begotten: for the only-begotten is not one among all [things], but [He is the one] through whom are all things: He has from the Father that which He is: He is not from an inheritance. He is not a fellow-sitter with the angels who stand by, nor with the archangels: He is not one of those who are judged of all. Do not drag down a nature which approaches not, nor reaches [us]. Whom we must for this reason know; because each one from these things which he says, either profits himself or harms [himself]. For the matter should not be transferred out of our sermons. Because, therefore, the Jews do not confess the Son, it does not mean He is not the Son. For He will judge those who do not confess Him: because they have truly introduced this new sacrilege, saying that the same One is the Father who is also the Son: and they will neither call the Father Father, nor the Son Son: but according to their own sacrilege, [there is] nothing at all. For if the Father is not the Father, because He Himself is also the Son, as they themselves demand; and the Son is not the Son, because He Himself is the Father: it is near that they say that neither is there a Father, nor a Son: for they make one thing out of that which is not. For who will be able to hear that He Himself is to Himself the Father? Who will be able [to hear that] the Father Himself is to Himself the Son? For if I wish to change my speech, your intention is not changed. Do you not think that I am saying alien things? I will say, therefore, the Father is not the Father, and the Son is not the Son. For even if I say, He Himself to Himself is the Father, and He Himself to Himself is the Son; do my words not signify insanity immediately? But may they not only move me against those who have said [these things], as it moves [me] also against those who suffer [them]: for they are slandered by the same [people] even as the Scriptures [are]. *I*: hold fast to *I*, and keep the conjunction: *I and the Father are one* (John X, 30). Nevertheless, we are not [one] in such a way that we are not. For contraries are full of importunity. The Son says, *I*; the other says, Not *I*: the Son says, *and the Father*; the other says, Not the Father. *We are one*, He says; and the other on the contrary, We are not. Or what is written? Or what shall we delete? Or what do we read? Or what do we recognize? *I am in the Father, and the Father in me* (John XIV, 11). Nevertheless, not because neither am I, nor is the Father: but how the Father is in the Son, and the Son in the Father, especially indeed why do you dare to ask? For He who is in Him who is, not because He is not, does He subsist; or because the Father is not that He might be in the Son, does He subsist? Nor does He who is in the Father signify that the Son is not. Seeing that the twelve apostles are one, and the seventy, and the five hundred, and the whole Church is one. And do not think that I am reducing divine things to human: but we use comparisons with indulgence before the brethren, and may God remain as He is. Yet if we shall have said that just as the whole Church which is everywhere is one body; let no one blame us: because God does not lie who said: *I in them, and thou in me* (John XVII, 23). Not because irreligious discourses teach an abnegation of the Father, nor that He is not the One who begat, nor that there is a scorning of Him.
who is begotten. But if there is no Son, how are those things which were made through the Son? If there is no Son, what hope is there? There is no one who judges: how then is there a judgment? There is no one who crowns: how then are there labors? There is One whom no one begat, and the Only-Begotten whom one begat. He begat, it is certain, impassibly: not as we do, but as He does: not like plants that are among us, not like fountains, not like the sun; for nothing of those things which are here can interpret that generation. For human comparisons create every turbulence when we accept things that are not similar for the interpretation of those things which cannot be interpreted. Therefore contentions arise, therefore battles are born. But if we were to remain silent concerning those things which are above speech, and discuss only the possible, the war would cease. What then shall we say? *In the beginning was the Word.* Who will still be able to quarrel? For even if he quarrels, it is not with you but with John, and the breast of the Lord from which John drew. Why do you abandon those things which are without peril, and hazard yourself in the waves of a tempest? Do not speak your own words, and no one will challenge you. A Speak what is written, and no one reproaches you; even if he reproaches, he reproaches himself rather, and not you. For he who reproaches divine things will not indeed destroy the divine; he will constitute himself an alien to the divine. Speak, *In the beginning was the Word*, and the ages are surrendered. Speak, *In the beginning was the Word*, and the ages fail. Speak, *In the beginning was the Word*, and there was nothing with Him. Since it was said *was*, do not think it is a voice; for a voice does not admit of *was*: for when it is spoken, then it is brought into being. For it is not before it is spoken, nor has it *was* after it has been spoken. Since therefore it *was*, it is not a voice, but the Word. What kind of Word? If John did not say it, let us inquire; but if he did say it, what are we inquiring about? And the Word, he says, *was God*. You speak of a voice, but John says the Word *was*. And if he says, *And the Word was with God*, you say in God, and not with God. To be, that is, but not to be as a thought; nor again as a voice, but as the Son: for a voice has brothers; for the words which are said are brothers to the preceding expressions; but the Only-Begotten does not admit brothers. For even if He calls us brothers, He grants it by naming. If, however, we are also co-heirs, we do not receive this by nature but by glory (98). For you shall not attain to that nature, nor shall anyone. B For just as the Father is preeminent, and what is unbegotten is above every nature, so also the Son is held to be above all things in that He is true progeny, God with God, God at the right hand of God, God the powerful, the God whom God anointed. You recognize the prophetic words (99). What does the prophet David say? *Therefore God, thy God, hath anointed thee* (Ps. XLIV, 8). For He is called powerful by Isaiah, and *God with us* (Isa. VII, 14), when it is from the Virgin. Thus, not when from the Virgin is He then God, but then He is *with us*. Not first from the Virgin, but first from God. From the Virgin, indeed, because of the dispensation; from God, however, C according to nature. From the Virgin in the last times, from God before the ages. From the Virgin, with men; from God, however, before all things. Here therefore, confess also the dispensation, and do not destroy the nature, nor extinguish for yourself the light (1). For even if those who close their eyes do not extinguish the light, they themselves do not enjoy the light. For even if someone has not confessed the true light, he does not destroy it, but he himself remains in darkness. For thus the Son Himself says: *He who does not believe in the Son shall not see, but the wrath of God remains upon him* (John III, 36). What wrath? That one, of course, which is from the beginning. For he who does not confess Him through whom the sentence is recalled, he himself recalls the sentence against himself. For business matters that are separated have a nature; our thoughts, however, receive a result: from truth, indeed, life; but from a lie, injury and destruction. For if someone should strike his own head against a rock, the rock itself remains, but the head receives a wound from its foolishness, and perhaps even D danger. The Apostle truly says: *For no man can lay another foundation than that which is laid, which is Christ Jesus* (1 Cor. III, 11); and again: *And the rock was Christ* (1 Cor. X, 4). If you strike your head against that rock, what you intended is shattered; but if you have confessed the light, you will have what you confess. For if the apostles are to some indeed a savor of death unto death, but to others a savor of life unto life; if those who are salt through Christ, and those who are made luminaries through Christ, are held to be unto death and unto life to those who believe and to those who do not believe: how much more is this true of Christ, who gave these things to men? *If anyone*, He says, *does not receive you, departing, shake off the dust from your feet: for it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment, than for that city which does not receive you who were sent by me* (Matt. X, 14, 15). But if someone does not receive Christ Himself: what if he not only does not receive Him, but even wishes to slay Him? If someone has dared to say that God is without a Son, or that the Son is without a Father? For these things some now slander, saying that He is His own Father, He Himself is also the Son, and there is no Son. For if the Father is His own father, He is not the Father, because He is also His own son, as they say. We are trifling in divine matters: for even小 infants do not accept such irrationalities. Of these matters, indeed, question one very small infant, who, as if by his first voice, has begun to speak somehow, and say to him: Where is your father? Or just as infants are accustomed to call a father, if he shows himself, the infant proves me wrong; but if the little child, as soon as he is questioned, understands what you are asking of him, he points to him who begat him: see what you hear. When, however, the blessed Son, holding bread, lifts His hands upward, so that He may raise your mind to Him who begat Him, recognize the Father, and cease denying the Son. If therefore the Only-Begotten
A hears the Father, from there we all shall hear. Let the spouse hear nothing from the Son which is not the Bridegroom's. Indeed, it is not permitted for the spouse to receive an alien voice in her ears, even if Paul should speak. But that the spouse might not doubt regarding Paul, he himself says: "Do you seek proof of Christ speaking in me?" I have betrothed you, he says, to one husband; not, however, to a people, but to one Only-Begotten, one spouse. For he is a friend of the bridegroom who rejoices at the bridegroom's bride. The holy Church is not a widow. For He who is dead for her is alive. Angels do not worship a dead one, but Life was, and was, and was, and is, and it does not cease to be. Nor did He begin from times, nor did He cease in the ages. For His kingdom has no end; because His dominion is not temporal, but perpetual. For it is the time of resurrection, and the time of salvation. Let us not die, therefore, when we ought to live. But now, indeed, there should be spoken to us, for the sake of the memory and honor of that father of ours—so good, so laborious, B and everywhere watching over the Churches—a few things. For we have made no mention of his lineage, nor of his education, or erudition, or of the life and purpose of another. It is enough in the Church of God to speak of the Father and the Son. To speak, of course, of things that can be spoken, but to be silent about things that are hidden. Let us be dipped, brothers, in those things which are written in the Scriptures, not as empty letters of the prophets, as the Jews do. For they read against themselves; for those who read letters and do not receive the business from those things which they read, condemn themselves, being without excuse. See that we do not suffer those things for which we rebuke the Jews. For if we name the Son, yet do not confess the Son, and if we acknowledge the Father, yet despise the Father, those very things which we read will be read to us on the day of judgment for our condemnation. For the Lord says: "I do not judge, but the word which I have spoken, it judges him." He said to you, "I go to my Father." He said to you, "I am sent by the Father"; and do you say that He is not sent? But He Himself is the one who said these things, and then He will judge: the Gospels will be read to you, you will give an account, He will say: "Why were these things written? C Yet these things I did not then say by voice." And with what face will you see that light? Let us be content with the truth, let us excuse strifes. But if anyone knows anything with patience and not to instigation D which harms, but with humility which profits, not as enemies, but as Christians, not in the circus, but in the Church. You have something: hand it over not with strife, not as an author, but warning of those things which you have learned from the Scriptures. Retain these things, and you shall cease from strife, and do not wish to be separated from the Church. If I am raving, what is that to you? If I speak alien things, judge me and do not wish to destroy me. Do not seek an occasion for schisms. The sheep which goes out...
is outside the flock, it is part of the wolf. For even if you are stronger than the sheep, it is more advantageous for you to be within the walls of the sheepfold than outside. If you are strong, bear with my infirmity: if you are weak, accept the remedy from the common Church. A single drop does not make a torrent. For if it even falls, before it falls, it is absorbed by the earth. But drop, and drop, and drop even overturns mountains. You are a fragile reed, but many are stronger than iron. The eye alone is not the eye, nor the head the head, nor the foot the foot. For the composition of the members makes the whole good. For even if you were an eye, once removed, you would be blind. For the eye removed from the body is a blind eye, or rather, a dead one. Let us assemble in the Church under the wings of the mother; in the Church in which there are the ornaments of the spouse, and the members of Christ, not for schisms, not for heresies. For sometimes I say: my tongue slips: it may happen that my mind slips. But do not you forget him who said: “You were bought with a price, do not become slaves of men.” For this house is not mine or yours. Why, for my sake, do you withdraw from the Lord’s house? And first, indeed, what have we received to think that we are wiser than everyone else? Next, why do we give to the devil that which he has in prayer? If I am weak, do you who are strong, not withdrawing, confirm the Church. If I speak foreign things, why do you who speak well withdraw yourself so that my things may seem weak? And let no one think that I am incited to speak against certain ones: but I am from the practice of many: I know how many things have been said and are being said. For each one, seeking whence he may be fed, steals. B Children: let us not make conventicles, let us not make dens. For perhaps the apostles founded these. I do not speak of stones, but of the business of affairs. You depart from the Church, and you abandon your mother because of me. For who am I, or Paul, or who is Apollos? The discourse will be about me and you. Am I crucified? I have not even yet received a slap. On the contrary, however, I have even been honored for the sake of Jesus. And he indeed suffered much for my sake: but I am honored for his sake. And we indeed strike against the cross, and against him who for our sake drank gall and vinegar, and we place thorns upon him rather than the Jews, and we pierce his hands and feet, and we count his bones: “For what,” he says, “you did to one of these least ones who believe in me, you did to me,” whether good or evil. These, brothers, and in these, brothers: not always names, but realities. For a true Christian, let him be a brother. A true Christian: for Christ is true. Brothers, brothers, do not be pirates, do not be warriors. Do not seek with whom you may quarrel, but whom you may save. May the God of peace himself, who did not spare his own only-begotten Son, and sent him for our salvation, unite all your souls into one consensus, into one concord, into one peace and charity through his only-begotten Son: through whom there is glory, honor, empire, majesty to the unborn Father in the Holy Spirit, and now and always, and through all ages of ages. Amen.
EUSEBIUS OF CAESAREA ON THE RESURRECTION. BOOK ONE.
It has indeed been spoken of by us before concerning the resurrection; you have also heard it: but all times demand their own fruit, just as even in the time of roses, roses bloom. And swallows and other birds of the field recognize the time according to Jeremiah; C of which the prophet, making mention, rebuked Israel who did not know the times. And Solomon said that there is a time for all things. Since, therefore, the time demands that we treat of the resurrection, and what has been read demands it; perhaps even often, since we speak, there are some who have not yet accepted the discourse on the resurrection: nothing prevents us from repeating it again, and treating of these very things. For it did not weary Paul to write the same things: for those who believe the discourses on the resurrection will be more secure: but perhaps those who have not yet been convinced will be convinced. For now disbelief is held against the discourse which is held regarding the resurrection; and the multitude of those who do not believe is great. For the Gentiles do not believe; heretics ...