which falls, or is sown by another, sprouts again, not being fashioned by anyone, but obeying the commandment of God. Behold, I too, as I said before, being possessed of free will, wherever I sow, whether in my own wife or in another man’s, using my own free will, it germinates and conforms to the first commandment of God. It is not that God fashions and works anew every single day; since in the first week God made heaven and earth and the whole world in six days, and on the seventh day He rested from all His works which He had begun to do, according to what my Scripture bears witness. B SARACEN: And how is it that God says to Jeremiah, “Before I formed thee in the belly, I knew thee; and out of the womb I sanctified thee”? C It follows, then, that He fashioned him in the womb. CHRISTIAN: Adam, possessing the animate and seminal power in the belly, begat Seth, as I said; Seth and Enos and every man preceding his son in his own belly, and the son in turn begat, down to the present day. But that expression, “out of the womb I sanctified thee,” understand it of her who truly has brought forth children of God according to the testimony of the holy Gospel. SARACEN: Those who do the will of God, do you call them good or bad? CHRISTIAN: Do you wish to say that Christ suffered against His will? And if I say to you "good," you will say to me, “Go, accept also the Jews, as having done the will of your God.” SARACEN: And this is what I wished to say to you. CHRISTIAN: What do you say "will" is? I say it is the forbearance and long-suffering of God. When He says, “Thou shalt not steal, thou shalt not commit adultery, thou shalt not murder,” does He will that we should steal, or commit adultery, or murder? SARACEN: No; for if He willed it, He would not have said this. CHRISTIAN: Glory to God, that you have confessed this. Behold, you have agreed with me that God does not will that we should steal, or commit adultery, or murder. And if, rising now, I steal, or commit adultery, or murder, what do you call that? The will of God, or forbearance, or long-suffering? D SARACEN: Which is greater among you, he who sanctifies, or he who is sanctified?
A And the Word, is He said to be uncreated or created? And who created the Word of God and the Spirit? ... Therefore, before God created the Word and the Spirit, was He without Word and Spirit? Are the oracles of the Lord created or uncreated? For they put these things forward... wanting to demonstrate that the Word of God is created, which is not the case. For if you say, "They are created," he will say to you... but if you say, "They are uncreated," he will say to you: "Behold, all the oracles of God exist, but they are created and are not gods." And behold, you acknowledge that Christ, who is the Word of God, is not God. Therefore, say neither that they are created nor uncreated; but say to him: "I acknowledge one only Word of God as being uncreated; but as to the whole of my Scripture, I do not call it oracles, but utterances of God." And the Saracen: "And how does David say, 'The oracles of the Lord are pure oracles'?" ... The prophet spoke tropologically, and not cyriologically B. And what is tropology and cyriology? Cyriology is a firm demonstration of a matter; but tropology is a weak demonstration... It is the custom among the prophets, as in the passage: "The sea beheld and fled." Behold, the sea has no eyes. For it is not an animate being... What is it to you, O sea, that you fled? And the rest. [And again, a demonstration of the hypothesis; for God said to Cain: "Cursed are you from the earth, which opened its mouth to receive your brother's blood from your hand."] And, "My sword shall eat flesh." For a sword indeed cuts, but does not swallow. Thus also He called utterances 'oracles,' which are not oracles, but C utterances.
3. If the Saracen says to you: How does God descend into the womb of a woman? Say to him thus: Let us use your Scripture and mine. And your Scripture says that God purified Mary his [chosen one] above all female flesh, and the Spirit and the Word of God descended into her. And my Gospel says: "The Holy Spirit shall come upon you, and the power of the Most High shall overshadow you." Behold one voice for both books, and one understanding. Know also this, that the Scripture speaks of the descent and ascension tropologically, not cyriologically, according to our relative property. For properly, the one descending and ascending is Himself said [cyriologically] according to the philosophers to be God, who contains all things and is contained by none. For one of the prophets said: "Who has measured the water with his hand, and the heaven with a span, and the earth with his fist?" And D
how, therefore, does it come about that He who contains all things in his own hand descends and ascends?
4. If you are interrogated by a Saracen, saying: "If Christ was God, how did He eat and drink and sleep, and was He crucified and did He die, and what follows?" say to him: "Because before the ages the Word of God, who created all things—according to what my Scripture and your Scripture testify—created Him from the flesh of the holy Virgin, a man perfect and ensouled and intelligent: He ate, drank, and slept; that is to say, the Word [acted] according to the Word of God. But the Word of God did not eat, nor did He drink, nor did He sleep, nor was He crucified, nor did He die; but the flesh which He assumed from the holy Virgin, that was crucified. Know, moreover, that Christ has two natures, but is one in hypostasis. For the Word of God is not said to be eternal and post-incarnational anhypostatic [ἀνυπόστατον], that is, non-personal or non-natural. For a fourth person is not added to the Trinity after the ineffable union of the flesh."
A 5. And if the Saracen interrogates you: "Whom do you call God, is he dead?" answer: "He is not dead; trust in the Scripture [and] demonstration." For Scripture says concerning this. For natural death comes to dominate the memory of men, that is, subjecting all things to us. But the first man fell asleep, and a rib was taken away.
B 6. And the Saracen: "Behold, I am struck in a certain place of my flesh, and the struck flesh has produced a bruise, and in the bruise a worm has come to be; who, therefore, fashioned it?" We said that after the first week of the creation of the world, we do not find that He fashioned anything at all. But after the transgression, the earth was condemned to bring forth thorns and thistles. Then, therefore, our flesh, also having been condemned, [down to the present] brings forth lice and worms.
7. SARACEN. Whom do you call the cause of good and evil? CHRISTIAN. Of all good things [we say God is the cause], but of evil, no. SARAC. And whom do you say is the cause of evil? CHRIST. This is from our own sloth and the craftiness of the devil. SARAC. By what means? CHRIST. Because of free will. SARAC. What then? You have free will, and you can C do whatever you wish? CHRIST. I was fashioned by God as having free will. SARAC. [Why?] CHRIST. Doing good things, I do not fear the law, but rather I am honored and shown mercy by God. Likewise, the devil also, he sinned, and God drove him from his own rank.
But perhaps you will object to me, [saying thus,] What things are good and what are evil?
SARAC. Behold, the sun and the moon and the stars are good: make one thing out of these.
CHRIST. [Not because of this] do I say to you: that according to man I act in both good and evil; good things, indeed, the glorification of God, and prayer, and almsgiving, and such like; evil things, however, fornication and theft. But if you say that good things and evil things arise from the commandment of God, you will find God to be unjust, which He is not. For since God commanded the fornicator not to fornicate, and the murderer not to murder, and the thief not to steal, they are worthy of honor: for they did the will of God. But you will find the lawgivers to be liars, and your books to be deceitful: for they command to scourge the fornicator and the thief, and to put the murderer to death, having done the will of God. B
SARAC. Who, he says, shapes the infants in the wombs of their mothers? [They desire to show God to be the cause of evil.]
Behold, God is a fellow-worker to the fornicator and the adulterer. . . . We do not find, after the first week of [the creation of the world], that the Scripture says God shapes or creates anything. C [But if you are in doubt about this, show a creature or creation of any kind made by God after the first week.] Everything that is a visible creature was made in the first week. For God made man in the first week, and commanded him to beget and be generated, saying: "Be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth." And the man being animate, having animate seed, sprouted it in his own wife. Wherefore man begets man, even as divine Scripture says: "Adam begat Seth, and Seth begat Enos, and Enos begat Cainan, and Cainan begat Malaleel," and those that follow. And it does not say, God shaped Seth, or Enos, or anyone. And from this we know that they are begotten and beget even until now; and thus the world is ordered by the grace of God: for it is not true that every herb generates and is generated: for God said: "Let the earth bring forth herb"; and by the commandment of God [it brought forth] each tree, likewise also herb and plant, from itself it has seed and power. The seed of every plant and herb, being animate, falling into the earth, D
A either of itself or sown by another, sprouts again, not being fashioned by anyone, but obeying the command of God. Behold, even I, as I said before, being possessed of free will, wherever I sow—whether into my own wife or into another's—using my own free will, it germinates and conforms to the first command of God, not because God is still fashioning and working day by day. For in the first week God made heaven and earth and the whole world in six days, and on the seventh day He rested from all His works which He had begun to do, according to what my Scripture testifies.
SARAC. And how does God say to Jeremiah: “Before I fashioned you in the womb, I knew you, and from the mother’s womb I sanctified you”? B [Certainly, therefore, He fashioned him in the womb.]
CHRIST. Adam, having an animate and seminal power in his loins, begot Seth, as I said; and Seth begot Enos, and every man having had his son beforehand in his loins, and the son likewise begat [even until the present time]. But as for “from the womb I sanctified you,” [understand it as referring to her who truly brought forth the sons of God according to the testimony of the holy Gospel.]
SARAC. Those who do the will of God, do you call them good or bad?
CHRIST. Do you wish to say that Christ suffered against His will? And if I say they are good, you will say to me: “Begone, go and worship the gods, since they did the will of your God.” C
[SARAC. This is just what I wanted to say to you.]
CHRIST. What do you say "will" is? I say it is forbearance and long-suffering. Since God said, "You shall not steal, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not murder," does He will that we should steal, or commit adultery, or murder?
SARAC. No. For if He willed it, [He would not have said this.]
[CHRIST. Glory to God, that you have confessed.] Behold, you have agreed with me that [there is no one among us who can arise or live,] and that God does not will that we should steal, or commit adultery, or murder. And if now, rising up, I steal, or commit adultery, or murder, what do you call that? The will of God, or... forbearance or long-suffering?
D 8. SARAC. What is greater in your view: he who sanctifies, or he who is sanctified?
CHRIST. I know what you wish to say.
SARAC. If you know, answer me.
CHRIST. If I tell you who it is that sanctifies; you will say
to me: "Go, worship John the Baptist who baptizes and sanctifies your Christ." SARAC. I wished indeed to say that to you. A CHRIST. When you go with your servant into the bath, and you are washed and cleansed by him, whom do you say is the greater? That wretched servant, bought with money, or you, who are cleansed by him, and yet are his master? SARAC. I call myself the greater, I who possess, rather than he who is possessed by me. CHRIST. I give thanks to God. In this way understand John for me as a servant and attendant ministering to Christ in the holy baptism in the Jordan, in which my Savior being baptized, crushed the heads of the dragons and pernicious demons that lie in the caverns there. B Saracenus, being very amazed and at a loss, withdrew and added nothing further to him.
From the Discussions of the Same (Theodore Abucara, so-called Bishop of Carrae) with the Saracens, through the voice of John of Damascus
SARACENUS. Tell me, bishop, was the world devoted to the worship of idols before Moses preached Judaism? THEODORUS. Entirely. SARAC. When Moses was teaching Judaism, which part of the world seems to you to have been devoted to the true religion: that which embraced Judaism, or that which persisted in idolatry, rejecting Moses? THEOD. That which embraced Judaism. SARAC. Afterwards, when Christ came, preaching Christianity, which part appears to you to have practiced the true religion: that which embraced Christianity, or that which remained most firmly in Judaism? C THEOD. That which embraced Christianity. SARAC. Then, in the following time, when Muchameth came, announcing the Magarism [Eslamism], which part seems to you to practice religion rightly: that which accepted Eslamism, or that which remained in Christianity, not wishing to listen to Muchameth? THEOD. That which remained in Christianity. SARAC. You have brought a final conclusion that is in no way consistent with the premises. THEOD. Was it necessary for me, then, to deduce a conclusion from false premises? For it is not the case, as you supposed, that Christ and Moses were worthy of faith because they preached and taught—so that we should believe Muchameth because he preached and taught—but listen as to why each one was held to be worthy of faith. When Moses was being sent by God, he answered Him: "Behold, I go, and they will say to me: 'The Lord has not appeared to you, nor has God sent you. What shall I do?'" To whom God said: "What is that which you have in your hand?" And he answered: "A rod." Then God said to him: "Throw it down." And when it was thrown down, it was turned into a serpent. But again, when he took hold of it with his hand, it became a rod. Then God said to him: "Put
your hand into your bosom. And when it was put in, it was drawn out leprous; and again being put in, it was drawn out healthy. And God says to him, "If they will not believe the first sign, neither will they believe the second, make the water blood." And so Moses, having been sent, did this, and his words were confirmed by his works. Is it not so? SARAC. Entirely so. THEOD. Christ came confirming to Himself the mission from God; being testified to not by the prophecy of Moses alone, but also by signs, prodigies, and diverse powers, He confirmed Himself after that. SARAC. By what things, then? THEOD. By a seedless conception, and a mother without a man, and birth from a virgin, and the mutation of water into wine. Furthermore, after these, not obscure, but very manifest, was the giving of sight to the blind, the cleansing of lepers, the strengthening of the paralyzed, the healing of diverse diseases, the manifestation of His divinity on the mount, the expulsion of demons, the filling of the many thousands from a few loaves and fishes, the raising of the dead as if from sleep, and, in a word, the restoration of the failures of nature. What do you say to these, Saracen? Did Christ confirm Himself by demonstrations not inferior to the Mosaic signs? SARAC. By no means. THEOD. This one, who was foreshown by Moses, and who confirmed Himself by so many and such signs to have come from God, gives a charge to His own disciples, saying, "The law and the prophets were until John the Baptist. He who has ears to hear, let him hear." Where, then, is your prophet? It is not obscure.
WARNING ON THE FOLLOWING OPUSCULE
A Of this fragment of the opuscule on dragons and ghosts, or, as I conjecture, of a more extensive work, the Reverend Father Bernard de Montfaucon of the recently established Monastery of Saint-Taurin in Évreux, very humanely granted me a reproduction from a manuscript. Indeed, they attribute it to John of Damascus in both the 15th codex of the library of Cl. Jean Selden, and in another codex of the Roman Library of Saint Mary in Vallicella, nor does anything move us to take it away from the Damascene himself. From chapter 23 of the *History of the Arabs*, which Abraham Ecchellensis wrote and edited, it appears that the stories about nightmare-dragons were familiar to the Arabs. Otherwise, this work seems to have been unknown to that man of almost infinite erudition, Leo Allatius, who, even though he attacked the superstitious opinions of the Greeks concerning these things in a special work, never cited this book.