On the Incomprehensibility of God against the Anomoeans, in the Absence of the Bishop

OF THE SAME, CONCERNING THE INCOMPREHENSIBLE, THE BISHOP BEING ABSENT, AGAINST THE ANOMOEANS.

First Discourse.

α΄. What is this? The shepherd is not present, and the sheep are standing in great order. And this is the achievement of the shepherd, that in his presence and also in his absence he should demonstrate all zeal for the flocks. For indeed, among irrational animals, when the one who leads them out to pasture is not present, the sheep are of necessity forced to remain inside the fold, or, having looked out beyond the enclosure without one to shepherd them, they endure much wandering; but here there is nothing of the sort, but even in the shepherd's absence you have met for your accustomed pastures with great order. Nay, rather, the shepherd is also present, even if not in the flesh, yet in his disposition; even if not by the presence of his body, yet by the good order of his flock. For this reason I am the more astonished at him and consider him blessed, that he has had the strength to implant such zeal in you. For indeed, we admire a general most of all when, even in his absence, his armies are well-ordered. This is what Paul also sought in his disciples, saying: ^A “Therefore, my brethren, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but much more in my absence.” Why “much more in my absence”? Because when the shepherd is present, [445] if a wolf should approach the flock, it is easily driven away from the sheep; but if he is not present, the flocks must necessarily be in greater anxiety, there being no one to wall them in. And besides these things, when he is present, he shares with them the rewards for their zeal, but not being present, he allows their achievement to appear unadorned. These things, too, the teacher ^B says as he speaks to you, and wherever he may be, now he imagines you and your assembly, and he does not look so much upon those who are there, joining him and present, as he looks upon you who are absent. I know his love, that which is fervent, inflamed, warm, and unrestrained, which he has rooted in the great depth of his mind, and which he tends with much zeal. For he knows clearly that this is the main point of all good things, and the root, and the fountain, and the mother, and without this there is no profit for us from the other things; for this is the icon of the disciples of the Lord, the character of the servants of God, the mark of the apostles. “For in this shall all men know,” He says, “that you are my disciples.” In what, tell me? Is it in raising the dead, or cleansing lepers, or casting out demons? Not so, He says, but having passed over all those things, “In this shall all men know,” He says, “that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

For those indeed are gifts of grace from above alone, but this is also an achievement of human zeal. And it is not so much that the generous are defined from without by the gifts given from above, as by the achievements of their own labors. ^C For this reason, Christ says His disciples are known not by signs, but by love. For when this is present, no part of philosophy is lacking to him who possesses it, but he has virtue whole, complete, and perfected, just as, when it is absent, he is destitute of all good things. For this reason also Paul raises it up and exalts it in his discourse; or rather, however much he may speak, he does not yet attain to its worth.

β΄. For what could be equal to it, which holds together the prophets and all the law, and without which neither faith, nor knowledge, nor the understanding of mysteries, nor martyrdom itself, nor anything else, will be able to profit him who possesses it? For if I deliver my body, he says, so that it might be burned, but have not love, I am profited nothing; and elsewhere again, that it is greater than all, and the summit of good things, ^D indicating this, he said: “Whether there be prophecies, they shall be done away, whether there be tongues, they shall cease, whether there be knowledge, it shall be done away; but there remain faith, hope, love, these three things; but the greatest of these is love.” But the question concerning love that the discourse has introduced to us is not a trivial one. For that prophecy should be done away and tongues should cease is nothing grievous; for having provided their own usefulness to us at the proper time, these charisms, having ceased, will be able to do no harm to the Word; lo, for instance, now there is no prophecy, nor a charism of tongues, and the word of piety has been hindered in nothing. But that knowledge also should cease, this is the point being inquired into. For having said [446]: “Whether prophecies shall be done away, whether tongues shall cease,” he added: “Whether knowledge shall be done away.” If knowledge is about to cease, the outcome of these things for us will move not for the better, but for the worse.

Indeed, without it, we should perish entirely as human beings. “For fear God,” it says, “and keep his commandments, for this is every man.” If, therefore, to be a man is to fear God, and fearing God comes from knowledge, and knowledge is about to be done away—as Paul says—then we shall perish completely, knowledge being absent, and all our affairs will depart, nor shall we be any better off than the irrational animals, but rather much worse. For in this do we surpass them, even while we are utterly defeated by them in all other bodily respects. What then is this that Paul says, and concerning what, that “knowledge shall be done away”? He does not speak of complete knowledge, but of partial knowledge, calling that “done away” which advances for the better, so that the partial, being done away, is no longer partial but complete. For just as the childhood of a child is done away—not by the vanishing of his essence, but by the growth of his age and his passing into the perfect man—so also does it happen in the case of knowledge. This small thing, he says, would no longer be small, having become great through subsequent events: this is what “is done away” means. And he explained this more clearly to us through what follows. For lest, having heard that it is “done away,” you might imagine it means a complete destruction, but rather a certain growth and advancement for the better, after saying “it is done away,” he added: “For we know in part and we prophesy in part; but when the perfect comes, then that which is in part shall be done away,” in such a way that it is no longer “in part,” but perfect. Thus, its imperfection is done away, so that it is no longer imperfect but perfect. This “doing away,” therefore, is fulfillment and advancement toward something greater.

[γ.] And consider for me the wisdom of Paul; for he did not say, “We know a part,” but, “We know in part,” indicating that we hold only a portion of the portion. Perhaps you desire to hear how large a portion we hold, and how much is left over, and whether we hold the greater or the lesser part. Well then, in order that you may learn that you hold the lesser, and not simply just the lesser, but as one might say, the hundredth or the ten-thousandth part, hear what follows. Or rather, before reading the apostolic voice to you, I will offer a likeness capable of demonstrating to you—insofar as a likeness is capable—how much is left over and how much is it that we hold now. How great, then, is the difference between the knowledge that is to be given to us in the future and that which we possess now? Just as great as the difference between a perfect man and a nursing infant; exactly that great is the superiority of the future knowledge over the present. And that this is true, and that the former is so much greater than the latter, let Paul himself say again. For having said, “We know in part,” and wishing to show of how small a part, and that we hold the most minimal amount now, he added: “When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away the things of a child.” He contrasts the present knowledge with that of the infant, and the future knowledge with that of the perfect man.

He did not say, “When I was a boy”—for even a twelve-year-old is called a boy—but, “When I was an infant,” 447 indicating to us the one still at the breast and still nursing. For that the Scripture calls this an “infant,” hear the Psalm saying: “O Lord, our Lord, how wonderful is thy name in all the earth! For thy magnificence was set above the heavens; out of the mouth of infants and nursing babes thou hast perfected praise.” Do you see that everywhere he calls the nursing one an “infant”? Then, in the Spirit foreseeing the shamelessness of those who would come after, he was not content with this one example alone, but by a second and a third he rendered this firm for us. For just as Moses, being sent to the Jews, took proof of three signs, so that if they did not believe the first, they might hear the voice of the second, and if they despised even that, they might be shamed into accepting the prophet by the third; so too does this man set forth three examples: one, that of the child, saying, “When I was an infant, I thought as an infant”; a second, that of the mirror; and third, that of the riddle. For having said, “When I was an infant,” he added: “We see now through a glass in a riddle.” See, there is a second example of our present weakness and of the fact that our knowledge is imperfect; and third, again, is the “in a riddle.” For a child sees many things, and hears, and speaks, but sees nothing clearly, nor hears, nor speaks [clearly]; and though he has thoughts, he has nothing articulate. So I too know many things, but I do not understand their manner. That God is everywhere, I know, and that He is entirely everywhere, I know; but how, I do not know. That He is unoriginated and unbegotten and eternal, I know; but how, I do not know. For the intellect does not admit the possibility of knowing how a Being can exist that possesses its existence neither from itself nor from another. I know that He begat a Son, but how, I am ignorant; I know that the Spirit is from Him, but how it is from Him, I do not understand; I eat food, but how it is divided into phlegm, into blood, into juices, into bile, I am ignorant. These things which we see every day as we eat them, we do not understand—and are we to busy ourselves with investigating the essence of God?

[δ.] Where, then, are those who say they have grasped the whole of knowledge, who have fallen into the abyss of ignorance? For those who say that they have grasped the whole in the present life render themselves destitute of the complete knowledge in the future. For I, who say that I know in part, and even if I say that this knowledge is being done away, I am traveling toward the better and more perfect, the partial being done away and becoming more perfect. But he who says he possesses total, complete, and perfect knowledge, and then confesses it is to be done away in the future, declares himself destitute 448 of knowledge—for this one is being done away, and no other, more perfect one is being introduced, since, according to them, this is the perfect one. Do you see how, in contending to have the whole here, they neither possess it here, and cast themselves out of the whole there?

^A Thus also Adam fell from the hope of greater honor than that which he possessed; thus it happens also in the case of the covetous; many, frequently desiring greater things, have lost even what they had; thus they, too, expecting to have everything here, fell from the portion they might have had. Therefore I exhort you to flee their madness; for it is the height of madness to contend that one can know what the essence of God is. And that you may learn that this is the extreme of madness, I will make it clear to you from the prophets; for the prophets appear to be ignorant not only of what the essence is, but they are also in doubt with regard to how great his wisdom is; although, indeed, the essence is not derived from the wisdom, but the wisdom from the essence. But when the prophets themselves cannot even grasp this with precision, how great a madness would it be to think that one can subject the essence itself to one's own reasonings? Let us hear, then, what the prophet says regarding this: *Thy knowledge is become wonderful from me.* But let us bring the discourse to a higher point. *I will confess to thee, because thou art fearfully glorified.* What does "fearfully" mean? We marvel at many things now, but not with fear, such as the beauty of columns, the forms of painting, the blooms of bodies; again, we marvel at the magnitude of the sea, and the infinite depth, but with fear, when we look down into the abyss. Thus, then, the prophet also, having looked down toward the infinite and immense sea of God’s wisdom, and having become dizzy, retreated with great fear, marvelling and crying out and saying, *I will confess to thee, because thou art fearfully glorified; thy works are wonderful.* And again: *Thy knowledge is become wonderful from me; it has been strengthened, I cannot attain to it.* ^B Observe the gratitude of the servant: "I give thee thanks," he says, "for this, that I have an incomprehensible Master." He is not speaking here of the essence; the latter he passed over as being a conceded fact that it is incomprehensible; he says these things regarding God being present everywhere, showing that he does not even know this very thing, how He is present everywhere. For that he is speaking about this, hear what follows: *If I go up into heaven, thou art there; if I go down into hades, thou art present.* Do you see how he is present everywhere? But the prophet does not know, but is dizzy and perplexed and fears only by taking it into his mind. How then is it not the extreme of folly for those who are so far removed from His grace to curiously investigate the essence of God itself? And yet this is the prophet who says: *The unclear and hidden things of thy wisdom thou hast revealed to me.* But nevertheless, having learned the unclear and hidden things of His wisdom, he says regarding this very thing, that it is infinite and incomprehensible. For *Great is the Lord,* he says, *and great is his strength, and of his understanding there is no number,* that is, there is no comprehension. What are you saying? Is the wisdom incomprehensible to the prophet, and is the essence comprehensible to us? Is this madness not manifest? Or does His greatness have no limits, and are you defining His essence?

e'. This also Isaiah, philosophizing, said: *Who shall declare his generation?* He did not say: "Who declares," ^C but, *Who shall declare,* and he excluded the future. And David says: *Thy knowledge is become wonderful from me*; but Isaiah says it not from himself alone, but that this narrative is excluded from all human nature. But let us see if perhaps Paul knows, as one who has enjoyed greater grace; for he himself is the one who says: *We know in part, and we prophesy in part.* And not only here, but elsewhere, he discourses not about the essence, but about wisdom, and that which appears in providence—I do not mean the general [providence], through which He provides for angels and archangels and the heavenly powers, but examining that part of providence through which He provides for the men on earth, and even that is a part of it. For he does not examine it in its entirety, through which He makes the sun rise, through which He breathes life into souls, through which He fashions bodies, through which He feeds the men on earth, through which He holds the world together, through which He gives the annual fruits; but leaving all these things aside, and having examined a small part of His providence, through which He cast off the Jews, and welcomed those from the Gentiles, and having become dizzy at this very small part, just as if at an infinite sea, and having seen an immense depth, he immediately leaped back and cried out with a loud voice, saying: *O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments.* He did not say, "Incomprehensible," but *Unsearchable.* And if it cannot be searched out, much more is it impossible to be comprehended. *And his ways past finding out.* His ways are past finding out, and is He himself comprehensible? Tell me. And why do I speak of the ways? The rewards that are laid up for us are incomprehensible: *For eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor has it entered into the heart of man, the things which God has prepared for those who love him.* But even His gift is unspeakable: *Thanks be to God,* he says, *for his unspeakable gift,* and *his peace passes all understanding.* ^D What are you saying? His judgments are unsearchable, His ways are past finding out, His peace passes all understanding, the gift is unspeakable, the things which God has prepared for those who love Him have not entered into the heart of man, His greatness has no limit, His understanding has no number; everything is incomprehensible, and is He alone comprehensible? And what excess of madness would this not have? Restrain the heretic; do not let him depart; say: What does Paul say? *We know in part.* He does not say this about the essence, he says, but about the dispensations. Most of all, if the discourse were about the dispensations, it would be to our greater advantage and thus our triumph; for if the dispensations are incomprehensible, much more is He Himself. But that he is not speaking here about the dispensations, but about God Himself, hear what follows: [450] For having said: *We know in part, and we prophesy in part,* he added: *Now I know in part, but then I shall know fully even as also I have been known.* By whom, then, was he known? By God, or by the dispensations? By God, clearly; Him, therefore, he knows even in part. And he said "in part," not because he knows one part of His essence and is ignorant of another (for God is simple), but because when...

someone knows God, he knows that He is, but is ignorant of what He is in His essence. He knows that He is wise, but he does not know how wise He is. He does not ignore that He is great, but he does not know how great He is, or the extent of His greatness. He knows that He is everywhere, but knows not in what manner. He does not ignore that He provides for all things, and contains and accurately governs all things ^A, but he does not know in what way He does this. Therefore he said: "We know in part, and we prophesy in part."

But come, if you please, let us leave Paul and the prophets, and let us ascend into the heavens; maybe there are some there who know the essence of God. But even if there are some there who know, they have nothing in common with us, for the difference between angels and men is great. Yet, so that you may know from a redundant source that no created Power there knows this, let us hear the angels themselves. What, then? Do they discuss that essence there, and hold inquiries among themselves? By no means. But what do they do? They glorify, they adore, they incessantly send forth triumphal and mystical songs with great trembling. And some say: "Glory to God in the highest" (Luke 2:14). The Seraphim say: "Holy, holy, holy" (Isa. 6:3), and they turn away their eyes, since they are not even able to bear that condescension of God. The Cherubim say: "Blessed be the glory of the Lord from His place" (Ezek. 3:12). Not that God has need of a place, God forbid, but that we may speak in human fashion, wherever He may be and however He may be—if, indeed, it is safe to speak thus concerning God, for we possess a human tongue. ^B Do you see how much fear there is in heaven, and how much contempt on earth? They glorify, these curiously inquire; they praise, these raise many questions; they cover their eyes, these shamelessly attempt to look into the ineffable glory. Who would not groan? Who would not weep for their madness and extreme folly? I wished to speak on this subject at greater length, but since now I have for the first time descended into these struggles, I think it is useful for you to be content with what has been said, lest the abundance of what remains to be said, coming on with great force, might cause you to forget these things. Clearly, if God permits, we shall treat this subject long into the future. I had long desired to bring these words before you, but I was delaying and procrastinating because I saw many who suffer from this disease listening to us with pleasure; and since I desired to draw away that soft prey, I restrained my tongue from these contentions, so that when I had held them more firmly, I might then descend into the arena. But since by the grace of God I heard them urging me to enter into this struggle, I finally, trusting in Him, girded myself for the battle and seized those arms ^C which "cast down imaginations and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God" (2 Cor. 10:5). I took up these arms, not to strike any adversaries, but to raise up those who have fallen. For the power of such arms is this: to strike the contentious, but to care for those who listen with a benevolent mind; they do not inflict wounds, but they heal wounds.

Therefore, let us not grow fierce toward them, nor let us burst forth in anger, but let us discuss with them with fairness; for nothing is more powerful than fairness and gentleness. For this reason, Paul also orders us to observe this with great care, saying: "The servant of the Lord must not fight, but be gentle toward all" (2 Tim. 2:24). He did not say, "toward your brothers only," but "toward all." And again: "Let your fairness be known" (Phil. 4:5), not to brothers, but to all men. "For what profit is there," he says, "if you love those who love you?" Therefore, if their friendships are harmful and drag you into a communion of impiety, even if they be relatives, you ought to withdraw; if it be an eye, pluck it out. For if, he says, "your right eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out" (Matt. 5:29). ^D For if he were speaking of the nature of the body, he would be transferring the crime to the nature of the Creator; otherwise, one would not have to pluck out only one, for even if the left were left behind, it would in the same way cause the man to stumble. But so that you may know that the discourse is not about the eye, he added "right," to show that if you possess any friend in the place of a right eye, you should both cast him out and remove him from your friendship if he causes you to stumble. For what does it profit you to have an eye for the ruin of the rest of the body? If, therefore, friendships harm, let us flee and withdraw; but if they bring us no damage to the cause of piety, let us entice and draw them to ourselves; but if you gain nothing from him, and are harmed by him, count it gain that you remain whole through the separation. And flee their friendships if they do harm; flee only, and do not fight, nor contend; thus Paul advises with these words: "If it be possible, as much as lies in you, living at peace with all men" (Rom. 12:18). You are a servant of the God of peace; He who cast out demons and worked infinite good deeds, when they called Him demon-possessed, did not send forth a thunderbolt, did not crush His revilers, did not burn that tongue, so impudent and ungrateful, although He could have done all these things; but He repelled the accusation only by saying: "I do not have a demon, but I honor Him who sent me" (John 8:49). And when the servant of the high priest struck Him, what did He say? "If I have spoken evil, bear witness to the evil; but if well, why do you strike Me?" (John 18:23). He renders an account to the servant, there is no need for a longer speech. Revolve these words alone in your mind, and meditate on them frequently, and say: "If I have spoken evil, bear witness to the evil; but if well, why do you strike Me?" And think of who is speaking, to whom he is speaking, and about what matter; and these words will be for you a certain divine and perpetual song, and they will be able to settle every swelling of the soul. Think of the dignity of Him who was treated with contumely, the vileness of him who harms, the gravity of the contumely. For he did not only treat Him with contumely, but he struck Him; he did not only strike Him, but he also gave Him a slap; and there is nothing more ignominious than such a striking. Yet He bore everything, so that He might lead others to temperance by a greater example. We should not only philosophize in this place, but also when the time is right, we should remember them. Having explained what is said, but...

^B showing you the praise in your deeds. For as the wrestler exercises in the wrestling school so that he may demonstrate in the contests the profit of the training he received there, so you, too, when anger arrives, show the profit of the hearing you have received here, and say this word repeatedly: "If I have spoken evilly, bear witness to the evil; but if well, why do you strike me?" Inscribe this upon your mind; for it is for this reason that I repeatedly remind you of these words, so that all that has been spoken might be implanted in your soul, so that the memory might remain indelible, along with the profit from that memory. For if we have these words inscribed upon the breadth of our mind, no one is so stony, so brutal, or so insensitive as to be carried away into anger at some point; for instead of any bridle or any rein, these words will be able to check our tongue, when it is carried away beyond measure and what is fitting; and they will be able to calm our swelling mind, and to cause ^C us to practice temperance continuously, and to cause peace to dwell in us in its entirety; may we enjoy this always, by the grace and loving-kindness of our Lord Jesus Christ, with whom to the Father and to the Holy Spirit be glory and power and worship, now and always, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.

Of the same, previously having spoken for many days to the Anomœans, then to the Jews, and then having kept silent due to the presence of bishops and the occurrence of many memorials of martyrs, now again to the Anomœans concerning the Incomprehensible. Second Sermon.

1. Come, let us strip for the struggle again against the faithless Anomœans; and if they are indignant at being called faithless, let them flee the thing, and I shall hide the name; let them depart from the faithless mind, and I shall depart from the shameful title. But if they themselves, by their deeds, dishonor the faith and put themselves to shame without hesitation, why are they vexed at us for censuring them in words for what they themselves demonstrate by their deeds? ^D For previously, when we descended into the stadium of these words, as you remember, and engaged in the same wrestlings, the contests against the Jews immediately received us, and it was not safe to pass over the ailments of our own members. For the words against the Anomœans always have their season; but at that time, if we had not immediately anticipated and snatched those of our brothers who were sickly and suffering from the Judaic disease from the Judaic pyre, no profit would have remained for us from the exhortation, as the sin had progressed among them during the fast. But after the contests against them, again there followed the arrival of many spiritual fathers who had arrived here from everywhere, and not even then was it a seasonable time for our discourse to be stretched out, while all of them were flowing like certain rivers into this spiritual sea; and after their departure, there occurred consecutive and continuous memorials of martyrs, and it was not right to despise the blessing of those athletes. I say these things and recount them, so that you might not think that the delay of our contests against them happened because of some laziness and sloth. Now, therefore, since we have finally been released from the fight against the Jews, and the fathers have returned to their own homelands, and we have sufficiently enjoyed the blessing of the martyrs, come then, let us finally resolve the long-standing labor of our hearing. For I know well that each one of you is in labor no less than I, who am speaking, to hear the words concerning these things; and the cause is that you are Christ-loving; our city is from above, and you have inherited this paternal inheritance, never to overlook the doctrines of piety being falsified. From where is this clear? Some came down from Judæa once upon the ancestors of your people, clouding the pure doctrines of the apostolic teaching, and commanding that one be circumcised and observe the law of Moses. The inhabitants of your city at that time did not bear this innovation in silence; but as noble watchdogs, seeing wolves rushing in and destroying the entire flock, they leaped upon them and did not depart, driving them from every side and pursuing them, until they ensured that decrees were sent out from the apostles everywhere in the world, fencing off such an incursion against the faithful for those men and for all those after them.

2. From where, then, must we begin the words against them? From where else but from the accusation regarding their unbelief? For they do everything and manage everything so that faith might be thrust out of the minds of those who hear—what greater crime of impiety could there be than this? For when God declares something, it is necessary to receive what is said with faith, not to tinker with it boldly. Whoever among them wishes, let him call me faithless; I am not indignant. Why? Because I demonstrate the title by my deeds. And what do I say, "let him call me faithless"? Let him even call me a fool in Christ; and for this, as for a crown, I again rejoice; for I share this title with Paul. For he says, "We are fools for Christ’s sake." This folly is wiser than all wisdom. For the things that the wisdom from without could not find, these the folly according to Christ has set right; this has driven away the darkness of the world, this has brought back the light of knowledge. And what is folly according to Christ? It is when we suppress our own impulses as they rage unseasonably, when we make our mind empty and void of the learning from without, so that, when there is need to receive the things of Christ, we might offer it leisure and swept clean for the reception of the divine words. For indeed, when God declares something that ought not be scrutinized, it must be received by faith. For to tinker with the causes in such cases, and to demand the reasons, and to seek out the manner, is a sign of a bolder and more reckless soul. And I shall attempt to demonstrate this again from the Scriptures themselves. There was a certain Zacharias, a man admirable and great, honored with the high priesthood, by

entrusted with the protection of the whole ^A people. This Zacharias entered into the Holy of Holies, into those very inner sanctums which all men were forbidden to see at that time (and observe how he was even the equal of the entire multitude, so as to bring prayers for the whole multitude to God, and to make the Master merciful to His servants—do you see the magnitude of his boldness?—being, as it were, a mediator between God and men), and he saw an angel standing within. And since the sight struck the man with terror, the angel said, "Fear not, Zacharias, because your supplication has been heard, and behold, you shall give birth to a son." And what is this sequence? He was praying for the people, he was pleading for their sins, he was asking for forgiveness for his fellow servants, and he says, "Fear not, Zacharias, for your supplication has been heard." And he makes the fact that John would be born to him the proof of his having been heard. And very reasonably too. For since he was praying for the sins of the people ^B and was about to beget a son who would cry out, "Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world," it is reasonable, he says, that "your supplication has been heard, and you shall beget a son." What then of him? For the point at issue is this, that it is inexcusable to pry into the modes of divine oracles; rather, one ought to accept the decrees by faith. He looked at his own age, at his gray hair, at his body which had grown weak; he looked at the barrenness of his wife, and he disbelieved, and he asked to learn the manner of it, and said, "By what shall I know this? How," he says, "shall this be? Behold, I have grown old and gray-haired, and my wife is barren, advanced in her days; the age is untimely, the nature is useless; how can the promised things stand to reason? I, the sower, am weak; the field is barren." ^C Does it not seem to some that he is deserving of pardon for seeking the sequence of events and appearing to say something reasonable? But to God he did not seem worthy—and very reasonably so. For when God declares something, one must not introduce calculations, nor the sequence of events, nor the necessity of nature, nor anything else of that sort; for the power of His decree is superior to all these, interrupted by no obstacle. What are you doing, man? God pledges it, and you have recourse to age and put forward old age? For is old age stronger than the promise of God? Is nature more powerful than the Creator of nature? Do you not know that His deeds are stronger than His words? His word set up the heaven; His word brought forth creation; His word made the angels, and do you harbor doubts regarding birth? For this reason the angel was indignant, and did not forgive him even on account of his priesthood; indeed, for this very reason he was punished the more severely. For he who possessed ^D a degree of honor greater than others was also obliged to excel others in faith. And what is the manner of his punishment? "Behold, you shall be silent and unable to speak." Your tongue, he says, which served the unbelief regarding the words, shall also receive the punishment for that unbelief: "Behold, you shall be silent and not speaking, until these things come to be." Consider the loving-kindness of the Master: "You do not believe me," He says; "now accept the punishment, and when I provide the proof through the events themselves, then I shall dissolve the anger; when you learn that you were justly punished, then I shall release you from the punishment." Let the Anomoeans hear how God is indignant at being scrutinized. But if that man, having disbelieved in a mortal birth, is punished, you, who pry into the ineffable and higher birth, how will you escape punishment, tell me? He did not declare it outright but wished to learn, and he did not obtain pardon; but you, who even insist that you know things which are invisible and incomprehensible to all, what defense will you have? And what punishment will you not draw down upon yourself?

γ'. But let those who speak concerning the birth await the proper times; for the present, however, let us proceed on the path toward the former subject, the remnants of which we previously left off, striving to root out the destructive root, the mother of all evils, and the source from which these doctrines sprouted for them. And what is the root of all evils? Believe me; a shuddering seizes me when I am about to utter it; for I am reluctant to bring forth through the tongue that which they meditate upon in their minds at all times. What, then, is the root of these evils? A man dared to say that, "I know God, as God Himself knows Himself." Do these things, then, require examination? Do these require demonstration? Is not the mere utterance of the words sufficient to show the entirety of their impiety? For this is clearly a kind of madness, an inexcusable insanity, a newer mode of impiety; no one has ever dared to either conceive such a thing in his mind or bring it forth through his tongue. Consider, you wretched and miserable man, who you are, and whom you are scrutinizing; being a man, are you prying into God? For the mere names alone of such folly suffice to show the excess of it: man, being earth and ash, flesh and blood, grass and the flower of grass, a shadow and smoke and vanity, and whatever is more powerless and viler than these. And do not think that what is said is an accusation against human nature; for I myself do not say these things, but the prophets philosophize about them, not dishonoring our race, but curbing the puffing up of the senseless; not disparaging our nature, but humbling the arrogance of those who are crazed. For if, when they had spoken such and so many things, there nevertheless appeared some who surpassed the boastfulness of the devil, if none of these things had been spoken, where would they not have kicked out in their insanity, tell me? If they have the medicine applied and still fester, where would they not have been puffed up with pride and insanity, if they had not declared such and so many things concerning human nature? Hear, then, what the righteous patriarch says about himself: "But I am earth and ash." He was speaking with God, and his boldness did not lift him up; this, indeed, this counselled him to be moderate. But these men, not being worthy even of his shadow, think themselves to be greater than the angels themselves, which is proof of the ultimate madness. God, tell me, do you pry into Him who is without beginning, who is unchanging, who is incorporeal, who is incorruptible, who is everywhere present, and who transcends everything and is above all of creation? Hear what the prophets philosophize about Him, and fear: "The One who looks upon

the earth and makes it tremble." He looked only, and shook such a great and mighty earth. It is He "who touches the mountains, and they smoke," ^A who shakes the heavens from their foundations, and their pillars tremble; who threatens the sea and dries it up; who says to the abyss, "You shall be laid waste." The sea saw it and fled; the Jordan turned back; the mountains skipped like rams, and the hills like lambs of the flock. All creation is shaken, it fears, it trembles; yet these men alone despise, disregard, and treat with contempt their own salvation—for I would hardly call them the Master of all. Previously, we sought to bring them to their senses by speaking of the powers on high—angels, archangels, Cherubim, Seraphim—but now, by speaking of the insensible creation, and not even from this do they feel ashamed. Do you not see this heaven, how beautiful it is, how great, how it is crowned with the variegated dance of the stars? How long has it endured? For more than five thousand years it has stood, and the abundance ^B of time has brought no old age upon it. But just as a body that is young and vigorous possesses the peak of its age in full bloom, so also the heaven has preserved the beauty it received from the beginning, and has become no weaker with the passage of time. Yet this heaven—so beautiful, so great, so bright, so adorned, so enduring, standing for so long a time—this God whom you examine and subject to the bounds of your own reasoning, He created just as easily as if one were playing at building a hut. Isaiah hinted at this when he said: "He who established the heaven as an arch, and stretched it out as a tent over the earth." But do you wish to look at the earth as well? He made this, too, as nothing. For concerning the former he says: "He who established the heaven as an arch, and stretched it out as a tent over the earth," but concerning this: "He who holds the circle of the earth, who made the earth as nothing." Do you see how He called even such a great and mighty thing "nothing"?

^D 4. Consider, then, the sheer scale of the mountains, the many nations of men, the heights and multitudes of plants, the number of cities, the size of the buildings, and the countless swarms of four-footed animals, wild beasts, and reptiles [457] that it carries upon its back. Yet He made such a thing, and so great a thing, so easily that the prophet, not even finding a sufficient example for this ease, could only say that He made the earth as nothing. For because the scale and beauty of the things seen were not enough to demonstrate the power of the Creator, but fell short by a great measure of the size and strength of Him who had made them, the prophets found another path through which, according to their ability, they were able to show us something more regarding the power of God. What is this path? It is not to present only the scale of the works, but also the manner of creation, so that from both—from the scale of what has been brought into being, and from the ease of the creation itself—we might be able to attain an understanding of God's power as far as our capacity allows. Do not, therefore, examine only the size of what is made, ^C but also the ease with which the Maker made it. This is not demonstrated on earth alone, but also in the very nature of human beings; for now he says, "He who holds the circle of the earth, and those who dwell in it as locusts," and now he says, "All nations are as a drop from a bucket before Him." Do not pass over the word lightly, but unfold what has been said beautifully and examine it. Reckon all the nations: the Syrians, the Cilicians, the Cappadocians, the Bithynians, those who dwell along the Euxine Sea, the Thracians, the Macedonians, all of Greece, those in the islands, those in Italy, those beyond our own inhabited world, those in the British Isles, the Sauromatae, the Indians, those who inhabit the land of the Persians, and the other infinite races and tribes whose names we do not even know. Still, all these nations, he says, are as a drop from a bucket before Him. How great a part are you of this drop, tell me, that you examine God, to whom all nations are as a drop from a bucket? And what need is there to speak of the nature of heaven, earth, sea, and men? Let us ascend above the heaven in our discourse, and let us come to the angels. For you surely know that a single angel is more than a match for all this visible creation; or rather, he is much more precious. For if the whole world would not be worth one righteous man, as Paul demonstrates by saying, "of whom the world was not worthy," all the more would it never be worth an angel; for the angels are far greater than the righteous. Yet there are ten thousand myriads of angels above, and thousands of thousands of archangels, and thrones, lordships, principalities, and powers, infinite hosts of incorporeal powers, and untold tribes, and He created all these powers with such ease that no words can describe it. For it sufficed for Him to will it, and just as for us the will involves no labor, so neither did the creating of such and so many powers involve labor for Him. And the prophet indicated this when he said: "He did all things whatsoever He willed in heaven and on earth." Do you see that His will alone sufficed [458] not only for the creation of things on earth, but also for the creation of the powers on high? Hearing these things, then, do you not lament for yourself, tell me, and do you not hide yourself, having been lifted to such heights of folly, in that, when you ought to only praise and worship Him, you contend and are busybody enough to investigate Him as if He were one of the most trivial things? For this reason, Paul, who was filled with great wisdom, seeing the incomparable superiority of God and the lowliness of human nature, indignant at those who would examine His dispensations, and complaining with much severity, said: "Indeed, O man, who are you that answers back to God? Who are you? Consider your own nature first; for there is no name to be found that can express your lowliness."

5. But you will say, "I am a man, honored with freedom." But you were honored not so that you might use freedom for contradiction, but so that you might use the honor for obedience to Him who honored you. God honored you not that you might insult Him, but that you might glorify Him; and he who examines His essence insults Him.

^A For if not being inquisitive about His promises is to glorify Him, then being pedantic and searching them out is to dishonor not only the pronouncements but the One who has pronounced them. That not being inquisitive about His promises is to glorify Him, hear Paul saying concerning Abraham and his obedience and faith in all things: "For he considered his own body, already dead," and the deadness of Sarah’s womb, "yet he did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened by faith." Nature and age, he says, cast him into despair, but faith held out fair hopes. "But he was strengthened by faith, giving glory to God," and being fully persuaded that what God has promised, He is able also to perform. Do you see that he who is fully persuaded regarding what God pronounces gives glory to God? If, therefore, he who believes in Him gives glory to God, he who disbelieves in Him turns His dishonor upon his own head. "Who are you, O man, to talk back to God?" Then, wishing to show the interval that exists between man and God, he showed it—not as much as he should have, but still from the given example it is possible to grasp the concept of an even much greater difference. For what does he say? "Will the thing formed say to him who formed it, 'Why have you made me like this?' Does not the potter have power over the clay, from the same lump to make one vessel for honor and another for dishonor?" ^B What are you saying? Am I supposed to be subject to God as the clay is to the potter? "Yes," he says, "for the interval between man and God is as great as between clay and potter; or rather, the interval is not even that great, but much greater." Now the substance of clay and potter is one, just as it is said in Job: "I also dwell in houses of clay," from which we ourselves are, from the same clay. And if man appears to be better and more handsome than that, it is not a change of nature that has caused the difference, but the wisdom of the craftsman; since you do not differ at all from clay. And if you disbelieve, let the coffins and the sarcophagi persuade you; for having gone to the graves of your ancestors, you will know that these things are so. There is no interval, then, between clay and potter; but the interval of substance between God and men is so great that speech cannot convey it, nor can thought measure it. Just as, therefore, the clay follows the hands of the potter, whithersoever he pulls and turns it, so too be you speechless like the clay whenever God wishes to manage something. ^C For Paul has not said these things to strip us of our free will (far be it!), nor to do violence to the power of self-determination, but to muzzle our presumption out of the abundance of his greatness; and if it seems good, let us examine this too. What in the world did those people wish to learn, and why did he muzzle them so vehemently? Were they examining the essence? By no means; for no one ever dared to do that, but what was far less: they were inquiring into the economic management of God: for instance, why this one is punished, and why that one is shown mercy; why this one is delivered from punishment, and that one is in dire straits; and the one received pardon, while the other did not. For they were inquiring about these things and such like. And from where is this clear? From the things above: for having said, "Therefore He has mercy on whom He wills, and whom He wills He hardens. You will say to me, 'Why does He yet find fault? For who has resisted His will?'" then he brought in, "Nay, ^D O man, who are you to talk back to God?" Therefore, Paul muzzles those who seek to be inquisitive about the economic management. Furthermore, he does not even grant them those things; but you, while being pedantic about the blessed essence that manages all things, do you not think yourself worthy of ten thousand thunderbolts? And how is this not the deepest madness? Hear the prophet saying, or rather God through him: "If I am a father, where is my glory? And if I am a Lord, where is my fear?" For he who fears does not inquire, but worships; he is not pedantic, but speaks well and glorifies. Let these things teach you, both the heavenly powers and the blessed Paul; for he does not reprove others with these things while he himself is not so disposed. Hear, then, what he says to the Philippians, showing that he has partial knowledge (just as when writing to the Corinthians he said that "we know in part"), and not yet everything; and he has even now taken hold of it: "Brethren, I do not count myself to have attained." What is clearer than this voice? Louder than a trumpet he shouted to the whole world, teaching them to love and be content with the measure of knowledge given, and never to think they have attained the whole. What are you saying, tell me? Do you have Christ in yourself speaking, and do you say, "I do not count myself to have attained"? For just for this very reason, he says, I said it, because I have Christ speaking in me; He Himself taught me these things. So that even these people, if they were not completely destitute of the help of the Spirit, and had not thrust His every operation from their own soul, would not—upon Paul saying, "I do not count myself to have attained"—have considered themselves to have attained the whole.

460 6. And from where is it clear, he says, that he is saying these things about faith and knowledge and doctrines, and not about life and conduct? Because I consider myself incomplete in life and conduct? To be sure, he made this clear by saying, "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness." But he who is about to receive the crown, and who has finished the race, would not have said, "I do not count myself to have attained." Otherwise, the things to be done and the things not to be done are not hidden from any of mankind, but are clear and known to all: to the barbarians, and to the Persians, and to all the race of men. But that I may make what I am saying clearer, I will read the sequence of the passage itself; for having said, "Beware of the dogs, beware of the evil workers," and having discoursed at length about those who were introducing Jewish doctrines untimelily, he brought in, saying: "But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. Yet indeed I will also count all things to be loss, that I may be found not having my own righteousness which is from the law, but that which is from God, the righteousness which is by faith of Jesus Christ." Then he says of what faith: "That I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings." What is "the power of His resurrection"? A kind of new, he says, type of resurrection is shown.

^A For many even before Him had often been raised from the dead, but not one like this. For all the others who were raised returned again to the earth, and being delivered for a time from the tyranny of death, they were led back again under his rule. But the body of the Master, having risen, did not return to the earth, but ascended into the heavens, and it destroyed all the tyranny of the enemy, and raised up with itself the whole world, and now it sits upon the royal throne.

Thinking on all these things, then, and showing that no logic will be able to set forth such great and such marvelous things, but that faith alone is able to teach and make them clear, Paul said, "By faith to know the power of His resurrection." For if logic cannot simply set forth a resurrection (for this is greater than human nature and the order of things), what logic will be able to set forth a resurrection that differs so much from the other resurrections? There is none; rather, we have need of faith alone, whereby we might be persuaded that a mortal body also rose, and came into a life immortal, "having no end or cessation." This is what he also signifies elsewhere, saying: "Christ having risen, now dies no more; death no longer has dominion over Him." So the miracle is twofold: both that He rose, and that He rose in this way. For this reason he said, "By faith to know the power of His resurrection." But if it is impossible to discover the resurrection by logic, how much more the birth from above?

Discussing these things, and speaking also about the cross and the passion, Paul committed those things also to the power of faith. Then, having set all these arguments in motion, ^B [461] advancing further, he said: "Brethren, I do not count myself to have attained." He did not say, "I do not count myself to know," but "to have attained"; he did not testify to himself either complete ignorance or complete knowledge. For to say, "I do not count myself to have attained," signifies that he is still standing on the road, and walking, and proceeding further, but that he has certainly not reached the end.

He also exhorts others to this, saying thus: "As many as are perfect, let us have this mind; and if anything you think otherwise, God will reveal this also to you." Not logic, he said, will teach, but God will reveal. Do you see that his discourse is not about life and conduct, but about doctrines and faith? For conduct and life do not require revelation, but doctrines and knowledge. And elsewhere, declaring this same thing, he said: "If anyone thinks he knows anything, he has not yet known anything." He did not say simply, "He has known nothing," but "as he must know"; for he has knowledge, but not accurate and complete.

7. And that you may learn that this is true, let us not discuss things above, but, if you will, let us bring the argument down to the visible creation. Do you not see this heaven? That it preserves the image of a vault we know, and this very thing we have learned not from logic but from the divine Scriptures; and that it encompasses the whole earth, this also we know, having heard it likewise from them; but what its substance is, we are ignorant. And if anyone should contend and be argumentative, let him say what the substance of the heaven is: is it frozen crystal? Is it condensed cloud? ^{C D} is it a thicker air? But no one would be able to say clearly. Do you still, then, tell me, have need of proof in order to learn the madness of those who claim to know God? You cannot tell the nature of the heaven that is seen every day, and yet you claim to know with accuracy the substance of the invisible God? And who is so senseless as not to condemn the extreme madness of those who say these things?

For this very reason I exhort all of you, like those who have fallen into the disease of frenzy and are delirious, to try according to your power to heal them, conversing with them with gentleness and kindness. For this doctrine was born in them out of pride, and there is much swelling in their mind; and inflamed wounds do not even endure the application of a hand, nor do they tolerate a rougher touch. For this reason the wise among physicians soothe such ulcers with a soft sponge. Since, therefore, these people also have an inflamed ulcer in their soul, like a soft sponge, drawing up pleasant and potable water, in this way, having soaked up all that has been said, we try to settle their swelling and to reduce the whole tumor. Even if they insult, even if they kick, even if they spit, even if they do anything whatsoever, do not abandon the treatment, beloved. For those who treat a man who is delirious must endure many such things; but still, it is not right to withdraw, but for these very reasons one should even condemn them and weep, because such is the form of their sickness.

I say these things to the more [462] strong and invulnerable, those who are able to receive no harm from the conversation of such people; but if anyone is weaker, let him flee their company, let him jump away from their gatherings, so that the pretext of friendship might not become a cause of impiety. Paul does the same; he himself mingles with the sick and says: "I became to the Jews as a Jew, to them that are without law as without law." But he leads the disciples and those who are more weakly disposed away, exhorting and teaching them thus: "Evil company corrupts good habits." And again: "Come out from among them, and be separate, says the Lord." For if a physician comes to a sick man, he has often benefited both the other and himself; but the weaker person has harmed both himself and the sick man by mingling with the ill; for he will not be able to benefit the other, and he himself will draw much harm from the sickness. And just as those who look at people with eye infections suffer, by being drawn into that sickness, this is what those who mingle with the blasphemous also endure, if they are weaker—drawing into themselves a large part of the impiety. That we may not, therefore, harm ourselves greatly, let us flee their company, praying only and beseeching the philanthropic God, who wills all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth, to deliver them from their error and from the snare of the devil, and to lead them back to the light of knowledge, to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, with the life-giving and all-holy Spirit, to whom be glory and power, now and always, and to the ages of ages. Amen.

ON THE INCOMPREHENSIBLE. And that not even the condescension of God is endurable to the Seraphim.

Third Discourse.

α΄. The more industrious of farmers, when they see a tree that is barren and wild, doing damage to their labors, and by the roughness of its roots and the heaviness of its shade spoiling the cultivated plants, cut it down with great zeal. Often, too, a wind comes upon them from somewhere and joins in the cutting, and falling upon the branches of the tree, and shaking it with great force, it breaks it and casts it to the ground, and relieves them of the greater part of their labor. Since, therefore, we too are cutting down a wild and barren tree—the heresy of the Anomoeans—let us call upon God to send us the grace of the Spirit, so that, striking it with a force greater than any wind, it may tear the heresy out by the roots, and relieve us of the greater part of the labor. For often ground that has been uncultivated and has not enjoyed the hands of farmers, has erupted with evil weeds, and a multitude of thorns, and wild trees from its own bosom; thus too the soul of the Anomoeans, having been laid waste and not having enjoyed the care of the Scriptures, has erupted from within itself and of its own accord 463 this wild and barren heresy. For this tree did not Paul plant, nor did Apollos water, nor did God give it growth, but the untimely meddlesomeness of reasonings planted it, the pride of conceit watered it, and the love of vain-glory increased it. And we have need of the flame of the Spirit, that we may not only tear up, but also utterly burn away this wicked root. Let us call upon Him, then, the God who is blasphemed by them, but praised by us, and let us entreat Him, so that He may stir up our tongue for a fuller course, and open our understanding for a clearer unfolding of what is said ª. For all our labor is for Him and for His glory, or rather, for our own salvation.

For no one, by dishonoring God, will be able to do Him harm, nor by praising Him will he be able to make Him more brilliant; but He always remains in His own glory, neither increased by praises nor diminished by blasphemies. But as for men, those who glorify Him according to His worth—though to do so according to His worth is impossible for anyone, yet they do so according to their own capacity—reap the benefit that comes from the doxology; while those who blaspheme and treat Him with contempt, do damage to their own salvation. For, *“He who throws a stone into the air, throws it on his own head,”* someone has said concerning those who blaspheme. For just as one who throws a stone towards the heights will not be able to cut the body of the sky, nor reach that height, but receives the blow upon his own head, as the stone returns upon the one who threw it, so too does he who blasphemes that blessed Essence. That Essence he will never harm at all, being far greater and higher than to be able to receive any harm; but he sharpens the sword ᵇ against his own soul, having become ungrateful toward his Benefactor. Let us call upon Him, then, the ineffable, the inconceivable God, the invisible, the incomprehensible, who surpasses the power of human language, who transcends the grasp of mortal understanding, who is unsearchable to the angels, unseen by the Seraphim, incomprehensible to the Cherubim, invisible to Principalities, Powers, 464 and simply to all creation, and known only by the Son and the Holy Spirit. And I know that they will accuse my discourse of arrogance, because I have said that He is incomprehensible even to the powers above; but I, for that very reason, shall accuse them of much madness and insanity. For it is not arrogance to say that the Creator is higher than the comprehension of all created beings, but it is arrogant to say that He who is incomprehensible to the powers above is able to be circumscribed and comprehended by those who live here on the ground ᶜ, and who are so far removed from them, through the weakness of their own reasonings? I, therefore, if I do not demonstrate this which I have promised, would be deserving of the charge of arrogance; but you, if, after I have shown Him to be incomprehensible to the powers above, you still insist and contend that you know Him, into what pits, into what precipices would you be worthy to fall, 464 boasting that you know with precision things invisible to all the incorporeal powers?

β΄. Come then, let us proceed to the proofs themselves at last, turning our discourse back to the prayer; for the sequence of the prayer itself will often provide the demonstration of what we are seeking. Let us call upon Him, then, as *“the King of those who reign, and the Lord of those who exercise lordship, who alone has immortality, and dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one of men has seen, nor can see”*; to whom be honor and power to the ages. Amen. These are not my words, but the words of Paul. And you, observe for me the reverence of his soul and his deep-rooted desire. For, having mentioned God, he did not endure to proceed to the sequence of his teaching until he had rendered the debt owed to Him, concluding his discourse with a doxology. For if *“the memory of the righteous is with praises,”* much more is the memory of God with praise. He does this also in the openings of his epistles; for often, when beginning an epistle, when he mentions God, he does not proceed to his teaching before he has rendered the doxology owed to Him. Listen, then, to how he writes to the Galatians and says: *“Grace to you and peace from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us from this present evil age according to the will of God and our Father, to whom be glory to the ages. Amen.”* And again elsewhere: *“To the King...*

of kings, he says, and Lord of lords, who alone has immortality, dwelling in light ^A inaccessible.” Stop here, and ask the heretic what this means, “dwelling in light inaccessible,” and pay attention to the precision of Paul. He did not say, “Being light inaccessible,” but, “Dwelling in light inaccessible,” so that you may learn that if the house is inaccessible, how much more so is the God who dwells within it. He said these things, not that you might suspect a house or a place around God, but that you might learn of His incomprehensibility from the greatness of His abundance. But he did not even say “dwelling in incomprehensible light,” but “inaccessible,” which is a condition far greater than that of the incomprehensible. For the incomprehensible is said to be that which, when searched and sought after, is not grasped by those who search for it; but inaccessible is that which does not even permit itself to be searched after ^B at all, nor is anyone able to come near it. For example, the sea is called incomprehensible, into which divers lower themselves, and while being carried down to a great depth, they are unable to find the bottom; but that is called inaccessible, to which it is not possible for anyone either to seek the beginning or to investigate it.

[γ.] What would you say to these things? But, he says, it is inaccessible to men, but not to angels, nor to the powers above. Are you then an angel, tell me, and do you rank in the choir of the incorporeal powers? Are you not a man, and of the same substance as I, or have you forgotten your nature? For let us assume that it is inaccessible to men only, though this is not added, nor did Paul say: “To men indeed, He dwells in light inaccessible, but to angels, it is not inaccessible.” Nevertheless, if you wish, let us assume this by way of concession; are you yourself not a man? What then, even if it is not inaccessible to angels, what is this to you who are contentious, curious, and asserting that that substance is comprehensible to human nature? But that you may learn that it is inaccessible not only to men, but also to the powers above, hear what Isaiah says—and when I say Isaiah, I speak of the judgment of the Spirit; for every prophet utters that which is of the energy of the Spirit—: “And it came to pass in the year that king Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne high and lifted up, and the Seraphim stood around Him, ^C each one having six wings, and with two they covered their faces, and with two their feet.” For what reason, tell me, do they cover their faces and thrust forward their wings? And for what other reason, if not because they could not bear the lightning leaping from the throne and those splendors? And yet, they were not seeing the light uncovered, nor the substance itself in its purity, but what was seen was a condescension. And what is a condescension? It is when God does not appear as He is, but sets Himself forth as he who is able to behold Him is capable of seeing, meting out the manifestation to the weakness of the eyes of those who see. And that it was a condescension, is evident from the words themselves. For he says, “I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne high and lifted up.” But God does not sit; for this is the configuration of bodies; and He is not on a throne, for God is not encompassed by a throne, for the Divine is circumscribed by nothing. But nonetheless, they were unable to bear even the condescension, though they stood near ^D; for the Seraphim stood around Him. For this very reason, then, they were especially unable to look, because they were near; and he says “near,” not in terms of place, but wishing to show through the Holy Spirit that, although they are nearer to that substance than we are, not even so are they able to behold it. For this reason he says, “And the Seraphim stood around Him,” not again hinting at place, but signifying that by the proximity of place, they are closer to us than it is. For we do not know the incomprehensible, as those powers do, insofar as they are purer, wiser, and more clear-sighted than human nature. For just as a blind man does not know the inaccessibility of the solar rays as one who sees, so we do not know the incomprehensibility of God as they do. For as much as there is a difference between a blind man and one who sees, by so much is there a difference between us and them. So that even if you hear the prophet saying, “I saw the Lord,” do not suspect this, that he saw that substance, but the condescension itself, and this even more dimly than the powers above; for he would not have been able to see as much as the Cherubim.

[δ.] And what am I to say about that blessed substance, when it is not even possible for a man to see the substance of an angel without alarm? And that you may learn that this is true, I will set in the midst a friend of God, having much boldness on account of wisdom and righteousness, and witnessed by many other good deeds, the holy Daniel—so that when I show him failing, dissolving, and falling down from the presence of the angel, no one might suppose that he suffered this because of sins or a wicked conscience, but that, the boldness of his soul being shown, the weakness of his nature might be clearly refuted. This Daniel, then, who fasted three weeks of days, and ate no bread of desires, nor did wine and meat and strong drink enter into his mouth, nor did he anoint himself with ointment. And then he saw that vision, when his soul was more fit for the reception of such a contemplation, having become lighter and more spiritual because of the fast. And what does he say? “I lifted up my eyes, and I saw, and behold a man clothed in baddim, that is, in a sacred robe, and his loins were girded with gold of Uphaz, and his body was as a beryl, his face as the appearance of lightning, his eyes as lamps of fire,

and his arms and his legs as the appearance of polished brass, and the voice of his words as the voice of a multitude. And I alone saw this vision, and those who were with me did not see it, but a great trembling fell upon them, and they fled in fear, and strength was not left in me, and my glory was turned into corruption. What is, "My glory was turned into corruption"? The young man was fair; since, therefore, the fear of the angel’s presence affected him just as it does those who are expiring, causing much pallor, and consuming the bloom of the hour, and exhausting all the healthy color of his appearance, for this reason he says, "My glory was turned into corruption." For just as when a charioteer is frightened and lets go of the reins, the horses all rush forward and the whole chariot is overturned; so it is wont to happen to the soul when it is seized by some astonishment and anxiety. For, being terrified, and as it were drawing in its own proper activities away from each of the sense-organs of the body, it leaves the limbs destitute; then those limbs, deprived of the power that held them, fall and are shattered—which is what Daniel also suffered then. What, then, did the angel do? He raised him up and says, "Daniel, man of desires, understand the words which I speak to you, and stand upon your feet, for now I have been sent to you." ^A And he stood up trembling. And as the angel began to speak with him again, and to say that, "From the day that you gave your heart to be afflicted before God, your words were heard, and I have come because of your words," he fell to the ground again; which is what also happens to those who are fainting. For just as those, when they are aroused and have returned to themselves, and have looked up, being held by us while we sprinkle their faces with cold water, still faint many times in our very hands, so also the prophet was suffering. For the soul, having been frightened and unable to sustain the sight of the presence of a fellow-servant, nor able to bear that light, was troubled, as though it were hastening to tear itself away from some bond of the flesh. But that one still held him. Let those who investigate the Master of the angels hear this. Daniel, if the eyes of lions refrained from him; Daniel, who was able to endure the presence of someone beyond compare in a human body, could not bear the presence of a fellow-servant, but lay breathless. For he says, "My inward parts were turned in my vision, and breath was not left in me." Yet those who have departed so far from virtue and from the righteous one promise to know his very substance with all accuracy, the One who is above all, and primary, and who brought forth the myriads of these angels, ^B one of whom Daniel could not endure to see.

ε'. But let us bring the argument back to the former proposition, and let us show that God is invisible even to the powers above, and this even when He condescends. For why, tell me, does the Seraphim present his wings? For no other reason at all than that apostolic saying, "Who dwells in light unapproachable," 468 which they proclaim beforehand by their actions, and not they alone, but those even above them, the Cherubim. For these stand near; but those are the thrones of God, not because God needs a throne, but so that through this you may learn the nature of their powers. Hear, therefore, another prophet also discoursing about them. "And the word of the Lord came to Ezekiel the son of Buzi upon the river Chobar." And this one stood by the river Chobar, just as that one stood at that time by the river Tigris. For when God is about to show some wondrous sight to His own servants, He leads them outside the cities into a place free from noise, so that their soul may not be frustrated by any of the things seen or heard, but, enjoying complete peace, may occupy itself with the contemplation of the things seen. What did this one, then, see? "Behold a cloud," he says, "was coming from the north, and brightness around it, and fire flashing, and in its midst as the appearance of electrum, and brightness in it, and in the midst the likeness of four living creatures." And this was their appearance: the likeness of a man upon them. And to one there were four faces, and to one four wings. "And there was height to them," he says, "and they were terrible, and their backs were full of eyes round about, to the four, and the likeness above their heads was like a firmament, as the appearance of terrible crystal, extended over their heads from above, and their wings to each were two, covering their bodies, and above the firmament, as the appearance of a sapphire stone; and the likeness of a throne upon it, and upon the likeness of the throne a likeness as the form of a man upon it. And I saw as the appearance of electrum, from the appearance of his loins and upwards, and from the appearance of his loins and downwards, as the appearance of fire, and his brightness was as the appearance of a rainbow, when it is in the cloud in a day of rain." And after all these things, wishing to show that neither the prophet nor those powers approached that very essence, he says: "This is the vision of the likeness of the glory of the Lord." Do you see both there and here a condescension? But yet, even those powers cover themselves with their wings, for no other reason than this, although these powers are most wise, and most knowing, and most pure. Whence is this clear? From their very names. For just as one is called an angel because he announces the things of God to men, and is called an archangel because he rules over the angels, so also these have names that declare to us their wisdom and their purity; and just as the wings signify the height of their nature (for Gabriel also appears flying, not because there are wings around the angel, but so that you may learn that he has come to human nature from the most high places and abodes above); so, too, in the case of these, the wings signify nothing else but the height of their nature. Just as, therefore, the wings signify the height of the nature, and the throne signifies God resting upon them, and the eyes signify the power of clear-sightedness, and the being near to the throne and the unceasingly singing to Him signifies the watchful and wakeful, so also the names declare, of some, their wisdom, and of others, their purity. For what is Cherubim? "Fulfilled knowledge." But what is Seraphim? "Fiery mouths." Do you see how the names have indicated both purity and wisdom? But if, where there is "fulfilled knowledge," they cannot see the condescension of God with accuracy, where there is "partial knowledge," as Paul says, "We know in part, and through a mirror, and in a riddle," what great folly it would be to think that things which are invisible even to them are known and manifest to us?

^A That God is not to be grasped, not only by the Cherubim and the Seraphim, but not by any other created power—this is what I wished to demonstrate now, but our intellect has grown weary, not because of the multitude of what has been said, but because of the dread inspired by it. For the soul trembles and is stunned, having long dwelt upon these lofty contemplations. Therefore, come, let us bring it down from the heavens and soothe it, now that it is stricken with awe, by resorting to our accustomed consolation. And what is this? That those who are suffering from such maladies may one day be healed. For if we are commanded to beseech God on behalf of those in sickness, in the mines, in harsh slavery, and for those who are possessed, how much more so on behalf of these people? Since impiety is even more grievous than the demon; for while the madness of the latter has excuse, the former malady is devoid of all apology. But since I have mentioned the prayer for the possessed, I wish to speak a word to your charity and to cut away a grievous malady of the Church. For it would be absurd to treat those outside with such great care and yet to neglect our own members. What, then, is this malady? This vast multitude, now assembled, so attentive with such precision to what is being said, that I have often longed to see them at that most dread hour and could not, and I have groaned deeply—that when a fellow servant is speaking, there is such great haste and heightened zeal on the part of those pressing upon one another and remaining until the end, yet when Christ is about to appear upon the sacred mysteries, the Church becomes empty and deserted. And what excuse does this merit? By this slothfulness you undo all the praise due to your eagerness for hearing. For who among you would not condemn both yourselves and us, when he sees the fruit of your listening at once slipping away from you? For if you were heeding what is said with precision, you would have demonstrated your zeal through your works. But that you should leap away as soon as you have heard is a sign that you have received nothing of what was said and have stored nothing in your mind. For if the things said were stored within your souls, they would surely have held you fast inside and guided you with greater piety toward the most dread rites. But now, as though you had listened to a cithara player, you leave, empty of all benefit, as soon as the speaker has finished. But what is the cold excuse of the many? "I can pray," he says, "even at home, but it is not possible to hear homilies and teaching at home." You are deceiving yourself, man! For while it is indeed possible to pray at home, it is impossible to pray in the way one does in the Church, where there is so great a multitude of Fathers, where a cry is sent up to God with one accord. You are not heard when you beseech the Master by yourself as you are when you do so with your brothers. For here there is something more: there is unanimity and harmony, the bond of love, and the prayers of the priests. For this purpose the priests stand at the head, so that the prayers of the multitude, being weaker, might take hold of these stronger ones and together ascend with them into heaven. Otherwise, what profit could a homily have when prayer is not yoked with it? First the prayer, and then the word; thus also the apostles say: "But we will keep ourselves in prayer and the ministry of the word." So also does Paul do in the introductions to his epistles, praying that, just as the light of a lamp, so the light of prayer may ^B pave the way for the word. If you accustom yourself to pray with precision, you will not need instruction from your fellow servants, for God Himself will enlighten your mind without any intermediary. And if the prayer of one person has such power, how much more so that of a multitude! For the cords of that prayer are stronger, and the confidence is by far greater than that which is found in private at home. Whence is this evident? Listen to Paul himself, who says: "He who delivered us from such a great death, and does deliver; in whom we have hope that he will yet deliver us, while you also help together in prayer for us, that for the gift granted to us by many persons, thanks may be given by many on our behalf." Thus also Peter escaped from the prison. For there was fervent prayer being made by the Church for him to God. And if the prayer of the Church helped Peter and brought that pillar out of the prison, how do you despise its power, tell me, and what apology will you have? Hear also God Himself saying that He is persuaded by a multitude beseeching Him with goodwill. For, defending His actions to Jonah, through the plant of the gourd, He says: "You had pity on the gourd, for which you have not labored, nor did you nourish it; and shall I not spare Nineveh, the great city, in which dwell more than twelve times ten thousand men?" Not simply to point to the number, but that you may learn that prayer made with harmony has great power. I wish to make this clear to you also from human history. ^{C D}

ζ'. For ten years ago, some were captured on account of a tyranny, as you also know. Then one of those in authority, having been found liable to charges, with a cord on his mouth, was being led along the road to death. Then, truly, the whole city ran to the hippodrome, and they brought out those from the workshops, and the whole populace together rushed and snatched from the king’s wrath the condemned man, even though he was worthy of no forgiveness. Then, while you all ran together with your children and wives, wishing to dissolve the wrath of an earthly king, when you are about to render the King of the heavens merciful—and not to snatch from His wrath one man, as then, nor two or three or a hundred, but all the sinners in the inhabited world and to deliver the possessed from the trap of the devil—you sit outside, and you do not all run together, so that God, having regard for your harmony, might forgive them the punishment and grant you the remission of your sins? For if you should happen to be in the marketplace at that time, or if at home, or if engaged in inevitable affairs, would you not, having broken all your bonds more fiercely than any lion, hasten to the common supplication? What hope of salvation will you have, tell me, at that time, beloved? For not only do men cry out that most dread cry, but even angels fall down before the Master, and archangels beseech Him. They have also the time as their ally, and the Offering as their help. And just as men, having cut off olive branches, wave them at kings, reminding them through the plant of mercy and philanthropy, so also do the angels then, instead of olive branches, offer the very Master’s Body itself, beseeching the Master on behalf of human nature, almost saying, "On behalf of the…"

those for whom thou didst account Thyself worthy to be so loved as to give up Thine own soul; on their behalf we pour out these supplications; on behalf of those for whom Thou didst pour out Thy blood; on behalf of those for whom Thou didst sacrifice this Body." For this reason, the deacon also makes those who are possessed stand by at that time and commands them to bow their heads only, and to offer ^A their supplications by the posture of their bodies; for it is not permitted for them to pray together with the common assembly of the brothers. For this reason he makes them stand, so that having had mercy on them both in their affliction and in their speechlessness, he may use his own boldness to intercede for them. Therefore, acknowledging all these things, let us hurry to be present at that hour, so that we may obtain mercy and find grace and help in time of need. You praised what was said; with much commotion and applause you received the exhortation. But see that you demonstrate your praises by your deeds; the time for the proof of obedience is not short. After the exhortation comes the prayer. I seek that praise, I seek that applause which is expressed through their very deeds. Exhort one another, therefore, to remain standing, just as you have ^B remained; and even if someone’s order is disturbed, hold fast with precision, so that having received a double reward—both for your own zeal and for your care for the brothers—you may pour out your supplications with the greater boldness, and having rendered God propitious, you may be able to attain the goods both here and hereafter, by the grace and loving-kindness of our Lord Jesus Christ, with whom, to the Father, together with the Holy Spirit, be glory and power unto the ages of ages. Amen.

BY THE SAME, ON THE INCOMPREHENSIBLE. AGAINST THE ANOMOEANS. FOURTH DISCOURSE.

1. It would have sufficed that, after having shown to men a short time ago that God is incomprehensible—and even to the Cherubim and Seraphim—we should have been relieved of these matters and stirred nothing further. But since we possess every zeal and eagerness not only to stop the mouths of our opponents but also to make your love wiser, we again lay hold of the same subject and carry our discourse further. For involvement in these matters will both cause you to learn more ^C and will work out more brilliant victories for us, in that it clears away whatever residue may have been left behind. For one must not merely prune wicked weeds from above (for they sprout again when their roots lie below), but one must tear them up from the very depths and folds of the earth and set them bare before the heat of the sun, so that they may wither easily. Come, therefore, let us lead you back to heaven with our discourse, not prying or busying ourselves with many things, but pressing to put an end to the untimely contentiousness of those who do not know themselves and do not endure to know the limits of human nature. For this very reason, out of great abundance, we demonstrated not only the manifestation of God, but also that it was unbearable to the righteous man of that time, when we read the entire history to you, and we continually showed the blessed Daniel growing pale, trembling, and being in no better state than those ^D who are in their death throes, his soul hastening to tear asunder the bond of the flesh. For just as a tame and gentle dove, living in some little house, whenever it happens to sense some fear, being frightened, flies to the roof and seeks an exit through some window, seeking to escape its anguish, so indeed did the soul of that blessed man at that time hasten to fly up out of the body and was pressing to get outside on all sides, and it would have flown away and left the body desolate, had the angel not quickly forestalled it and delivered it from its anguish and led it back to its own dwelling again. For this reason we spoke these things then, so that having learned how much an angel differs from a man, and being brought to one's senses by the superiority of a fellow-servant, one might be delivered from the madness against the Master. The righteous man could not bear to see an angel, he who had such boldness—yet those who are so far removed from his virtue do not pry into an angel, but into the Master of the angels Himself. He tamed the fury of lions; we are not even able to get the better of foxes; he tore a dragon in half and mastered the nature of the beast through his boldness toward God; we are afraid even of mere reptiles. He stood before a raging king as one might a lion, and appearing in the midst of the wrath of Nebuchadnezzar, which was being carried more fiercely than any flame against the barbarian camps, he restrained it and enlightened all that was darkened.

But this man, who illumined the angel when he saw he had come to him, was seized by a severe vertigo. What apology, then, will those have who attempt to delve into that blessed nature? We did not even stop our discourse there at that time, but we led the narrative up to those wise powers; we showed the turning away of the eyes, the veiling with the wings, the straightness of the legs, the unceasing cry, and that by all these they manifest to us the astonishment and the awe of those bodiless powers. For in as much as they are wise, in as much as they are nearer to that ineffable and blessed essence, by so much more do they know the incomprehensibility of it; for the heightening of wisdom produces a heightening of reverence. We told you what "inaccessible" means, and that it is much greater than "incomprehensible," and we added the reason: that the incomprehensible appears as such after it has been searched out, but the inaccessible does not even endure searching, nor even approach, from the beginning—when we also needed the image of the sea. We said that He did not say "a light that is inaccessible," but "a Light dwelling in light inaccessible"; and if the dwelling (the light) is inaccessible, much more is God who dwells within it. These...

things Paul said, not in order to circumscribe God within a place, but in order to show forth through his abounding greatness His incomprehensibility and inaccessibility. We brought forward also other powers, the Cherubim, and we showed how there is a firmament above them, how there is a stone of crystal, how the likeness of a throne, and the appearance of a man, and electrum, and fire, and a bow; ^A and after all these things, the prophet says: "This is the vision of the likeness of the glory of the Lord." And through all these things we demonstrated to you the condescension of God, and that even this itself is unbearable even to the powers above.

473 ^B I do not recapitulate these things simply, but because I owe you the debt of that promise, I wish to learn with precision what I have paid, and what remains. Those who owe debts act in this way, too, when they bring the written bond into the middle, where the entire account is written, and having shown it to their creditors, they pay what is remaining. And I, therefore, having unfolded as a book the memory of your mind, just as with a finger by means of my discourse, having shown what has been paid, I shall proceed to what remains from now on. What, then, was that which was left over? To show that neither principalities, nor powers, nor lordships, nor if there is any other created power, has the precise comprehension of God. For there are, there are even other powers, whose names we do not even know. Consider the madness of the heretics: they do not even know the names of the slaves, and yet they are busybodies concerning the very essence of the Master. For there are indeed angels, and archangels, and thrones, and lordships, and principalities, and powers; but these are not the only multitudes in the heavens, but there are infinite nations and untold tribes, which no speech can represent. And whence is it clear that there are powers even more numerous than these, whose names we do not even know? Paul, having said these things, says this also, speaking thus regarding Christ: "He seated Him above every principality, and power, and might, and every name that is named, not only in this age, but also in the one to come." See that there are certain names there which are to become known, which are hidden now? For this reason he said: "Not only named in this age, but also in that which is to come." And what is the wonder, if they do not have the precise comprehension of the essence? For this would prove nothing great. For these powers above, these principalities, and powers, and lordships, do not know many of His economies. ^C And this, again, we shall prove from the very apostolic words, that they learned some of His economies along with us, and did not know them before us; and not only did they learn them with us, but actually through us. "To other generations," he says, "it was not made known, as it has now been revealed to His holy apostles and prophets, that the Gentiles are fellow-heirs and fellow-body and fellow-partakers of His promise" (but the promises had been given to the Jews) "through the Gospel, of which I, Paul, became a minister." And whence is it clear that the powers above learned this only now? For the things spoken are spoken concerning human beings. Listen, then: "To me, the very least," he says, "of all the saints was this grace given, to preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ." What is "unsearchable"? That which cannot be tracked out; and not only that which cannot be found, but not even that which can be tracked. Let them listen again ^D how frequently and consecutively he gives them notice of these things. For if the riches of Christ are unsearchable, how is the One who bestowed the riches not unsearchable? "And to enlighten all as to what is the economy of the mystery which has been hidden 474 in God, so that the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the principalities and powers through the Church." Have you heard how it is "now," not before this, that those powers learned these things? For what a king deliberates, the armor-bearer does not know. "So that the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the principalities and powers through the Church." See how much honor came to human nature, that both with us and through us the powers above learned the secrets of the King! But whence is it clear that he speaks concerning those heavenly beings? For he knows how to call both principalities and powers and the demons, saying: "Our struggle is not against blood and flesh, but against principalities, against powers, against the world-rulers of this darkness of this age." Are we then to suppose that he says here also that the demons knew at that time? By no means, but concerning those powers above; for having said "principalities and powers," he added, "in the heavenly places." For those were heavenly principalities and powers, but these are principalities and powers under heaven; for this reason he also calls them world-rulers, showing that heaven is inaccessible to them, and they exhibit all their tyranny only in the present world.

γ'. Do you see how both with us and through us they learned these things? But let us bring the discourse, then, to the payment of the debt, showing that neither principalities nor powers know His essence. Who, then, says these things? No longer Paul, no longer Isaiah, no longer Ezekiel, but another holy vessel, he himself, the son of thunder, the beloved of Christ, John, who reclined upon the Master's breast, and drew the divine springs from thence. What, then, does this one say? "No one has seen God at any time." Truly a son of thunder; for he emitted a voice more brilliant than a trumpet, sufficient to put to shame all those who contend. But let us look also at the objection. What do you say, tell me, John? "No one has seen God at any time"? What, then, shall we do with the prophets who say that they saw God? For Isaiah says, "I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne high and lifted up"; and Daniel again, "I saw until thrones were set, and the Ancient of Days sat"; and Micah, "I saw the Lord God of Israel sitting upon His throne"; and another prophet again, "I saw the Lord standing upon the altar, and He said to me: strike the altar." And it is possible to collect many such testimonies. How, then, does John say that no one has ever seen God? That you may learn that he speaks of His precise comprehension and His clear knowledge. For that all those things were a condescension, and no one of those saw the pure essence, is clear from the fact that each saw Him differently. For God is simple and uncompounded and formless; but these all saw different forms. This, then, he himself was indicating again through another prophet, and convincing them that they did not see the precise essence, saying: "I have multiplied visions, and I was made like in the hands of the prophets." I did not show My essence itself, He says, but I condescended to the

weakness. However, John says that "no one has seen God at any time" not only regarding men; for this was clear even from these things mentioned, from the prophetic utterance—I mean this one which says: "I have multiplied visions, and I was made like in the hands of the prophets" 475—and from the judgment that occurred to Moses. For when he desired to see Him ocularly, God says: "No one shall see My face and live." Thus, this was clear and agreed upon by us. Therefore, He is not saying this only about our nature, but also about the powers above, that "no one has seen God at any time." For this reason, He introduces the Only-Begotten as the teacher of the doctrine. For in order that no one might say, "Whence is this clear?", He added: "The Only-Begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him," introducing a credible witness and teacher of the doctrine. And yet, if He had wished merely to manifest to us the revelation of Moses, it would have been superfluous to say that the Only-Begotten declared Him; for the Only-Begotten did not Himself declare Him, but even before John said these things, the prophet had made it clear to us, as if having heard from God, that he had heard from the Only-Begotten. But since He was about to reveal to us more than what was said then—that not even the powers above see Him—for this reason He introduces the Only-Begotten as the teacher. Consider "seeing" here to be knowledge. For there are surely no pupils, eyes, and eyelids with the incorporeal powers, but what "sight" is in our case, that is "knowledge" in theirs. So when you hear that "no one has seen God at any time," consider that you are hearing that no one has known God essentially with all precision. And when you hear regarding the Seraphim that they turned away their eyes and screened their vision, and likewise regarding the Cherubim that they did the same, do not imagine eyes or pupils; for this is the configuration of bodies; but believe that by these things the prophet hints at their knowledge. When, therefore, the prophet says that they could not endure to see God descending, he is saying nothing else but that they cannot endure the knowledge of Him when it is made manifest and precise in apprehension, nor do they dare to gaze fixedly at the pure and intact essence, nor even at the condescension itself. And to gaze fixedly is to know. For this reason, the Evangelist, knowing that it is not of human nature to know such things, and that God is not even comprehensible to the powers above, brings forward as a teacher of this doctrine for us Him who sits at His right hand and knows these things precisely; and he did not even say simply, "the Son"—although even if he had said this, it would have been sufficient to stop the mouths of the shameless. For just as many are called christs, but the true Christ is one, and many are called lords, but the Lord is one, and many are called gods, but God is one; so also many are called sons, but the Son is one, and the addition of the definite article is sufficient to show the singular excellence of the Only-Begotten. Nevertheless, he was not satisfied with this, but having said, "No one has seen God at any time," he added, "The Only-Begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him." He said "Only-Begotten" first, and then "Son"; for because many, through the communion with the name, diminish His glory, thinking Him to be one of the many—for this name "son" 476 is a common name for all—that which is His singular and proper attribute, and belongs to no one else, he placed first, the "Only-Begotten," so that from this you might believe that even this common name is not common, but is His proper and sovereign attribute, and belongs to no one else as it belongs to Him.

4. And that what I say may be clearer, I will state it again more broadly. The name "son" belongs also to men, and it belongs to Christ, but to us it is applied in a catachrestic sense, while to Him it belongs properly; but "Only-Begotten" is His alone and belongs to no one else, not even catachrestically. In order, therefore, that from the appellation which belongs to no one else but Him alone, you might also consider that the other, which belongs to the many, is sovereign when applied to Him, for this reason he said "Only-Begotten" first, and then "Son." And if not even these things are sufficient for you, he says, I say a second, a third thing, coarse indeed and human, but sufficient to lead even those who crawl upon the ground to the idea of the glory of the Only-Begotten. And what is this? "Who is in the bosom of the Father." The terminology is coarse, but it is sufficient to demonstrate the genuineness, if we interpret it in a manner worthy of God. For just as when you hear of a throne, and the session at the right hand, you do not assume a throne, nor a place and a circumscription, but from the appellation of the throne, and the communion in the session, you understand the equality and parity of honor; so also when you hear of the bosom, do not consider it to be a bosom, nor a place, but from the appellation of the bosom understand the closeness and boldness toward the One who has begotten. For the fact of being "in the bosom" declares and presents to us the closeness to the One who begotten far more clearly than the fact of sitting at the right hand. For neither would the Father have endured having the Son in His bosom, if He were not of the same essence, nor would He have endured, being of an inferior nature, to dwell in the paternal bosom. As Son, therefore, and Only-Begotten and dwelling in the paternal bosom, He knows all things of the Father precisely; for this reason the Evangelist needed these words, that he might present the precise knowledge of the Son concerning the Father. For the discourse was about knowledge; for if this is not the case, for what reason has the "bosom" been assumed? For if God is neither a body, as indeed He is not, nor does it declare the genuineness and the closeness toward the One who begotten, the word has been cast in simply and in vain, fulfilling no need for us. But it has not been cast in simply—far be it; for the Spirit utters nothing in vain, but declares the closeness of the Son toward the Father. Since the Evangelist had declared a great thing, that not even the creation above sees Him—that is, knows Him with precision—wishing to provide a credible teacher for the matter, he has placed these words, so that you might believe regarding all things both as Son and as Only-Begotten and as dwelling in the paternal bosom, and no longer doubt anything. And if anyone should not be contentious, nor wish to be shameless, I say that this is also indicative of the eternal. For just as from that utterance spoken to Moses, "I am who I am," we understand the eternal, thus also from this utterance which says, "Who is in the bosom of the Father," it is possible to grasp that He is eternally in the bosom of the 477 Father. That, therefore, the essence of God is incomprehensible to all creation,

through all these things it has been demonstrated to us. It remains, then, for the rest, to show that only the Son and the Holy Spirit understand him with all precision. But having deferred this to another discourse, so that we may not overwhelm the memory of what has been said with a multitude, let us turn the discourse again to our customary exhortation. And what was the exhortation customary to us? To hold to fervent prayer with a sober mind and a wakeful soul. For even when I discoursed about these things a short while ago, I saw that all obeyed willingly. It is unreasonable, therefore, to blame those who are slothful, yet not to praise those who do rightly.

I wish, then, to praise you today, and to give you thanks for that obedience. And the favor will be ^B if we instruct you as to why that prayer takes place before the others, and for what reason the deacon bids those who are demon-possessed and held in the wicked frenzy to be brought in at that time, and to bow their heads. For what reason, then, does he do this? The operation of demons is a wicked and grievous chain, a chain stronger than any iron. Just as, therefore, when a judge is about to process in and sit upon the high tribunal, the jailers bring out all who dwell in the prison from the building, and set them down before the railings and the curtains of the tribunal, filthy, squalid, disheveled, clothed in rags; so too did the Fathers ordain that, when Christ is about to sit, as it were, upon a high tribunal, and to appear at the mysteries themselves, those who are demon-possessed should be brought in like prisoners—not that they might submit to an accounting for their offenses, like those who are bound, nor that they might undergo punishment and chastisement, but that, with the people and the entire city present within, there might be common supplications concerning them, with all imploring the common Master with one accord on their behalf, and beseeching Him to show mercy with a vehement cry.

5. At that time, therefore, we were blaming those who abandon such prayer, and who spend time outside during that season; but now I wish to blame those who remain inside—not because they remain inside, but because, while remaining, they are in no better condition than those who spend time outside, conversing with one another during that most awesome season. What are you doing, O man? Do you see so many prisoners from among your brothers standing near, and do you converse about matters that have no relevance? Or is the sight alone not sufficient to strike you with awe, and lead you to sympathy? Your brother is in chains, and you are in sloth? And what excuse will you have, tell me, being so unsympathetic, so inhuman, so cruel? Do you not fear that, while you are conversing, or are slothful, or neglectful, some demon might leap out from there and, finding the soul unoccupied and swept clean, might enter in with great audacity, having found the house without doors? For was it not necessary for all in common to shed fountains of tears at that hour, and for the eyes of all to be seen drenching, and for lamentations and wailing to take place on the part of the entire Church? After the communion of the mysteries, after the enjoyment of the laver, ^C after the pledging yourselves to Christ, that wolf had the power to snatch the lambs from the fold, and to hold them with himself, and you, seeing the calamity, do not weep? And where is this worthy of defense? Will you not suffer with your brother? Even if only for your own sake, fear and rouse yourself. If you saw a neighbor’s house being burned, tell me, even if the neighbor were your deadliest enemy, would you not have run to extinguish the fire, fearing that the fire, walking on its way, might catch at your own thresholds? This is also ^D your concern regarding those demon-possessed; for the operation of the demons is a kind of fire and a grievous conflagration. Look, then, to it, that the demon, walking on his way, does not also take hold of your soul; and when you see him present, with great readiness take refuge with the Master, so that when the demon sees your fervent and aroused soul, he may henceforth consider your mind to be impassable to him. For if he sees you yawning and slothful, he will quickly hasten in as though to a desolate lodging; but if he sees you taut and aroused, and hanging from the heavens themselves, he will not even dare to look back henceforth. So if you do not care for your brothers, at least spare yourself, and block the entrance against the wicked demon for your soul. But nothing so fences off his approach against us ^A from without as fervent prayer and intercession. For this very reason, the exhortation given by the deacon to everyone, saying, "Let us stand well," was not ordained simply or in vain, but so that we might stand upright in our thoughts which are dragged upon the ground, that having cast out the relaxation that comes to us from worldly affairs, we might be able to present our soul upright before God. And that this is true, and that the word is directed not to the body but to the soul, commanding it to be straightened, let us hear Paul also using the word in this manner. For writing to men who had fallen down and had become discouraged regarding the bringing on of evils, he said: "Lift up the drooping hands and the paralyzed knees." What, then, could we say? That he speaks concerning the hands and knees of the body? By no means; for he is not discoursing to runners or wrestlers, but he exhorted them to raise up the strength of the thoughts within—which had been beaten down by temptations—through these words. Think near whom you are standing; with whom you are about to call upon God—with the Cherubim. Reflect upon your fellow-dancers, and this will suffice you for soberness, when you consider that, clothed in a body and entangled in flesh, you have been vouchsafed to hymn the common Master of all with the bodiless powers. Let no one, therefore, with relaxed enthusiasm share in those holy and mystical hymns; let no one have worldly thoughts at that season, but having banished all earthly things from the mind, and having transported oneself entirely toward heaven, as if standing near the throne of glory itself, and flying with the Seraphim, let him thus offer the all-holy hymn to the God of glory and majesty. For this reason we are also commanded to "stand well" at that season. For "to stand well" ^B is nothing else but to stand as it is proper for a human being to stand before God, with fear and trembling, with a sober and aroused soul. For that the word is directed to the soul, Paul himself again clarified this by saying: "So stand fast in the Lord, beloved." Just as an archer, if he intends to shoot his arrows accurately, first attends to his own stance, and having positioned himself with precision over against the mark, he holds to the release of the arrows; so too you, intending to shoot the wicked head of the devil, attend first to the stance of your thoughts, so that, having fixed your own stance upright and unimpeded, you may shoot the arrows accurately against him.

6. And concerning prayer, these things suffice; but since the devil has devised another thing full of much despondency to add to the sloth regarding prayers, this approach of his must also be walled off. What, then, is it that that wicked demon has acted by stealth to bring about? Having seen you thus

^A strongly bound as one body, and with great precision intent upon what is said, he did not dare to send down any of his own ministers to draw you away from the hearing of the word, through counsel and exhortation; for he knew that none of you would endure those who suggest these things. But having mingled some robbers and cutpurses among the crowd, he caused them to steal away the gold which many of those gathered here had tied up; and this happened many times and to many people here.

In order, therefore, that not even this should occur, nor the loss of money extinguish your zeal for hearing over time—as many are suffering this—I advise and counsel you all that no one should bring gold when entering here, so that your eagerness for hearing may not become a provision for their wickedness, nor the pleasure that arises within you from time spent here be dimmed by the theft of money. For the devil plotted this, not that he might make you poorer, but that the loss of money, having plunged you into deep annoyance, might draw you away from the zeal for hearing. Even when he stripped Job of all his wealth, it was not that he might make him poorer, but that he might strip him of piety. For the object of his striving was not to take away money (for he knows that this is nothing), but that by the removal of the money he might cast the soul into sin; and if he is not able to do this, he will consider he has accomplished nothing at all. Knowing his intent, therefore, beloved, when your gold is taken away, whether by robbers or by some other pretext, glorify the Lord, and ^B you will be the greater gainer, and you will give the enemy a double blow, both because you were not vexed and because you gave thanks. For if he sees that you are humbled by the loss of money and is persuaded to be vexed against the Lord, he will never cease doing this. But if he sees that not only do you not blaspheme God who created you, but you even give Him thanks for each of the evils that befall you, he will cease bringing the trials, knowing that the experience of evils for you becomes a cause for thanksgiving and works for you brighter crowns and greater rewards.

Which is just what happened in the case of Job. For when, having taken away his money and struck his body, he saw him becoming thankful, he no longer dared to approach, but went away having suffered a shameful and inexcusable defeat, having worked for God a more brilliant athlete. So we too, knowing these things, if we only fear sin, let us bear other things bravely, whether it be the loss of money, or sickness of the body, or disturbances of circumstances, or insult, or slander, or whatever other evil may be brought upon us. For the nature of these things will not only not harm us, but will be able to benefit us in the greatest ways, if we bear them with thanksgiving, and it will work for us greater rewards. You see, then, how even Job, after having wrapped himself in all the crowns of patience and courage, received back all that he had lost doubled. But you will receive not just doubled and tripled, but a hundredfold, if you bear it bravely, and you will inherit eternal life; of which may it be granted to us all to attain, by the grace and loving-kindness of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory and the power, now and always, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.

CONCERNING THE INCOMPREHENSIBLE

AGAINST THE ANOMOEANS

1. When anyone is about to take up a smaller subject, and one which requires many words, and one which is completed not in a single day, nor two or three, but in many more, I think it is necessary not to impose the teaching all at once and all in one piece upon the mind of the hearers, but by cutting the whole into many parts, to make this burden of the discourse light and easily grasped through the fragmentation. For even the tongue and the hearing and each of our senses have measures and canons and limits set for them, and if anyone tries to exceed these limits, their power ^C falls short of what it had. For what is sweeter than light, tell me? What is more pleasant than a ray of sun? But yet this sweet and pleasant thing, when it shines into the eyes beyond our measure, becomes burdensome and heavy. For this reason, God ordained that there should be night after day, so that, having taken hold of eyes that have laboured, He might lower the eyelids, put the pupils to sleep, grant rest to the visual power that is weary for us, and prepare it to be more fit for the contemplation of the coming day. For this reason also, wakefulness and sleep, being contrary to each other, become most pleasant to one another through symmetry; and we call the light sweet, and we call sleep, which leads us away from the light, sweet in the same way. Thus ^D immoderation is everywhere heavy and burdensome, and symmetry is pleasant and useful and agreeable to us.

Because of this, we too, now finishing our fourth or fifth day since we began our discourse concerning the Incomprehensible, have not even today prepared to complete it, but having said what is symmetrical to your love, we have decided to rest your mind again. Where, then, did we leave our discourse previously? For it is necessary to pick it up from there again, since there is one succession of instruction. We said then that the Son of thunder said that no one has ever seen God; the only-begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained it. Today it is necessary to learn where the only-begotten Son of God himself explained this. He answered, he says, the Jews, and said: Not that anyone has seen the Father, except he who is from God, he has seen the Father. Here again, he means seeing by knowledge. And he did not say simply that no one knows the Father, and keep silent, so that no one might think that this is said only about men, but wishing to show that neither 481 angels, nor archangels, nor…

the powers above, does he make this clear by the sequence of his words. For having said, "Not that any one has ever seen the Father," he added, "except he who is from God, he has seen the Father." For if he had said simply "no one," many of those hearing might perhaps have thought it was said only concerning our nature; but now, having said "no one," and adding "except the Son," by the addition of the Only-Begotten he excluded all creation. What then, he says, and the Holy Spirit? By no means; for this is not a part of creation either; and "no one" is always set there solely in contrast to creation.

And neither, if something is said about the Father, is the Son excluded, nor, if about the Son, does it cast out the Spirit. And in order that I may here make this very thing clear, that the word "no one" is not said for the setting aside of the Spirit, but for the contrast with creation, let us hear what Paul says, discoursing to the Corinthians concerning this very knowledge which he claims belongs to the Son alone. What then does he say? "For who knows" the things of a man, except the spirit of a man which is in him? Even so the things of God no one knows, except the Spirit of God. As therefore here the term "no one" being used does not cast out the Son, so also in the case of Christ the word "no one" ^B being placed does not cast out the Holy Spirit. Whence it is clear that what has been said is true. For if, in saying that "no one has seen the Father, except he who is from God," the Spirit were cast out, Paul would have said in vain that, just as a man knows his own things, so also does the Holy Spirit know the things of God with precision. So also the word "one" is used; for it has the same strength and power as this. Consider, however: "One God," he says, "the Father, from whom are all things, and one Lord Jesus Christ, through whom are all things." For if the fact that the Father is called one God casts out the Son from the Godhead, then the fact that the Son is called one Lord casts out the Father from the lordship. But surely the statement that "one Lord is Jesus Christ" does not cast out the Father from the lordship; therefore, the statement that "one God is the Father" does not cast out the Son from the Godhead.

ii. But if they should say again that the Father is called one God for this reason, because the Son is indeed God, but not such a God as the Father is, it follows that we must say, from the very premises which they themselves lay down (for we would not say it), that for this reason the Son is called one Lord, because the Father is indeed Lord, but not such a Lord as the Son is. But if this is impious, the former argument would not hold either; but as the term "one Lord" does not cast out the Father from the precise lordship, nor does it confine it to the Son alone, so neither does the term "one God" cast out the Son from the true and genuine and pure ^C Godhead, nor does it demonstrate it to be the Father's alone. For that the Son is God, and such a God as the Father is, while remaining the Son, is clear from this addition. For if this name "God" were of the Father alone, and could not signify to us another hypostasis, but only that unbegotten and first one, as peculiar and distinctive to it alone, the addition of "the Father" would be superfluous; for it would suffice to say "one God," and we would recognize who was meant. But since the name "God" is common to the Father and the Son, and in saying "one God" he did not make clear whom he meant, for this reason he needed the addition of "the Father," in order to show that he is speaking of the first and unbegotten hypostasis, since the designation of "God" was not sufficient to point it out, because this is common to him with the Son. For of names, some are common, some are proper; common, in order to show the inalterability of the essence, but proper, in order to characterize the distinctness of the hypostases.

The term "Father" and "Son," therefore, is proper to each hypostasis, but "God" and "Lord" is common. Since, then, he has put the common name "one God," he needed also that which is distinctive, so that you might recognize whom he means, so that we might not fall into the madness of Sabellius. For that neither the name "God" is greater than "Lord," nor "Lord" less than "God," is clear from this. In the whole of the Old Testament the Father is constantly called Lord: "The Lord thy God," he says, "the Lord is one"; and again, "Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve"; and again, "Great is our Lord, and great is his power, and of his understanding there is no number"; and again, "Let them know that thy name is Lord; thou alone art the highest over all the earth." Yet if it were less than "God" and unworthy of that essence, it should not have been said, "Let them know that thy name is Lord." Again, if "God" were greater and more ^D venerable than "Lord," the Son, who according to them is lesser, should not be called by the name appropriate to the Father, which was his alone. But these things are not so; they are not. For neither is the Son inferior to the Father, nor is the name "Lord" cheaper than "God." For this reason Scripture uses these titles indiscriminately for both the Father and the Son. Therefore, just as you have heard the Father called Lord, come, let us show you the Son also called God. "Behold, the virgin shall have in her womb, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which is being interpreted, God with us." Do you see how the name "Lord" is given to the Father, and the name "God" to the Son? For just as he says there, "Let them know that thy name is Lord," so also he says here, "They shall call his name Emmanuel." And again, "A child is born to us, a son is given to us, and his name is called Angel of great counsel, God the mighty, potentate." And consider for me the understanding of the prophets, and their spiritual wisdom. For in order that, having not simply said God, they might not be thought to speak of the Father, they mention the dispensation first; for the Father was not born through a virgin, nor did he become a child. Again, another prophet says something like this about him: "This is our God, no other shall be reckoned alongside him." And concerning whom does he say this? Is it not concerning the Father? By no means; for hear how he also made mention of the dispensation; for having said, "This is our God,"

he did not stop there, but added, ^A "He discovered every path of knowledge, and gave it to Jacob his servant, and to Israel who was loved by him. Afterward he appeared on earth and lived with men." And Paul says: ^B "Of whom is Christ according to the flesh, who is over all God, blessed for ever, amen." And again: "No fornicator or covetous man hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God." And again: "According to the appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ." And John also calls him thus, saying: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God."

3. Yes, you say; but show me that point where Scripture, while associating him with the Father, calls the Father Lord. Now I do not demonstrate this alone, but also that it calls the Father Lord, and the Son Lord, and that it calls the Father God, and the Son God, placing both names together. Where then is this to be found? When conversing with the Jews at one time, Christ says: "What think you of Christ? Whose son is he? They say to him, David's. He says to them: How then does David in spirit call him Lord, saying: The Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand?" Lo, Lord and Lord. Do you wish to learn where Scripture, placing them together, calls both the Father and the Son God? Hear both the prophet David and the apostle Paul declaring this to us: "Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever; a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of thy kingdom. Thou hast loved righteousness and hated iniquity; therefore God, thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows." And Paul again brought forward this testimony, ^C saying that: "To his angels indeed he says: Who makes his angels spirits; but to the Son: Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever." Why then, he says, did he here call the Father God, and the Son Lord?

It was not simply or without reason that he did this here, but because his discourse was directed toward Greeks suffering from the ailment of polytheism. In order, then, that they might not say that, while reproaching us for calling many gods and many lords, he himself is caught in these same charges by saying gods, and not God; for this reason, condescending to their weakness, he calls the Son by another name that possesses the same power. And that this is true, let us read the passage from the beginning, and you will know clearly that what is said is not our conjecture: "But concerning things sacrificed to idols, we know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge puffs up, but love edifies. Concerning then the eating of things sacrificed to idols, we know that no idol is anything in the world, and that there is no God but one." Do you see that he is speaking these things while directing them toward those who think there are many gods? "For even if there are so-called gods, [and many lords,] whether in heaven or on earth" (he struggles again against them) "just as there are many gods and many lords, that is, so-called; but to us there is one God the Father, of whom are all things, and one Lord Jesus Christ, through whom are all things." For this reason he added "one," so that they might not think that polytheism was being reintroduced, and he called the Father "one" God, not casting the Son out of the Godhead, just as he also called the Son "one" Lord, not casting the Father out of the Lordship, but correcting their weakness and wishing to give them no handle. This, then, also was the reason why the Son of God was not recognized by the Jews clearly and openly through the prophets, but rather obscurely and rarely. For having just been delivered from the polytheistic error, if they had heard God and God again, they would have reverted to the same sickness. For this reason, up and down, the prophets continually say that God is one, and besides him there is none; not rejecting the Son—God forbid—but wishing to heal their weakness, and to persuade them for the time being to be rid of the suspicion of the many gods which are not. Whenever, then, you hear "one" and "no one," and all such things, do not diminish the glory of the Trinity, but learn through these words its distinction in relation to creation; since elsewhere he also says: "For who has known the mind of the Lord?" And that this is the meaning here, and that he casts out neither the Son nor the Spirit from knowledge, was previously demonstrated in the things said above, when we brought forward the testimony which says: ^D "For who knows the things of a man, save the spirit of a man which is in him? So also the things of God no one knows, save the Spirit of God." And again Christ says: "No one knows the Son, save the Father, nor does anyone know the Father, save the Son." So too here: "Not that anyone has seen the Father, save he who is of God; he has seen the Father." For he said that he knows him with precision, and he has set down the cause for which he knows. And what is the cause? "His being of him"; and proof of his being of him is again his knowing him with precision. For this reason he knows him clearly, since he is of him, and the sign of his being of him is the knowing him clearly. For one substance would not be able to know well a substance that excels it, even if the distance is small. Hear then what the prophet says concerning the angels, and concerning human nature, that the difference between this and that is small. For having said, "What is man, that thou art mindful of him, or the son of man, that thou visitest him?" he added, "Thou hast made him a little lower than the angels." But yet, even if the distance is small, because there is distance at all, we do not know the substance of the angels with precision, and even if we philosophize ten thousand things, we are unable to discover it.

4. And what do I say of angels, when we do not even know the substance of our own soul well, or rather not at all? But if they contend to know, ask what the soul's substance is: is it air, or spirit, or wind, or fire? But they will say none of these, for these are all bodies, but it is incorporeal. Then they do not know the angels, nor their own souls, but they contend to know with precision the Master and Creator of all? And what could be worse than this madness? And what do I say, what is the substance the soul is? How

can one say ^A it is extended in the bulk of the body? But this is irrational, for it is a property of bodies; that this is not the case for the soul is evident from the fact that often, even when hands and feet have been cut off, it remains whole, having suffered no amputation through the mutilation of the body. But is it in the whole body, or is it contained in a certain part? Must the remaining limbs, then, necessarily be dead? For that which is without a soul is entirely dead. But this, too, cannot be said; rather, we know that it is in our body, but we do not know how it is. For this reason, God has ^B withheld the knowledge of this from us, from superabundant wisdom, checking and restraining us, persuading us to remain below, and not to be busy-bodies nor to meddle with what is above us. But so that we might not construct such things from our own reasonings, come, let us return the discourse to Scripture. "No one has seen the Father," he says, "unless he who is from God, he has seen the Father." And what is this, he says? For this statement has not yet testified to precise knowledge for him. But that the creation does not know him, he has shown by saying, "Not that anyone has seen the Father"; and that the Son knows him, he has also shown by adding, "Unless he who is from God, he has seen the Father." That he knows him precisely, however, and in such a way as he himself knows himself, this has not yet been demonstrated. For it is possible, he says, that even creation does not know him clearly, nor the Son, but—though it knows the former more clearly—that not even he has the precise apprehension. For that he sees him as he is and knows him, he has said, but that he knows him precisely, and in the same way as he knows himself, he has not yet ^C declared. Do you wish us to confirm this from the Scriptures, and from the very voice of Christ? Let us hear then what he says to the Jews: "As the Father knows me, I also know the Father." What more precise knowledge than this do you desire? Ask the opponent: Does the Father know the Son precisely, and does he have all his knowledge precisely, and does nothing of what pertains to the Son escape him, but is the apprehension complete? Yes, he says. Therefore, when you hear that the Son also knows him just as he knows the Son, seek nothing more, since the knowledge is equalized with such precision. For, indeed, revealing this very thing elsewhere, he said: "No one knows the Son except the Father, nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and to whom the Son wills to reveal him." He reveals, however, not as much as he himself knows, but as much as we can contain. For if Paul does this, how much more Christ? For he also says to his own disciples: "I was not able to speak to you as to spiritual, but as to carnal; as to infants in Christ I fed you with milk, not with meat; for you were not yet able." But this, he says, he said only to the Corinthians. What then, if we should show that even other things, which no human being ever learned, he knew, and departed having known them alone of all men? And where can this be found? In the Epistle to the Corinthians; for this is he who says, ^D "I have heard ineffable words, which it is not permitted for a man to speak." But nevertheless, even this man, who had heard ineffable words which it is not permitted for a man to speak, has partial knowledge, and falls far short of that which is to come. For he who said these things also said, "We know in part, and we prophesy in part"; and, "When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I thought as a child, I reasoned as a child"; and, "Now I see through a mirror in an enigma, but then face to face." So from these things, their whole conspiracy is clearly refuted; for when that very substance is unknown—not that it is, but what it is—it would be of the utmost madness to assign a name to it. Although, if it were clear and known, even so it would not be safe for us to impose designations upon the Master's substance of our own initiative and from ourselves. For if Paul did not dare to impose names upon the powers above, but, by saying, that "He seated Christ above every principality and authority and power, and every name that is named, not only in this age, but also in the one to come," and by teaching us that there are certain names of the powers which we shall then know, did not dare to place other names in place of those, nor to meddle with those very things, who would deserve pardon, or what defense could those have who dare such things concerning the Master's substance? But when even the substance itself is unknown, they ought to turn away from them just as from those who are deranged. That God is unbegotten is manifest; but that this is the name of his substance, no prophet said, no apostle 487 hinted, no evangelist; and with good reason. For those who do not know the substance itself, how were they to speak its name?

e'. And what do I say concerning the divine Scriptures, where there is such flagrancy of absurdity, and such excess of lawlessness, that even the Greeks who wandered from the truth never attempted to say any such thing? For no one even of them dared to set forth a definition of the divine substance, and to encompass it in one name. And what do I say "divine substance," where, when they were philosophizing about the nature of incorporeal beings, they did not even set forth a finished definition of this, but rather a certain faint explanation and description than a definition? But what is their wise discourse? "Do you not know, therefore, what you worship?" he says. Truly, one ought not even answer this, such a demonstration having been made from the Scriptures that it is impossible to know what God is in his substance; but since we are not speaking out of enmity, but in order to correct them, come, let us show that not to know what God is in his substance, but to contend to know it, this is what it is to not know God. For tell me, if two men are contending with one another to know the size of the heaven, the one says it is impossible for a human eye to comprehend it, and the other contends that it is possible, by the

^A measure of a span to map out one who measures all things himself; whom shall we say knows the size of the heaven—the one who contends that he knows how many spans it has, or the one who acknowledges that he is ignorant of it? If, then, in the case of the heaven, the one who concedes to its magnitude is the one who knows its size better, shall we not use this same caution in the case of God? And how is this not the very depth of madness? For that we are required to know only this—that God exists—and not to pry into His essence, hear what Paul says: *For he who comes to God must believe that He exists* (Heb. XI, 6). And again, the prophet, finding fault with someone for impiety, does not find fault in this—that he does not know what God is—but because he does not know that God exists. For he said, he says, *The fool has said in his heart, There is no God* (Ps. XIII, 1). Just as, then, it is not ignorance of what God is in His essence that makes that man impious, but ignorance of the fact that God exists, so it is sufficient for piety to know that God exists.

But they have another argument they have rehearsed. What is this? It has been said, they say, *God is Spirit* (John IV, 24). Does this, tell me, declare His essence? And who will tolerate these things, if he has approached the doors of the Divine Scriptures even in the slightest? For on this logic, God will also be fire; for just as it is written that God is Spirit, so it is written that *Our God is a consuming fire* (Heb. XII, 29), and again, *A fountain of living water* (Jer. II, 13). Yet He will not be only spirit and fountain and fire, but also soul, and wind, and human mind, and other things far more absurd than these; for it is not necessary to go through everything with arguments, nor to imitate their madness. For this "spirit" signifies many things—for example, our soul, just as Paul ^B also says: *Deliver such a one to Satan, that the spirit may be saved* (1 Cor. V, 5); and the wind, as the prophet says: *With a violent spirit you shall shatter them* (Ps. II, 9). And the spiritual gift is also called this; for *The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit*, he says (Rom. VIII, 16); and again, *I will pray with the spirit, I will pray also with the mind* (1 Cor. XIV, 15). And anger is also called this; for Isaiah also says: *Were you not the one deliberating with your harsh spirit to slay them?* And the help from God is also called spirit; for *The Spirit before our face is Christ the Lord* (Lam. IV, 20). If, then, according to them, God is to be all these things, He will be composed of so many elements.

But, so that we may not be talking nonsense, bringing into the middle things that do not even require refutation, let us finish here the argument against them and turn the whole focus to prayer, by so much more praying and beseeching God on their behalf—the more they act impiously—that they might one day depart from their madness. For this is acceptable before our Savior God, *who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth* (1 Tim. II, 4).

^C 6. Let us not, therefore, cease to make supplications on their behalf. For prayer is a great weapon, an inexhaustible treasure, a wealth that is never spent, a harbor that is without waves, a cause of tranquility, and of ten thousand goods; it is the root, the source, and the mother, and is mightier than the kingdom itself. Often, then, when a man wearing the diadem is burning with fever and lying on his bed, inflamed, while doctors, guards, attendants, and generals stand by, neither the skill of the physicians, nor the presence of friends, nor the service of servants, nor the abundance of medicines, nor the luxury of the arrangements, nor the excess of wealth, nor anything else human has the power to solace the sickness ^D that lies upon him. But if one should enter who has boldness before God, and should merely touch his body and make a pure prayer for him, he has put to flight the entire sickness. And that which wealth could not achieve, nor the multitude of those serving, nor the knowledge gained by experience, nor the weight of the kingdom, the prayer of one poor and often destitute man has achieved. And I mean by prayer not this idle kind, which is full of sloth, but that which is done with intensity, with a pained soul, with a focused mind. For this is what ascends to heaven, and just like water, as long as it is borne along on flat territory and enjoys much openness, does not rise to a height; but when the hands of conduits tighten underneath and press it as it is constricted, it is shot toward the height more sharply than any arrow. So indeed does the human mind, as long as it enjoys much ease, dissipate and flow away; but when a distress of circumstances constricts it from below, being well-pressed, it sends up pure and strained prayers toward the height. And that you may learn that those which are made with distress are those that would be most heard, hear what the prophet says: *I cried to the Lord in my being distressed, and He heard me* (Ps. CXIX, 1). Let us, therefore, heat up our conscience, let us distress the soul with the memory of sins—let us distress it, not so that we might constrict it, but so that we might make it ready to be heard, so that we might make it sober and vigilant, and able to touch the very heavens. Nothing so puts to flight sloth and listlessness as pain and distress, which gather the mind from every side and turn it back to itself. He who is thus distressed and praying will be able to introduce into his soul great delight after the prayer. And just like the gathering of clouds at the beginning makes the air gloomy, but when it has let out the rain in successive drops, having laid aside all the downpour, it makes the air calm and radiant, so indeed does sorrow, as long as it is twisted within, darken our reasoning; but when it is emptied through the words of prayer and the tears that accompany them, and breathes out into the open, it imparts great radiance to the soul, with the perception of God being released into the mind of the one praying just like a beam of light. But what is the cold argument of many? "I am without boldness," he says, "I am full of shame, I am not able to even open my mouth." This is a Satanic caution; these are pretexts for sloth; for the devil wishes to close to you the doors of access to God. Are you without boldness? It is a great boldness—a great benefit—the very thing of thinking that you are without boldness, just as, therefore, it is the ultimate shame and condemnation to think that one has boldness. For even if you have many accomplishments, and are not conscious of anything evil in yourself, if you think you have boldness, you have fallen away from the entire prayer; but if you bear ten thousand loads of sins upon your conscience, and only persuade yourself of this—that you are the last of all—you will have great boldness before God.

^A For this is not humility, to think oneself a sinner while being one. Humility is when a person, being conscious of many and great things, imagines nothing great about himself; when one follows Paul, and though able to say, "I am conscious of nothing against myself," says again, "Yet I am not thereby justified," and again, "Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am first." This is humility: to be high by reason of one's achievements, yet to humble oneself in mind. But nevertheless, God, because of His ineffable philanthropy, receives and accepts not only those who are humble, but even those who honestly declare their sins, and becomes merciful and favorable to those who are so disposed. And that you might know how great a good it is to imagine nothing great about yourself, construct two chariots in your discourse: yoke justice and arrogance together, and sin with humility, and you will see the chariot of sin surpassing justice—not by its own power, but by the strength of its yoke-fellow, humility—and the other, conversely, falling short, not because of the weakness of justice, but because of the weight and bulk of arrogance. For just as humility, by the exceeding height of its nature, overcomes the heaviness of sin and reaches even to heaven, so also arrogance, because of its great weight and bulk, is strong enough to prevail over even the lightest justice and easily drag it down.

^B 490 (7) And that this chariot is swifter than the other, call to mind the Pharisee and the publican. The Pharisee yoked justice and arrogance, saying thus: "I thank thee, O God, that I am not as the rest of men, extortioners, covetous, nor even as this publican." O the madness! The whole nature of men did not carry his arrogance, but he even leapt upon the publican standing near him with much folly. What then of that other? He did not beat away the insults, he did not grieve at the accusation, but accepted what was said with good sense; and the enemy’s arrow became for him a remedy and a healing, and the reproach a crown, and the accusation a garland. So great is the good of humility, so great is the profit, in not being bitten by the insults of others, nor setting oneself in enmity against the outrages of one's neighbors. For it is possible even from these to harvest a great and noble good, which indeed happened in the case of the publican. For having accepted the insults, he cast off his sins, and saying, "God, be merciful to me a sinner," he went down justified above the other; and words overcame deeds, and utterances vanquished actions. For the one ^C paraded his justice, and fasting, and tithes; but this one spoke mere words, and put aside all his sins. For God heard not only the words, but also looked upon the disposition with which he put them forward; and having found it humbled and contrite, He had mercy and showed His philanthropy. But I say these things not that we might sin, but that we might act with humility. For if a man who was a publican, the ultimate type of wickedness, not having practiced humility but only good sense, and having stated his sins as they were and confessed them, drew down such favor from God, how much ^D more will those who have achieved great good works, while thinking nothing great of themselves, draw down His help? For this reason I exhort and implore and beseech you to confess to God continually. For I am not leading you into a theater of your fellow servants, nor do I force you to reveal your sins to men; unfold your conscience before God, and to Him show your wounds, and from Him ask for the medicines; show them to One who does not reproach, but heals—for even if you are silent, He knows everything. Speak, therefore, that you may gain; speak, that having put aside all your sins here, you may depart thither clean and free from offenses, and be rid of that unbearable exposure.

The three children were in the furnace, and they committed their soul for the sake of their confession to the Master; yet after such and such great achievements they say: "We have no mouth to open; shame and reproach have we become to thy servants and to those who worship thee." Why then do you open your mouth? "In order to say this very thing," he says, "that we have no mouth to open," and by this very thing we draw the Master [491] to ourselves. The power of prayer quenched the power of fire, bridled the fury of lions, dissolved wars, stopped battles, calmed storms, drove away demons, opened the gates of heaven, broke the bonds of death, banished diseases, repelled outrages, established cities when they were shaking, and prayer dispelled absolutely all the evils that were falling from above and the plots from men. And by prayer I mean again, not that which simply lies on the lips, but that which ascends from the depth of the mind. For just as those trees which send their roots deep down, even if they receive the assaults of ten thousand winds, are not snapped, nor are they uprooted, the roots being tightly bound with precision to the depth of the earth; so also, prayers sent up from the depth of the mind, being rooted with security, stretch toward the height, and are not turned aside by any assault of thought. For this reason the prophet also says, "Out of the depths have I cried to thee, O Lord." I say these things not that you might merely praise them, but that you might also put them into effect. For if to speak out one's own misfortunes to men, and to recount with tragedy the evils that have overtaken one, brings some consolation to the grieving—as if a kind of relief comes through the word—much more, if you communicate the passions of your own soul to the Master, will you receive some solace and great consolation. For a man is often burdened by one who laments and mourns to him, and he fends him off and pushes him away; but God is not so, but He both approaches and draws you in, and even if you occupy yourself in communicating your misfortunes to Him, He loves you all the more then, and inclines to your supplications. This, then...

≫ ^A is what Christ was showing when He said: "Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest." He calls us, then—let us not disobey; He draws us to Himself—let us not leap away. Even if we have ten thousand sins, let us run to Him all the more, for it is such as these that He calls. "For I came not," He says, "to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance." And here, too, He speaks of those who are burdened, those who have labored, those who are weary from the weight of their sins. For God is called the God of consolation ^B and the God of mercy, because this is His perpetual work: to console and comfort those who are in pain and affliction, even if they have ten thousand sins. Let us only offer ourselves, let us only run to Him, and let us not withdraw. Through experience itself we shall know the truth of these words, and nothing in existence will be able to grieve us, if we have ^C fervent and refined prayer; for whatever may befall us, we shall easily repel it through this. And what is wonderful, if the power of prayer knows how to dissolve human circumstances, when it even extinguishes and easily obliterates the very nature of sins? In order, therefore, that we may travel through our present life with ease, and lay aside such sins as we have contracted, and stand with confidence before the judgment seat of Christ, let us perpetually prepare this remedy for ourselves, compounding it from tears, ^D eagerness, perseverance, and endurance. For in this way we shall both enjoy constant health and attain the goods to come; may we all be granted to attain these, by the grace and love for mankind of our Lord Jesus Christ, with whom to the Father be glory, together with the Holy Spirit, now and forever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.

NOTICE

[The preceding homily] exhorts the people to celebrate the Nativity of Christ duly, and after having prescribed the manner of penitence and repentance to sinners, it concludes with a prayer. Furthermore, mention is made of this Philogonius, who from a lawyer became bishop of Antioch around the year of Christ 320, at the rise of Arianism, by Athanasius in his *Epistle to the Bishops of Egypt and Libya*, p. 278, where he enumerates him among the orthodox and apostolic men who wrote for the Catholic faith. He was the twenty-first bishop of Antioch, having Vitalis as his predecessor and Paulinus as his successor, whom Eustathius followed. See more regarding him in the later notes. We have edited Erasmus's interpretation, corrected in many places, alongside the Greek text.

[The author] delivered the following *Homily on the Consubstantial*, against the Anomoeans, as he himself indicates in number 2, a few days after having preached on the same subject, namely at the beginning of the year 387, and as far as can be conjectured, on the fifth of January, when the circus games were celebrated. Moreover, in the year 387, that day fell on a Sunday.

On the following day, in order to refute the Anomoeans—who were seizing an opportunity to oppose Him from the petition of the sons of Zebedee and Christ's response, "But to sit at my right hand or at my left is not mine to give to you"—he delivered the homily which, for the reasons mentioned, is inscribed as the eighth. Fronto Ducæus rendered both into Latin, which we have edited with very few changes.

On the Blessed Philogonius, who became Bishop from being a lawyer, and that there is nothing equal to caring for common interests for the sake of obtaining favor with God, and that approaching the divine mysteries negligently carries an unbearable punishment, even if we dare to do this once a year. It was spoken five days before the Nativity of Christ.

Homily Sixth.

1. I had indeed prepared myself today to strip for the contests against the heretics and to render you the remainder of the debt; but the day of the blessed Philogonius, whose feast we are celebrating, has called our tongue [493] to the narrative of his achievements. And it is necessary to obey by all means. For if he who speaks ill of his father or mother dies, it is clear that he who speaks well will certainly enjoy life, and if our natural parents deserve to enjoy such benevolence from us, much more do our spiritual parents, especially when praise makes the departed no more brilliant, but makes us who are gathered here, both those speaking and those listening, better. For the one who has ascended to heaven would have no need of human