OF OUR HOLY FATHER JOHN CHRYSOSTOM ON THE STATEMENT, "By what authority do you do these things?" (Matt. 21:23)
A The root of all good things within us is the fear of God: for neither can the law of God exist without fear, nor fear without the law. For the law has fear as a servant of its commandments, and fear has the law as a judge of its precepts. Therefore, whoever approaches the law, and God who is the giver of the law, with fear, dwells among the saints and is inscribed among the just; but he who approaches the fear of God with boldness and comes to the divine law with arrogance is not deemed worthy of grace, nay rather, is cast out from piety. Therefore, those who approach the divine law with fear and desire are rightly and truly taught and illumined, and are instructed in true religion by the Truth itself: for they encounter the very fountain of truth when they say, "Blessed art thou, O Lord; teach me thy statutes" (Ps. 118:12). But the saints, who are so pious and so religious, learn the truth from Truth itself; but the enemies of the truth—or rather, the enemies of their own life—preferring arrogance and pride to simplicity, approach the teacher of truth with a tyrannical demeanor. This, indeed, is what the Jews did, as you have just heard from the evangelical words. For they approached our Lord Jesus, the King of the saints, while He was in the temple—in the temple itself—not with the fear that was fitting, not as servants do to a Lord, not as men to God, but neither as disciples to a Master. Enemies of truth and investigators of wickedness, manifesting their own malice, they attempted to circumvent supreme wisdom with human reasonings. B For it says: "The priests and the elders of the people came up to Jesus in the temple saying, 'By what authority do you do these things? And who gave you this authority?'" (Matt. 21:23). O heart destitute of fear! What things it dares, what things it speaks! To what a height of arrogance it is lifted! O the insipidity of the wicked! O the clemency of the Savior! Such things does clay speak, and this the Potter endures! Work stands against the Maker, and the Beneficent, subject to none, bears it! They demand a reason and an account from the Word of God, and curiously inquire into His authority, which is the pinnacle of authority. Let us aptly use these words of the wise: "O man, why does earth and ashes exalt itself?" (Ecclus. 10:9). You interrogate God, and request from Him a reason for those things which He performs, and you dare to address that supreme power thus: "By what authority do you do these things?" Why do you interrogate Him, and not examine the very power of the things themselves? Explore for yourself diligently in the secret council of the soul, having examined the nature of the things, whether what is done is of human counsel or of divine authority, those noble deeds of the Lord. Interrogate the laws of nature, the bounds of power, and the succession of reasonings: by what power can [one] raise the dead: is it of men, or of God? Who can cleanse lepers, drive away diseases, and remove every disease of soul and body by a word alone? Furthermore, who can form eyes out of clay, God or man? Why do you not interrogate the very nature of the things, but boldly explore the Maker, saying, "By what authority do you do these things?" For I repeat again the words of those who dare all things easily, who demand an account from the Word of God, and attempt to circumscribe with reasonings Him "who catches the wise in their craftiness" (1 Cor. 3:19).
O the folly! They bring for trial before the Word of God that which is but a trivial craft of words, all of which is easily overcome by Him, as is every practiced weaving of syllogisms. For what force does human speech have against the Word of God? What can sophisticated malice do against transcendent wisdom? "By what authority dost Thou do these things?" Ask the paralytic, by what authority he is restored to health; ask the miracles, and do not curiously inquire into the authority of the Miracle-Worker. Divine grace makes no answer to you, judging those who ask with evil intent to be unworthy of an answer. For such is the Word of God: when He sees a soul crooked and perverted, He shakes it off as unworthy of grace, and though it strive many times to learn, it does not obtain truth from the Truth. The Jews ask many times, and not even once do they learn, because they ask with evil intent. So much did the silence of the Savior torment their souls with pain, that even that wicked council said: "How long dost Thou take away our soul? If Thou art the Christ, tell us plainly" (John 10:24). But not even after this cry does He answer them; for those who ask with evil intent were unworthy of an answer. What then does the Savior say to them? "I told you, and you did not believe; why do you wish to hear again? The works that I do, these bear witness of Me" (John 10:25). Do you see that He wills for His works to be asked of, and for His authority not to be curiously scrutinized? The Jews ask, "If Thou art the Christ, tell us plainly; how long dost Thou take away our soul?" and He gives no solution to their uncertainty; for they asked not that they might learn, but that they might accuse. But the high priest Caiaphas, that man worthy of that synagogue, reached such a pitch of madness as to say: "I adjure Thee by the living God, tell us if Thou art the Son of the Blessed One" (Matt. 26:63). But the Savior, teaching us to receive words with reverence, answers the adjuration, yet gives no solution to the question at issue. "Tell us," he says, "if Thou art the Son of the Blessed One." A The Lord says to him: "Thou hast said it" (Matt. 26:64); and He honored the oath by acknowledging it, but He did not satisfy their malice, having loathed their craftiness. The Jews sought with evil intent, and they did not meet with an answer; and quite rightly so, for "crooked thoughts separate from God" (Wis. 1:3). He did not permit His wisdom to be grasped by those who curiously scrutinized His wisdom with evil intent. For "wisdom will not enter into a malicious soul" (Wis. 1:4).
2. And they, having sought many times, did not find what they sought; but a certain woman, having approached without guile and with genuine faith, not having tempted the incomprehensible power, but having approached the Lord in simplicity—and in word indeed simple, but in faith genuine—having said to Him: "We know that when the Messiah cometh, who is called Christ, He will announce to us all things" (John 4:25): she immediately heard from Him who loves simplicity: "I am He who speaks to thee" (John 4:26). She had not yet asked, and she immediately learned; she had not yet sown the word of faith, and she immediately reaped the fruit of piety. For God is holy, resting in the simple and the holy; when He sees the simplicity of the one approaching, He also makes simple the beneficence of His own wisdom; when He sees a soul perverted by malice, He hinders the beneficence, and does not admit the teaching. B Hear Him saying through Moses: "If you walk with Me in uprightness, I also will walk with you in uprightness; but if you are crooked, I also shall treat you with crooked wrath" (Lev. 26:23-24); not that the Divine nature makes its own uprightness crooked, but because to the wicked, the things of the Truth do not come in a straight line. "By what authority dost Thou do these things, or who gave Thee this authority?" The Savior says to them: Here, attend to how the Lord of all proposes for us a boundary and rule of instruction. And what is this? He wishes us, when faced with wicked heretics, Jews, or Greeks, or others who have separated themselves from piety, not to answer everything to their questions. For it is possible, it is indeed often the case, that one may ask questions unworthy of an answer; and one must by all means oppose these base questions with a just counter-question. For this reason the Lord says to them: "I also will ask you one word, which if you tell Me, I also will tell you. The baptism of John," He says, "whence was it? From heaven, or from men?" (Matt. 21:24-25). See the fountain of wisdom, refuting falsehood by a question; see the Word of God overturning malice with syllogisms; and consider also the malice, how it is consumed by its own darts, and is dragged down by its own craftiness. The baptism of John, whence was it? From heaven, or from men? They reasoned among themselves regarding the power of the saying, and say: "If we say, From heaven, He will say to us, Why then did you not believe?" (Matt. 21:25-26). Malice knows its own slippery path; it knows that it is destroyed by the very things it proposes. Since they had not obeyed John, they were afraid to say that it was from God, lest the refutation should immediately follow. "But if we say, From men, we fear the multitude, lest we should be stoned" (Matt. 21:26). For indeed, the pre-judgment concerning the righteous man will bring upon us inescapable punishment. "For all people held John as a prophet" (Matt. 21:26). C They did not wish to say the truth, that it was from God; for they had cast away the truth of God, and they did not dare to say the lie; for they had fear as the judge of their shamelessness, and this not a divine fear, but a human one. For it is indeed so: many often, not having the fear of God, serve fear of man. "They feared the people." Would that they had feared God and not the people! For the former is piety, but the latter is impiety. They say to Him: "We do not know." See how malice lurks within the wicked; see how impiety proclaims its own absurdity. For just as a viper, or some one of the most wicked beasts, dwelling in burrows, quietly emerges from its hole and does not desire to come out completely: so also the Jews, living in the burrow of malice, do not bring their own judgment into the light. Wherefore also the Lord says to them: "Neither do I tell you" (Matt. 21:27). See how silence punished the absurd question; see how He did not satisfy their malice, but checked them in the midst of their syllogisms. D And just as the ass of Balaam once suffered, being unable to incline to the right or to the left, because of the angel that stood against it (Num. 22:26): so it happened to Jewish wickedness, which dared not look either to the right of truth, or to the left of falsehood, because of the fear of the people. To heretics, whom
A we must also, brothers, use this rule received from the Lord, not saying everything to heretics who ask questions. When a heretic asks a question badly, solve his absurd inquiry with a second, just interrogation. The heretic often inquires: “Do you know God, or do you not know Him?” If you say, “I know,” he immediately replies: “Therefore, do you know what you worship?” “Indeed,” says the pious man. For who could bear to say that he worships what he does not know? The heretic presses: “Do you then know the substance of God?” If you say you do not know, he immediately objects: “Therefore you know not what you worship.” See for me the twisted words; see the wiles of the malignant serpents. You see, but you must not be troubled. For this, brothers, must be known: there are many ways of knowing. A person can know that God is, without yet knowing how He is. Since, indeed, among us humans too there are many ways of knowledge. I know this man stays in this city, yet I do not know what trade he practices; I know another practicing such a trade, yet I do not know from whence he derives his lineage. I know in part, and in part I am ignorant. In short, partial knowledge does not induce perfect science, nor does not knowing everything abolish partial knowledge. What then? I know that God is, and that He is good, immortal, incorruptible, whom we cannot grasp by thought, incomprehensible, incorporeal, immutable. I know all these things, and knowing them, I worship. But how He is, I do not know, nor have I been taught to investigate how He is, but that He is. For I find no teacher greater than the Apostle, who can provide me with superior piety, and who uses a clear voice to teach in this manner: “For he who comes to God must believe that He is” (Heb. 11:6) — not how He is, but *that* He is — “and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.” Therefore, I worship what I know. I have not learned to explore the substance of God. I have learned to believe, brothers; to believe, not to scrutinize. Read your own confession, heretic, uttered in the secret and tremendous mystery. When you approached for baptism, what did you say? Did you come asking and curiously exploring, or believing? You came with a different condition, and under another pact you were deemed worthy of that grace. And if believing these things you were gifted with grace, you have violated faith and pacts; and while in the tremendous and horrific mysteries you offered faith, situated outside the mysteries, you circumscribe the faith and stir up questioning. How much less B do you know God! But see what the enemy of truth says. Did God give us reasoning faculties in vain? Have we received the power of judgment in vain? It is right to investigate faith with reasons, and that religion should not be without examination. Correct. Yet the standard of the examination must be the divine utterances and the rules of piety handed down to us by God. You, however, having transgressed the rules, do not adhere to the divine Scriptures, but scrutinize them and force the truth; and everywhere you affect to follow the roughness of arguments rather than to serve faith, as if you had the expertise of others, or the experience of others—namely, of things that are seen. Tell me, supported by a series of arguments, how the heaven stood in such altitude, in such immense concavity, and having no fulcrum in such a circumference? How did it stand, by whom is it carried, what are the foundations upon which it rests? By what reason is its beauty not dissolved over such a long time, and its harmony not destroyed? Show me the columns that prop it up; show me the base placed beneath such a mass. And why do I speak of heaven, and not of the earth which I tread upon? First, explain to me the constitution of the earth. For that it is founded upon the waters (Ps. 23:2), I have received it and you acknowledge it. But explain how it is established upon the waters. Do not take the saying simply, but render an account of the things asked: how so many and so great mountains, hills, and valleys are borne upon the waters. Tell me how the sea is separated; tell me by what pact, agitated by so many waves and rising to an immense height, when it touches the sand it is dissolved and reveres the limit of the Lawgiver. Interpret, brother, how, since the earth is one and one mother, the plants are diverse—whence the bitter roots, whence the sweet, whence the varieties of fruits. One earth is the source of growth, one rain nourishes: whence the difference? Explain whence the springs came forth, and from what abysses and by what reason they are held. But when we have doubts about these things, we have one true and pious solution to questions. And the blessed David sang in these words: “Because the word of the Lord is right, and all his works are in faith” (Ps. 32:4). Can works without faith be comprehended, and could God be found without faith? Works not without faith, and the Son by demonstration? “Because the word of the Lord is right, and all his works are in faith.” But let us, having left the enemies of truth, return to a sound and safe faith, and show the rule of pious religion, effulgent with truth itself. Among the ancients, no one is more worthy of faith than Moses; among the more recent, no one is wiser than Paul. Seek the ancient state, and you will find no one greater than Moses; for: “I know you, and you have found grace before all” (Exod. 33:12). In the New Testament, no one is more perfect than Paul: for he is a “vessel of election” (Acts 9:15), and he has Christ speaking within himself. Do not go beyond the terms of Moses and of Paul. What did Moses find—comprehension of the substance, or the glory of God? Moses, brothers, came into the desire for God, as a religious man, and he did not know that he was held by a desire for an impossible thing; yet by those things which he sought from God, he showed what he desired. For what does he say? “I beseech You, Lord, if I have found grace in Your sight, let me see You clearly, show Yourself to me” (Exod. 33:13). He was a brother to Philip, who said: “Show us the Father, and it is enough for us” (John 14:8). “Lord, You have said, ‘You have found grace in my sight’: show Yourself to me, that I may see You clearly.”
For he had seen Him at the bush, he had seen Him from Mount Sinai, he had seen Him appearing from various places, and showing His manifestation in various ways; yet that blessed Moses longed to see the very character of His nature. Being a man, he had human imaginations regarding the supercosmic Power. But God received the desire of His faithful servant; He persuades human desire, which longs for things impossible. For what does He say to him? “No man shall see my face, and live” (Exod. 33:20). The power of those who desire does not contain what is desired; the mortal eye cannot bear the immortal nature. Why then, O Master, do you leave the desire uncomforted, and do not provide even a shadow of the desire to one who imagines such a longing? A Hence He says: “I will set you in the cleft of the rock, and cover you with my hand; and when my glory passes by, you shall see the back parts, but my face you shall not see” (Exod. 33:22, 23). He did not say, When I pass by, but, When my glory passes by; for it is not possible, by crossing beyond the glory, to search out the essence. Moses found nothing more than glory, and he did not see even this in its entirety, but its back parts: not because the divine nature is delineated with back and chest—for it is simple and uncompounded—but because God makes Himself known in this way, not according to the dignity proper to Him, but according to the capacity of those who are to enjoy the vision. Moses reached the glory, and did not pass beyond the glory. And you, heretic, having passed beyond the glory, are you curiously searching into the essence of God?
Let us come also to the blessed Paul. Paul, in the New Dispensation, having peered into certain particular dispensations of God, and as it were becoming dizzy at the depths of the understanding, cried out that great voice, full of astonishment, saying thus: “O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out! For who has known the mind of the Lord? or who has been his counselor? or who has first given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again?” (Rom. 11:33-35). And the end of the discourse: “For of him, and through him, and to him are all things: to whom be glory for ever” (Rom. 11:36). Do you see that when he came to the glory of God, he did not pass beyond the limit? And why do I speak of men? Ascend in your understanding to the supercosmic realms; B ask the heavens and say: “What are you able to announce to me about God? Heavens, declare to me what kind of being God is; tell me what God is in His essence.” But the heavens do not answer, being asked about things impossible. But even if you should boldly ask these things, the divine oracle will answer through the wondrous Jeremiah: “The heaven shuddered at this” (Jer. 2:12). For heaven truly shudders when it sees the divine nature being curiously investigated. The blessed David will also oppose you, chastising your immoderate curiosity, and will say, “Did you not hear that the heavens declare the nature of God, but rather, the glory of God?” Did He not cry out to you through the holy lyre that the heavens declare the glory of God, not the nature of God? They do not interpret the essence, but announce the glory of God.
But do not think that I say you should ask the angels because it is permitted to you to keep company with the powers above, but because you have the remedies from the Scripture, and the things that seal your audacity. Ask the angels; ask when you see them dancing or singing hymns on earth. Say to them: “What new thing do you teach? What strange thing do you announce?” And immediately the divine choir will answer you through the holy Gospels: “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men” (Luke 2:14). Angels came to earth, and did not pass beyond the limits of the glory; but heretics did not hesitate to pass beyond them. But what of the highest powers, those above the angels? I mean those of the archangels. And those are distinct natures. Ask the Cherubim, the royal throne: “He who sits upon the Cherubim, appear.” Ask the Cherubim as a sapphire throne, and Him sitting on the throne as the likeness of the Son of man (Ezek. 10:1; 26:24). C And there was a voice of the Cherubim, as the sound of many waters, crying: “Blessed be the glory of the Lord from his place” (Ezek. 3:12).
4. Do you see the reverence of the Cherubim? They reached glory, and did not pass beyond the limit: Blessed be the glory of the Lord. And how? From his place; so that He shows you that He dwells also in celestial places, and transcends the worth of the celestial and invisible powers much more highly. They do not speak as if drawing near, but as if standing far distant from the divine dignity: Blessed be the glory of the Lord from his place. Not that He has a place—for He circumscribes every place—but He calls the dignity around Him the place of God. Did you see the voice of the Cherubim also? Blessed be the glory of the Lord. And they announced nothing more. For it behooves you, standing in the circle, to know the things announced about God. For the Seraphim stood round about Him (Isa. 6:2). What then can be learned from you? Do not hinder. But they too will say that even if we excel in dignity, yet we recognize the limits of our nature, and we do not pass beyond the measures of knowledge; we do not curiously investigate our Creator, we do not pry into Him who honored us. We know the incomprehensible nature, that it is not subject to inquiry, nor does it serve the sequences of reasoning; the glory of Him who is worshiped transcends every angelic state at once and supercosmic understanding and every supercelestial power. Therefore also D we and they do not overstep the bounds.
we do not overstep the boundaries. We do not overstep the Cherubim, but with all reverence we sing that heavenly hymn: "Holy, holy, holy, Lord Sabaoth, heaven and earth are full of His glory" (Is. 6:3). Do you not feel shame before the heavens, which declare the glory? But the heavens do not persuade you? The angels will bring shame upon you. But you despise the angels? Revere the Cherubim. But you boldly overstep even them? Let the Seraphim bring you to your senses. But you heed neither heavenly nor earthly examples? Remain outside the sacred choir; depart of your own accord from the divine atria. For you cannot scrutinize God with curiosity B and be numbered among the faithful. And what do I say of God? Do you not know that it is terrible to boldly scrutinize the nature of God? Indeed, if you wish to examine even the works of God too accurately, God will not count you worthy of His familiarity, but will repel you far away, as one who attempts the impossible.
Moses, such a great man, the worker of so many miracles, who became the mediator between God and men, for whom the sea was divided, who brought down manna from the heavens—this man, when he dared to measure even one of God’s commands by human reason, and did not yield to the divine power, incurred an inexorable penalty. For as he reached the rock, he said to the people: "You rebellious and stubborn ones, can I give you water from this rock?" (Num. 20:10). And what does God say to him? "Because you did not glorify me before the assembly, you shall not enter into the land which I swore" (Num. 20:12). Here, apply your mind to me attentively. "Because you have not glorified me." What was it to glorify? To say, "God can do all things." For it is a sin against God to examine His deeds with arguments and not to yield to the divine power, which works over and above all things that are its own. David institutes a defense for Moses in his fall, not in his mind, but in his tongue. For the sins of the righteous are concerning the lips; but the transgressions of the ungodly are concerning the mind. And just as the ungodly man is separated from God in his mind, yet would seem to approach Him somewhat by the reason of his lips—for "This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me" (Is. 29:13)—so also the pious man, endowed with a firm heart, often slips with his tongue. Therefore David undertakes the defense of Moses; prophet purges prophet: "And they provoked Him at the waters of contradiction, and Moses was vexed because of them" (Ps. 105:32). Because of them? It was not out of his own mind that he exhibited unbelief, but, troubled by the contradiction of the people, he no longer had a pure mind, being as he was troubled. These things have been brought forth from the workshop of iniquity. Where have you heard "unbegotten" and "begotten"? Where have you heard those new, insane, and prideful expressions? Those things which are of the Spirit have been limited, and in their place have been introduced those things which are of the devil. If you seek these things, why do you claim Paul as your teacher? If you explore these things with curiosity, why do you boast of having Peter? Deny the faith and bring forth questions. But he says, "I do not withdraw from Scripture, far be it." A foe and a disciple, and a master of logical arguments? Explain to me, you who pursue logic, how Christ entered when the doors were shut. What need is there to discuss other things? For often these things are a detriment both to those who speak and to those who listen. I do not say to you: "Explain the invisible nature, how the Father begat, what is the mode of the divine generation;" I seek the mode of C the dispensation.
5. Tell me, how did the Savior enter with the doors shut? How did His body enter? The nature of the body denies the Gospels. If I follow faith, it is the most certain truth. How did He enter with the doors shut? For it was not an incorporeal nature, which penetrates all bodies; but there was a body with that which is incorporeal; and that was the instrument of the incorporeal nature. For the Savior possessed this human body. Truly, the disciples, looking toward the new miracle, thought it was a spirit, because it surpassed the nature of the body. He says to those who doubt: "Touch me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see me having" (Lk. 24:39). How did He enter? Were the panels dissolved like air? Or perhaps the body was thinned, and thus passed through the thickness of the wood? But neither can you say, nor am I able to explain; Scripture has handed down nothing of these things to me. I do not inquire into the matter with curiosity; I follow what has been preached, even if I were unwilling. I believe He entered; how, however, I do not investigate. Do not think He entered with the doors shut. He did not say, "The door was rarefied or dissolved and He entered," but, "The doors being shut." He narrated what was done; He did not declare what the mode of the event was. D Peter came out of prison; but the doors were opened to him, and Scripture signified this with those words: "The iron gate opened to them of its own accord" (Acts 12:10). It did not say, "It received Peter passing through of its own accord"; for it was a human body, and from human clay. But Christ’s body was human, indeed, on account of the kinship it has with us; but divine on account of the union with the Word, and on account of the wonderful birth of the Virgin. How did He enter with the doors shut? How did He ascend with the heavens closed? O, the rashness of those who...
believe all things! A But what does the adversary say? "We do not find faith to be secure everywhere; we have found it slipping; one must not believe without examination, but with accurate investigation." Many of the things from the outside concur with them. For the thoughts of heretics and Greeks are akin; the former are inventions of demons, and the latter are the teachings of demons. B Some, therefore, of those who resist the faith say that its lack of reasoning is harmful; and that if a scrutinized logic is not joined to faith, it brings no profit to the believer. "Whence," he says, "do you wish to examine the nature of faith? Do you wish to do so from the beginning, from the creation itself?" Seek out him whom you call the first-formed. I find that he fell away from faith. Look at the words of the evil demon, who dares to venture everything easily; what he dares, what he utters, what he proposes. "You say," he says, "that the serpent said to him: 'In the day you eat, you shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.' He believed the serpent, and having believed, he perished. The beginning of evils, therefore, is faith." These things come to us from those enemies of the truth, from those foes of piety. C But the impious have been ignorant of the true definition of faith; they do not know what they are proposing. For do we say that everyone who believes everything has faith, and is proclaimed faithful? It is not that he who believes just anyone is faithful, but he who truly believes God. For did you show that he who believed God perished? He fell because he believed the devil; he slipped because he disbelieved God. Why do you twist the words? Hear Jeremiah saying: "Hear me, you who hate judgment, you who twist all things that are right." And yet it behooved you to say: "The beginning of evils is unbelief." For if he had believed God, saying, "In the day you eat, you shall surely die," he would not have slipped, but would have had faith, a faith secure for salvation. Never slander the name of faith. For not he who believes everything is faithful, but he who believes God—this one alone both is and is called so. Leave off these questionings, and embrace faith. Faith illuminates all things, faith sanctifies all things, faith makes us worthy of the Holy Spirit. D For Stephen was full of faith and power. If faith had not shone forth in advance, power would not have followed the holy man. Where there is faith, there is also power; where there is unbelief, there is also weakness. The beginning of good things is faith; the foundation of good things is faith. Let us hold fast to the weapon of salvation. Why are you enslaved to words, and why do you flee the truth? Why do you bring forward things that neither the nature of angels dares to investigate? What do I say—the nature of angels? Things that not even demons dare. Do you not wish to follow Peter? Do you not wish to follow Paul? Nor the angels? Nor the Cherubim? Nor the Seraphim? Become, at least, a disciple of the demons. The demons saw the Savior, and they say to Him: "Let us be! What have we to do with You, Son of God?" The demons confess the Son, and you, heretic, blaspheme? The demons make Him equal, and you construct inequality? And what shall I do, says the heretic, when the Lord says: "That they may know You, the only true God?" He said "only," he proclaimed the Father alone to be the true God. I walk in the truth that was proclaimed by God. Do you follow the voice of the "only," and are you enslaved to the word? Keep for me the limits on matters being examined. God says through the prophet: "I am the first, and I am after these things, and there is no other besides Me. There is no just one and savior besides Me. And turn unto Me, and you shall be saved from the ends of the earth. I am God, and there is no other. By Myself I swear. I am the first, and I am after these things." And he added, "And there is no other besides Me." See how He points to a solitary nature, having nothing in common with any other distinct nature? And God says these things: "I am, and there is no other"; he who speaks through the prophet: "I stretched out the heaven alone." Pay attention, you, to "Alone," since you bring forward "the only true God." "I stretched out the heaven alone"; and here, in the same way, "I am, and there is no other; by Myself I swear." Pay attention also to the authority and the power of the speaker; because He said, "There is no other," and "I am alone," and this, "I have sworn by Myself"; and it signifies that there is no one greater than Him who speaks. Just as the Apostle also says: "Since He had no one greater by whom to swear, He swore by Himself." The one who says, "By Myself I swear, that by all means righteousness will go forth from My mouth, and My words will not be turned back," has no one greater. And what do you swear? "That to Me every knee shall bow, and every tongue shall confess the true God." Who is the one who says these things, heretic? The Father, or the Son? To me the believer, and to every pious person, belongs the dignity of the Father and the authority of the Son. For hold this as observed, that many of the things said among us are proclaimed in the way of contest, not dogmatically. The dogma of piety stands firm for me, and for every believer, that wherever the Father alone is discussed, the Son and the Holy Spirit are also included. Where the Son is discussed, there is the Father's authority; where the Father exercises authority, there is the Son's power; where the Holy Spirit works, there is the Father's operation. The glory of the Holy Trinity is not divided, since the dogma of the truth is not divided. Do not confess one kingship.
B Perhaps some sycophants might say: "See how he said that all things are the Son's, and the Son speaks, and he shows that the prophecy is indeed alien to the Father, but proper to the Son." The boundary marker of the faith stands unshaken for me. This exercise is a contest. Here I show the Son speaking, and when I have persuaded you, I have then persuaded myself: the Father is speaking, the Son is preaching, the Holy Spirit is pouring out oracles. "I [am] the first, and I [am] after these things, and besides me there is no God." "I swear by myself." Who is it that says, "I am, and there is no other"? And, "Out of my mouth shall come forth righteousness," and, "My words shall not be turned back; for to me every knee shall bow, and every tongue shall confess the true God"? How do you interpret the statement? To whom do you attribute the name? But do not speak of things you do not know, nor do I bring forward what I do not understand. Let us follow the spiritual teacher, who is able to lead us into piety. Do not, therefore, hear from me, but hear with me. I know Paul as the teacher of ecclesiastical dogmas. When I say Paul, I preach Christ; for he himself was the one who spoke in Paul, according to that saying: "Do you seek proof of Christ speaking in me?" "I am, and there is no other," and, "I swear by myself, because to me every knee shall bow, and every tongue shall confess the true God," Paul refers to Christ. And where do you find this demonstration? Writing to the Romans he says: "But you, why do you judge your brother? Or why do you despise your brother? Why do you judge one another? For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. For it is written: I live, says the Lord, because to me every knee shall bow, and every tongue shall confess the true God" (Rom. XIV, 10). I swear by myself, because to me every knee shall bow. If, therefore, Paul refers the prophecy to Christ—and the one who speaks in the prophet is Christ—C then Christ truly says, "I am alone, and there is no other." Does he therefore cast out the Father in his divinity? And yet he does not cast him out; for in truth he does not cast him out, since the glory is indivisible. Therefore, it has been clearly demonstrated that just as the Son, when he says "I am alone," does not cast out the Father, so neither, when he says of the Father, "That they may know you the only true God," does he disconnect himself from the truth. Nor is this the only thing salutary taught, but it is also inferred from this very testimony that Christ is the true God. For he subjoins, "And every tongue shall confess the true God." Therefore, he who says, "I alone," and "I [am] true," is the Son. Why then does he contend about words, where the truth is in agreement? Why, therefore, did he say, "You the only true God"? Learn, and do not contend. The Savior is the teacher of the world, the corrector of the universe, who lifts up fallen things, brings back those who are wandering, and renews those that have grown old. Because he knew that his word would go forth, and would be propagated through the whole world to correct the error of the Gentiles and to refute Jewish incredulity, he used a word sharp on both sides; so that while he says, "The true and only God," he might refute many false gods, and when he adds, "And him whom you have sent, Christ," he might confute those who had denied the incarnation. He preaches the only true God, not by separating himself, but by destroying the instruments of error. And so that you may learn, brother, that he himself is both the true God and the Son of the true God, John the evangelist—in whom these things were written—for in the Gospel according to John it is held: "That they may know you the only true God" (John XVII, 3); the same preacher, who preached these things, writes in his Epistle: and the first Epistle is reckoned among those that are received in the Church, not among the apocrypha; for the fathers place the second and the third outside the canon. But all agree that the first Epistle is John's. It is necessary, therefore, to observe what that holy man preaches D while speaking about God through the epistle. "We know," he says, "that the Son of God has come, and has given us an understanding, that we may know him who is true, and we are in the true [God], in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life" (I John V, 20). This man, brothers, both said those things and preached these. Furthermore, if you please, let us philosophize and discuss the word "Alone." Let many arrows be sent against the infidel, not to wound bodies, but to correct opinions. Let words be sent forth to the faithful, but arrows to the infidels. For "The arrows of the mighty are sharpened, the peoples [shall fall] under you, in the heart of the enemies" (Ps. XLIV, 6). The blessed Jeremiah therefore says, or rather Baruch, who was his disciple, as Elisha was of Elijah: "Who prepared the earth for an eternal time, filled it with beasts and four-footed animals: he sent forth the light, and it goes; he called it, and it obeyed him in trembling. And the stars shone in their watches, and were glad; he called the stars themselves," he says, "and they said, 'We are here,' and they shone in gladness to him who made them."
A
(Baruch 3:32-35). And after such theology, he says: "This is our God, no other shall be reckoned against him." (Ibid., v. 36-38). Observe carefully how he shuts out the other. "No other shall be reckoned against him. He found all the way of knowledge, and gave it to Jacob his servant, and to Israel his beloved" (a). "After these things he appeared upon the earth, and conversed with men." Here is our God, "against whom no other shall be reckoned," he "appeared upon the earth, and conversed with men" afterwards. Do you see the truth safeguarded? See how he gives no entrance to error, so that a Jew may not slander the truth and say that God appeared to Moses—for God appeared in the bush. "Beside him there is no other," and he does not cast out the Father from divine dignity. If the Father is called alone, does he exclude the Son from the communion in dignity? When God says he is one and alone, the Father, or the Son, he does not deny the natural relationship of his own nature. B The Father does not cast out the Son, nor does the Son set aside the Father; but when such things are said, the discourse is directed against the error of the idols. Why do you contrive blasphemy against the Only-begotten? Does God not give his glory to idols, or does he not give it to the One begotten of him? Indeed he gives it, not according to grace, but according to the communion of nature. And whence is the proof that Christ receives the glory of the Father? He said: "My glory I will not give to another" (Isa. 42:8).
7. Hear how the Savior himself, conversing with the Apostles, says: "When the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father" (Mark 8:38); though He had said before that "my glory I will not give to another." Search the saying, and you will find the meaning. "My glory," he did not say, "I will not give to my Son," but "I will not give to another." Now, "another" is that which is alien to being of the same nature, and is separated from that nature; but the Son is not another, for "I and the Father are one" (John 10:30). It is demonstrated clearly, therefore, that "that they may know thee the only true God" does not negate that the Son is true God. Do not cast the word into reproach C as if the meaning were left hanging; which is what some of the brethren have suffered regarding the cup. As if the meaning had received no solution, they brought forward the accusations. "For it left the examination," they say, "hanging and suspended." But what, brethren, was there more to say? What was needed for proof in addition to what has been said? First indeed, "If it be possible, let this cup pass from me" (Matt. 26:39); and as to what is suggested by the phrasing (for the phrase seems in some way to place the suppliant under another authority), we brought forward that voice of the Lord, which truly resounds with every divine authority, and presents the dignity of the speaker: "I have power to lay down my life, and I have power to take it again" (John 10:18); and that the one, "I have," is proper to the divinity, whereas "If it be possible, let this cup pass from me," was spoken from the perspective of the flesh, and not from the perspective of the divinity. And over these, we again set the Master's own testimony to seal it; wherefore he said, "The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak," and we noted that it is among the most absurd things, while the Lord himself assigns it to the flesh, for us to cast the weakness of the word onto the authority of the divinity. But that we may also present the aim of the Lord, for what reason he said, "Let this cup pass from me," D as if not fleeing the dispensation of the cross he refused death; but because those who were unskilled in the dispensation were going to be scandalized at the cross, he uses this phrase. And again, the testimony followed this thought: "Pray, that you enter not into temptation" (Ibid.). Others indeed have slandered us, as though we had said that it was possible to fulfill the dispensation by another manner of death. But this neither has been said, nor will it be said. I did not say "by another death," but I said, "in another manner the dispensation was to be fulfilled," that is, apart from death. For I interpreted the cup, and the "otherwise" as that which is outside of death. And this happened, not as though the Lord truly refused death for the sake of the world, but as certifying the weakness of the flesh, that it was truly flesh that was fearful, that was troubled. For "the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak." To the flesh he assigned the words of weakness, he did not wound the authority of the divinity. Why do you slander what I do not say? Why do you calumniate what I do not preach? I said "another manner"—not of death, but of dispensation. It is not said: "If it be possible, let this cup be changed." The weakness belongs to the flesh, the passion to the incarnation. He utters the words of weakness to show that he is clothed in this nature, which is fearful of death. But that you may not again be enslaved to the letter, I have brought forward from the abundance [of proofs] that: what argument exists for the apostles to trample upon death bravely, but for the Lord of the apostles to fear and tremble at the trial of death? I will say these things now as well, brothers. Paul is eager not only to be bound but even to die for the name of Christ, and does the Lord of Paul refuse death? And is the heart of Paul not broken, but the soul of Christ is troubled? "For now," he says, "my soul is troubled" (John 12:27). I have spoken all these things to you under witnesses. But do these things not persuade you? But does "If it be possible" scandalize you? Indeed, he says. Let us come together, brothers, with the contentious; let us contend with the power of the truth to raise up those who have fallen through the weakness of disbelief. If Christ had power, he would not have said, "If it be possible, let it pass." Then you also accuse God, who in the law has used a certain phrase, far removed from his own authority. For he says to Moses, when he was speaking from Mount Sinai, of that great and fearful manifestation; when all the people trembled, hearing the voice of the living God; he who has authority over all, and rules all things for all, says to Moses, God who gives all things: "Who will grant/give that their heart should be so in them, that they should fear me and keep all the days, that it may be well with them and with their children?" (Deut. 5:29). God says: "Who will give to this people a heart?" And who, O Master, is steadfast above you, to give? Are you not the one who gives all things, and especially those that pertain to piety? If you were not the one giving a good heart to those who love you, if you are not the one who gives, how does David pray to you: "Create a clean heart in me, O God" (Ps. 50:12)? The prophets ask for a clean heart from you, and the other good gifts, and of the…
A power of the heart he makes use of human speech: "Who shall give to this people a heart?" And who gives more than you? But although you spoke thus out of your goodness, still blessed Moses did not cling to your word, but proclaimed your majesty, showed your authority, and revealed your power. He says to the people in Deuteronomy: "The Lord God gave you a heart to know, and eyes to see, and ears to hear, unto this day" (Deut. 29:4). Since, therefore, he who gives all things was saying, "Who shall give to this people such a heart?" how could he, if he were not the one who gives the heart, say through Ezekiel: "And I will take away from them the heart of stone, and I will give them a heart of flesh, and I will write my law in their hearts" (Ezek. 11:19; Jer. 31:33)? As, therefore, there God himself, who is able to give a good heart, says, "Who shall give it?" so too the Only-Begotten of the Father, who by his power fills the world, and says with authority: "I have power to lay down my soul, and I have power to take it up again" (John 10:18), still replies, in accordance with human form and the reason of carnal infirmity, with these words: "If it be possible, let this cup pass from me" (Matt. 26:39). Do not, therefore, bring calumny upon what is said, but cleave to those things which have been preached; do not slander the doctrine while not grasping the meaning. I know whence you burst forth into calumny: I know whence you are so affected. It is a human affection, a disease of envy. For just as the eye, if it be pure, sees and discerns all things rightly; but if smoke has invaded it, and has weakened the beauty of vision, or if dust has fallen into it, it blunts the sight, and it does not see rightly as before: so now also the hearers, one by one, as long as they have a pure eye of faith, a pure eyelid of love, see rightly and purely; but if the smoke of blasphemy has invaded what is said, or the dust of envy has entered the mind, it troubles the intuition and removes the purity of the mind. And so he thinks he has heard what he has not heard, and what he has heard, he has not rightly understood. B Wherefore, when the divine Scripture foresaw the stumbling-blocks of those who were about to wander in thought in the sacred letters, one of the prophets cried out after the completed divine preaching: "Who is wise, and shall understand these things? And he who is prudent, and shall know them? For the ways of the Lord are right, and the just shall walk in them" (Hos. 14:10). Do not, therefore, brother, turn words into stumbling-blocks. The discourse is naked, the truth is naked. Not one, not two, not ten, not a hundred have heard; the multitude is immense and numberless. The Church is a sea of piety, not shaken by waves, but full of faith. Among us, the vessel of doctrine does not suffer shipwreck; it is not driven, it is not troubled, it is not agitated by tempests; but it brings souls that love God to the tranquil port. And so much for that. But it is necessary to consider this, that the saints of God fall into calumnies. What wonder if we, vile and humble, who are nothing, so to speak, are assailed by calumnies? Have you not heard the words of David, "Deliver me from the calumnies of men" (Ps. 118:122)? The apostles of the holy Savior also suffered calumny, as the blessed Paul says: "And not as we are slandered, and as some say that we say, let us do evil, that there may come good" (Rom. 3:8). I do not grieve, being affected with calumny along with the saints; even if I am unworthy of the fellowship of the saints. I have you all as judges, and before you all our common Father, who judges not from a prejudiced opinion, but when the matter is known. He knows our thoughts, he recognizes also our words, that we have been taught these things by him. We ask of you if he has censured what was said, and corrected them; but he suspected nothing. Certainly, if he had corrected, he would not have done it moved by hatred, but by charity. For whom the father loves, he corrects; but whom he does not correct, he turns away from (Prov. 3:12). But this admirable father both approves of what is said rightly and corrects errors. For this is the property of a father, to celebrate with praises things said rightly and preached with faith. His suffrage, therefore, is sufficient for the instance of all, and in the first place, that of the most holy God. C But let us cleave to pious religion, let us preserve the faith undefiled. Believe in the truth, and do not contradict the truth. Do not adulterate the faith, do not curiously explore the divine nature, do not subject immortal dignity to mortal reasonings. The path of reasonings is dangerous; the path of the confession of faith is safe and firm. True wisdom is faith. Hear what the divine oracle says: "For even if one shall be perfect among the children of men, if from him the wisdom which is from you be absent, he shall be reputed as nothing" (Wisd. 9:6). Flee questions, and do not prefer words to the faith. Have Paul as a master, ascribe to yourself Peter as a teacher: follow their faith. Hear Peter saying: "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God" (Matt. 16:16). Follow Paul clearly celebrating the Son of God, and D now indeed saying: "God has spoken to us in the Son, by whom he also made the ages; who being the splendor of his glory, and the figure of his substance, and carrying all things by the word of his power" (Heb. 1:2-3); now again preaching, where he acts concerning the Jews: "Whose are the fathers, of whom is Christ according to the flesh, who is over all things God blessed for ever. Amen" (Rom. 9:5).