BY THE SAME ON PERFECTION AND WHAT A CHRISTIAN OUGHT TO BE, TO OLYMPIUS THE MONK.
A You ask by what method a life may be established by virtue, so that it might be absolute and perfect in every detail of duty, and liable to no reproaches; a request truly worthy of your profession. For my part, nothing would be more desirable than to be able to draw from my own life the examples you seek, so that I might explain the instruction you ask of me by deeds rather than by words. For that manner of living well is truly worthy of belief, when the life of the teacher corresponds to his discourse. But since I see that I have not yet attained what I desire, so that I might display a life in place of a discourse, lest I seem altogether imperfect and wander completely from the mark through ignorance, I shall hand down to you a brief formula for living rightly; and the beginning of that discourse arises from this point:
Our good Lord Jesus Christ has made us who believe in Him partakers of His adorable name, so that, whether we be rich, or noble, or obscure, or poor, or adorned with the insignia of learning or dignity, we are not named from any of these things which we possess, but, with all these set aside, we are properly called by His one name: Christians. Since, therefore, He has brought this grace to us from heaven, it is worth the effort first to consider the magnitude of the gift, that we may render deserved thanks to God who has bestowed such great things. Next, we must show ourselves in our whole life to be such as the excellence B of this name requires. How great this gift is, that we should be called by the name of Him who is the Lord of our life, will become plain to us if we give attention to what the name itself, derived from Christ, signifies, so that we may understand, whenever we call upon the Lord of all in our prayers by this word, what kind of conception we take into our souls, or what we are thinking by this name when we believe we are appropriately calling upon Him. When we have discovered this, C
A then, in consequence, we shall clearly learn what sort of persons we ought to be, as demonstrated by the earnestness regarding our life, by using this name as a teacher and guide for our life. Therefore, by taking the holy Paul as our guide in these two matters, we shall have the safest guidance toward the clarity of the things being sought. For he, more than everyone else, understood precisely what Christ is, and by his own deeds he instructed us what he who is named after Him ought to be; having imitated Him so vividly that he showed the Lord Himself portrayed within him, by virtue of his most exact imitation, the form of his soul having been altered into the prototype, so that it no longer seemed to be Paul who was living and speaking, but Christ Himself living in him; as he says, he who is well-aware of his own graces, B claiming: "In that you seek a proof of Christ speaking in me." And, "I live, yet not I, but Christ lives in me."
He, therefore, made known to us the meaning of the one who names himself according to Christ, saying that Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God, and he also called Him peace, and unapproachable light in which God dwells, sanctification and redemption, the great high priest, and Pascha, the propitiation of souls, the brightness of glory, the character of His substance, C and maker of the ages, spiritual food and drink, and the rock, and water, the foundation of faith, and the head of the corner, and the image of the invisible God, and the great God, the head of the body of the Church, and the firstborn of the new creation, and the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep, the firstborn from the dead, and the firstborn among many brethren, and the mediator of God and men, and the only-begotten Son crowned with glory and honor, and the Lord of glory, and the beginning of those things which exist (as he said about Him: "He is the beginning"), and besides these, king of righteousness, king of peace, and king of all things, possessing a power of kingdom that is uncircumscribed. And [there are] many other such things, the multitude of which it is not easy to enumerate; all of which, when put together with one another—since the meaning of each of the titular names contributes something from itself toward the manifestation of what is signified—engender in us a certain impression of the significance of the D name of Christ, as much as we are able to grasp with the soul, they indicate to us those things of the ineffable majesty. Since, therefore, the dignity of the kingdom transcends every honor and authority and power, and by the appellation of Christ the royal power is signified primarily and above all (for, as we have learned from the histories, the anointing preceded [the attainment of] the kingdom), and in the kingdom the whole power of the remaining [titles] is comprised, for this reason, he who understands the things contained within it, at the same time understands also the power that encompasses them in part. And this is the kingdom, of which the name of Christ is the indicative sign. Therefore, since the greatest and most divine and first name of the Lord
A has provided a communion for us from the good Master, so that those who have been honored with the title of Christ are named Christians, it must be necessary that all the names which interpret this word be seen expressed in us also, so that the calling may not be falsely applied to us, but that we may have the testimony from our life. For things do not come into being from the appellation, but the underlying nature, whatever it may be, is recognized through the significance of the attribute name. What do I mean? If one were to grant the name of a human to a tree or a stone, would the plant or the stone B be a man because of the calling? By no means; rather, it is necessary to be a man first, and then to be named with the appellation of that nature. For even in the case of likenesses, the appellations do not possess the primary meaning, as if one were to call the statue a man, or the image a horse; rather, if anything is to be named properly and truthfully, nature will in all cases demonstrate the appellation. And the material that has received the imitation—whatever such other thing it may be, onto which art has cast the form D—is just what it happens to be, and it is named accordingly, whether it be bronze or stone, or whatever the art has fashioned into the desired shape.
Therefore, those who name themselves after Christ must first become what the name intends, and then in this way apply the calling to themselves. And just as, if one were to distinguish a true human from one who is called by the same name in an image, he will make the distinction from their respective properties (for he will call the one a rational and cognitive C animal, while the other he will call inanimate matter that has taken on the form through imitation); so, too, shall we recognize the Christian, both the one who is truly so and the one who only seems to be, through the properties that appear in their characteristics. And the characteristics of the one who is truly a Christian are all those things that we have understood concerning Christ. Of these, we imitate as much as we can grasp; but whatever our nature cannot grasp for imitation, we revere and worship. Therefore, all the names that interpret the significance of Christ must shine forth in the Christian life—some through imitation, others through worship—if the man of God is to be mature, as the Apostle says, in no way diminishing that maturity through wickedness. For just as those who fashion the monstrous inventions of myths, either by speech or by the art of painting, combining certain bucephali, or hippocentaurs, or snake-footed beings, or anything else of that sort from heterogeneous natures, do not direct their imitation to the archetype of nature, but by this irrational invention, ignoring nature, they fashion something else, and not a human, shaping the non-existent according to their fancy; and no one would call that which is fashioned by this strange combination a human, even if a part of the construction happens to be similar to some part of the human body: in the same way, one could not be accurately called a Christian who possesses a truncated head—that is to say, who in his faith does not possess the head of the whole body, which is the Word—even if he be mature in other respects, or he who [has not] the head of the faith
A show himself [to possess] a manner of life not consistent, or by being entwined with the frenzies of dragons and becoming beast-like after the likeness of these serpents, or by applying the unbridled lust of horses to the human character, thereby becoming a two-natured hippocentaur, being composed of both rational and irrational elements. It is possible to see many such people who, with the head of a calf—that is to say, in the doctrine of idolatry—lead a life polished in its outward decencies (just as they paint the Minotaur), while those who, with a Christian face, beast-like affix a body to their life, are such as they represent to be centaurs or snake-footed creatures. Therefore, just as in the body of a man, the Christian ought to be recognized, so it is required that the believer mark his life with the characters of all the good things understood in Christ. For to be in one aspect what the name [Christian] intends, while in other things inclining toward the opposite, is nothing else than to divide oneself against oneself into the rank of an enemy, warring within oneself by means of virtue and vice, and becoming irreconcilable to oneself and inconsistent in one's life. "For what fellowship has light with darkness?" says the Apostle.
B Since, therefore, the light is unmixed and there is no mediation in the opposition [to darkness], he who holds to both, and does not let go of either, is of necessity himself divided by the contradiction of these things which are opposed to one another, becoming light and darkness at the same time in a mixed life; since faith introduces the illumination, while the malice of [his] life darkens the radiance from the Word. Since, then, the communion of light with darkness is unmixed and inconsistent, he who is encompassed by either of the opposites becomes an enemy to himself, divided in two between virtue and vice, and setting himself up against himself in a hostile rank. And just as it is not possible for both to become victors over each other in the case of two enemies (for the victory of one by all means brings about the death of the opposing party), so also in this civil war, which consists in a mixed life, C it is not possible for the superior battle array to win a victory without the complete destruction of the other, which has been corrupted. For how shall the army of piety become stronger than wickedness, when the evil phalanx of the opposites resists it? But if the superior [part] is to win, the opposing [part] must by all means be slain. And thus virtue shall have the trophies of victory over vice, when every [thing] hostile to it has shifted by the aid of reason toward that which is non-existent. And then is fulfilled that which is spoken from the person of God through the prophecy: "I will kill and I will make to live." For it is not possible for the good that is in me to live otherwise, unless it is made alive by the death of the enemy. And as long as we are gripped by both, touching the opposites with either hand, it is impossible to have the participation of both at the same time. D For as much as from one
part we take hold of malice, by just so much we lose of the other part of virtue. A But to return the discourse to where it digressed, there is one way for those who love virtue to reach the pure and divine life: to know what the name of Christ signifies, and to accommodate their own way of life to it, polished and harmonized by the power of the holy titles. Whatever words, therefore, we recounted at the beginning of our discourse from the holy teaching of Paul, which explain the significance of Christ—if we set these before ourselves to be, as we have said, partly imitated and partly honored—we shall build for ourselves the safest approach to a good and blessed life.
Let us begin, then, while keeping the order which the series of those things we have already enumerated suggests. "Christ," he says, "is the power of God and the wisdom of God." B From these we first learn the things that are appropriate to the divinity, by which the name of Christ becomes venerable to us. For since all things, as many as are known by sense and those that transcend sensory perception, were made through Him and consist in Him, it is necessary, in defining the significance of the name of Him who created all things, that wisdom and power be joined together. For from these two words so coupled we understand this; for these great and ineffable miracles of creation would not exist unless wisdom had conceived their procreation, and power had accomplished what had been conceived by wisdom; for through power the thoughts of wisdom itself become works.
Therefore, the significance of Christ is fittingly divided into a double emphasis C—namely, into wisdom and power—so that when we look at the magnitude of the structure of the universe, we may know from it the immense power of God. But when we consider how things that were not came into being—the multiform nature in existing things having been brought into being by a divine command—we then adore and contemplate the incredible wisdom of Him who devised them, whose thoughts are the things themselves. Nor indeed will this faith be idle, by which we believe Christ to be power and wisdom, but it will be an aid to us in the discernment of good. For what anyone calls upon in prayer, that he draws and leads toward himself by his supplication; and he thus strengthens the inner man with power, as the Apostle says, looking toward the power (and Christ is the power), and becomes wise, as the Proverb says, he who invokes D wisdom, which is in turn understood to be the Lord. Therefore, he who is named alongside Christ, who is power and wisdom, is also called powerful alongside Him, having been empowered against sin, and he will show forth the wisdom in himself by the choice of what is better. By the conjunction of wisdom and power being demonstrated in us—the one choosing the good, and the power confirming what has been thought—the perfection of life is accomplished, being woven together by both. Thus, also, having understood Christ to be peace, we shall demonstrate the true calling of Christ upon ourselves if, through the peace that is in us, we show Christ forth in our life. He destroyed the enmity,
as the Apostle says. Therefore, let us not revive it within ourselves, but let us show it to be A dead in our own life. Let us not, by anger and rancor, raise it up against ourselves—leading to the ruin of our souls—when it has been well destroyed by God for our salvation, thus bringing about a wretched resurrection of that which has died so well. But if we possess Christ, who is peace, let us also mortify the enmity within ourselves, so that what we believe in Him, we may also accomplish in our own life. For just as He, having broken down the middle wall of the partition, created the two in Himself into one new man, making peace, so let us also lead to reconciliation not only those who fight against us from without, but also those who cause insurrection within us ourselves, so that the flesh may no longer lust against the spirit, nor the spirit against the flesh; but with the carnal mind subjected to the divine law, let us live in peace within ourselves, having been reconstituted into one new and peaceful man, and out of two having become B one. For the definition of peace is the harmony of those who are at variance. Therefore, when the civil war of our nature is removed, then we also, having peace within ourselves, become peace, showing forth the true and sovereign naming of Christ in us. And having understood Christ to be the true light, inaccessible to falsehood, we learn that our life also must be illuminated by the rays of the true Father. The rays of the sun of righteousness are the virtues themselves, flowing forth for our illumination, by which it comes about that we put off the works of darkness and walk becomingly as in the day, having renounced the hidden things of shame and doing all things in the light, and ourselves becoming light, so that we may shine for others through our works, which is the property of light. And if we think of Christ as sanctification, by abstaining from every profane and unclean action and thought—not confessing the power of sanctification by C word, but by our life—we shall show ourselves to be true partakers of His name, inasmuch as we do not bear the virtue of sanctification before us in words, but in the actions of our life.
Having learned that Christ is redemption, who gave Himself as a ransom for us, we are instructed by such a word to learn that, just like some price for each soul, by providing immortality to us, He made those who were bought back from death by Him through life His own possession. If, therefore, we have become slaves of Him who redeemed us, we shall by all means look to the One who rules, so that we no longer live to ourselves, but to Him who bought us through the exchange of His own life. For we are no longer masters of ourselves, but He who bought us is the Lord, and we are His possessions. Therefore, the law of our life shall be the will of the One who rules. For just as when death held D sway over us, the law of sin administered all things within us; so, since we have become a possession of life, just as
A we have received the law of life, let us adapt our manner of life accordingly, lest, having turned aside from the will of life, we should again through sin desert to the tyrant of our souls, I mean death. This same thought will attach us to Christ, whether we hear from Paul that he is called the Passover, or the High Priest. For Christ was truly slain as our Passover; but the Priest who offers the sacrifice to God is none other than Christ himself. “For he gave himself,” he says, “an offering and a sacrifice to God for us.” Therefore, we learn from these things that whoever looks to Him who offered himself as an offering and sacrifice and became the Passover, he himself will also present his own body to God as a living, holy, and well-pleasing sacrifice, becoming a spiritual service. B The manner of this priestly act is not to be conformed to this world, but to be transformed by the renewal of one's mind, in order to discern what is the good, acceptable, and perfect will of God. For the good will of God cannot be shown in the flesh if it has not been sacrificed according to the spiritual law; since the mind of the flesh is enmity toward God and is not subject to the law of God. For it cannot be, as long as the flesh lives, that—unless it be sacrificed through the life-giving sacrifice, by mortifying the members that are upon the earth through which the passions are brought into action—the well-pleasing and perfect will of God will be accomplished without hindrance in the life of those who have believed in Him. Thus also, while Christ is considered as the propitiation in His own blood, we are taught that we also should be a propitiation for ourselves, and by mortifying our members, we render our souls immortal. C When, however, Christ is called the radiance of the glory and the stamp of His substance, by these words we conceive in our minds His adorable majesty. For the divinely inspired and truly God-taught Paul, who had searched out the deep and hidden mysteries of God in the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God, when his tongue was too weak to declare the divinely-revealed splendors of those things which cannot be traced or investigated, indicated them by certain signs as much as the hearing of those receiving his understanding could grasp, expressing only as much as his speech serving his thought was able to explain. D For when he had come to know all that falls under human nature and power regarding the divine nature, he demonstrated that the account of that supreme essence cannot be grasped or comprehended by human thoughts. Moreover, when he pursued those things that are considered in relation to Him—namely, peace, virtue, life, justice, light, truth, and other things of this kind—he denied that the account of His very essence could be conceived at all, saying that God had never been seen, nor would He ever be seen. “For no one,” he says, “has seen, nor can any man see…”
…” A Therefore, since he seeks how he might name that which cannot be grasped by reasoning, and since he has not found a noun expressive enough for the interpretation of things incomprehensible, he has named that which surpasses every good "glory" and "substance"—that which can neither properly be conceived, nor expressed. He left the substance of existing things, which is above them, unnamed; but as he interprets the connection and inseparability of the Son with the Father, along with that which is seen together with the uncircumscribed and eternal Father, uncircumscribedly and eternally, he addresses Him as the "radiance of glory" and the "stamp of [His] substance" (Heb. I, 3). By the radiance, he indicates the co-naturality; by the stamp, the equality. For neither is any medium conceived between it and the nature that radiates, nor is there any diminution of the stamp in relation to the substance characterized by it. B But he who has considered the nature that radiates, has by all means also considered its radiance. And he who has taken into his mind the magnitude of the substance, by all means measures that substance by the stamp that appears upon it. For this reason, he also calls the Lord the "form of God," not belittling the Lord by the conception of "form," but pointing out the magnitude of the Son through the form—in which the Father’s majesty is contemplated, never overstepping its own form, nor being found outside the stamp that is about it. For there is nothing formless or unbeautiful regarding the Father that does not rejoice in the beauty of the Only-Begotten; therefore the Lord says: “He who has seen me, has seen the Father” (John XIV, 9), signifying by this that there is neither any deficiency nor any overstepping.
Furthermore, by saying C that He carries all things by the word of His power, he dissolves the difficulty of those who investigate the unsearchable too curiously—those who, seeking the reason concerning matter, nowhere stop in their officiousness. “How,” they say, “is matter from the immaterial? And how is quantity from that which creates no quantity, and shape from the shapeless, and color from the invisible, and what is bounded by its own measures from the uncircumscribed? And if there is no quality in that which is simple and incomposite, from whence is matter entangled with the qualities inherent in it?” D He who says that the Word carries all things from non-being into generation by the word of His power solves all these and similar questions. For all things, as many as have received an immaterial nature, have one cause for their substance: the word of the ineffable power. From these things we are taught to look toward Him from whom the generation of existing things comes. For if we were brought forth into existence from thence, and consist in Him, it is a necessity that we believe there is nothing outside the knowledge of Him in whom we are, and from whom we have come into being, and into whom we resolve. And by this thought, as is reasonable, the life that is without sin is successfully achieved. For who, believing that he lives from Him, and through Him, and in Him, would dare make a witness of a life that is unbecoming, if he contains in Him the life of each [of us]? And the divine Apostle calls the Lord food and drink, implying by these words…
A that we should consider human nature not as simple, but as composed of mind and sense, to each of which parts a proper food belongs; for the body is nourished by solid food, and the health of the soul is preserved by spiritual nourishment. And just as in the body solid and liquid nourishment, mixed together, nourish and maintain nature, being mutually digested and commingled with the individual parts that are concreted in us from the elements: in the same manner, by analogy, Paul also divides the intelligible nourishment, calling the same thing both food and drink, as it is fitly and properly accommodated to the need of those who receive it. For to the weak and enervated it becomes bread, strengthening the heart of man; but to those exhausted by the misery of this life, and who for this reason B have become thirsty, it becomes wine, leading the heart to joy.
One must understand through the things said the power of the discourse, by which the soul is nourished according to its need, receiving the grace from it, according to the enigma of the prophet, who, by the place of pasture and the water of refreshment, signifies the consolation that occurs through the Word to those who are exhausted. But if any one, looking towards the mystery, should say that the Lord is properly called food and drink, not even this strays from the genuine significance; for truly His flesh is food, and His blood is truly drink. Yet, according to the previously mentioned meaning, sharing in the Word is given to all with authority—the Word who becomes food and drink imparted without distinction, C received by those who seek Him. But in the other sense, the sharing in such food and drink does not occur without testing or without discernment, since the Apostle has defined it thus: "Let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup. For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself." And the evangelist, looking to this, seems clearly to have confirmed the same significance, when, at the time of the mystical passion, that noble counselor, wrapping the body of the Lord in an immaculate and clean shroud, placed it in a new and pure monument. Wherefore we are reminded by the precept of the Apostle and the observation of the evangelist, that we should receive the sacrosanct body of the Lord with a pure conscience. If it is infected by any stain of sin, we must wash and expurgate it with the water of tears. But because Christ is also called a rock, that name will bring us the advantage D of holding a right way of life, firm and stable; and we shall be constant in bravely enduring adverse circumstances, and we shall show ourselves keen and unconquered in spirit against every assault of sin: for from these things and others of this kind
we shall also be the rock, imitating, as far as it is possible in a mutable nature, the immutable and unchangeable strength of the Lord. A And if the same [Lord] is called by the wise architect both the foundation of faith and the head of the corner, this too will be shown to be of no small significance to us for the contribution of leading a life in accordance with virtue. For we are taught through these [titles] that the Lord is both the beginning and the end of every good manner of life, and of every good lesson and practice. For both the hope—which we think of as the head, towards which all things that are zealously pursued in accordance with virtue look—is He, being called such by Paul; and the beginning of this high building of life is the faith formed in Him, upon which, as a kind of foundation, we lay the beginnings of life, and through daily accomplishments guide both our pure thoughts and our actions. B And thus, He who is the head of all becomes our head as well, fitting Himself by a strenuous union to the two walls of our life—those of the body and of the soul—which are built up through decency and purity. For if one of the structures is missing—that is, if the decency that is according to the outward appearance is not built up alongside the purity of the soul, or if the virtue of the soul does not correspond to what is manifest—Christ would not be the head of this imperfect life, since He only fits Himself to a building that is double and has a corner; for it is not possible for a corner to exist without the joining of two walls. Then, therefore, will the beauty of the corner stone be placed upon our building, when our double life, both straight and unwavering and having nothing in itself crooked or twisted, is harmoniously adjusted on both sides to the straight rule of life by the plumb line of the virtues.
C But when Paul calls Christ the image of the invisible God, and God over all and the great God—for by these words he proclaims the greatness of the true Lord, saying: "of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ"; and, "from whom is Christ according to the flesh, who is God over all, blessed for ever"—he teaches us, by saying these things, that He is always what He is (and that is what the One Who Is alone knows), but that He is beyond human comprehension; for though one who sets his mind on things above may always approach Him through progress, He always towers above by an equal measure. This One, therefore, is beyond all knowledge and comprehension, the ineffable and unutterable and indescribable One, that He might make you again an image of God, even He, through philanthropy, became the image of the invisible God: so that by the very form which He took, He might be formed in you, and you might again, through Him, be re-fashioned according to the character of the archetypal beauty, in order to become what you were from the beginning. Therefore, if we intend to become ourselves an image of the invisible God, it is fitting that we model our own form upon the pattern of life set before us; and what is this? To live in the flesh.
though by no means to live according to the flesh, since that prince of the invisible image of God, who approached us through the Virgin, was tempted in all things to the likeness of human nature, yet he alone did not receive the experience of sin. A “For he did no sin,” he says, “nor was guile found in his mouth.” Just as, therefore, if we were learning the art of painting, and a master set before us a most beautifully depicted form upon a tablet, which each of us would have to imitate in his own painting, so that all the tablets might be polished according to the set model of beauty; in the same way, since each person is the painter of his own life, and the will is the craftsman of this creation, while the virtues are the colors for the painting of the image, there is no small danger of transforming the imitation of the original beauty into some unsightly and deformed features, by shadowing forth the character of vice with foul colors, rather than the Lordly form. But as it is possible, we must take up the colors of the virtues, pure and skillfully and knowingly blended for the reception of the image, so that we may be an image of the image, and, as far as it is possible, express by clear imitation the model of beauty, as Paul did, who, instituting his life from virtue, became an imitator of Christ.
If, however, we wish to pursue these things more clearly in a detailed discourse, by which we represent the image through imitation: one color is humility. B “Learn,” he says, “from me, for I am meek and humble in heart.” Another color is patience; and in how many ways is this seen in the image of the invisible God? Where are the swords, and the clubs, and the shackles, the scourges, the cheeks struck by slaps, the face defiled with spittle, the shoulders given over to lashes, the impious judgment, the cruel sentence, the soldiers aggravating the harsh verdict with mockeries, derisions, insults, and blows of the reed, the nails, the gall, the vinegar, and all the most grievous things inflicted upon him without cause, or rather, returned in exchange for innumerable benefits? C And how then did he avenge himself upon those who were doing these things? “Father,” he says, “forgive them, for they know not what they do.” Could he not have broken open the heavens above them, or consumed them by chasms in the earth, or moved the sea from its own boundaries and submerged the earth in its depths, or sent down a Sodomite rain of fire, or inflicted some other bitter punishment with a single word?
Yet he endured all these things with a mild and patient spirit, and by his own self gave to your life the laws of patience. D Thus, one may behold all the other things in the leaden image of God, toward which he who looks, and truly adorns his own form according to its likeness, becomes himself also an image of the invisible God, painted through perseverance. But he who has learned that Christ is the head of the Church,
A let him before all things understand this: that every head is of the same nature and consubstantial with the body which is subject to it, and that there is a certain unity, which is one, of the individual members with the whole, working through a single breathing together to produce a sympathy felt by the parts toward the whole. Therefore, if anything is outside the body, it is entirely alienated also from the head. The Word therefore instructs us through these things that, whatever the head is by nature, the individual members must also become, so that it may have a familiar relationship with the head. And we are the members, who are being united into the body of Christ. If, therefore, anyone takes a member of Christ and makes it a member of a harlot—taking up unchastened lust like a certain sword—through this evil passion he has wholly alienated the member from the head. And so also the other instruments of wickedness become swords, by which the members are cut off from the body which is joined together, and are separated from the head, as passions exercise this cutting. So that the whole body may therefore remain in its natural state, it is fitting that the individual members also should have a familiar relationship with the head, joining themselves to the head, as it were, with a pure and rational substance. If we understand the head to be incorruptible, then surely the members must also subsist in incorruptibility. So too regarding other concepts: whatever the head is perceived to be, it is a necessary consequence that these things are also observed in the members—peace, holiness, truth, and all such things. For through the Son these things and such like are demonstrated in the members, being witnessed to by their being joined naturally to the head, just as the Apostle said that He is the head, B from whom the whole body, being joined and knit together by every joint, according to the working in the measure of each individual part, makes the growth of the body. And it is fitting to be instructed through this name of "head," that just as among animals the stimulus for actions is given to the body from the head—for through the eye and the hearing the individual movements are directed, both the movement through the feet and the activity through the hands; for there is nothing being undertaken without the eye overseeing it, or the ear receiving the instructions, so that something of those things proposed might be done as it should—so must we, the body, be moved in response to the true head, in accordance with every impulse and activity, whithersoever He who formed the eye, or He who planted the ear, shall lead. Since, therefore, the head looks to the things above, the members also, which are fitted to the head, must necessarily follow the guidance of the head and have their yearning directed toward the things above. C When, therefore, we hear that He is the "firstborn of creation," and "firstborn from the dead," and "firstborn among many brothers," we should first dismiss the heretical assumptions, as they have no support for their evil dogma from the words set before us. After this, let us also consider what items here contribute to our moral life. For since, regarding the Only-Begotten God, who is the Creator of all D things, from whom and through whom and in whom are all things, he is the work of God, and...
A a creature, and a fabrication, so the enemies of God say, and for this reason they declare him to be the firstborn of every creature. Or else, as if he were a brother to the creation, they claim that he precedes it only by the rights of time, just as Reuben was preferred over his own brothers—not by nature, but by the prerogative of time—so too they judge him to be placed first by the advancement of time. First, this must be said to them: that it is impossible for the same being to be believed to be both Only-Begotten and firstborn. For neither is the Only-Begotten thought of as having brothers, nor is the firstborn—if he is indeed firstborn—the Only-Begotten, nor is he called such. B Thus, these concepts are incompatible and irreconcilable with one another when applied to the same person, as it is impossible for the same one to be named both Only-Begotten and firstborn.
But yet, it has been said by Scripture regarding the Word that was in the beginning, that he is the "Only-Begotten God," and again according to Paul, the "firstborn of every creature" (Col. 1:15). Therefore, it is fitting to divide these things according to the mystery of the truth, piously distinguishing each of these names: so that we may understand the Only-Begotten to be that Word who is before the ages, but that the Word who became flesh, having become the firstborn of the creation that afterwards came into being in Christ, is the one called firstborn. And whatever meaning we arrive at once we learn that he is the "firstborn from the dead" (Col. 1:18) and the "firstborn among many brethren" (Rom. 8:29), that we shall accordingly understand also regarding the firstborn of creation. C Therefore, he becomes the firstborn from the dead, having become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep, so that he might open the way of resurrection for the flesh. And since he was going to make us, who were previously children of wrath by nature, children of light and children of day through the birth from above—through water and the Spirit—he himself leads the way in such a birth in the stream of the Jordan, drawing the grace of the Spirit upon the firstfruits of our nature. So that all who are born into life from the spiritual regeneration might be designated as brothers of him who was born first through water and the Spirit.
In the same way, by thinking of him as the firstborn of the creation that has come into being in Christ, we do not depart from pious opinion. For since the ancient creation passed away, having been rendered useless through sin, necessarily, after the passing of those things which were blotted out, the new creation of life succeeded, which is established through regeneration and the resurrection from the dead, of which the Prince and Author of life is the firstborn and is so called. D And these few things will be enough for the diligent to repel the adversaries and to discern the truth. But now let us briefly run through how useful these words are for virtue and life. Reuben was the firstborn of the brothers who were born after him; but the relationship through which they were joined to him was also attested by a clear sign in them, similar to the firstborn, so that the fraternal union of blood, declared by the likeness of form, could not be ignored. Wherefore, if we too have been born brothers of him who for our sake became...
the A firstborn among many brethren, it follows that we should demonstrate through the characteristics of our life the kinship we have with him, since the firstborn of creation is being formed in our own life. And what is the character of his form that we have learned from the Scripture? It is that which we have often spoken of: "He did not commit sin, nor was deceit found in his mouth." If, therefore, we intend to be called brothers of Him who initiated our new birth, the sinlessness of our life will confirm our kinship with him, provided that no filth separates us from that communion with purity. Moreover, the firstborn is justice, and sanctification, and love, and redemption, and other such things. If our life is likewise distinguished by these characteristics, we shall furnish clear proofs of our nobility, so that those who witness these things in our life will themselves bear witness that we are brothers of Christ. For he himself is the One who opened to us the door of the resurrection, and for this reason became the first fruits of those who are asleep. That we shall all rise in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet, this he demonstrated by what he did in himself and in the others who were held by death.
However, it is not an equal state that awaits all who rise from the B earth’s tomb in the life to come, but, as he says, "Those who have done good will go to the resurrection of life, but those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment." Therefore, if anyone’s life looks toward that fearful condemnation, such a person—even if he happens to be enrolled among the brothers of the Lord through the new birth from above—falsifies the name, bearing in the form of his wickedness no kinship with the Firstborn. For the Mediator of God and men, who through himself unites the human to God, unites only that which is worthy of the kinship with God. Just as he adopted his own humanity by the power of his divinity, being a part of the common nature yet not falling under those passions of nature that incite to sin (for the Scripture says, "He did not commit sin, nor was deceit found in his mouth"), so also will he lead each individual into communion with the divinity, if they bring nothing unworthy of that communion with the Divine. If anyone is truly a temple C of God, and contains within himself no idol or image of wickedness, he will be taken up by the Mediator for participation in the divinity, having become pure and fit to receive His purity. For as the Scripture says, Wisdom will not enter into a malicious soul, and he who is pure in heart sees nothing in himself but God; attached to Him through incorruption, he has received within himself the entire good kingdom. But what I am saying will become more evident to us if we consider the words which the Lord willed to be announced to the apostles through Mary: "I ascend," He says, "to my Father and your Father, and my God and God D
A of yours." These are the words of the mediator between the Father and those who had been cast out, who through Himself reconciled the enemies of God to the true and only Divinity. For since, according to the prophetic word, mankind had been alienated from the life-giving womb, and had strayed from the belly in which they were formed, speaking lies instead of the truth, for this reason He took up the first-fruits of our common nature, through both soul and body, and made it holy, preserving it in Himself unmixed with and untainted by any malice; B so that, by dedicating this to the Father of incorruption through incorruption, He might draw along with it everything akin and of the same nature to it, and receive back those who had been cast out into adoption, and the enemies of God into participation in His divinity. Therefore, just as the first-fruits of the lump were reconciled to the true Father and God through purity and passionlessness, so we, who are the lump, shall be attached to the Father of incorruption through the same paths, by imitating, as far as is possible, the passionlessness and unchangeability of the mediator. For thus we shall be a crown of precious stones for the only-begotten God, becoming honor and glory through our life. For Paul says: "Thou hast made Him a little lower than the angels," C on account of the suffering of death. For those who had previously been transformed into the nature of thorn by reason of sin, He Himself made into a crown for Himself through the dispensation regarding His death, transforming the thorn into honor and glory through His suffering. There is, therefore, no small danger, now that He who takes away the sin of the world has once taken the crown of thorns upon His head in order to fashion the crown woven of honor and glory, that some should be found as a thistle or thorn by reason of an evil life, and then, through the communion of His body, be inserted into the middle of the Lord's crown. To whom the just voice will surely say: "Friend, how did you enter here, lacking a wedding garment? D How, being a thorn, have you woven yourself in among those who are fitted to form my crown out of honor and glory? What agreement has Christ with Belial? What part has a believer with an unbeliever? What common ground has light with darkness?"
Since, then, our life should not be called to account against us with such words as these, we must be diligent with all our might to cast out every thorny deed, word, and thought from the whole of our life, so that by a pure and passionless manner of living, we may become honor and glory, and thus crown the head of the whole with ourselves, becoming as it were a treasure and possession to the Master. For the Lord, who is the Lord of glory, does not deign to be or to be called the Lord of anything base. Therefore, he who is alienated from all shame and filth, both in his hidden and in his manifest self, makes the Lord of glory—who is such and is so called, and not the Lord of dishonor—his own master. There is also, moreover, a beginning; and the beginning of all things is not alienated from those things that follow from it. For if one were to define the beginning as life...
A life is altogether to be understood as existing after the beginning; and if the beginning is light, light is also to be understood as being after the beginning. What then do we gain by believing Him to be the beginning? It is this: that we may become such as we have believed our beginning to be. For light is not called the beginning of darkness; nor, when life has been instituted as the beginning, have we understood death to be the continuity of life. But if one should not follow the beginning that precedes it by a likeness of nature, and be fittingly conjoined to the beginning by freedom from passion and by virtue, he cannot have as his beginning Him who is the beginning of all things that exist. The beginning of a dark life is the prince of the darkness of this world; the beginning of death-bearing sin is he who holds the power of death. B Therefore, one who conducts his life flagitiously under the beginning of darkness cannot say that the One who is the beginning of all good things is his own beginning; and those who receive the divine words for their own benefit will be affected in the same way when they learn that Christ is called the King of righteousness and peace. For he who, according to the teaching of the prayer, prays that the kingdom of God may come upon him—having learned that the true King is the King of righteousness and peace—will altogether achieve righteousness and peace in his own life, so that the King of righteousness and peace may reign within him, while he asks for Him. Thus, the army of the King is understood to be all virtue; for I believe that by righteousness and peace all the virtues are to be understood. If, therefore, anyone, having deserted the army of God, enrolls himself in the ranks of the foreigners, becoming a soldier of the inventor of wickedness, and having cast off the breastplate of righteousness and all the peaceful panoply, how shall he be marshaled under the King of peace, having become a runaway from the truth? C For it is clear that the distinctive mark of his armor will show who his ruler is, the character of his life revealing the leader, instead of an image represented by arms. How blessed is he who is stationed under the divine generalship, and is enrolled in the order of those who are numbered by tens of thousands, and is armed against wickedness through the virtues, which signify the image of the King who has put them on. And what need is there to carry the argument further, by setting forth all the terms by which the name of Christ is interpreted D in the sequence of our investigation, through which one may be guided toward a life according to virtue, since each name, through its own peculiar significance, contributes something to our perfection of life? But I say that it is well to summarize the memory of those things which have been mentioned, so that it may become a kind of guiding hand for us toward the goal of the discourse which we proposed from the beginning, when we were seeking how one might achieve perfection in oneself. For I think that if anyone should constantly ponder and consider that he is a partaker of the name that is adored, and is called a Christian according to the institution of the apostles, I believe that he has become a master of the individual titles of life, and will necessarily show in himself the power of the other names by which Christ is called.
What I say, then, is roughly this: There are three things that describe and distinguish the life of a Christian: action, speech, and thought. A For the origin of every word is the understanding; the second place, after the thought, is held by the word, which reveals in speech the understanding impressed upon the soul; and the third place, after the mind and the word, is held by action, which brings what has been thought into operation. If, then, anything among these leads us, as it happens, either to act, or to think, or to speak, it is necessary that all things—our words, our deeds, and our thoughts—be directed according to the divine rule of those concepts by which Christ is described, so that we may think nothing, say nothing, and do nothing that departs from their sublime significance. For just as Paul says that whatever is not of faith is sin, so we, reasoning in the same way, can clearly affirm that whatever does not look toward Christ—whether it be words, works, or thoughts—all those things B point entirely to that which is contrary to Christ. For he who is outside of light and life cannot but be in darkness and death. If, therefore, what is neither performed, nor spoken, nor understood according to Christ is related to that which is contrary to the Good, it would be manifest to everyone that the one who is revealed through these acts abandons Christ, being outside of Him through those things by which he understands, acts, or speaks anything. Therefore the divine voice of the Prophet is true, where he says: "I have accounted all the sinners of the earth as transgressors" (Ps. CXVIII, 119). For just as he who denies Christ in persecutions is a transgressor of that worshipped Name, so also if anyone should deny truth, or justice, or holiness, or integrity, or if anything else understood as virtuous should be cast off from life at the time when one ought to fight C bravely against perturbations and vices, he is called a transgressor by the prophecy, in that he deviates in his life from each of these. What, then, must he do who has been deemed worthy of the great name of Christ? What else but diligently examine in himself his every thought, word, and deed, and judge whether each of these looks toward Christ or is alienated from Him? Now, there are many ways in which this excellent judgment is performed. For whatever is done, thought, or said through any perturbation does not harmonize in the least with Christ, but bears the mark and image of the adversary, who, instead of the pearl, smears the affections of the soul with filth, so as to deform and destroy the brilliance of the precious stone. That which is free and pure from every passionate affection, however, looks toward the author D and prince of dispassion, who is Christ, from whom, just as from a pure and unpolluted fountain, one draws thoughts into himself, and will show such a likeness to the archetype as water has to water, both that which is in the fountain, springing up, and that which, coming from it, has been brought into a vessel. For the purity is one in nature, both that which is in Christ and that which is observed in him who partakes of it. But the one is the fountain; the other, as a partaker, draws from it, transferring the beauty that is in the concepts onto his life; so that there may be a harmony of the hidden man with the visible, as the
modesty and honesty of life are moderated and driven by the concepts originating from Christ.
In this, therefore (in my own judgment), the perfection of the Christian life is found: that we who participate in the names by which the name of Christ is signified should express their power in our soul, our speech, and our way of living, so that, receiving that absolute holiness commended by Paul A in our whole body, soul, and spirit, we may keep ourselves undefiled, without any admixture of evil. But if anyone should object that the attainment of perfect virtue is most difficult, since Christ alone among all creatures is immutable, while human nature is mutable and prone to change, and that therefore it is impossible for us to arrive at that state and there remain firm and immutable, we shall answer him that no athlete is B crowned who has not contended according to the rules; and indeed, the contest cannot be according to the rules if no adversary is present against whom one might fight. Therefore, if there is no adversary, there will be no crown; for victory cannot exist unless something has been defeated. Let us therefore contend against that which is mutable in our nature as if with an adversary, in such a way that we are victors not by casting it down, but by not allowing it to fall. For man does not have a propensity toward evil only—for if nature were inclined toward that part alone, it could not turn itself toward the good. Now, however, the most beautiful work of movement is that very growth in good things, C when, with that impetus by which we are drawn toward the better, he who is moved rightly is assiduously carried toward those things which are more divine.
Therefore, we have demonstrated that what seemed to be a thing to be feared—namely, that our nature is mutable—serves us as wings with which we may fly toward greater things; for it would have been a loss for us not to be able to undertake a change for the better. Let no one, therefore, seeing in his nature that which is apt and suitable for changes, be aggrieved or complain, but rather, by constantly promoting himself toward the D better and transferring himself from glory to glory, let him be changed by daily growth so that he becomes daily better and more perfect, and never convince himself that he has reached the goal of perfection. For that is truly perfection, that he who is growing toward the better should never stand still, nor consider perfection to be enclosed by any boundaries.