Letters

^A some have constructed shaky and altogether stale doctrines, imagining that the essence sustains the passion of division along with the pronunciation of the names. But as for them, as you yourself say, let us leave them aside, as they weakly defend their own dogma with their supposition; but let us turn our mind toward the correct grasp of true knowledge. Therefore, we shall first establish what God is, and then we shall proceed accurately to the demonstrations ^B.

The essence is absolutely simple and impartible, possessing simplicity and incorporeity by nature. But perhaps the reasoning concerning the division of names opposes me, taking away the simple unity of the Supreme Being by the number three? What then? For the sake of retaining simplicity, will it be necessary for us to avoid the confession of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit? God forbid! For the setting down of the names shall not injure the impartible union of the Supreme Being. For things perceived by the mind, even though they are called by ten thousand names (since they have been designated by very many names in every nation), are outside all naming; for there is no proper name for things that are intelligible and incorporeal. For how could things that do not fall under our sight, nor are able to be grasped by human senses at all, be properly called by name? But let us take, for our better understanding of the All, the soul, which is the smallest particle of the things perceived by the mind.

For the soul, although it is addressed by a feminine name, ^C is removed from every feminine nature, as being in its essence neither male nor female. And in similar fashion the word which is generated from it has, indeed, a masculine name, but it itself also, as we say, is removed from every male or female body. And if those things which hold the last place among spiritual realities, namely soul and word, lack a proper name, how then shall we say that things which hold the primacy among spiritual realities, or rather are beyond all spiritual things, can be called by proper names? But the use of a name is indeed useful, ^D because it leads us, through necessity, to the conception of spiritual realities. But certain men, thinking that the essence is also coarsely divided along with the names,

entertain ^A notions about divine things that are altogether unworthy.

We who acknowledge the truth should know that the divine and simple essence of the Superior is indivisible and uniform; yet, for the sake of the usefulness of the salvation of our souls, it appears to undergo partition because of the names, and to be subject to the necessity of division, as we have already said. For just as the soul, being a certain intelligible thing, brings forth a multitude of infinite thoughts, yet is it neither divided by the passion of the thoughts, nor does it ever become poorer due to the multitude of its thoughts—on the contrary, it becomes richer rather than poorer; and just as this vocal word of ours, which is common to us all, is indivisible from the soul that produces it ^B and is none the less established in the same way in the souls of the hearers, not being separated from that soul, yet found within theirs, effecting a union rather than a division between them and our own souls: so also understand for me the Son, who was never separated from the Father, and again the Holy Spirit in like manner, as the thought within the mind.

For just as it is impossible to conceive of any division or cutting between the mind, the thought, and the soul, ^C so neither can any cutting or division be thought to intervene between the Holy Spirit, the Savior, and the Father; because, as we have said, the nature of intelligible and divine things is indivisible. Or, just as it is impossible to discover a division between a circle and its ray, because of its impassibility, incorporeality, simplicity, and indivisibility—but the ray is joined to the circle, and conversely the circle, like an eye, pours its rays into the whole like a river, producing for us, as it were, floods of light, and suddenly inundating the structure of the world—so also some rays of the Father ^D have been sent forth to us: the radiant Jesus and the Holy Spirit. For just as the rays of light, having an indivisible relation one to another by nature, are neither separated from the light nor cut off from one another, and send the grace of the light even to us, in the same way our Savior and the Holy Spirit, that twin ray of the Father, even to us administer the light of truth and are united to the Father.

Just as also from one spring of waters, abundantly pouring forth nectareous water, there happens to be a certain very great stream and an unrestrained flow, which is divided in its current into two rivers, the necessity of the origin remains one from the single source.

from the eye of the fountain; for although it has indeed flowed forth as one from the beginning, and the rivers are fashioned in their appearances, yet it has suffered no harm in its essence from the division. ^A For although the stream is divided by the placement of the rivers, it possesses one and the same quality of moisture; and even if each of the aforementioned rivers appears to be terminated somewhere far off and to stand at a great interval from the fountain, it nevertheless has its beginning joined and united to the fountain at the mother-source for the continuity of the fountain. In like manner also God, the author of all good things, the sovereign of truth and Father of the Savior, that primary cause of life and root of immortality, that fountain of eternal life, having sent forth to us the intellectual grace 27 of the Son and the Holy Spirit, in a twofold and bifurcated manner, neither has He Himself suffered any harm in His essence (for He has not undergone any diminution because of the arrival of those toward us), nor have they, in their arrival even unto us, in any way separated themselves from the Father. For the nature of the superior beings, as we have said from the beginning, is indivisible. 29

Most excellent sir, it was possible to find very many things, and more than those we have brought forward, for a clear demonstration of the most necessary union of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, in whatever way it should be understood; ^B but since it is easy for you and those like you to discern the many from the few, I have therefore thought it just to put an end here to the discussion of this subject.

FRAGMENTS FROM THE LOST WORKS OF SAINT GREGORY

I. Supplement to the text of the Oration against fornicators, from Vatican codex no. 445, which is missing in the published Appendix of the works of Nyssen. In Zacagni, *Collectanea Monumentorum Ecclesiasticorum Graecorum*, page 352.

God allows this one to perish. I desired not to be separated from you even for a little while. For what is sweeter to beloved children than the conversation of a father? ^D But since the reason for piety calls to the contests, it is necessary to run to the stadium, having taken the helpers of the Church's prayers. Nevertheless, I ask this of your charity:

^A Guard the ecclesiastical order, even if some introduce disturbances, overcome these disturbances with long-suffering; for the correction of the tumults will not be long in coming. Do not be disturbed by rumors, do not be shaken by vanities, but send us opportune prayers, so that, being strengthened by your prayers, we may say at all times, assisted by the divine power: "I can do all things in Christ who strengthens me"; to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

II.

From a sermon on the Lord's Prayer

For the Son went forth from the Father, as Scripture says, and the Spirit proceeds from God and from the Father. But just as to be without beginning, being proper to the Father alone, cannot be applied to the Son and to the Spirit, so, on the other hand, to be from a cause, which is proper to the Son and the Spirit, has no nature to be observed in the Father. Since it is common to the Son and the Spirit not to be unbegotten, so that no confusion regarding the subject may be seen, we are again able to discover an incommunicable difference in their distinctive properties, so that both the common may be preserved and the proper not be confused. For the only-begotten Son is called "from the Father" by Holy Scripture, and up to this point the discourse defines his property. But the Holy Spirit is said both to be from the Father and is testified to be from the Son. For "if anyone," he says, "does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not his." Therefore, the Spirit who is from God is also God's Spirit. But the Son, while being from God, is no longer the Spirit's Son, nor is he called such; nor does this relative consequence reverse itself.

III.

From a sermon on the text: "This is my beloved Son"

What is this, that we abandon the faith to weave artificial discourses about the faith, and fulfill the desire of the common enemy? For the devil, that common corrupter of humanity, reasoning that if we act in tranquility, religion flourishes, and as faith prevails, we become more vigorous and become friends of the Creator, so that we might not arrive where he fell from—see what he has done, and how cunningly he has stitched together a war against us. That contriver of evils, wise in deceits, manifold in plots, and wealthy in wicked machinations, prepares certain men to wage war against the faith under the guise of piety, and has cast an untimely contention and a soul-destroying war upon all the pious through them, and has caused the members of the Church to fight against one another. Let us, then, turn this wisdom against his own head, and turn his joy into sorrow and grief bereft of consolation.

^A Let us mourn the peace which he hates. Let us abandon our bickering and the weighing of the words of dogma. Let us cease desiring to be teachers of teachers. Let us hate logomachy, which is to the ruin of those who hear it. Let us believe as our fathers have handed down. We are not wiser than our fathers; we are not more precise than the teachers. God has called us in peace, not in battle. As we have been called, so let us remain at the mystic table, at which we partake of heavenly things. Let us not be those who share the same table only to scheme against one another; let us not be companions in communion here, yet schemers outside.

IV.

From the sermon on Mary and Joseph

The Lord heard himself called "firstborn" ^B from the Virgin, not because he took to himself any second person of the same kind, but because he is firstborn without comparison to the sons of men. For the Apostle, by saying what he does regarding the Lord's eternal generation from the Father—"who is the firstborn of all creation"*—did not thereby signify that the Lord has any brother. Nor again, when the same Apostle called him "firstborn from the dead,"* did he introduce some blood-brother of the Lord who had trodden down Hades in a similar way. But the Lord is called "firstborn" from the Father, and from the Virgin, and from the dead, so that the unique dignity of his sonship might be known in every respect. For the Lord’s birth is beyond comparison; for where the mother is a virgin, how can the birth be explained?

V. (Apud S. Joannem Damascenum, lib. contra Jacobitas, Opp. tom. 1, p. 424)

Of Saint Gregory of Nyssa, from the epistle to the monk Philip

Things that are of the same substance have this, that they are the same; but things that are of different substance possess the opposite. For while both ^C are one in an ineffable union that defies expression, they are not one by nature, because they are unconfused. Christ, therefore, although he is two natures, in which he is truly recognized, yet possesses the unique person of sonship.

VI.

From the book called "The Knowledge of God"

But if all things that are in the world consist of a mixture of the simple elements—earth, water, air, and fire—or of indivisible corpuscles, ^D as Epicurus asserts, then that which is generated will be discovered without any doubt to be so much more excellent and illustrious than that which is ungenerated and that which is made by a creator, as...

an elephant—or if there be any animal larger than an elephant—is superior to smaller animals in providing a leader and king? But now man, though inferior to the elephant in body size and strength by many degrees, commands it because of the reason with which he has been purely endowed by his Creator. How, then, can it be that those things which are established in an orderly fashion arise from those things which move by chance and at random, that is to say, from simple elements and those tiny particles which they call atoms, by which man excels? Furthermore, how could things which are by nature contrary to one another have come together without detriment to the perfection of the single universe, or have been able to agree and harmonize with one another without purpose and appropriate reason? Or how could they have infused reason into man, when they are entirely devoid of it, since they are lacking in mind and sense? What then? Was it not fitting that [the one] to whom they had attributed so much of their nature, such as is the elephant, or if there is any animal larger than the elephant, [is inferior to man in power], that he should act as leader and king?

Ibid., title 8, page 25 et seqq.

All the chapters that follow, except the fifth, which is by Basil the Great, are taken from the book which is entitled *On the Knowledge of God*, whose author is said to be Gregory, Bishop of Nyssa. ^A The Law and the prophets, the fullness of which is Christ, seem to be ignored by the Jews: yet in truth all things that pertain both to Christ himself and also to the holy Trinity were minutely and accurately composed by the writings of Moses. However, it was done by divine providence that many things should be scattered and disseminated, and placed in obscurity, so that while the Jews were still infants and could not perceive things that were more sublime, they might not decline into unworthy opinions, and think that which is most remote from every affection is subject to affections. For when God began to speak to them in Horeb, they excused their own weakness with the following language, saying: "We will not continue to hear the voice of the Lord our God, nor will we see this great fire any more, lest we die." And the Lord said to me (these are the words of Moses writing): "They have spoken all things well. I will raise up for them a prophet from the midst of their brethren like you, and I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I shall command him." ^B Indeed, these things are as they are. But the meaning of these words is this: Since they cannot hear me, I will raise up a prophet for them (and what follows), who will announce to them those things which, as the matter stands now, they cannot understand. These, of course, pertain to the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, and to the divine assumption of human nature, and other things which have been promulgated through the Gospel. For that phrase, "like you," indicates a likeness primarily in the ordaining of laws. But Joshua, the son of Nun, was neither admitted to such visions and oracles as Moses, nor was he a legislator, nor did he enter into as much favor as he did. But Christ, while he was like him in the bearing of laws, surpassed him in other respects, as Lord. But that the son of Nun is not that prophet whom God promised, gather it thus: Moses said to the people in Deuteronomy: "The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet from your brethren." ^C But the son of Nun had been declared by God through the hands of Moses long before, as we read in Leviticus. Therefore, another one than he was to be raised up. But the Jews, [do not regard] what [was written] at the end of Deuteronomy after the death of Moses [as having been ignored by the writers of the Scriptures]. And yet it is so. For thus they have: "There has not risen a prophet in Israel like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face." It was indeed fitting that, when God had said to Moses that He would raise up a prophet for them, then Moses himself should announce it to the people. But when he had received that at Horeb, he afterwards in Deuteronomy refers it to the people, intentionally awaiting the declaration of Joshua, the son of Nun, so that they would not suspect this one to be that prophet like unto himself. But after the son of Nun was indeed declared, then finally he expounds that to the people. And of this, so far. But since there are nearly innumerable places in the Holy Scripture which either foretell those things that pertain to Christ, or indicate those things that pertain to the holy Trinity, we will omit many things, and especially those which these men, twisting them maliciously, attempt to interpret otherwise, lest we afford them an opportunity for wicked contradiction. For all the Israelites, as Ezekiel says, are contentious and hard-hearted. We will propose only a few things, and those so plain that they cannot be refuted, which might either persuade them, or convince them that they are stubborn and obstinate and demented.

Books of Genesis

And God said: "Let us make man in our image and likeness." ^D The Father is surely addressing those who are of his own essence, whom he holds as associates in the supreme dignity of the creation of the world. Nor are these things to be referred to the propriety of the Hebrew language, by which a number indicating plurality is used for that which signifies one. For if we should wish to use this habit of speaking where it is not appropriate, we will fill those who contradict us with confusion.

From the same book.

And God said: "Behold, Adam has become as one of us"; who are indeed in one divinity of persons. For this, even though it is said with irony, nevertheless cannot signify only one person.

^A And if you say that God is one, but the angels are two, how could they sit with the Lord?

From the same book.

Deuteronomy.

Of David, and Job, and Zechariah, and Isaiah.

From the same book.

^A The Father, of course, sent the Son, and healed those laboring under the disease of ignorance. But concerning the Holy Spirit, he says, "You will send forth your Spirit, and they shall be created,"—by a new creation, indeed—"and you shall renew the face of the earth," which had grown old in sins. Nor is this Word, once enunciated, diffused into the air by vocal instruments and then dissolved. For he says elsewhere: "For ever, O Lord, your Word remains in heaven." Nor is that Spirit expelled by the instruments of breathing, nor scattered and dissipated. For these things happen to bodies. It is clear, therefore, that the Word and the Spirit each exist in his own person, and are eternal, and are creators. Furthermore, Job says: "God lives, who has judged me thus, and the Almighty who has made my soul bitter, and the Spirit of God circles in my nostrils." And Zacharias (Haggai), speaking in the person of God and the Father, says, "I am with you, and my Word, and my Spirit." And Isaiah, "Now," he says, "the Lord has sent me, and his Spirit."

From Genesis, and Isaiah.

Jacob said to his two wives: "And the angel of God said to me in a dream: I have seen everything that Laban has done to you," and what follows. Then, "I am," he says, "the God who appeared to you in the place of God." If he were an angel from the number of the ministering powers, how does he call himself God? Or was it rather the Son, who is the angel—that is, the messenger—of God and of the Father, just as the word and speech is the index of the mind? For it indicates the thought of the mind and spirit. After assuming human flesh, he announces to us the name of the Father: "I have manifested," he says, "your name to men." And he is called by Isaiah the Angel of Great Counsel, and the Great Counselor, and the Mighty God, and the Powerful. Who, moreover, is the Counselor of God, if not the Son, who is of the same essence, and of equal power and dignity? The counsel and will of the Father is the salvation of men through the evangelical commands. But by the counsel of the Father and the Son, the same will is signified. That this Son and God did indeed put on human flesh, the same Isaiah shows, saying, "A child is born to us, and a son is given to us." For that child, the Son, was born for our sake and lived among us. For of him who is truly the Son, and not of just any son, did the prophet predict these things. And he proclaims this work as marvelous. For what is marvelous about a child being born, if he is simply a son? Wherefore he also added clearer things thereafter, so that he might indicate his divinity and the difference between him and the rest who are simply sons.

From Baruch, and Isaiah.

This is our God: and no other will be esteemed against him. Then he adds: After this he was seen on earth, and conversed with men. And Isaiah, "Behold," he says, "our God. He himself will come, and ^B will save us." But bringing the sign of his advent, he subjoins: "Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall hear. Then the lame shall leap as a hart, and the tongue of the stammerers shall be clear." All these things, truly fulfilled by the deed itself, testify with most certain proof to the human flesh assumed by him. The same prophet says again: "Not a messenger, not an angel, but the Lord himself saved them." For a messenger is an intercessor, such as Moses was, and anyone else after Moses. Indeed, many have often been saved by messengers and angels, whom either Moses or Joshua son of Nun, and others of that kind, led and governed. And there were those under Hezekiah, in whose time the angel in one night destroyed one hundred and eighty-five thousand of the Assyrians. These things surely reveal the pilgrimage of God most clearly.

Isaiah.

"The Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, a virgin will conceive, and will bear a son." For every woman who carries a fetus in her womb is not a virgin. But this woman, carrying a fetus in her womb, will be a virgin. Which is indeed proposed as an admirable testimony and sign.

Of the same.

"Before the child knows good or evil, he rejects malice to choose the good." To what child will you say this applies? "Christ alone," he says, "did not commit sin, nor was deceit found in his mouth"; that is, he sinned neither in deed nor in word. "But of all others," he says, "not one is pure from stain."

Micah.

"And you, Bethlehem, land of Judah, are by no means least among the princes of Judah. For out of you shall come to me a leader, who shall rule my people Israel." But in order to show that this one was not a naked and solitary man, but joined with God, he added: "His goings forth from the beginning, from the days of eternity." His actions, he says, pertaining to his divinity, or his origin, are from the beginning, from the interval of eternity, that is, from all eternity. Zerubbabel, however, was born in Babylon. You see the reason most exquisitely traced back to the very place in which Christ was born.

Daniel.

"I was watching in the vision of the night, and behold, with the clouds of heaven, one like the Son of man was coming, and he approached the Ancient of days, and was led into his presence, and he was given honor and dominion and a kingdom; and all peoples, tribes, and tongues shall serve him. His power is an everlasting power which shall not pass away, and his kingdom shall not be destroyed." Who is this "like the son of man" who receives absolute and everlasting power over all? Certainly not any man at all, but Christ, who is God and man. Regarding whom also...

^A you would say that these things from Isaiah are fitting? He foretold Christ of himself: "I gave my back to those who strike, and my cheeks to those who pluck; and I did not turn away my face from the disgrace of those who spit." And again David: "They gave," he says, "gall for my food, and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink." But if you understand these things regarding the people established in captivity (although it is established that, while they suffered many other things, they nevertheless did not endure such things), your opinion is easily refuted. Isaiah foretold his death, saying: "He was led like a sheep to the slaughter." But that you might know it was salvific for us, the same [prophet] says again: "By his stripes we are all healed." Moreover, in order that you might understand that the race of the Jews came to destruction because of his death, he added: "And I will give the wicked for his burial." For what is more flagrant than the impiety of the Jews, who killed him from whom they had received so many benefits? ^B

Of Christ's resurrection.

"You will not leave," says David, "my soul in hell, nor will you give your holy one to see corruption," that is, of his body. Then, he says: "You have made known to me the days of my life." Hosea [speaks] much more clearly: "And after days he will heal us; on the third day we shall rise, and we shall live in his sight." Now these things were spoken on behalf of those who had fallen asleep, whose bodies rose with Christ on the third day on which he himself rose, and they appeared to many, as the Gospel teaches. Indeed, even Josephus the Hebrew, in the eighteenth book of the Antiquities of the Jews, speaks about Christ in this manner: "There was at that time Jesus, a wise man, if indeed it is lawful to call him a man. For he was a worker of miraculous deeds, and a teacher of those men who embrace with pleasure what is true." And he drew to himself many both from the Jews and from other nations. This was Christ. ^C When the princes of our nation accused him, the Jews condemned him and nailed him to the cross. Nor, however, did those who had loved him from the beginning cease to promulgate his doctrine. For on the third day he showed himself to them again, living, when the divine prophets had foretold these and innumerable other things about him.

Of the Church out of the Gentiles.

"Rejoice, O thirsty solitude! Let the solitude exult and bloom like a lily. And the desert places of Jordan shall exult; and the glory of Lebanon has been given to it, and the honor of Carmel." These things in a literal sense have never been done, nor will they be. For who would choose solitude and desert places for habitation, unless perhaps you would call them Christian monks? But in the Spirit, they have clearly come to pass. For the Church of the nations was a kind of solitude, bearing no fruits before this, in which the beasts of vices lived. This [Church], thirsting for the knowledge of God and salvation, rejoices and exults and blooms, ^D adorned with the beauty and sweetness of the fruits.

^A Likewise, Jeremiah announced in these words: "Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, and I will make a new covenant with you, not according to that covenant which I entered into with your fathers, in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they did not observe my covenant, and I neglected them." These things and those similar to them were handed down obscurely, lest the books be destroyed. For those who, seeing Christ present and performing marvelous deeds and bringing the most certain evidence of His divinity, did not accept Him, but instead dragged Him to the cross—they would surely have spared the prophets speaking about Him, had they received them not veiled by any shadow, but open and bare.

Furthermore, Isaiah predicted that we would be called by the name of Christ, saying: "The Lord will take away and overturn you. But to those who serve Me, He will give a new name, which will be celebrated in all the earth." And again the same [prophet says]: "The nations shall see your glory, and all kings your righteousness. And a new name shall be called, which the Lord Himself shall name." Hosea likewise predicted this: "And it shall be," he says, "in the last times, His name [will be] illustrious in all the earth. And by His name many peoples will be called. And they will walk in His ways, and will live in them." ^B By the same.

"And in You they will pray. Because God is in You. And there is no God beside You. And we did not know." That "they will pray in You" signifies those who have believed in Christ. But that "because God is in You" pre-demonstrates [His] divinity in the assumed flesh. But that "for You are God, and we did not know," indicates the excuse of the Jews at the future judgment, which will be foolish and vain. If Christ were an impostor, how were all the things He predicted confirmed by the event? How did He announce those things pertaining to the destruction of the temple, the storming and overthrowing of the city of Jerusalem, the slaughter of the Jews, and those things pertaining to His disciples and the wonderful deeds they were to perform in His name? ^C Idem tit. 9, pag. 30 seq.

From the book that is ascribed to Gregory, Bishop of Nyssa, On the Knowledge of God.

"And darkness," says Moses, "was upon the deep." From which those evil arguers say that darkness existed, for which an evil principle is the creating cause. Then, "And God divided between the light and the darkness." If there is light, and there is darkness, which you understand as separated from the light—these are the darkness-dwellers who are blind in the light. But we say that darkness is not any nature, but an accident, and nothing else but the absence of light. For when the heaven was initially wrapped by the object of those things which were around it, darkness existed. Which also now occurs ^D in those things which are obstructed. But their division is that space which is measured by the absence of light. This absence and privation of light is, in a certain manner, the habit and essence of darkness. Moreover, the principle of evil is not. For if God is, evil is not—that is, God is not evil. For if He is God, He is not evil, since He is the fountain of goodness: but if He is evil, He is not God. How indeed can God be malice or sin? Which indeed, if [such a] God exists, all things perish and are overturned.

From the same work.

How can there be two principles, one good and the other evil? For good and evil are opposites; they mutually destroy one another and cannot exist together. Therefore, either one or the other must exist in a portion of the universe, and be circumscribed by it; or they must touch and mutually corrupt each other; or some medium must intercede between them, and thus there would already be three principles. Furthermore, they would either exist in peace, which evil cannot do, or they would be at war, which goodness rejects. For if the former were at peace, it would not be good. Wherefore there are not two principles, especially ones that are contrary and most hostile to each other, but one, and this is good. For evil is not a principle, but a privation and loss of good.

From the same work.

If there are two gods, one good and the other evil, they will have different principles. For the binary number cannot be a principle, since it itself starts from unity, the principle. But if they are not principles, they will not be gods at all. Since, therefore, unity is the principle of all things, God is indeed the one author of things and the creator of all.

From the same work.

If good exists by itself, evil does not exist. If evil exists by itself, good does not exist. For this is the reason and condition of opposites that lack a middle ground. Such are health and sickness, life and death. Therefore, God is not evil. ^A

From the same work.

God is good in essence and has goodness by nature; evil will obtain the privation of goodness as its state. But how can God, who is only what He is, lack anything, fail, and not be?

From the same work.

If there were two, or three, or more gods, since one thing would be influenced and moved in one way and another in a different way, the world would have perished long ago. But now, since all things are always moved and disposed by a certain and stable reason, this firm and perpetual harmony, order, moderation, ^D and preservation of all things proclaim that there is one and the same cause, one author, by whom all things were created, are governed, and are preserved.

From the same work.

If this lower world is evil and wicked, then you are surely evil and wicked, since you are a part of it. But if you are base and evil by nature, truth is not in you. For truth is plainly good. Good is alien to evil. Now, those who lack truth have a doctrine that is false and rests upon no solid foundation.

From the same work.

The God of the Old Testament, they say, does not have that providence and knowledge which embraces all things. For He asks Adam, "Where," He says, "are you?" And Cain, "Where," He says, "is your brother?" And Abraham, "Where," He says, "is Sarah your wife?" And many other things in the same manner. To them we answer that inquiries of this kind do not proceed from ignorance, but rather from knowledge. For if He had not known that both Adam and Cain had sinned, He would not have questioned them immediately. ^B But that He knew, is clear from what follows. For He addresses Adam before he confessed that he had eaten: "Who told you that you were naked, unless you have eaten from the tree from which I alone commanded you not to eat?" Cain, indeed, who was also trying to hide, He confronts with these words: "The voice of your brother’s blood cries out to me." These are not the words of one who is ignorant, but of one who clearly and plainly knows, who by that form of questioning wishes to persuade those who have sinned to repent, when they realize that they have been detected. The words, "Where is Sarah your wife?" also declare that He is not ignorant that Abraham has a wife, and that she is called Sarah. But he who knows these things was certainly not unaware of where Sarah was. For when Sarah was standing behind the door, and had laughed, hearing secretly that she would be a mother, He did not [merely] say, "Why did Sarah laugh?" but He also provided the cause for the laughter, saying to Himself: "Shall I truly bear a child?" For these things belong to One who knows the heart and the mind. He asked, however, "Where is Sarah your wife?" with the intention that Abraham, knowing that He knew beforehand and possessed all knowledge, might be more devoted to Him as the superior, and might place his faith in all that would be said thereafter. And also that which was said concerning Sodom and Gomorrah: "I will go down and see whether they have in fact completed what their cry indicates, or not, that I may know," what else does it signify than that God spoke in this way so as to instruct us that we should never rush headlong into inflicting punishments for the reason that we foresee the flagrant crimes of some, but that we should wait until the deed itself is complete? For if He had not known, how could He have said: "The cry of Sodom and Gomorrah has come to me"? The earth, He says, cries out even before the deed. And the deeds themselves call out and cry aloud. There are many such interrogations not only in the Old, but also in the

New Testament, which all contain a mystery, and act in some other way. For it is proper to God to know all things; and he who does not have all things known, is not God.

From the same.

How is it that you say the legislator of the Old Testament is just, but of the New Testament good, and therefore contend that one is different from the other? For if what is just is good, the just man will be altogether good. For the just and the good are not contraries; but to the just, the unjust is repugnant, and to the good, evil is an adversary. Furthermore, if evil is unjust, good is certainly just, and the good man is altogether just. Since, however, there are innumerable testimonies by which the God of the Old Testament is declared to be good, I will bring forward one only in the middle: Let Israel say, he says, for He is good (Ps. cxvii, 1); and the two verses which follow thereafter. One, likewise, whereby the God of the New Testament is shown to be just. And judgment, ^A he says, is my just [due]. But that the God of the Old and New Testament is one and the same, Jeremiah foretold, saying, Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, and I will establish a New Testament for you, not like that Testament which I established with your fathers, on the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt. Because they did not remain in my Testament. And I neglected them (Jer. xxxi, 31, 32). And Christ is the author of both the Old and the New Testament. I have not come, He says, to abolish the law, but to fulfill it (Matt. v, 7). That is, that I might complete and perfect it, because of the imperfection of the Hebrews, with a greater philosophy congruent to men. For that was a pedagogue, which trained them for the reception of the Gospel. But this is the Teacher Himself, who teaches more perfect things. And that indeed informed bodies, but this instructs souls. The Old therefore is a handmaid of the New; for it leads to the New, and shows the way and prepares it.

VII.

From the discourse of the pontiff Gregory of Nyssa against Ablabius.

Since we confess both the Father to be God, and the Son to be God, and the Holy Spirit to be God, why do we not say three gods, but one God? First, that we may answer those things which are ready at hand, lest we introduce a multiple crowd of gods falsely invented by the Greeks. Next, if anything more elegant and more recondite is to be said, it is because this name, God, signifies an action: for it is derived from the verb *theein*, which means to run about; or from the verb *theasthai*, which means to see all things; or from the verb *aithein*, which means to burn up and destroy wickedness. Therefore, just as each person has such a perfect action, so he obtains the name that signifies that action, so that he both is and is called God. Again, just as there is one and unchangeable action in the three, so also there is one divinity and one God in three persons. But you will say, since Peter and Paul and John are three persons, they are also called three men. I reply, first, that we use the word "man" loosely here, when we call them three men: since "man" and "humanity" signify a certain universal, which might embrace the particulars. ^B Next, I add this, that this name explains the nature of a thing; but in the Trinity, which is not created, there is no name found which might declare its nature. But why, when we call the individual persons God, do we not also call each of them Divinity? Because, although "man" and "humanity" are spoken equally of all, yet they are not spoken equally of the individuals: for Socrates can be called a man, but humanity cannot: so also with God and Divinity. For God signifies the agent; but Divinity the action. But there is no action in the three persons; rather, each of them is an agent. We say, however, the divinity of the Father, and the divinity of the Son, and the divinity of the Holy Spirit, just as the humanity of Socrates, and his essence, and his nature, and whatever else is common to persons.

DUBIA.

OF OUR HOLY FATHER GREGORY, A DISCOURSE ON THE BIRTH OF CHRIST AND ON THE INFANTS IN BETHLEHEM SLAIN BY HEROD.

^A "Blow the trumpet in the New Moon," says David, "on the notable day of your solemnity." The institutes of heavenly doctrine are altogether like a law to those who hear them. Wherefore, since the notable day of our solemnity is at hand, let us also observe the law, and become the trumpeters of this sacred celebration. The legal trumpet, as the Apostle declares, is discourse. For he says that the sound of the trumpet must not be uncertain, but distinct in its notes, so that the things which are spoken may be clear. Let us, therefore, brothers, also utter some clear sound that may be heard no less than if it were emitted by a trumpet of horn. Since the law, too, depicting the truth beforehand in the types of shadow, commanded that there should be sounding with trumpets in the celebration of the tabernacles. And the present subject of the feast ^B is the mystery of the true tabernacling. For in this is tabernacled the human dwelling for Him who for our sake put on humanity; in this, the dwellings of ours which had fallen by death are built up again by Him who from the beginning had constructed the edifice. Let us also say the words of the Psalm, dancing with the loud-voiced David: "Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord." How does He come? Not by any ship or chariot, but through virginal incorruption He passed over into human life. This is our God, this Lord has shone upon us, so that He might constitute this solemn day amidst the thickets up to the horns of the altar. But we are by no means ignorant, brothers, of the mystery contained in these things that have been said: for we know that every creature is, as it were, a certain palace of the Lord of creation. But, because when sin had entered, the mouths of those who had been conquered by malice were stopped, the voice of exultation ^C was silenced,

and the harmony of those celebrating was torn asunder, because human nature was not celebrating together with the supercelestial nature, for this reason there came the trumpets of the prophets and apostles, which the Law calls horns, because they were fashioned from the true Unicorn. ^A Since they were inflated by the Holy Spirit, they sounded forth a continuous note of truth, so that when the ears of those who had been stopped up by sin were opened, there might be one harmonious festival, through the dense gathering of the tabernacle of the lower creation, accompanying the powers which are eminent and projected around the altar on high. For the horns of the conceptual altar are the powers of the intellectual nature that are projected and eminent: Principalities and Authorities, and Thrones, and Lordships; to which human nature is joined in the communion of the festival through the tabernacle of the resurrection, being thickened by the renewal of the bodies. For to be thickened is the same as to be adorned or covered, as those who understand these things interpret it. Come, therefore, let us arouse our souls to the spiritual dance, and let us put forward David as the leader, guide, and choirmaster of our chorus; and let us in advance sing praises, ^B and let us say with him that sweet voice which we sang earlier.

And let us take it up again: *This is the day which the Lord has made; let us exult and rejoice in it.* In which the darkness begins to diminish, and the measures of the night are thrust toward eclipse by the increasing of the ray. This disposition regarding the festival, brothers, has not come to pass by chance or automatically—that the divine life should now shine upon human life—but the creation, to those who are more discerning, narrates a certain mystery through the things that are seen, as if it were almost emitting a voice and teaching the one able to hear what is intended in the day being increased and the night being shortened in the presence of the Master. ^C For I seem to myself to hear the creation going through such things as these: "Watching these things, O man, understand what is hidden from you being revealed through what is visible. Do you see the night having reached its maximum length, and standing still from its forward course, and returning in the opposite direction? Understand that the dark night of sin, insofar as it was possible for it to grow, and having reached the maximum magnitude of wickedness through every device of evils, has been cut off today from spreading further, and from this point is driven toward eclipse and disappearance. Do you see the ray of light more enduring, and the sun higher than is usual? Understand the presence of the true light, which illuminates the whole world with the rays of the Gospel." ^D As to the fact that the Lord did not appear at the beginning, but at the very end of time, granted his manifestation to human life, perhaps one might reasonably suspect this cause: that he who was about to mingle with human life for the destruction of wickedness, necessarily waited for all the sin sown and propagated by the enemy to sprout, and then at last, as is read in the Gospel, he applied the axe to the root. For those who possess the faculty of healing, while a fever still burns the body and from its causes is gradually intensifying the illness...

^A they do not bring any assistance to the invalid through food until the disease has reached its peak, ^B lest by treating only what is visible, something hidden should remain uncured. So also the physician of sick souls awaited the disease of wickedness, by which human nature was suffering and subdued, to be fully uncovered, so that nothing hidden might remain unhealed, with the physician healing only what was manifest. For this reason, neither at the time of Noah, when all flesh had been corrupted in iniquity, did He offer healing through His own manifestation, because the shoot of Sodomitish wickedness had not yet sprouted, nor did the Lord come at the time of the destruction of Sodom. For many of the remaining evils were still hidden in human nature. For where was the godless Pharaoh? Where was the indomitable wickedness of the Egyptians?

It was not yet, therefore, the time for the restorer of the universe—at the time, I say, of the Egyptian evils—to mingle with this life; but it was necessary that the iniquity of the Israelites be made manifest. It was necessary that the kingdom of the Assyrians, and the pride of Nebuchadnezzar, which were still lurking in life, be brought to light. It was necessary that the slaughter of the pious, like some wicked and thorny plant, should spring from the evil root of the devil. It was necessary that the madness of the Jews against the holy ones of God be revealed: of those who slew the prophets and stoned those who were sent to them, and who finally, when Zechariah was slain between the temple and the altar 18, committed a sin that was manifest. Add to the tally of these wicked growths the slaughter of the infants committed by Herod. ^C When, therefore, the full force of wickedness had displayed itself, and had grown in manifold ways in the souls of those who in every age had been distinguished for crime, then, as Paul says to the Athenians, God, having overlooked the times of ignorance, arrived in the last days, when there was none who understood or sought after God; when all had turned aside and together had become useless; when all were shut up under sin 21; when iniquity abounded; when the darkness of vices had reached its ultimate term. Then appeared grace, then the ray of the true light shone forth. Then the sun of righteousness rose for those sitting in darkness and the shadow of death 22; then, having put on human flesh, He crushed the many heads of the serpent with His foot, and striking them to the earth, He trampled upon them.

But lest anyone, looking at the evils that are now in this life, should suspect that we are speaking falsely when we assert that the Lord shone upon us in the last times ^D — for someone will perhaps object: "He who awaited the times in which wickedness might be revealed, so that He might pluck it up by the roots having been grown and heaped up, ought to have so removed and abolished it entirely that no remnants of it remained in this life; whereas now, murders and thefts and adulteries and all the rest of the outrages and crimes are rampant"—the person who, looking at these things, objects in this way...

let him solve the question by an illustrious and commonly known example. ^A Just as we see that when snakes are killed, the remaining parts do not immediately die along with the head, but even when the head itself has perished, they still retain life and are not deprived of vital motion; so it is with the destruction of the dragon. For since the beast was truly enormous, having grown throughout the individual generations of men—that multiplied head of his, that is, the power that is the inventor of evils, which contains many heads within itself—was taken away, yet the stretch of the remaining parts was neglected, so that by the motion remaining in the dead beast it might leave an occasion for practice for those who followed. What, then, is the crushed head? It is that which brought death through evil counsel, ^B which injected the deadly venom into man through its bite. Therefore, He who overturned the empire of death crushed the power that was in the head of the serpent, as the Prophet says; but the remaining part of the beast, which is dispersed throughout the human race, which—so long as men are driven by the motions of vices—irritates life with the scale of sin and renders it harsh, is indeed dead in power, the head having been rendered useless. Yet when time shall have passed and the things that are moved shall have come to a standstill, and the release from this life which we expect shall have arrived, then both the tail and the extreme part of the enemy—namely death itself—shall be destroyed; and thus there shall be a complete disappearance of evil, when all have been recalled to life through the resurrection: those who have been just shall be moved at once to the habitation above, ^C and those bound by sins shall be delivered to the fire of Gehenna.

But let us return to the present joy, which the angels announce to the shepherds, which the heavens declare to the Magi, and which the spirit of prophecy proclaims in many and various ways, so that even the Magi might become heralds of grace. For He who makes His sun to rise upon the just and the unjust, and who rains upon the wicked and the good, sent the ray of knowledge and the dew of the Spirit even into alien mouths, so that the truth might be confirmed to us all the more by the testimony of adversaries. You hear the diviner Balaam, inspired by a better influence, ^D prophesying thus to the foreigners: *A star shall rise out of Jacob* (Num. XXIV, 17). You see the Magi, who trace their lineage from him, observing the new rising of the star according to the prediction of their forefather—a star which, contrary to the nature of the other stars, partook of both motion and station, shifting to the need of each. For of the other stars, some are once and for all fixed in the firmament and have obtained a motionless station, while others never cease from their motion; but this one both moves, leading the Magi, and stands still, pointing out the place. You hear Isaiah crying out: *A child is born to us, and a son is given to us* (Isa. IX, 6). Learn from the same prophet how the child was born, how the son was given. Is it according to the law of nature? By no means, he says, for by laws...

says the prophet. The Lord of nature is not a slave to the laws of nature. But how was the child born? He says: Behold, the virgin shall conceive in the womb and bear a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which is translated, God with us (Isa. VII, 14). O the miracle! The virgin becomes a mother, and remains a virgin. You see the innovation of nature. Among other women, as long as one is a virgin, she is not a mother. But if she becomes a mother, she does not possess virginity. Here, however, both names meet in the same person. For she is the same, both mother and virgin; nor did virginity prevent the birth, nor did the birth dissolve the virginity. For it was fitting that He who was entering into human life in order to preserve humanity whole and incorrupt should begin ^B His origin from an incorruptness serving His birth. For human custom calls her who is without experience of marriage "incorrupt." This, I think, that great Moses had foreseen through that light in which God appeared to him, who, when the bush was burning, and yet was not consumed, said: I will go over and see this great vision (Exod. III, 3), not, as I suppose, declaring a local movement by the "going over," but the passage of time. For what was then signified by the flame and the bush, as time progressed and intervened, was clearly opened up in the mystery of the Virgin. For just as there is the bush, and it kindles a fire and is not consumed, so here is the Virgin, who brings forth the Light and is not corrupted. And do not be ashamed by the analogy if the Virgin's body, which gave birth to God, is understood by ^C the bush. For all flesh, on account of the reception of sin, and for that very reason that it is flesh, is sin; and sin in Scripture is called a thorn (II Reg. XXIII, 6; Matth. XIII, 22). And lest we wander too far from our subject, perhaps it will not be untimely if we bring forward, as a witness to the incorrupt mother, him who was slain between the temple and the altar. This priest was Zacharias, not a priest only, but also a prophet (Luc. I, 3 sqq.). The power of his prophecy is declared in the book of the Gospel, when divine grace, paving the way for men so that the birth from the Virgin might not be thought incredible, trained the assent of the faithful with lesser miracles, so that a barren woman and a man already worn by age should conceive a son. This was the preamble to the miraculous birth. For just as Elizabeth, who ^D had reached old age in barrenness, does not become a mother through the power of nature, but a son is born to her by divine counsel, so that which seems incredible in the virgin birth, if it is referred to God, becomes credible. Since, therefore, he who is born of the barren woman precedes the One who comes from the virgin—he who, at the voice of her who carried the Lord, leaped in his mother's womb before he came into the light—as soon as the forerunner of the Word was born, the silence of Zacharias was loosed

^A A silence is broken. And whatever Zacharias the prophet expounded, referred to the future. He, therefore, being guided by the prophetic spirit to the knowledge of hidden things, and having understood the mystery of virginity in an incorrupt birth, did not remove the unwed mother from the place in the holy temple assigned by the Law to virgins, teaching the Jews that the Creator of all things and King of all creation has human nature subject to Himself along with all else, guiding it to what seemed good by His own will, not being governed by it Himself; so that it was in His power—being in His own might—to fashion a new birth, which would not deprive the mother who had brought Him forth of her virginity. For this reason, he did not remove her from the choir of virgins in the temple; and this location was the space between the temple and the altar. When, therefore, the Jews heard that the King of all creation had proceeded into human life by divine order, fearing that they might be made subject to the King, they slew the priest who was officiating at the altar itself, who testified these things concerning the birth. ^B But we have wandered far from the matter at hand, for it behoves us to return in our discourse to the Bethlehem that is in the Gospel. For if we are truly shepherds, and are watching over our own flocks, the voice of the angels surely pertains to us, announcing this great joy. Therefore, let us look up to the heavenly host, let us behold the dancing of the angels, let us hear their divine hymn. What is the sound of those celebrating? *Glory to God in the highest*, they cry. Why does the voice of the angels give glory to the Godhead seen in the highest? Because, they say, *and on earth peace*. The angels have become overjoyed at what is being manifested: *On earth peace*. The earth, which was previously cursed, which was fertile in thorns and thistles, the place of war, the desert of the condemned, has received peace. O, the wonder! *Truth has sprung from the earth, and justice has looked down from heaven*. Such fruit of its own has the earth of men given. And these things happen for the sake of His good pleasure in men. God is commingled with human nature, that He may raise up the human to the divine height. Having heard these things, let us pass on to Bethlehem, let us behold the new spectacle, how the Virgin rejoices in her childbearing, how she who has not known marriage gives suck to the infant. ^C But first let us hear what has been handed down in memory concerning her, and from whence she came.

I have therefore heard a certain apocryphal history, providing such accounts concerning her. The father of the Virgin was a certain man of distinction in the life of strict observance of the Law, and renowned for the most noble qualities, but he had grown old in life childless, because his wife was not suited for childbearing. Now there was a certain honor among mothers according to the Law, of which those women who had borne no children were deprived. Therefore, she also, imitating the narratives concerning the mother of Samuel, and having entered into the Holy of Holies, became a suppliant to God, that she might not fall outside the blessing of the Law, having sinned nothing against the Law ^D and...

^A becoming a mother, and dedicating to God that which was being born. Being strengthened by a divine nod, she received the grace she requested. And when the child was born, she named her Mary, so that through the appellation the God-given nature of the grace might be signified. And when the maiden had already grown, so as no longer to need nursing, she made haste to return her to God, and to fulfill the vow, and to bring her to the Temple. The priests, for a time, reared the child in the Holy of Holies after the likeness of Samuel; but when she had grown, they took counsel as to what they might do with that sacred body, so as not to sin against God. For to yoke her to the law of nature and to enslave her through marriage to one being led to her appeared most absurd. For it was deemed outright sacrilege for a human to become the master of a gift consecrated to God, since by the laws a husband was ordered to have dominion ^B over his wife. But for a woman to reside within the Temple among the priests and to be seen in the Holy of Holies, was neither lawful, nor did the modesty and honor of the situation allow it. As they were deliberating on these things, counsel came from God to give her to a man in the name of betrothal, and for this man to be such as would be suitable for the protection of her virginity. Joseph was therefore found, such as the account sought, from the same tribe and family as the Virgin, and the maiden was betrothed to him according to the counsel of the priests. The union, however, went no further than betrothal. Then Gabriel was sent to the Virgin, to reveal to her the mystery of the divine will. He used these most auspicious words: "Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with you." This utterance is the opposite of that first word which came to the woman. For she was condemned to pains in childbirth because of sin. But now, in this one, sorrow is expelled through joy; in the former, the pains of childbirth led the way; here, however, joy midwifes the birth. "Fear not," he says. Since the expectation of childbirth brings fear to every woman, the promise of a sweet birth casts out fear. "You shall conceive in your womb," he says, "and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus; for he himself shall save his people from their sins." What, then, of Mary? Hear the voice of the chaste Virgin. The angel announces the birth; yet she clings to her virginity, judging incorruption to be preferred before the angelic manifestation, nor does she lack faith in the angel, nor does she depart from her purpose. "Interaction with a man is forbidden to me," she says. "How shall this be to me, since I do not know a man?" This voice of Mary is proof of the things historically reported in obscure accounts. For had she been taken by Joseph for the sake of children, how could she have been startled when the angel announced the birth, as if hearing of a strange and novel thing, provided she herself had also bound herself to the law of nature, expecting at some time to become a mother? But because it was necessary to keep the flesh consecrated to God—like some holy offering—an untouched and intact gift, therefore, she says, even if you are an angel, even if you come from heaven, even if you [present that which...]

reveal that it surpasses human nature, yet it is forbidden for me to know man. How shall I be a mother without a man? For I know Joseph as a betrothed spouse, but I do not know him as a man. What, then, does the herald Gabriel say to these things? For whom does he prepare the bridal chamber by pure and undefiled wedlock? “The Holy Spirit,” he says, “shall come upon you, and the power of the Most High shall overshadow you.” O blessed is that womb, which, by reason of the excellence of its purity, drew into itself the goods of the soul! For among all others, a pure soul would scarcely receive the presence of the Holy Spirit; but in this case, the flesh itself becomes a vessel of the Spirit. “And the power of the Most High shall overshadow you.” What does this secret word signify? That Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God, as the Apostle 37 says. Therefore, the power of the Most High God, which is Christ, is formed in the virgin through the coming of the Holy Spirit. For just as the shadow ^A of bodies is shaped according to the form of the objects that precede it, so the character and the distinguishing marks of the divinity of the Son will be made manifest in the power of the One being born, as an image and seal and shadow and radiance of the prototype, through the wonder-working of His acts. ^B

Verily, the Gospel exhorts us to return in our discourse to Bethlehem, and to see the mysteries that are in the cave. What is this? A child wrapped in swaddling clothes and placed in a manger; and the Virgin, after childbirth, an incorrupt mother, embraces her offspring. Let us utter, we who are shepherds, the voice of the Prophet: “As we have heard, so have we seen in the city of the Lord of hosts, in the city of our God 38.” Did these things, then, which we have heard in regard to Christ, happen by chance and accident, and are they recorded without deeper meaning, or is there some rationale beneath the history? What does the Lord’s dwelling in a cave signify, or His reclining in a manger? Or His entering into ^C life at the time of the tax registration? Is it not clear that just as He rescues us from the curse of the Law, having Himself become a curse for our sake 39, and transfers our wounds onto Himself, so that by His wound we might be healed 40, so also does He become a taxpayer, that He might deliver us from the most burdensome tax which death exacts from man? But regarding the cave which you see, in which the Lord is born, consider the darkened life of men, submerged beneath the earth, in which He is born who shows Himself to those who were sitting in darkness and in the ^D shadow of death 41. He is wrapped in swaddling clothes and bound with bands, He who undergoes [the taking on of] the chains and bonds of our sins. The manger, indeed, is the dwelling of brute beasts, in which the Word is born, that “the ox may know its owner, and the ass its master’s crib 42.” By the ox, understand him who is subject to the yoke of the Law; by the ass, which is an animal born for carrying burdens, him who is laden with the crime of idol worship. Now, the common food and life of animals devoid of reason is hay, for, says the Prophet, “He makes hay grow for the cattle 43.” But the rational animal is fed with bread. For this reason, therefore, in the manger, which is

the dwelling-place of irrational animals, the Bread that has descended from heaven is set forth, ^A so that those creatures that are removed from reason may be nourished by the food of reason, and thus be adorned with reason. The Lord of both therefore mediates at the manger between the ox and the ass, so that, breaking down the middle wall of the partition, He might create in Himself the two into one new man, relieving the one of the heavy yoke of the Law, and freeing the other from the burden of idolatry. But let us look up to the wonderful spectacles of the heavens. For behold, not only do the prophets and angels announce this joy to us, but the heavens themselves, by their own wonders, proclaim the glory of the Gospel. From Judah, as the Apostle says, the Christ has risen; but the Jew is not illuminated by Him who has risen. The Magi are strangers to the testament of the promise and aliens from the blessing of the Fathers; yet they outstrip the Israelite people in knowledge, acknowledging the heavenly luminary and not being ignorant of the King in the cave. The former bring gifts, the latter plot treachery. The former worship, the latter persecute. The former rejoice in the discovery of Him whom they were seeking, the latter are alarmed by the news of His birth. For, it says, when the Magi saw the star over the place ^B where the Child was, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy. But Herod, hearing the report, was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. The former offer incense as to God, and honor with gold His kingly dignity. By a certain prophetic grace, they prefigure through the myrrh the dispensation of His death; but the others resolve that all the infants gathered in one place be carried off by slaughter. This seems to me not only to convict them of cruelty, but even of the highest madness. For what is the meaning of this slaughter of children? And for what purpose has such an abomination been dared by the murderers? Because, they say, a new and startling portent of the heavens announced to the Magi the indication of the King. What then? Do you have faith in the sign that has appeared as being true, or do you imagine that which is bruited about to be in vain? If He is such a one as can make the heavens serve Him, He is surely above your hand. But if He is in your power, so that He might either live or die, you fear Him in vain. For if He does that which makes Him subject to your authority, why are snares prepared for Him? Why is that fearful decree sent out? Why is the impious sentence passed, that the wretched infants be slaughtered? ^C What have they sinned? What cause of death and punishment have they provided against themselves? They have one crime alone: that they were born and brought into the light. And for this it was necessary that the city be filled with executioners, and that a multitude of mothers and a people of infants be gathered together, and that even the fathers and those joined by the kinship of birth be assembled for the cruel deed. Who can describe this calamity in speech? Who can set forth the bitterness for the eyes to see through narrative? That mixed lamentation, the mournful wailing of the children, ^D of the mothers, of the kin, of the fathers, at the threats

^A of the executioners who cry out so piteously? Who could describe in words an executioner rushing at a child with a drawn sword, looking at him with a fierce and murderous countenance, and speaking such terrible things, while with one hand he drags the infant toward himself, and with the other brandishes the sword? And the mother, on the other side, pulling the child toward herself, and offering her own neck to the edge of the sword, that she might not see with her eyes her wretched infant child destroyed by the hands of the executioner? Who could recount the deeds of the fathers? The callings-back, the lamentations, the last embraces of their children; and many such things happening all at once? Who could deliver a tragedy of the diverse and manifold calamity, the double pains of those who had just given birth? The keen torches of nature? How the wretched infant would cling to the breast, and at the same time receive a fatal wound through its vitals? How the miserable mother would at once offer her nipples to the infant’s mouth, and receive its blood into her lap? And often, by the force of the hand, ^B the executioner would pierce both child and mother with a single stroke of the sword, and one stream of blood would flow, mingled from the mother’s wound and the fatal wound of the child. But since this also was added to Herod’s impious decree, that not only those just born should be condemned to death, but that if any child had entered its second year, it too should be snatched away (for it is written that he ordered those two years old and younger to be slain), the discourse foresees, as is likely, another affliction in these events. For often the intervening time had made the same woman a mother of two children. What sort of spectacle, then, was there again in such cases, with two executioners occupied about one mother; one dragging toward himself the child running near him, the other tearing the still suckling infant from the mother’s bosom? What, then, does the unhappy mother do, when nature is split in twain over her children, and with each child stirring ^C an equal fire within her maternal vitals, she knows not which of the executioners to follow first, when one drags the children to slaughter from this side, and the other from that? Should she run to the one just born, uttering confused and indistinct groans? But she is held back by the other, already speaking, and with a stammering tongue calling out for its mother. What can she do? Whither shall she turn? To whose voice should she reply with her own? Whose moaning should she receive with her own cry? To whose death shall she listen, perhaps struck on both sides by the goads of nature? ^D But let us turn our hearing away from the lamentations for the children, and turn our mind toward things more joyful and more fitting for the feast, even if Rachel, according to the prophecy, bewails the slaughter of her children, crying out. For on a feast day, as the wise Solomon says, it is fitting to forget evils. And what day could be more glorious for us than this, in which the sun of justice, scattering the evil darkness of the devil, shines through our very nature upon the world; in which he who fell is raised up, he who was made an enemy is received into grace, and he who was cast out

^A of life returns to life, he who served in slavery attains the dignity of the kingdom, he who was bound by the chains of death runs back set free to the land of the living? Now, according to the prophecy, the bronze gates of death are shattered; the iron bars are crushed, by which the human race was formerly held imprisoned in the custody of death. Now the gate of righteousness is opened, as David sang. Now the cry of those celebrating the festival is heard in unison across the whole world. Through man came death, and through man came salvation. The first fell into sin; the second raised up him who had fallen. By a woman, the woman was defended: the first gave an entrance to sin, the second served as the entrance for righteousness. The former followed the counsel of the serpent; the latter brought forth the destroyer of the serpent, and gave birth to the Author of light into the light. The former introduced sin through the tree; the latter introduced grace through the tree. By the tree, however, I understand the cross; the fruit of this tree is ever-green, and to those who taste it, it becomes immortal life.

Let no one, however, think that this thanksgiving applies only to the mystery of Pascha. For let him reflect that Pascha is the end of the dispensation. But how could there be an end if the beginning had not led the way? What is more fundamental than what is fundamental? Clearly, the birth [is more fundamental] than the economy concerning the passion. Therefore, even the blessings of Pascha are part of the hymns concerning the birth. ^B And if one should recount the benefits reported in the Gospels, and enumerate the miracles of healings, the abundance of food in want and hunger, the waking of the dead from their tombs, the sudden and unexpected production of wine, the expulsion of demons, the restoration of various infirmities to health, the leaping of the lame, the eyes smeared with mud, the divine teaching, the laws given, the mysterious signification of the parables: all these things are encompassed by the grace of this day. For this was the beginning of all the good things that followed. ^C

Therefore, let us exult and rejoice in it; let us disregard, as the Prophet urges, the reproach of men, and let us not be overcome by their contempt—those who mock the account of the dispensation, as if it were not becoming for the Lord to undergo the nature of a body and to dwell in human life through birth. For they are ignorant, as it seems, of the mystery of this matter, how the wisdom of God arranged the salvation for us. We were voluntarily sold into our sins, and like those who are sold for silver, we were enslaved to the enemy of our life. What, then, should you have wished from the Lord? Was it not that you might be delivered from your calamity? Why, then, do you curiously inquire into the manner? Do you prescribe to the benefactor ^D the method of conferring a benefit? It is just as if someone were angry with a well-deserving physician because he had healed him not in this way, but in that. But if, led by curiosity, you inquire into the reason of the divine counsel, this is enough for you

to learn, that the Divine is not just one of the things that are good, but whatever is thought to be good in concept—that it is: powerful, just, good, wise; all things whatsoever that have a name and notion of divine dignity. Consider then, whether all these things that have been mentioned have not converged in what has been done for us: the goodness, the wisdom, the power, the justice. As good, He loved the deserter; as wise, He devised a plan for the return of those who had been enslaved; as just, He did not use force against the one who had enslaved us and who had rightfully acquired us by purchase, but instead He gave Himself as a ransom for those who were held, so that, like a surety, transferring the debt to Himself, He might deliver the held one from those who held him. As powerful, He was not held by Hades, nor did His flesh see corruption; for it was not possible for the Author of life to be held by corruption.

But, you say, is it shameful ^B to enter into human birth and undergo the experience of the sufferings of the flesh? You are speaking of the greatness of the beneficence. Since there was no other way for humanity to be delivered from such great evils, the King of all passionlessness submitted to exchange His own glory for our life. And though purity descends into our filth, the filth does not attach itself to the purity, as the Gospel says: "The light shone in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it." For the gloom vanishes at the presence of the ray; the sun is not darkened by the gloom. The mortal is swallowed up by life, as the Apostle writes; life is not consumed by death. That which was corrupted is preserved by the incorrupt. Corruption does not approach incorruption. For these reasons a common harmony of all creation arises, as all with one voice hymn the Lord of creation; as every tongue, of those in heaven and those on earth and those under the earth, cries out that ^C Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father, blessed forever and ever. Amen.

BY THE SAME ON THE MEETING OF THE LORD, AND ON THE THEOTOKOS, AND ON THE JUST SIMEON.

^A He who is lifted up in sense, wisdom, and understanding of heavenly things, and is exalted in his disregard and contempt for earthly things—that great Paul, that mind accustomed to be caught up by God, that tongue accustomed to be moved by Christ, that most beautiful pen of the swift-writing scribe, who elegantly inscribed for the Church the decrees of truth, that weapon fashioned by the hand of the Almighty, which inflicted a fatal and deadly wound in the heart of the prince of the darkness of this world, that lightning flash which shone from Jerusalem and the surrounding regions even to Illyricum, or rather even to the very ends of the earth, that most clear and resonant voice of divine thunder in the mystical wheel of the Gospel, which rolled throughout the whole world—he, I say, speaking as if from the very inner shrines and sanctuaries of Paradise where he had heard those unspeakable words, or rather as if from that very throne, high and lifted up, of the glory at which he stands, preparing for this present holy and Dominical festival an honorable procession, that we might receive the King of glory, sets in order like a most mystical senate the people of the Church, that royal priesthood, arranging and instructing them in the most exact and exquisite order possible—a life well composed and properly constituted—and prescribing the fitting arrangement, says: “Brethren, do not be children in understanding; but in malice be babes, but in understanding be mature.” (1 Cor. xiv, 20) ^B For so shall we become fellow-body-members and partakers with that perfect and eternal God, to whom we hold and celebrate this solemn gathering today, who for us in the latter times became an infant according to the flesh, from whom every gift and perfection exists, and who displayed the natural perfection of virtue even in His own human state and condition, and so shall the assembly of the Church exist for His honor and glory. For so the prophetic word, hinting at His recently manifested bodily theophany, describes it with the characters of His God-befitting perfection. “For before,” it says, “the child knows good or evil, he refuses wickedness and will choose the good,” which is the sign of ultimate and

truly prudent discernment. Instructing us toward this resemblance, the great Apostle uttered the divinely inspired oracle set before him, so that in this way the God-fashioned likeness according to the image and resemblance might be clearly recognized in us, and the surpassing holiness of the archetypal beauty might be perceived.

^A For just as it is fitting for the troops under a king, when preparing a procession to escort him, to be adorned in gold and to be chosen men that have been gathered for his bodyguard, and for them to display most distinctly the impression of his appearance; so it is necessary for us, being transformed by the renewing of our mind and having put off the old man, and carrying within ourselves, as far as is possible for human beings, the likeness of the divine image, so to meet in the saving and spiritual feasts, ^B that there may be realized for us, according to the word of the prophet, "the fourth fast, and the fifth fast, and the seventh fast, and the tenth fast into gladness and good feasts." The fast is, of course, to be understood in an anagogical sense, as a mode of abstinence and self-control from every defilement, both of flesh and spirit. For by the quaternary, the fifth, and indeed the seventh and the tenth, the entire carnal emphasis, which is prone to deception by the senses and confined to this present life, is signified. For we learn of a more corporeal and flesh-loving way of life through the quaternary, ^C since our bodies are composed of the four elements; and that which is easily led astray through the senses (as there are five of them) is indicated by the name of the fifth. Indeed, the seventh signifies, even according to Solomon, the age of the lower nature, which revolves in cycles upon itself in weeks and returns in a circle. But the tenth indicates, by a translation from external things to a higher understanding and mystical meaning, the purification of the senses of the inner man, so that the eye of the mind may be simple and pellucid, in order that the whole body might be luminous, as says the holy Gospel; ^D and that the hearing of the soul may be filled with that divine exultation and gladness which the great David also prays to hear; and that its faculty of taste might be exercised in the goodness of the Lord, as he who chants in the prophets proclaims; and that the sense of smell might be established in the perception of the fragrance of Christ, which the divine Paul exhaled; and that with the inward hands of discernment one might handle the Word of Life, as the son of thunder declared. For the exercise of the intelligible senses in these matters, through abstinence from and alienation from those things contrary to them, is by nature apt to produce the fast that is praised by God; and so it results that we succeed in...

malice, indeed, to be as infants, but in prudence, which is joined with God, to attain perfect knowledge and habit. ^B

In this way the majesty of the intellect and the senses, flowing together from the springs of the Spirit—the teaching of the apostles and prophets—irrigating us and filling the river of God with mystical waters, knows how to gladden the heavenly city of God, which is composed of supramundane powers, with the rushing of this river, as we have heard the psalmody proclaiming. For truly the holy assembly of the powers above takes great delight in the salvation of men. For thus it is their custom to celebrate feast days in common with the dwellers on earth, provided that these indeed embrace the angelic life. For when our God here, whom the prophet had previously foretold as he displayed him, was seen upon the earth and conversed with men, and the angels saw the supernal blessedness being planted on earth, they proclaimed, *Glory to God in the highest*, and brought the good news of peace on earth (since the divine good will and affection had rested in men); and so the blessed hosts of the holy angels, praising and extolling the excellent and truly pure, perfect, and singular manner of divine liturgy and ministry, and perceiving in us signs of true holiness, will not judge us to be spurned and rejected—as the word of the evangelical parable makes to be withdrawn and cast out from the divine marriage him who was clothed in a filthy garment—but will judge us worthy to be taken as companions of eternal joy. ^C For when, at the archetypal time (so to speak) of the present feast’s institution, He who existed in the form of God and had taken the form of a slave—the mediator and intercessor between God and men—fulfilling the requirement of the Law, being an infant of forty days, the eternal Word was moving toward the temple with her who bore him and with the performance of the prescribed sacrifice that was fitting, the ranks of the incorporeal spirits, bowing their necks in a servile manner, were invisibly preparing the procession befitting God, and were venerating the sea of ineffable wisdom; and they were waiting for the completion and execution of the legal letter, which is obvious and known to the common people at first glance, to serve as a manifestation of the mystery hidden in God who created all things. Celebrating the memory of this mystery today, let us delight in spiritual contemplations as the incorporeal minds and spirits do, and by celebrating the majesty of the divine miracles with preaching and praise, we shall become partakers of their dignity: not with the legal shadow

^A of sacrifice thus clearly defined, proceeding toward the temple of God. For those who carry the veil on their heart when reading the Old Testament, thinking like children that they are fulfilling such legislation by the same annual sacrifices—which, if I may say so, can never make those who draw near perfect—let them think so. But for us, from whom that veil has been removed in our conversion to God, we who believe that the great mystery of godliness has been manifested once at the end of the age for the putting away of sin through His sacrifice—it behooves us, worthily of the divine light of truth, with the torch of the Spirit, to contemplate the mystery of the present festival; by approaching the speculation a little from above, and also by signaling in a timely manner that, according to the consistency of the inquiry, the command set forth in the Law is seen to be fulfilled, definedly and uniquely, only in the God who was incarnate, and without being applied to another.

For He alone, having been conceived in an ineffable manner and gestated in a way past speech, opened the virgin womb that had not been opened beforehand by marriage, keeping the seals of virginity unviolated even after that marvelous forth-going, and alone is believed to be spiritually male, bearing no trace of the feminine-like sin. Whence He is also truly and worthily called Holy, just as Gabriel, bringing the good news of the life-giving birth to the Theotokos, as if recalling the legislation that had been predetermined and looked only to Him, said, *And that which is to be born will be called holy, the Son of God* ^B, as if the appellation "holy" properly belonged to Him who by a divine miracle opened the virgin womb. And as for other firstborn things, the evangelical accuracy, looking with scrutiny into the depths of the Law, declared that they would be called "holy" in that they obtained such a name by their consecration to God; but concerning the Firstborn of all creation, the angel said, *The Holy One who is to be born*, as He really is this, and, as the prophet says, manifested the true holiness in the rejection of evil and the choice of the good at the very moment of His birth. ^C

But we must return to the sea of speculation, as the divine voice commands the lawgiver, with the grace of the Spirit—as in a pillar of fire and cloud—the splendor of the Scriptures leading the God-inspired army of the Church, so that with the rod of power that is sent forth from on high from Zion, as the Psalmist says, by which the enemies are brought into subjection, the sea of the letter ^D

^A has been cleft and divided on this side and that, and having passed over by a distinct and lucid understanding, we might escape the Egyptian disposition of those who do not believe in grace, while they themselves are drowned in those very waves and billows of truth; for it is their eager desire to hinder and prevent us as we journey along the path of the Gospel toward the spiritual land of promise, and they wish us to remain in the iron furnace of the letter (which is what Egypt is called), that is, serving by making mud and baking bricks—which is to say, in the corporal observances of the Law. Therefore, God, the Author of all things, spoke to Moses in Egypt, having already determined that plague and punishment against the firstborn of Egypt: ^B "Sanctify unto Me every firstborn that opens every womb among the children of Israel, from man even unto beast." The blessed Moses, as if unfolding and explaining the complicated and involved meaning of this divine constitution when he addressed the people, declared: "And it shall be when the Lord thy God shall bring thee into the land of the Canaanites, as He swore to thee and to thy fathers, and shall give it to thee, thou shalt set apart everything that opens the womb, the males (that is) to the Lord; and everything that opens the womb from the herds of oxen, or among thy cattle, whatsoever shall be born to thee, the males thou shalt dedicate to the Lord. Every firstborn of a donkey, thou shalt exchange for a sheep; and if thou wilt not exchange it, thou shalt redeem it, and every firstborn of thy sons ^C shalt thou redeem," that is, thou shalt give a price for it by which it may be redeemed. For so the divine oracle in the Book of Numbers explains and declares, speaking to him who had obtained the high priesthood: "And everything that opens the womb of all flesh which they offer to the Lord, from man to beast, shall be thine; nevertheless, the firstborn of men shall be redeemed with a price, and the firstborn of unclean cattle thou shalt redeem. And the redemption of it: from a month old thou shalt redeem it, the estimation of the price being five shekels of silver, according to the holy shekel. Moreover, the firstborn of calves, and the firstborn of sheep, and of goats, thou shalt not redeem; for they are holy, and their blood thou shalt bring to the altar." Indeed, the divine voice has now ^D conjoined and numbered and reckoned the firstborn of Israel together with the unclean cattle, inasmuch as they did not possess that which is truly purity and holiness through the worship which was practiced according to the Law, even if it were customary for them to be sanctified by the designation and attribution of the legal constitution. For in the same way as for those which were accustomed to be rejected and reprobated in sacrifices, a ransom price was ordained by the divine law among them for the firstborn of men; since he who was in the state among the Jews, being less firmly established in reason, was unworthy to offer a rational worship, and to be brought to the most mystical altar of the New Testament for a spiritual whole burnt offering. The prices of redemption

^A were considered to be those things which, as was the custom, used to be offered as sacrifices that are made by blood (which sacrifices the prophet Isaiah, speaking as if in the person of God, affirms that He did not even require of their hands), inasmuch as the mind and intention of the Lawgiver looked toward a spiritual, perfect, and absolute consecration and initiation; but those things which were offered for sacrifice, the blood of which it was the custom to pour out before the altar, were distinctly named holy, since even in this figure the truth was long ago described and designated. For He who offered Himself to God and the Father as a victim and oblation for an odor of a sweet smell, our Lord Jesus Christ, He alone is properly and truly named holy.

^B But perhaps the incredulous Jew will say: since the firstborn of those quadruped animals which were held by their custom to be unclean could not be offered as a legitimate victim, they were accustomed to be exchanged for a price and redeemed; likewise, since the human firstborn were not slain for victims (for that would indeed have been absurd and foreign to the divine sanction), it is reasonable that they were consecrated through the exchange of a price. But, unless he is hindered by the veil which covers the eyes of his soul, let him consider that the sacred Scriptures have already taught, in another ordinance, that the Levites were taken to be consecrated in place of the firstborn, speaking thus in Numbers word for word: And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: Behold, I have taken the Levites from the midst of the children of Israel for every firstborn that openeth the womb among the children of Israel; they shall be a price for them, and the Levites shall be Mine. For I have sanctified to Myself every firstborn in Israel on that day in which I struck every firstborn in the land of Egypt. ^C Then the Law, prescribing and expressing the certain and exact manner of the compensation and exchange, says: The Lord spoke to Moses, saying: Inspect and consider every firstborn of the children of Israel, from one month and upward, and take the number of them by name. And you shall take the Levites for Me in place of all the firstborn of the children of Israel. Then, when the number of the firstborn was found to exceed the number of the Levites in the census, He says: The Lord spoke to Moses, saying: Take the redemption prices of those who remain over and above the number of the Levites from among the firstborn of the children of Israel, and you shall take five shekels for each head according ^D to the holy didrachma. If, therefore, the Levites are the redemption prices of the firstborn of the children of Israel, as the precision of the census declares, so that for those who exceeded them in number a weight and price defined and appointed by the Law was given, for what reason did the Law command a redemption price to be given for each one of the firstborn? For, indeed, regarding the quadrupeds, which were not suitable or worthy to be taken for sacrifice and victim, the Law commands either that they be exchanged or that a price be given for them by which they might be redeemed; but regarding men, that [both] a redemption price be given, and that the substitution already be made through the Levites—which appears inconsistent even with the legal text itself, as the ordinance regarding the cattle shows, and the very nature of the matter suggests. For if, after the Levites [were assigned] to the service of God in place of the firstborn

a command was given that a price of redemption be paid for them, it is clear that the Levites did not possess in themselves a power equal and worthy, which might be accepted as a ransom and compensation. But if this is so, much more unworthy is that redemption of the firstborn which was performed by means of money: for how much viler, indeed, is a nature devoid of reason and sense than the human nature. Nevertheless, since, as the prophet says, they have closed their eyes, and cannot see what follows from this, will they be able to hear the most wise Micah himself crying out? I, for my part, do not think so. For even with their ears they hear heavily. Let this blessed prophet, however, come, crying these things with a loud voice, and by a prophetic spirit prefiguring the rejection and reprobation both of the Jewish firstborn and of the offering of material sacrifices. For he says: "By what shall I lay hold of the Lord, shall I grasp my God the most high? Shall I lay hold of him with year-old calves? Will the Lord accept thousands of rams, or ten thousands of fat goats? Shall I give my firstborn [as a fruit] of impiety, the fruit of my womb for my sins?" Let those who have a gross heart hear on what account the prophet accuses them before us, in that the blessed Micah named those who were the firstborn of Israel according to the flesh, "firstborn of impiety."

^C How, then, have they considered these things holy, which in the prophetic word were named firstborn of impiety? Let those who truly have stammering tongues tell us, those who cannot correctly pronounce and speak the truth, how the prophet, speaking in the Holy Spirit, dared to call these things "fruit of impiety"? How does the discourse regarding the redemption of these appear not to be level and consistent with itself, as far as the meaning of the letter which offers itself at first glance and inspection is concerned, even though the law among us is understood and believed to be both holy and spiritual? See the joined axles of the Jewish chariots, just as of old the chariots of the Egyptians in the Red Sea ^D waters. But in place of a rod, let the power and help of the true Lawgiver and King of glory, Christ, be cast into the sea of the discourse, and let it lead His people into the straight path of higher meaning and contemplation, that we may go into the city of the habitation of knowledge and truth, and let the unconquerable and invincible divine glory overwhelm the adversaries; of which the whole earth is full, that we may know the Lord, as the Scripture says, as much water [suffices] to cover the seas. Now indeed, God, having put on flesh, has both mortified and abolished the firstborn offspring of the devil, that is, sin, and as soon as He was born in the flesh, He effected the condemnation of wickedness for Himself, and performed and represented its absolute abolition through Himself.

^A He filled the opposing powers with wailing and lamentations, just as He took from them the Magi who came from the East as certain vessels, and by their adoration and recognition of His Lordship, they became vessels useful to the Lord for the cooperation of the building of the Church, the tabernacle truly fashioned by God, which the Lord pitched and not man. And now, just as He once redeemed Israel from mud and brick-making, so He redeemed the human race in Himself from the earthly mindset, effectively causing it to flee Egypt—that is, the hateful and dark fortress of death. ^B He sanctifies to God and the Father not only the firstborn of men, but now the entire human race also, through the first-fruits of our lump which He assumed in Himself—that is, the flesh taken from us and animated intellectually—leavening, as it were, the whole mixture for the sanctification of human nature. For if the first-fruits are holy, the lump is also, I might now say, as the divine Apostle says. And just as formerly the law-giving Word, in a typical manner—that is, through the figure by which the future was foreshadowed—offered to God the tribe which fell by lot to the priesthood in place of the first-fruits of the firstborn; so now, by the clear character of truth, we know that the High Priest and Apostle of our confession, the holy, guileless, and undefiled One, separated from every stain and mindset of the sinner, has been offered in the flesh to God and the Father in place of the humanity that was sanctified to Him through faith. ^C And so much the more so, in that we see the entire human race—in accordance with the principle of holiness (just as in the shadow of the law the firstborn were found in excess of the Levites)—not exceeding and over-abounding against Him who gave Himself as a ransom for many, but left far behind Him, in that without any contradiction, that which is blessed is inferior to the one who blesses. And at that time, the dignity of the Levitical priesthood was attributed to the nation of Israel alone, and it is testified that the Levites were the redemption price for the firstborn among them alone. But Christ, who has arrived as the High Priest of the good things to come, as the all-wise Paul says, ^D and not according to the order of Aaron, but according to the order of Melchizedek, as the divine oracle prophesied, effected by the changing of the priesthood—in that He is of another tribe (for it is clear that our Lord Jesus Christ has sprung from Judah)—also the changing of the law, moving us from the shadow under the law to the Gospel of the kingdom of heaven, just as He moved the dignity of the priesthood from the Levitical to the royal tribe. And by the comparison to the order of Melchizedek, He offered Himself as a ransom to the Father not for Israel alone, but for all the nations, and He has been established as the High Priest of the confession of all men, since Melchizedek is also known to be from the pagan portion and is found to be of the race of Abraham. The requirement according to the law of the five didrachmas

for each firstborn is meant to signify, enigmatically, that each of us must sanctify all our senses to God, and, keeping what is done through the senses pure and free from any shameful pleasure, offer it to the Creator as a holy and legitimate ransom.

We celebrate the memory of this holy festival today; this spiritual explanation of the mystery has gathered this holy, solemn assembly, in which, while the Savior was offered ^B according to the law as it appeared, yet, as He is understood in the spirit and perceived by the mind, by offering the first-fruits of our dough to the Father, He rendered the whole thing holy and fit for divine oblation. For this is what the law was travailing for long ago, and to this end looked the legal constitution regarding the firstborn, the compensation of the Levites, and the valuation of the didrachmas. Thus the grace of the Spirit has led us ^C through the sea of the divine Scriptures. But let us also see the closing and demonstration of the opponents. Now, then, the entire constitution of the law concerning both the Levites and the firstborn has already been made clear to us above; but just as the great Moses, confirming and encouraging the people, asserted that they would no longer see the Egyptians, so I am also moved now to announce the good news to the peculiar people of God, that we shall no longer see the bodily camp of the shadowy ^D worship. For where, after the manifestation of that great High Priest, is the sacrifice of the Levites? Where, after the world has been redeemed and expiated by the price, is the reckoning and valuation of the firstborn? Where is the remaining exact prescription and observation of the legal ceremonies? Do you not see that as long as the night of ignorance held all things, the worship performed according to the law provided a dim and meager splendor, like the stars; but when the sun of righteousness arose, and the Dayspring from on high appeared, and the day of salvation shone forth, the torch of the legal ordinances vanished, overcome by the super-shining light of grace? Does not that famous temple lie prostrate and leveled to the ground, like the nobles and the chariots? Has not all the elation and pride, all the spirits which the pontiffs had assumed in its name, collapsed and been brought low? And has not their entire well-ordered and established legal discipline been submerged and confounded? Has not the diligent and accurate observance regarding established customs that flourished among the Jews utterly perished? For where could they offer the sacrifices for women who have newly given birth, now that the chosen place has fallen, and it was clearly prescribed that it was not permitted for them to offer sacrifices anywhere else? Where is the priestly vestment, and the dignity, and all the rest? But that we may not, by going through each thing, strike terror into the eye of the soul by the continuous touch and contemplation of things dead—let us leave those dead things

^A by the water of the legal letter: but let us sing the song of victory and the hymn

To the Kind God