Слово на Святую Пасху. Св. Прокла, архиепископа Константинопольского 46

In the beginning was the Word (John 1:1). Other Evangelists depicted the genealogy of our Lord and God Jesus Christ according to the flesh: John, chosen from the Evangelists (lyre of Theology), theologizes about the beginningless existence of God the Word, and narrates about the eternal and unattested birth of the Son from the Father, saying: in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was to God, and God was the Word. This is from time immemorial to God. All this was (John 1:1-3). These five stones are enough to protect the Church. He (Evangelist John) said: in the beginning was the Word (he did not say: “in the beginning was the Word,” but: in the beginning was the Word): this is the beginninglessness of the Hypostasis of the Son, and His relationship to the Father - and this is the strongest foundation of our faith. And the word be to God: this is the indivisibility of nature - and this is the strong thunderclap of the Evangelist against the Greeks. And God is the Word: this is the immutability of nature - and this is the greatest defeat for the Jews. This is from the beginning to God: this is the essence (of the Son) of the Father, and this is a strong refutation of the Manichaeans. All that said: this is Creative autocracy, and with this the lips of all heretics are stopped. Everything came into being through Him (the Word): the sky is His creation, the earth is His creation, the sea is His creation; The air is open to them, and light is revealed from nothing; The Angels are His servants, the Powers are His servants, the Cherubim are His throne, the Father is God, the Son is the Word and God, as well as the Holy Spirit is God. The number of Hypostases does not dissect the nature, and the Trinity does not fragment the essence. The Trinity is consubstantial with power, Divinity, goodness: She founded and established our faith, protected the Church, sanctified the universe, abolished the devil, defeated and crushed demons, destroyed Jewish circumcision, expelled the Hellenic error and stopped the mouths of heretics. The evangelist also theologizes about the eternal and unattested birth of the Son from the Father, saying in the Gospel: The only begotten Son, the son in the bosom of the Father, is the one who confessed (John 1:18), - as in another place it is said: behold a voice from heaven, saying: This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased (Matthew 3:17). So, first of all, the above birth (of the Son) is not attested, because the One was born of the One, and no one knows how (the Father) gave birth except the Father, and how (the Son) was born except the Son (Matthew 11:27). There was no time (then): for He is the Creator of ages (Heb. 1:2). Angels were not present either, since He is the creator of His angels and spirits (Ps. 103:4; Heb. 1:7). There was no heaven either, because the heavens were established by the Word of the Lord (Ps. 32:6). There was no sun either; for He set this great light for the light of the day (Gen. 1:16, 17). There was neither moon nor stars: since He founded the moon and stars (Ps. 8:4). There was no land either, for He said: let the waters be gathered together, and let the dry land appear (Gen. 1:9). It is marvelous, therefore, that the Evangelist depicted the beginningless existence of the Word, and the pre-eternal and unattested birth of the Son. Who taught you, O blessed John, to say this? – Lake Gennesaret? but it does not teach dogmas. Fishing? but it does not theologize. Start it? but he is not a scientist. Fatherland? but it is not significant. Jews? but they are transgressors of the law (Rom. 2:27). Law? but he was a shadow (Heb. 10:1). Prophet Moses? but he is thin-voiced and tongue-tied (Ex. 4:10). King David? but he is a worm, and not a man (Ps. 21:7). How did you say: in the beginning was the Word? Who raised you to such heights? Who gave such wings to your mind? By faith you left the earth, you traversed the air, flew over the heights of the earth, rose above the heavens, passed the Archangels, drew level with the Seraphim, appeared before the Cherubim throne of the Lord, - lifted up by faith, thundered an unimaginable birth, preached an incomprehensible existence and announced God - the Word without beginning, saying: in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was to God, and God be the Word. Great is the grace, beloved! Man (three cubits) ascended to heaven with his mind and thoughts, together with the Word, - and there with the eyes of faith he saw what had happened dispassionately from the bosom of the Father, and God, born of God, - he saw the Spirit of God with the Father and the Son worshiped, the Trinity glorified in oneness, in three Hypostases divided and united by nature. The evangelist surpassed even the Seraphim themselves, because they cover their faces from the brilliance (Is. 6:2), and he, by grace, spoke both the birth and existence of God - the Word. After that, descending from heaven again to earth, (the Evangelist) said: The Word became flesh. He saw the mystery of God, accomplished without change or change, - he saw the Word incarnate on earth and did not recede from heaven, - he saw the most spacious womb of heaven, - he saw a husbandless Mother and a painless birth, - he saw (God) being born as a man, - he saw Him as a baby who was perfect before the ages, - he saw Him wrapped in shrouds, Who by authority loosed the (funerary) shrouds of Lazarus (John 11:44). He saw the creation that showed the Creator, - he saw in the cave a cleansing sacrifice for the world, - he saw the creature bearing the Creator, - he saw the One who nourished the nourisher being nourished, - he saw in the womb the mother of the One Who did not leave the bosom of the Father, - he saw the one worshiped by the Magi who was glorified by the Angels, - he saw the One who fled in the flesh into Egypt who holds the earth by the handful (Isa. 40:12), - I saw the One who brought water out of the earth baptized with water. (The Evangelist) saw the Teacher betrayed by the disciple, - saw Him bound who did not allow the virginity of the Mother, - saw Him presented to Pilate who created Pilate from clay, - saw Him crowned with thorns, Who crowned the earth with flowers, - saw Him crucified on the earth, Who is exalted in heaven, - saw Him dead in the tomb, Who raised the dead from the tomb, - saw Him risen, He who foretold the resurrection saw Him descending into hell and ascending to heaven: hell vomited Him Whom it had devoured out of ignorance. Who is the one whom the Evangelist saw? Who? – He who bowed the heavens and descended (Ps. 17:10) without noise, – Who hid himself from the heavenly Powers, – Who, having become incarnate from the Virgin, did not leave the Father’s throne, – Who is in heaven – without a mother, God is from God; and on earth - from the mother, the Son of the Virgin, - Who, out of love for mankind, became man for the sake of men, - Who, with His indwelling, sanctified the immaculate womb, leaving its gates undissolved, - Who blessed the natural birth and sealed the virgin birth, - Who, not contained in heaven, was contained in the womb, - Who created the ages before the ages, - Who by word and will made the world - the ineffable Word the Father, consubstantial with the Son who gave birth, beginningless, not requiring a beginning and having received the beginning of being. Incomprehensible miracles, beloved! In heaven the throne was not abolished, and on earth the world received salvation. All this is contained in five words of the great thunderous Evangelist John. Therefore let the Greeks perish, let the Jews disappear, let the Samaritans be put to shame, let the Manichaeans be scattered, let the heretics perish, and all the enemies of the immaculate Catholic and Apostolic Church: for the hope of them all is for them destruction and destruction, but our hope is for resurrection and eternal life, in our Lord Jesus Christ, with whom be glory to the Father and the Holy Spirit, and honor and power, forever and ever. Amen. 47. Curs. Compl. Patrolog. edit. Migne, Tom. LXV, col. 799–896; Wed Christian Read 1840, II, 194–202 pp. You might be interested in: