9. О человеке

About man we affirm that he was created not by any principles, as Basilides and Cerinthus fable, and not by Ialdabaath, as the Sethians ignorantly assert, and not by Saklos, as Manes madly teaches, but by the Divine and All-Holy Trinity that organized everything. For we hear that the Divine Scripture says that the God of all has spoken: “Let us make man in our image and likeness” (Gen. 1:26). Blessed David also said in agreement with this. “Thy hands,” he says to God, “create me and create me: teach me, and I will learn Your commandments” (Ps. 119:73). By “hands” of God we do not mean any bodily parts, but the creative power of God, because the incorporeal and indescribable nature is not complex, as Avdey says in his mental derangement, but is simple, has no form or outline, and embraces everything. Therefore, hearing the telling of the story of Moses that “God took dust from the earth” (Gen. 2:7), we delve into the literal meaning and understand what a special disposition the God of all has towards human nature. For, making this clear, the great Prophet said that God created everything else with words, but created man with his hands. Just as in the reasoning of other creatures by the command of God we mean not a verbal command, but will and will, so in the reasoning of man in the creation of the body we understand not work with hands, but God’s special disposition towards this creature. Just as now, by the will of the Creator, an embryo is created in the mother’s womb, and nature follows the rules that were determined by Him in the beginning, so then, by His will, the human body was made up of earth, and dust became flesh, blood, skin, fat, fibers, blood-bearing and beating veins, brain and juices; bone supports, eye coverings, purity of the pupil, helical passages for hearing, the sense of smells and the verbal organ of the mouth were formed, in which the teeth serve instead of strings, the tongue is likened to a rattle, and the mind is like the right hand of a musician. But who is able to wonder, as much as one should, at the structure of this vital composition? If many others undertake to condemn it, then most of all are the successors of Manes, which is why they say that it was not God who created the human body, but the prince of matter, Saklos. The Hellenic sages, Socrates, Hippocrates, Plato, Xenophon, Aristotle, Galen and thousands of others, are amazed at the harmony of the human body, marvel at the mutual correspondence in each part and admit that their praiseworthy word is surpassed by the wisdom of the best Artist of all, seen in this living being. So many are better than these evil heretics, who were not cultivated by the prophetic word, who did not use the apostolic leadership, but who left the knowledge of the divine to reason alone. And I say this, not justifying the so-called philosophers in their polytheistic delusions, but showing that those who exalt themselves in the name of Christians are more evil than not only philosophers, but also demons. For what is more wicked than this - to turn everything into a pretext for blasphemy against the Creator? We have learned to praise Him for everything, not only for what seems pleasant, but also for what is considered sorrowful. But this is not what we should discuss yet, because the word must remain harmonious in the composition. So, we say that just as the body is created from four elements, because it has heat from fire, coolness from air, dryness from earth and moisture from water, so the soul is simple, reasonable and immortal, but does not come into existence before the body. Pythagoras, Plato, Plotinus and his like-minded people, recognizing souls as immortal, argued that they existed before bodies, that there are an innumerable number of souls and those who sinned are sent into bodies, so that, having been cleansed through such punishment, they can return to their place again, and those who loved the lawless life in bodies are sent into dumb animals, and the souls of cruel, harmful people - into reptiles, predatory - into wolves, the daring ones become lions, the cunning ones become foxes. Such and such absurd fables were composed by others! They say about the Peripatetics that they also denied the immortality of the soul. And the wisest of doctors called the soul the well-being of the body, and this idea was given to them by the illnesses that happen to the body, I mean epilepsy, stroke and madness. Since in each of these diseases the mental power suffers harm and is rendered inactive, they concluded that the goodness of the body is the soul. But they had to reason that even a player who plays the lyre, if the lyre is not in good tune, will not show his skill on it, because strings that are too tense and become weak disrupt the harmony of the sounds; if others are interrupted, then the musician is completely rendered inactive. The same can be seen in pipes and other instruments. Thus, a boat that flows and is not constructed according to the rules of art turns the art of the helmsman into nothing; Thus, horses with broken legs and naturally slow horses, as well as injuries in chariots, take away the dexterity of the rider. So, of course, some bodily illnesses do not allow the soul to demonstrate the activity of rational force. But as soon as the disease develops in the tongue, the word becomes difficult; due to illness in the eyes, the activity of the visual force no longer takes place in this part of the body. If the disease touches the meninges, then the deterioration of the vapors or juices damages the brain, and it, “filled with them,” does not accept mental activity, but is likened to someone drowning in water, who, as best he can, beats with his arms, legs and all parts of the body. Therefore, the goodness of the body is not the essence of the soul, but with the goodness of the body, the “essence of the soul” exerts its own wisdom. But enemies and wicked heretics fell into this foolishness, Carpocrates, Epiphanes, Prodicus, the Caians, Antitactes and Eutychites, spreading even more wicked nonsense, for they said that souls are sent into bodies to commit all sorts of obscenity and lawlessness in them and with their wicked undertakings to please the angels of the universe. But the Church, submissive to the words of God, especially abhors this teaching of heretics, but turns away from fables and other false teachings and, believing the Divine Scripture, says that the soul was created together with the body and did not have the beginning of its creation in the material seed, but by the will of the Creator it comes into being after the formation of the body. For the divine Moses said that first the body of Adam was created, and then God breathed into the soul. “God took dust from the earth, and God created man, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life: and man became a living soul” (Gen. 2:7). We do not call this inspiration, with Cerdon and Marcion, any part of the divine essence, but we affirm that this signifies the nature of the soul, namely, that the soul is a spirit, rational and thinking. And in the laws of this same Prophet taught us even more clearly that first the body is formed, and then the soul is inhaled; for about the one who struck the non-idle one he said: “if... a child comes out... is depicted, let him give an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth,” and so on: “if he comes out... not depicted, let him be lost in vanity” (Exod. 21, 22–24); and this teaches that a baby formed in the womb is animated, but an unformed one is not animated. So Job, worthy of all praise, spoke to the Lord: “Remember that you created me into clay, but again you return me to the earth. Or didst thou not grind me like milk, but thou didst strew me like cheese? You clothed me with skin and flesh, and sewed me together with bones and sinews” (Job 10:9-11). And he showed by this the previous formation of the body, then he added a song about the animation of the body, for he says: “You have laid down life and mercy with me” (Job 10:12); After this he also mentions guardianship: “Thy visitation preserve my spirit” (Job 10:12); then he preaches God’s omnipotence: “Having this in You, we know that You can do all things, and You can do nothing” (Job 10:13). God honored the body with this advantage in time in order to establish equality. Since He created the soul immortal and the body mortal, He gave the body seniority in time, so that the soul would not be magnified before it, having superiority both in nature and in time. You might be interested in: