Книга четвертая

Chapter I. About what happened after the resurrection. After the resurrection from the dead, Christ removed from Himself all infirmities - I mean corruption - hunger and thirst, sleep, etc. fatigue, etc. For if He ate food after the resurrection, it was not due to natural need, because He did not hunger, but for the purposes of economy, certifying the truth of His resurrection and showing that the same flesh suffered and resurrected. Of the parts of human nature, He did not remove from Himself a single one - neither body nor soul, but has both a body and a rational and thinking soul, willing and active, and thus He sits at the right hand of the Father, as God and man, desiring our salvation - as God, providing for all things, preserving, and managing, and as a man, remembering His activities on earth, seeing and knowing that every rational creature worships Him. For His holy soul knows that it is hypostatically united with God the Word and, together with Him, receives worship as the soul of God, and not as just a soul. Both the ascension from earth to heaven and the descent back are the actions of a limited body, for in the same way it will come, it is said, to you, in the same way you see Him going to heaven (Acts I, 11) 176. Chapter II. About sitting at the right hand of the Father. When we say that Christ sat bodily at the right hand of God and the Father, we mean the right side of the Father not in the sense of space. For how can the Unlimited have a spatially right side? The right and left sides are the belonging of that which is limited. By the right side of the Father we mean the glory and honor in which the Son of God, as God and consubstantial with the Father, abides before the ages and in which, having become incarnate in the last days, He also sits in a bodily form, after the glorification of His flesh. For He, together with His flesh, is honored with one worship from all creation 177. Chapter III. Against those who say: if Christ (has) two natures, then you. either serve the creature by worshiping the created nature, or recognize one nature as worthy of worship, and another as unworthy of it. We worship the Son of God together with the Father and the Holy Spirit: disembodied before His incarnation, and now He became incarnate and became man, without ceasing to be God. Therefore, His flesh, if by means of subtle considerations we separate what is visible from what is comprehended by the mind, by its very nature is unworthy of worship, as created; but being united with God the Word, she receives worship through Him and in Him. Just as a king is worshiped, both undressed and dressed in royal attire, and a scarlet robe, like a simple scarlet robe, can be trampled under foot and thrown away, but having become a royal robe, it is revered and respected, and if anyone indecently touches it, he is, for the most part, condemned to death; just as an ordinary tree freely allows itself to be touched, but, having united with fire and become coal, it becomes inaccessible to touch not because of itself, but because of the fire united with it, and it is not the nature of the tree itself that is inaccessible, but coal or burning wood, so the flesh is essentially unworthy of worship, but becomes an object of worship in God incarnate - the Word, not for its own sake, but for the sake of God the Word hypostatically united with her; and we do not say that we worship mere flesh, but the flesh of God or God incarnate 178 . Chapter IV. Why did the Son of God become man, and not the Father and not the Spirit? and what did He achieve by His incarnation? The Father is the Father, not the Son; The Son is the Son, not the Father; The Holy Spirit is the Spirit, and not the Father and not the Son, for the (personal) property is unchangeable. Otherwise, how could a property remain in force if it were movable and changeable? Therefore, the Son of God is made the Son of man, so that (His personal) property remains unchanged. For, being the Son of God, He became the Son of man, being incarnate from the Holy Virgin and not deprived of (his) filial property 179. The Son of God became man in order to again give man that for which He created him. For He created him in His image - rational and free, and in likeness, that is, perfect in virtues (as much as is accessible to human nature). For such perfections as absence of worries and anxiety, purity, goodness, wisdom, righteousness, freedom from all vice are, as it were, features of the Divine nature. So, having placed man in communion with Himself, for He created him into incorruption, He, through communion with Himself, raised him to incorruption. After, through the transgression of the commandment, we darkened and distorted the features of the image of God in us, we, having become evil, lost communion with God, for what communion is between light and darkness (2 Cor. VI, 14), and, finding ourselves outside of life, fell under the corruption of death. But since the Son of God gave us the best, and we preserved it, He accepts (now) the worst - I mean, our nature, in order to restore the image and likeness through Himself and in Himself, and also to teach us a virtuous life, making it through Himself easily accessible to us, to free us from corruption by the communion of life, having become the firstfruits of our resurrection, to renew a vessel that has become unusable and broken, in order to deliver us from tyranny of the devil, calling us to knowledge of God, strengthening and teaching us to defeat the tyrant with patience and humility 180. So, the service of demons ceased; the creature is sanctified by divine blood; altars and churches of idols are destroyed; knowledge of God has been inculcated; the Trinity is revered as consubstantial, the uncreated Divinity, the one true God, the Creator of all and the Lord; virtues govern; through the resurrection of Christ the hope of resurrection is given, demons tremble before the people who were once under their power, and, what is especially worthy of surprise, all this is accomplished through the cross, suffering and death. The gospel of the knowledge of God was preached throughout the entire earth, putting opponents to flight not by war, not by weapons and troops, but a few unarmed, poor and unlearned, persecuted, tormented, killed, preaching the One crucified by the flesh and the One who died, won victory over the wise and strong, for they were accompanied by the almighty power of the Crucified One. Death, once very terrible, is defeated and, once terrifying and hated, is now preferred to life. These are the fruits of the coming of Christ. Here is proof of His power! For [here] not as He [once] through Moses saved one people from Egypt and from the slavery of Pharaoh by dividing the sea, but, much more than that, He delivered all mankind from the corruption of death of the cruel tyrant of sin, without forcibly leading to virtue, without opening up the earth, without burning with fire, without commanding the stoning of sinners, but with meekness and long-suffering, convincing people to choose virtue and strive for it. in labor and find pleasure in it. For once those who sinned were punished and, despite this, still clung to sin, and sin was like a god for them, but now people, for the sake of piety and virtue, prefer reproach, torment and death. O Christ, God's Word and wisdom and power. God Almighty! How will we, the poor, repay You for all this? For everything is Yours, and You do not demand anything from us except our salvation, You Yourself bestowing this too, and by Your ineffable goodness, showing favor to those who accept it (salvation). Thanks be to You, who gave existence, who bestowed bliss, and through Your ineffable condescension, returned to it (bliss) those who had fallen from it. Chapter V. Theme. who ask: was the hypostasis of Christ created or uncreated? The hypostasis of God the Word before the incarnation was simple, uncomplicated, incorporeal and uncreated; having incarnated, She became a hypostasis for the flesh and became complex from the Divinity that she always had, and from the flesh that she accepted, and bears (therefore) the properties of two natures, being cognizable in two natures. Thus, one and the same single hypostasis is uncreated according to Divinity and created according to humanity, visible and invisible. Otherwise, we are forced either to divide the one Christ, recognizing two Hypostases, or to deny the difference of natures and introduce transformation and fusion. Chapter VI. About when (the Lord) was called Christ? The mind (of Christ) was united with God the Word and was called Christ not before the incarnation from the Virgin, as some falsely say. This is the absurdity of the strange opinions of Origen, who taught about the pre-existence of souls. We affirm that the Son and Word of God became Christ from the time he entered into the womb of the holy Ever-Virgin and, without changing, became flesh, and the flesh was anointed by the Divine. For this anointing is the anointing of humanity, as Gregory the Theologian says. And the most sacred Cyril of Alexandria, in a letter to Caesar Theodosius, said this: “I affirm that neither the Word, born of God without humanity, nor the church, born of a woman, but not united with the Word, should be called Jesus Christ. For by Christ is meant the Word of God, inexpressibly combined with the human way of union laid down in the plans of the economy.” And to the queens he writes like this: “Some say that the name Christ befits even the Word begotten of God the Father, especially and in itself conceivable and existing. We are not taught to think and speak like that, for when the Word became flesh, then He, we say, was called Jesus Christ. Since He is anointed by God the Father with the oil of gladness, or the Spirit, that is why He is called Christ. And that the anointing was performed on humanity, no one who is accustomed to thinking correctly will doubt this.” And the all-praised Athanasius, in his word about the saving coming (of Christ), says this: “The Eternal God, before coming in the flesh, was not a man, but was God with God, invisible, impassive. When He became man, then for the sake of the flesh the name Christ was appropriated to Him, because this name is accompanied by suffering and death.” If the Divine Scripture says: “For this reason, O God, thy God anointed thee with the oil of gladness,” then one should know that the Divine Scripture often uses the past tense instead of the future, as, for example (here): “Therefore He appeared on earth and lived with men.” For when this was said, God had not yet appeared and lived with people. And another example: “on the rivers of Babylon there is a gray horse and a mourner”; but this did not happen then (when these words were uttered). Chapter VII. To those who ask: did the Mother of God give birth to two natures and were there two natures hanging on the cross? (The words) αγενητον and γενητον, if written with one ν, refer to nature, which specifically denotes the uncreated and the created; but αγεννητον and αγεννητον, which is pronounced with two νν, i.e., unborn and born, refer not to nature, but to hypostasis. So, the divine nature is αγενητος, i.e., uncreated, but everything (other) besides the divine nature is γενητα, i.e., created. Therefore, in the divine and uncreated nature one contemplates unbegottenness in the Father, for He is not begotten, begottenness in the Son, for He is begotten from eternity from the Father, and procession in the Holy Spirit. As for each type of living beings, the first of them are unborn in time, but also uncreated, because they were produced by the Creator, and were not born from their own kind. For the word γενεσις means creation, but γεννησις, in relation to God, means the origin of the consubstantial Son from the Father alone; in relation to bodies, the origin of the consubstantial hypostasis is from the union of the male sex with the female. From here we understand that to give birth is not a property of nature, but of hypostasis; for if it were (i.e. birth) was a property of nature, then in one and the same nature the born and the unborn would not be contemplated. So, the Holy Mother of God gave birth to a hypostasis, cognizable in two natures, born without flight from the Father, and in the last days, at a (certain) time, incarnated from Her and born in the flesh. If those who ask us begin to hint that the one born of the holy Virgin (has in Himself) two natures, then we will say: yes, two natures, for He is God and man. The same must be said about the crucifixion, and the resurrection, and the ascension, for all this relates to nature, and not to hypostasis. So, Christ, being in two natures, suffered and was crucified in that nature that was capable of suffering; for He hung on the cross in flesh and not in Godhead. Otherwise, will they answer us if we ask: did two natures die? No, they will say. Consequently, we say, it was not two natures that were crucified, but Christ was born, that is, the Divine Word made man, born in the flesh, crucified in the flesh), suffered in the flesh, died in the flesh, while His Divinity remained impassive. Chapter VIII. In what sense is the Only Begotten Son of God called the First Begotten? The firstborn is the one who was born first: either the only begotten, or the eldest of the other brothers. So, if the Son of God were called (only) the firstborn, and not called the only begotten, then we could suspect that He is the firstborn of creatures, as if being (himself) a creature. And since He is called both the first-born and the only-begotten, both of these concepts must be preserved in relation to Him. We call Him “the firstborn of all creation,” since He is both from God and creation from God, but only He alone was born without flight from the essence of God and the Father, therefore it is fair to call Him the Only Begotten Son, the Firstborn, but not the first created. For creation is not from the essence of the Father, but by His will it is brought from non-existence into being. He is called “the firstborn of many brethren” (Rom. VIII, 29) because, being the Only Begotten and according to the Mother, for He partook, like us, of flesh and blood. He became man, and through Him we became sons of God, being adopted as sons through baptism. He Himself, by nature, is the Son of God, and became the firstborn among us, who became sons of God by adoption and grace and are called His brothers. Therefore He said: “I will ascend to My Father and your Father”; He did not say “to our Father,” but to “my Father” according to (his) nature, and to your Father according to grace. And “to my God and your God,” I did not say, “to our God,” but to “my God,” if you, through subtle considerations, separate the visible from what is comprehended by the mind, and “to our God,” as the Creator and Lord 181. Chapter IX. About faith and baptism. We confess one baptism for the remission of sins (Rom. VI, 4) and eternal life. For baptism marks the death of the Lord. Through baptism we are buried in the Lord (Col. II, 12), as the divine Apostle says. Therefore, just as the death of the Lord took place once, so one must be baptized once; to be baptized according to the word of the Lord - in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit (Matthew XXVIII, 19), thereby learning to confess the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Therefore, those “who, having been baptized in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit and taught to confess one nature of God in three hypostases, then are rebaptized, crucify Christ again, as the divine Apostle says. It is impossible for those who are enlightened by one and so on. renew again into repentance, the second of those who crucify Christ to themselves and reprove (Heb. VI, 4 - 6). Those who were not baptized into the Holy Trinity must be rebaptized again. For, although the divine Apostle says that we are baptized into Christ and into His death (Rom. VI, 3), what he means here is not that this should be the calling at baptism, but that baptism is an image of the death of Christ. For by threefold immersion baptism marks the three days of the Holy Sepulcher. So, to be baptized into Christ means to be baptized by believing in Him. But it is impossible to believe in Christ without learning to confess the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. For Christ is the Son of the living God. Whom the Father anointed with the Holy Spirit, as the divine David says: for this reason the anointing of thee. O God, your God is more than your partaker of the oil of joy (Ps. XLIV, 8). And Isaiah, on behalf of the Lord, says: The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, for the sake of anointing Me (Isa. LIX, 1). And the Lord, teaching his disciples to call, said: baptizing them in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit (Matthew XXVIII, 19). For, since God created us into incorruption, and when we transgressed the saving commandment, He condemned us to the corruption of death, so that evil would not be immortal, then, condescending to His servants, like a good-hearted one, and becoming like us. By His suffering He delivered us from corruption; from His holy and immaculate side He brought us a source of remission: water for our rebirth and washed away from sin and corruption, and blood as a drink that gives eternal life. And He gave us commandments - to be reborn by water and the Spirit when the Holy Spirit flows into the water through prayer and invocation. For, since man is two-part - from soul and body, He also gave twofold cleansing - by water and by the Spirit; - The Spirit, which renews the image and likeness in us, the water, which through the grace of the Spirit cleanses the body from sin and delivers from corruption; water, representing the image of death. The spirit that gives the pledge of life 182. For even in the beginning the Spirit of God was floating on top of the waters (Gen. 1:2); and Scripture has testified from ancient times to water that it has cleansing power. With water under Noah, God washed away the world's sin. According to the law, everyone who was unclean was cleansed with water, even so much so that his very clothes were washed with water. Elijah, having burned the burnt offering with water, showed the grace of the Spirit united with water. And according to the law, almost everything is purified by water. But the visible serves as a symbol of the intelligible. Thus, rebirth takes place in the soul, for faith, with the help of the Spirit, adopts us to God, although we are creatures, and leads us to primeval bliss. Remission of sins through baptism is thus given to everyone equally, but the grace of the Spirit is given according to the measure of faith and preliminary cleansing. So, now through baptism we receive the firstfruits of the Holy Spirit, and rebirth becomes for us the beginning of another life, a seal, protection and enlightenment. But we must with all our might firmly keep ourselves clean from bad deeds, so that, having again returned like a dog to his vomit, we again do not make ourselves slaves of sin (II Peter II "22). For faith without works is dead, just as works are without faith; true faith is demonstrated through works. Let us be baptized into the Holy Trinity because that which is baptized has a need for the Holy Trinity both for its existence and for its preservation, and it is impossible for the three Hypostases not to dwell together in one another, for the Holy Trinity is indivisible 183 . The first baptism was baptism by flood to destroy sin. The second is baptism by sea and cloud, for the cloud is a symbol of the spirit, and the sea is a symbol of water. The third is baptism according to the law (of Moses), for everyone who was unclean was washed with water, washed his clothes, and thus entered the camp. The fourth is the baptism of John, which was preliminary and led those baptized to repentance so that they would believe in Christ. For I baptize you, he says, with water; But he who comes to me, it is you, he says, who baptizes with the Holy Spirit and fire (Matthew Ill, II). So, John prepared himself with water for the reception of the Spirit. Fifth is the baptism of the Lord, with which He Himself was baptized. He was baptized not because He Himself needed purification, but in order to, having assimilated my purification for Himself, crush the heads of serpents in water (Ps. CX111, 3), drown sin and bury all the old Adam in water, sanctify the baptizer, fulfill the law, reveal the sacrament of the Trinity, and become for us an image and example of baptism. And we are baptized with the perfect baptism of the Lord, that is, with water and the Spirit. Further, it is also said that Christ baptizes with fire; for He poured out on the holy Apostles the grace of the Spirit in the form of tongues of fire, as the Lord Himself says (about this), that John baptized with water, but you have not been baptized with the Holy Spirit and fire for many of these days (Acts 1:5); or because of baptism, punishing with future fire. Sixth, there is baptism through repentance and tears, which is truly difficult. The seventh is baptism by blood and martyrdom, with which Christ Himself was baptized for our sake, as the most glorious and blessed, which is not desecrated by subsequent defilements. The eighth and last is not salvific, but destroys vice, for after it vice and sin will no longer have power, and the punishment is endless. The Holy Spirit descended on the Lord in bodily form, like a dove, thereby showing the firstfruits of our baptism and honoring the body (of Christ), for it, that is, the body, became God as a result of deification. Moreover, even in ancient times, the dove heralded the end of the flood. The Spirit descends on the holy apostles in the form of fire, for He is God, and God is a consuming fire (Heb. XII: 21). At baptism, oil is taken, signifying our anointing and making us anointed and proclaiming to us the mercy of God through the Holy Spirit, just as the dove brought the olive branch to those saved from the flood. John was baptized by laying his hand on the Divine Head of the Lord and with his own blood. One should not delay baptism when the faith of those approaching it is evidenced by works. For he who approaches baptism with deceit will sooner be condemned than benefit 184. Faith is twofold. There is faith by hearing (Rom. X, 17). By listening to the divine Scriptures, we believe the teaching of the Holy Spirit. This faith comes to perfection through everything that is legitimized by Christ, (i.e.) when we believe in practice, live godly and keep the commandments of Him who renewed us. For whoever does not believe in accordance with the tradition of the Catholic Church or through evil deeds enters into fellowship with the devil is an infidel. On the other hand, there is also the faith of those who hope, the revelation of things unseen (Heb. XI, 1) or [in other words] a firm and undoubted hope in God’s promises to us and in the success of our petitions. The first faith is the result of our [free] disposition, while the second is one of the grace-filled gifts of the Spirit. It should be known that through baptism we remove the entire veil that has been on us since birth, and we take on the name of spiritual Israelites and the people of God. Chapter XI. About the cross and also about faith. The word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to those who are being saved the power of God is (1 Cor. 1:18). For the spiritual strives for everything; a spiritual person does not accept the Spirit (1 Cor. II, 15). For it is madness for those who do not accept with faith and do not reflect with faith on the goodness and omnipotence of God, but investigate the divine with the help of human and natural reasoning. Everything related to God is above nature, word and understanding. For if anyone begins to reason about how God brought everything from non-existence into existence and for what purpose, and wants to comprehend this with the help of natural reasoning, he will not comprehend. Such knowledge is spiritual and demonic. If anyone, guided by faith, begins to reflect on the goodness, omnipotence, truth, wisdom and righteousness of God, he will find everything smooth and even and the path straight. For without faith it is impossible to be saved. Everything, both human and spiritual, is based on faith. For without faith, the farmer does not plow the earth, and the merchant does not entrust his soul to a small tree in the stormy depths of the sea; Without faith, marriages are not concluded, and nothing else is undertaken in life. By faith we understand that everything is brought from non-existence into existence by the power of God; By faith we accomplish all things, both divine and human. Faith, further, is agreement, without any picky inquisitiveness. Every act and miracle-working of Christ is, of course, very great, divine and amazing, but most amazing of all is His honorable cross. For in no other way than as soon as by the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ death is abolished, ancestral sin is resolved, hell is deprived of its prey, resurrection is granted; we have been given the power to despise the present and even death itself, a return to original bliss has been arranged, the gates of heaven have been opened, our nature has sat down at the right hand of God, and we have become children of God and heirs. All this is accomplished by the cross. Because we are baptized into Christ, says the apostle, we are baptized into His death (Rom. VI, 3). The Elites were baptized into Christ, and we put on Hoist (Gal. Ill. 27). Christ is God's power and God's wisdom (1 Cor. 1:24). Thus, the death of Christ or the cross clothed us with the hypostatic wisdom and power of God. The power of God is the word of the cross, or because through it the power of God was revealed to us, i.e. victory over death, or because just as the four ends of the cross are held together and united by its center, so by the power of God the height and depth, length and breadth, that is, all visible and invisible creation, are held together. The cross was given to us as a sign on the forehead, like circumcision to Israel; for through him we the faithful are distinguished and distinguished from the unbelievers. He is a shield and a weapon, and a monument to victory over the devil. He is a seal so that the destroying angel will not touch us (Ex. XII, 23), as Scripture says. He is a rebellion for those who lie down, an affirmation for those who stand, a support for the weak, a rod for those who flock, a guide for those who turn, a lead to perfection for those who prosper, the salvation of soul and body, the reflection of all evils, the author of all good things, the destruction of sin, the plant of resurrection, the tree of eternal life. So, we must worship this very venerable and truly precious tree, on which Christ sacrificed Himself for us, as consecrated by the touch of the holy body and blood, in the same way - and the nails, spear, clothes and His sacred dwellings, such as: - manger, den, Golgotha, the saving life-giving tomb, Zion - the stronghold of the Churches, etc. as the Godfather David says: let us enter in His village, let us worship in the place where His nose stands (Ps. CXXX1, 7). And what David means by the cross here is shown by the following: rise again. Lord, into your rest (v. 6). For the cross is followed by resurrection. If the house, bed and clothing of those we love are desirable for us, then how much more should we desire that which belongs to God and the Savior and through which we are saved? We also worship the image of the honest and life-giving cross, no matter what substance it is made of, honoring not the substance (let it not be so!), but the image, as a symbol of Christ. For He, making a testament to His disciples, said: Then the sign of the Son of man will appear in heaven (Matt. XXIV, 30), meaning the cross, which is why the angel, the messenger of the resurrection, said to the women: You are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, crucified (Mark XVI, 6). And the apostle said: we preach Christ crucified (1 Cor. 1:23). Although there are many Christs and Jesuses, the crucified one is one. The apostle did not say pierced by a spear, but crucified. So, we must worship the sign of Christ, for where there is a sign, so Christ Himself will be. The substance from which the image of the cross consists, whether it be gold or precious stones, should not be worshiped after the destruction, if it happened, of the image. So we worship everything that belongs to God, paying respect to Him Himself. This honest cross prefigured the tree of life planted by God in paradise. For since death entered through the tree (Gen. II, 3), it was necessary that life and resurrection should be given through the tree. Jacob, bowing to the end of Joseph's rod (Gen. XLVII, 31), was the first to depict a cross, and having blessed his sons with alternating hands (Gen. XLVIII, 14), very clearly inscribed the sign of the cross. The same thing was represented: the rod of Moses, which struck the sea in a cross shape and saved Israel, while drowning Pharaoh (Ex. XIV, 16); hands stretched out crosswise and putting Amalek to flight (Ex. XVII, II); bitter water sweetened by the tree (Ex. XV, 25); a rock cut (with a rod) and flowing water (Ex. XVII, 6); the rod that acquires for Aaron the dignity of the hierarchy (Num. XVII. 8 - 9), the serpent lifted up on the tree in the form of a trophy, as if already slain (Num. XXI. 9), while the tree saved those who looked with faith at the dead enemy, just as Christ, in the flesh that knew no sin, was nailed for sin. And the great Moses (says) crying: see your life hanging on a tree before your eyes (Deut. XXVIII, 66). And Isaiah says: I have stretched out my hands all day long to a people who disobey and speak against words (Isaiah LXV, 2). Oh, that we who worship the cross would have our inheritance with the crucified Christ! Amen. Chapter XII. About worship to the east. We worship to the east not simply or by chance. But since we consist of the visible and the invisible, i.e., spiritual and sensory nature, we offer dual worship to the Creator, just as, (for example), we sing with both our minds and our bodily lips, we are baptized with water and the Spirit, and we unite with the Lord in two ways, partaking of the sacraments and grace of the Spirit. So, since God is spiritual light (1 John 1, 5) and Christ in Scripture is called the Sun of righteousness (Mal. IV, 2) and the East (Zech. Ill, 8), then the east should be dedicated to His worship. For everything that is beautiful should be dedicated to God, from Whom every good thing flows generously. And the divine David says: Sing to God the kingdoms of the earth, sing praises to the Lord, who has ascended to heaven in the east (Ps. LXVII, 33 - 34). And the Scripture also says: God planted paradise in Eden on the east and brought in there man, whom he had created (Gen. II, 8), (and) he drove out his sinner and planted directly the sweetness of paradise (Gen. Ill, 25), without a doubt, in the west. So, looking for the ancient (our) fatherland and directing our gaze to it, we worship God. And the tabernacle of Moses had a veil and a purgatory towards the east; and the tribe of Judah, as having preference over others, was located to the east; and in the famous temple of Solomon, the gates of the Lord were in the east. But the crucified Lord also looked to the west, and thus we worship, directing our gaze to Him. And ascending (to heaven). He ascended to the east, and so the apostles worshiped Him, and He will come in the same way, in the same way they saw Him going into heaven (Acts I, 11), as the Lord Himself said: Just as lightning comes from the east and appears to the west, so will the coming of the Son of man be (Matthew XXIV, 27). So, awaiting His coming, we bow to the east. The same is true of the unwritten tradition of the apostles. For they have handed down many things to us without scripture 185. Chapter XIII. About the holy and pure sacraments of the Lord. The good, all-good and all-good God, being all goodness, according to the immeasurable wealth of His goodness, did not tolerate that goodness, that is, His nature, should remain alone, and no one would be involved in it, but for the sake of this He created, firstly, the heavenly powers endowed with reason, then the visible and sensory world and, finally, man, consisting of a rational and sensory nature. So, everything created by Him, by its very being, participates in His goodness. For He Himself is being for everything, since everything that exists exists in Him (Rom. XI, 36) not only because He brought it from non-existence into being, but also because His power preserves and contains everything created by Him; in particular, living beings participate in His goodness, both by being and by participating in life, and even more than this, rational beings, not only because of the above, but also because they are rational, for they are somewhat closer to Him, although He is incomparably higher than all 186. Man, being rational and free, received the right to constantly be in unity with God through his own will, if he remains in goodness, that is, in obedience to the Creator. But since he transgressed the commandment of the One who created him and fell into death and corruption, the Creator and Creator of our race, in His goodness, became like us, becoming human in everything except sin, and united with our nature. Because, since He gave us His own image and His own breath, but we did not preserve (this), then He takes upon Himself our poor and weak nature in order to cleanse us, deliver us from corruption and again make us partakers of His deity. But it was necessary that not only the firstfruits of our nature should become a partaker of the best, but also every person who desires it should be born a second birth, and eat new food in accordance with the birth, and thus come to the measure of perfection. Therefore the Lord by his birth or incarnation. through baptism, suffering and resurrection he freed (our) nature from ancestral sin, from death and corruption, became the Firstfruits of the resurrection and in Himself showed the way, image and example, so that we, following in His footsteps, would become by adoption what He is by nature, (i.e.) sons and joint heirs of God and joint heirs with Him. So, He gave us, as I said, a second birth so that, just as we were born of Adam, we would become like him, having inherited curse and corruption, so being born of Him, we would become like Him and inherit His incorruptibility, blessing and glory. But since this Adam is spiritual, it was necessary that birth be spiritual, as well as food. And since we (by nature) are dual and complex, it must be that birth (was twofold, and equally food was complex. Therefore, birth was given to us by water and the Spirit; - I am talking about holy baptism, and food is the very bread of life, our Lord Jesus Christ, who descended from heaven (John, VI, 35, 4). For He, preparing to accept voluntary death for us, in that the night on which He betrayed Himself, bequeathed the New Testament to His saints, disciples and Apostles, and through them to all who believe in Him. In the upper room of the holy and glorious Zion, having tasted the Old Testament Passover with His disciples and fulfilled the Old Testament, He washed the feet of the disciples, showing (with this) the symbol of holy baptism and then, breaking bread, He gave it to them, saying: Take, O Lord, this is My Body, which is broken for you for the remission of sins (Matthew XXVI. 21). In the same way, taking a cup of wine and water, he gave it to them, saying: drink of it, all of you, this is My Blood of the New Testament, which is shed for you for the remission of sins; cue do in remembrance of Me (Matthew XXVI, 27 – 28). As often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the death of the Son of man and confess His resurrection, until He comes (1 Cor. Xl, 25 - 26) 187. So, if the Word of God is living and active (Heb. IV, 32) and whatever the Lord wills, do (Ps. CXXXIV, 6); if He said: let there be light, and there be, let there be firmament, and there is (Gen. 1, 3, 6); if by the word of the Lord the heavens were established and by the spirit of His mouth all their power (Ps. XXXII. 6); if heaven and earth, fire and air and all their decoration are made by the word of the Lord, and also this noblest living being - man; If God the Word Himself, having willed, became man and from the pure and immaculate blood of the holy Ever-Virgin, seedlessly made Himself flesh, then can He really not make bread His body, and wine and water His blood? He said at the beginning: let the earth produce grass life (Gen. I, 11), and even to this day, after being irrigated by rain, it produces its vegetation, excited and strengthened by divine behavior. (So ​​here too) God said: cue is My Body; and cue is My Blood; and create cues in My remembrance; and according to His omnipotent behavior it will be so (and will be) until He comes, for it is said: until He comes (1 Cor. XI, 26); and through invocation, rain appears for this new agriculture - the overshadowing power of the Holy Spirit. For just as God created everything that He created through the action of the Holy Spirit, so now the action of the Spirit accomplishes that which exceeds nature and which nothing but faith alone can contain. What will happen, says the Holy Virgin, where my husband is, I don’t know (Luke 1:34). Archangel Gabriel answers: The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you (Luke 1:35). And now you ask how bread is made by the body of Christ, and wine and water by the blood of Christ? I also tell you: the Holy Spirit descends and does this, which is beyond reason and thought 188. Bread and wine are taken because God knows human weakness, which with displeasure turns away from many things that are done contrary to custom. Therefore, according to His usual condescension towards us, He, through what is ordinary by nature, accomplishes what is above nature. And just as at baptism, since it is customary for people to wash themselves with water and smear themselves with oil, God combined the grace of the Spirit with oil and water and made baptism the bath of rebirth, so here, since people usually eat bread and drink water and wine, He combined His Divinity with these substances and made them His body and blood so that we, through the ordinary and the natural have partaken of what is above nature 189. The body is truly united with the Divinity, a body (born) from the holy Virgin, but (is united) not (so) that the ascended body descends from heaven, but (so) that the very bread and wine are transformed into the body and blood of God. If you are looking for a way (exactly) this is done, then it is enough for you to hear that - with the help of the Holy Spirit, just as the Lord, with the assistance of the Holy Spirit, made for Himself and in Himself, flesh from the Holy Mother of God. We know nothing more, except that the Word of God is true, effective and omnipotent, and the method (of translation) is unsearchable. It can also be said that just as bread through eating and wine and water through drinking are naturally transformed into the body and blood of the eater and drinker and do not become a different body compared to his former body, so also the showbread, wine and water through the invocation and influx of the Holy Spirit are supernaturally transformed into the body of Christ and the blood and are not two, but one and the same. Therefore, for those who receive (communion) with faith, it worthily serves for the remission of sins and eternal life and for the preservation of soul and body; and for those who partake unworthily with unbelief - into punishment and punishment, just as the death of the Lord for believers became life and incorruptibility for the enjoyment of eternal bliss; for the unbelievers and murderers of the Lord (she served) for punishment and eternal punishment. Bread and wine are not an image of the body and blood of Christ (let it not be!), but the deified body of the Lord itself, since the Lord Himself said: this is not an image of the body, but my body, and not an image of blood, but my blood. And before this He said to the Jews: unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you do not have life in Yourself. My flesh is truly food, and so is My blood. truly there is beer. And one more thing: if I am poisoned, I will live (John V, 53, 55, 57). Therefore, let us approach with all fear, a clear conscience and undoubted faith, and it will certainly be the same for us as we believe, without doubting. Let us honor the sacrament with all purity of soul and body, for it is twofold. Let us approach it with fiery desire and, folding our hands crosswise, accept the body of the Crucified One; Having fixed our eyes, lips and body, let us partake of the divine coal, so that the fire of the love within us, ignited by this coal, will burn our sins and illuminate our hearts, and so that by communion of the divine fire we will be ignited and deified. Isaiah saw coal (burning); but coal is not simple wood, but united with fire, so the bread of fellowship is not simple bread, but united with the Divine; the body united with the Divine is not one nature; but one is the nature of the body, the other is the nature of the Divinity united with it; so that both together are not one nature, but two 190. Melchizedek, the priest of the Most High God, met Abraham with bread and wine, returning after the defeat of the foreigners; that meal typified this mystical meal, just as that priest was the image and likeness of the true high priest of Christ; for it is said: You are a priest forever, according to the order of Melchizedek (Ps. C1X, 4). This bread was (also) represented as the showbread. This is a pure and bloodless sacrifice, which, as the Lord said through the prophet, is offered to Him from the east of the sun to the west (Mal. 1:10). The body and blood of Christ enter into the composition of our soul and body, without being exhausted, without decaying, and without being thrown out (let it not be!), but (enter) into our essence to protect, reflect (from us) all harm, cleanse all filth; if they find counterfeit gold (in us), then they purify (it) with the fire of judgment, lest we be condemned with the world in the age to come. They cleanse themselves with illnesses and all kinds of disasters, as the divine Apostle says: even if they reasoned with themselves, they would not be condemned. We are judged, we are punished by the Lord, so that we are not condemned with the world (1 Cor. XI, 31-32). And this is what it means that he says: he who partakes of the body and blood of the Lord unworthily eats and drinks judgment for himself (1 Cor. XI, 29). Purifying ourselves through this, we unite with the body of the Lord and with His Spirit and become the body of Christ. This bread is the firstfruits of the future bread, which is our daily bread. For the word daily means either the bread of the future, that is, the next century, or the bread eaten to preserve our being. Consequently, in both senses, the body of the Lord will (equally) appropriately be called (daily bread), for the flesh of the Lord is a life-giving spirit, because it was conceived of the life-giving Spirit, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit (John Ill. 6). I say this not in order to destroy the nature of the body, but wanting to show the life-giving and divinity of this (sacrament). If some called bread and wine images of the body and blood of the Lord, as the God-bearing Basil said (for example), then they meant them here (i.e., bread and wine) not after consecration, but before consecration, calling the offering itself that way. This sacrament is called communion because through it we become partakers of the Divinity of Jesus. It is also called communion and truly is (communion) because through it we enter into communion with Christ and become partakers of His flesh and Divinity; (on the other hand) through it we enter into communication and unite with each other. For we all, since we partake of the one bread, become one body of Christ, one blood and members of one another, receiving the name fellow-partners of Christ (Eph. Ill. 6). Therefore, let us be careful with all our might not to accept communion from heretics or give it to them. Do not give the holy dog, says the Lord, nor cast your pearls before swine (Matthew VII: 6), lest we become participants in the perverse teaching and their condemnation. For if (through communion) there really is unity with Christ and with each other, then we are truly united by free will and with all those who partake with us; for this unification occurs according to our free disposition, not without our consent. We are all one body, because we partake of one bread, as the divine Apostle says (1 Cor. X, 17). They are called images of the future (bread and wine) not in the sense that they are not truly the body and blood of Christ, but because now we partake of the Divinity of Christ through them, and then we will partake spiritually - through vision alone. Chapter XIV. About the genealogy of the Lord and about the Holy Mother of God. Having said a little in previous discussions about the holy and glorified Ever-Virgin Mother of God Mary and having established the most necessary thing - (namely) that She in the proper sense and truly is and is called the Mother of God, we will now complete the rest. Predetermined in the eternal and foreknowing council of God, represented and foreshadowed in various images and words of the prophets by the Holy Spirit, She at a predetermined time grew from the root of David, according to the promises that were made to David. For it is said: The Lord swear to David in truth, and will not reject it: I will plant the fruit of your womb on your throne (Ps. CXXX1, II). And again: I have sworn one oath about my saint, if I lie to David: his seed will endure forever, and his throne, like the sun before me and like the perfect moon, will endure forever, and a faithful witness to heaven (Ps. LXXXVIII, 36-38). And Isaiah (says): a rod will come out of the (root) of Jesse, and a flower will arise from the root (of it) (XI, 1). The holy evangelists Matthew and Luke clearly showed that Joseph comes from the tribe of David; but Matthew produces Joseph from David through Solomon, and Luke through Nathan. About the family of St. The virgins both remained silent. You need to know that neither the Jews nor the Divine Scriptures had a custom to trace the genealogy of women; but there was a law that one tribe should not take wives from another tribe (Num. XXXVI, 7). Joseph, coming from the tribe of David and being righteous. (the Divine Gospel testifies to his praise), he would not have become illegally engaged to the holy Virgin if she had not come from the same tribe. Therefore (for the evangelists) it was enough to show the origin of (one) Joseph. You also need to know that there was a law according to which, if a husband died childless, his brother had to marry the wife of the deceased and raise a seed for his brother (Deut. XXV, 5). Therefore, what was born, by nature, belonged, of course, to the second, that is, to the one who gave birth; according to the law - to the deceased. So, Levi, who came from the tribe of Nathan, the son of David, gave birth to Melchi and Panthir. Panfir gave birth to a son named Varpanfir. This Varpanfir gave birth to Joachim. Joachim gave birth to the Holy Mother of God. Matthan, (who came from) the tribe of Solomon, the son of David, had a wife, from whom he fathered Jacob. After Matthan died, Melchi from the tribe of Nathan, the son of Levi, the brother of Panthir, married the wife of Matthan, the mother of Jacob, and gave birth to Elijah from her. So, Jacob and Eli turned out to be brothers on their mother’s side: Jacob was from the tribe of Solomon, and Eli was from the tribe of Nathan. Eli, who came from the tribe of Nathan, died childless; Jacob, his brother, who came from the tribe of Solomon, took his wife and raised seed to his brother and gave birth to Isis. So, Joseph by nature is the son of Jacob, from the family of Solomon; and according to the law - the son of Eli, from the family of Nathan. Joachim married the venerable and praiseworthy Anna. But just as in ancient times barren Anna, through prayer and vow, gave birth to Samuel, so this one, through prayer and vow, receives from God the Theotokos, so that in this she would not be inferior to any of the glorious (wives). So, grace (which is what the name Anna means) gives birth to the Lady (which is what the name Mary means). For Mary, having become the Mother of the Creator, truly became the Mistress of all creatures. She was born in the house of God and, fattened with the Spirit, like a fruitful olive tree, she became the dwelling place of all virtue, having removed the mind from all worldly and carnal desires and thus preserving the virgin soul along with the body, as befitted one who had received God into her bosom, for He, being the Holy One, rests in the saints. Thus, the Mother of God ascends to holiness and is a holy and amazing church worthy of the Most High God 191. Since the enemy of our salvation was watching the virgins, because of the prophecy of Isaiah: behold, a virgin will be with child and give birth to a Son, and they will call His name Emmanuel, which is to say, God is with us (Is. VII, 14), so that the wise one can reproach them in their deceit (Cor. Ill, 19) can catch the one who always boasts of wisdom, the damsel is betrothed by the priests to Joseph (as) a new scroll to the leader of the scriptures. This betrothal was a protection for the Virgin and misled the observer of the virgins. When the end of summer came to an end (Gal. IV. 4), an angel of the Lord was sent to her with the good news of the conception of the Lord. Thus, she conceived the Son of God, the Hypostatic Power of the Father, neither from carnal lust nor from male lust, that is, not from copulation and seed, but by the good will of the Father and the assistance of the Holy Spirit. She served to ensure that the Creator became a creature and the Creator a creature, and that the Son of God and God became incarnate and became man from her most pure and immaculate flesh and blood, paying off her ancestral debt. For just as that one was formed from Adam without copulation, so this one produced a new Adam, born in accordance with the natural law of pregnancy and (at the same time) supernatural birth. For without a father he is born of a wife who is born of a Father without a mother; that He is born from a wife is in accordance with the natural law, and that He is born without a father is above the natural laws of birth; that He is born in ordinary times, after completing nine months at the beginning of the tenth, is in accordance with the law of pregnancy, and that He is painless is above the law of birth; for it (i.e. birth) was not preceded by pleasure and prostrate was not followed by illness, in accordance with the words of the prophet: before she suffers from pregnancy, give birth; and one more thing: before labor can come, you will avoid stomach pain, and give birth to the male sex (Isa. LXV1.7). 192. So, from her was born the Son of God incarnate, not a God-bearing man, but God incarnate; anointed not by action, like a prophet, but by the entire presence of the Anointing One, so that the Anointing One became a man, and the anointed one became God, not through a change of nature, but through a hypostatic union. For one and the same was both the Anointing One and the Anointed One: anointing Himself, as God, as a man. Therefore, how could it not be the Mother of God who gave birth to God incarnate from Her? Indeed, in the proper sense and truly, she is the Mother of God, the Lady and Lady of all creatures, who became the slave and Mother of the Creator. And the Lord, both at His conception, preserved the virgin who conceived (Him), and at birth preserved her virginity intact, only by passing through her and keeping her imprisoned (Ezek. XLIV. 2). The conception took place through hearing, and the birth in the usual way for those born, although some fantasize that He was born through the side of the Mother of God. For it was not impossible for Him to pass through the gates without damaging their seals. So, the Ever-Virgin remains a virgin even after Christmas, having had no communication with her husband before death. If it is written: and without knowing it, until for the sake of his firstborn son (Matthew 1:25), then one should know that the firstborn is the one who is born first, even if he were the only begotten. For the word firstborn means the one who was born first, but does not necessarily indicate the birth of others. The word dondezhe, although it means a period of a certain time, does not exclude the subsequent time (time). (For example), the Lord says: and lo I am with you all the days until the end of the age (Matthew XXVIII, 20) not in the sense that He intends to be separated (from us) after the end of the age; for the divine Apostle says: and thus we will always be with the Lord (1 Thess. (Thess.) IV, 17), that is, after the general resurrection. Yes, and how would She who gave birth to God and experienced a miracle from what followed would allow union with her husband? No Even thinking like that, let alone doing it, is not characteristic of a sane mind. But this blessed one, awarded with supernatural gifts, suffered the torment that she escaped at birth during the suffering (of Her Son), when maternal pity tormented her womb, and when thoughts tore (her soul) like a sword at the sight of the fact that He, whom she knew through birth as God, was being killed as a villain. This (precisely) is what words mean; and a weapon will pierce your very soul (Luke II, 35), but this sadness is destroyed by the joy of resurrection, proclaiming that He who died in the flesh is God. Chapter XV. On the veneration of saints and their relics. We must honor the saints as the friends of Christ, as the children and heirs of God, as the Evangelist John the Theologian says: “The people received Him.” give them the realm to become children of God (John 1:12). Why are they no longer slaves, but sons. And also sons and heirs: heirs to God, but heirs to Christ (Rom. VIII, 17). And the Lord in the Holy Gospels says to the Apostles: you are naturally my friends. To whom I say you are servants, for a servant does not know what his Lord is doing (John XV: 14-15). If the Creator of all things and the Lord is called the King of kings, the Lord of lords and the God of gods (Apoc. XIX, 16; Ps. XLIX, 1), then undoubtedly the saints are gods, lords and kings. Their God is and is called God, Lord and King. I am, He says to Moses, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob (Ex. Ill. 6). And God made Moses himself god over Pharaoh. I call them gods, kings and lords not by nature, but because they reigned and dominated over the passions and preserved intact the likeness of the image of God, in which they were created (for the image of a king is also called a king), and also because they, by their own (free) disposition, united with God, accepted Him into the dwelling of (their) heart and, having partaken of Him, became by grace those that He Himself is by nature. Therefore, how can one not honor those who have received the title of servants, friends and sons of God? For the honor given to the most diligent of co-workers indicates affection for the common Master 193. The saints have become treasuries and pure dwellings of God: I will dwell in them and walk around, says God, and I will be their God (II Cor. VI, 16). The souls of the righteous are in the hand of God and death will not touch them (Wis. Ill. 1), says the divine Scripture. For the death of saints is rather a sleep than death. They have labored forever and will live to the end (Ps. XLVIII, 9-11) And the death of His saints is honorable before the Lord (Ps. CXV, 6). Indeed, what could be more honest than to be in the hand of God? For God is life and light, and those who are in the Arm of God remain in life and light. That through the mind God also dwelt in the bodies of the saints, (about this) the Apostle says: Is it true that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit living in you (1 Cor. VI, 19). The Lord is the Spirit (II Cor. III. 17). And if anyone corrupts God’s church, God will corrupt him (Cor. Ill. 37). Therefore, how can one not honor the animate churches of God, the animate dwellings of God? The saints are alive and stand before God with boldness. The Lord Christ gave us the relics of the saints, like saving springs that exude many different benefits and pour out incense myrrh. And let no one doubt (this)! Because if. By the will of God, water flowed in the desert from a strong and solid rock, and for the thirsty Samson - from the jaw of a donkey, is it really incredible that fragrant myrrh flows from the martyr’s relics? In no way, at least for those who know the power of God and the honor He bestows upon the saints. According to the law, anyone who touched the dead was considered unclean; but saints are not dead. For after He who is life itself and the Author of life was numbered among the dead, we no longer call those who rested dead in the hope of the resurrection and with faith in Him. And how can a dead body perform miracles? How is it through them that demons are cast out, diseases are repelled, the weak are healed, the blind receive their sight, lepers are cleansed, temptations and sorrows cease, and every good gift from the Father of lights (James 1:17) descends through them on those who ask with undoubted faith? How much work would you have to do to find a patron who would introduce you to a mortal king and put in a word for you? Therefore, shouldn’t we honor the representatives of the entire human race who bring their prayers to God for us? Of course, we must honor by erecting churches to God in their name, bringing gifts, honoring the days of their memory and having fun (then) spiritually, so that this fun is in accordance with those who convene (us) and so that, trying to please (them), we do not anger them instead. For that by which (people) please God is also pleasing to His saints, and by that which offends God, His companions are also offended. Let us, believers, pay veneration to the saints with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs, contrition of heart and mercy towards those in need, which is most pleasing to God. Let us erect monuments and visible images of them, and through imitation of their virtues we ourselves will become animated by their monuments and images. Let us honor the Mother of God as in the proper sense and truly the Mother of God; the prophet John, as the Forerunner and Baptist, the Apostle and martyr, for, as the Lord said, the pain of John the Baptist born of women did not arise (Matt. XI, 11), and he was the first preacher of the kingdom of God. Let us (honor) the apostles as brothers of the Lord, witnesses and ministers of His sufferings, whom God and the Father foreknew (and) ordained to be conformed to the image of His Son (Rom. VIII, 29, 1 Cor. XII, 28), the first of the apostles, second of the prophets, third of shepherds and teachers (Ephesus VI, II). (Let us venerate) the martyrs of the Lord, chosen from every rank, as soldiers of Christ, who drank His cup and were baptized with the baptism of His life-giving death, as participants in His suffering and glory, whose chief was the Archdeacon of Christ, the Apostle and Protomartyr Stephen. (Let us venerate) our holy fathers, God-bearing ascetics, who endured a longer and more painful martyrdom of conscience, who went through the martyrdom, in goatskin, deprivation, sorrow, embitterment, wandering in the deserts and in the mountains, and in dens, and in the abysses of the earth, for whom the world is not worthy (Heb. XI, 37 – 38 ). (We will honor) the prophets, patriarchs, and righteous men who lived before grace, who foretold the coming of the Lord. Looking at the way of life of all these (saints), let us be jealous of (their) faith, love, hope, zeal, life, firmness in suffering, patience even to the point of bleeding, so that together with them we may receive crowns of glory. Since some blame us for worshiping and paying veneration to the image of our Savior and Lady, as well as other saints and saints of Christ, let them hear that God in the beginning created man in His image (Gen. 1:26). Hence, is it not for this reason that we bow to each other, because we were created in the image of God? For, as Basil, who speaks God and is well-versed in the divine, says, the honor given to the image passes on to the prototype. The prototype is what is depicted, from which the photograph is taken. Why did the people of Moses on every side worship the tabernacle, which bore the image and appearance of heavenly things, even more than all creation? Indeed, God says to Moses: see, and create everything in the image shown to you on the mountain (Ex. XXXIII, 10). And also the cherubim that overshadowed the purification were not the work of human hands? And the famous temple in Jerusalem? Is it not made by hand and created by human art? 194. Divine Scripture condemns those who worship idols and make sacrifices to demons. The Hellenes made sacrifices, and the Jews also made sacrifices, but the Hellenes made sacrifices to demons, and the Jews made sacrifices to God. And the sacrifice of the Hellenes was condemned and rejected; the sacrifice of the righteous is pleasing to God. For Noah offered a sacrifice, and God smelled the aroma (Gen. VII. 24), approving the aroma of good disposition and love towards Him. Pagan idols, as depicting demons, were rejected and prohibited. Moreover, who can create the likeness of the invisible, incorporeal, indescribable and formless God? Hence, giving form to the Divine is a matter of extreme madness and wickedness. That is why icons were not used in the Old Testament. But since God, in His goodness, truly became man for our salvation, did not appear only in the form of a man, as (appeared) to Abraham and the prophets, but essentially and truly became man, lived on earth, treated people, worked miracles, suffered, was crucified, resurrected, ascended; and all this was in reality, visible to people and described to remind us and to teach those who were not yet living then, so that we, not seeing, but hearing and believing, would achieve bliss with the Lord. But since not everyone knows how to read and write, the fathers decided that all this, like some (glorious) exploits, should be depicted on icons for a short reminder. Without a doubt, often, not having in our minds (thoughts) about the suffering of the Lord, when we see the image of the crucifixion of Christ, we remember the saving suffering and fallen - we worship not the substance, but what is depicted (on it), just as we worship not the substance of the gospel and not the substance of the cross, but what is depicted by them. For what is the difference between a cross that does not have the image of the Lord and a cross that does have one? The same should be said about the Mother of God. For the honor given to her is attributed to Him who became incarnate from her. Likewise, the exploits of holy men excite us to courage, to competition, to imitate their virtue and to glorify God. For, as we said, the honor given to the diligent of the co-workers proves love for the common Master, and the honor given to the image passes to the prototype. And this is an unwritten tradition, just like the tradition about worshiping to the east, about worshiping the cross and about many other things like this 195. A certain story is told that Abgar, who reigned in the city of Edessa, sent a painter to paint a similar image of the Lord. When the painter could not do this due to the shining brilliance of His face, the Lord himself, applying a piece of matter to His divine and life-giving face, imprinted His image on a piece of matter and, under such circumstances, sent it to Abgar at his request. And that the Apostles conveyed a lot without writing, Paul, the Apostle of the tongues, testifies to this: therefore, brother, stand and hold to the traditions which you have learned, either by word or by our epistle (II Sol. (Thess.) II, 15). And to the Corinthians he writes: I praise you, brethren, because you remember all my things, and keep the traditions that I gave you (1 Cor. XI, 2). One is God, proclaimed in the Old Testament and in the New, sung and glorified in the Trinity, as the Lord said: I did not come to destroy the law, but to fulfill it (Matt. V, 17). For He has accomplished our salvation, for the sake of which all Scripture and all sacraments are given. And one more thing: try the Scriptures, for they testify of Me (John V, 39). Likewise, the Apostle said: God of old, who spoke many parts and many varieties, was spoken by the Father as a prophet; in these last days he spoke to us in the Son (Heb. I, 1). Consequently, the law and prophets, evangelists and apostles, shepherds and teachers (all) spoke by the Holy Spirit. Therefore, all Scripture is inspired by God and, without a doubt, is useful (II Tim. Ill. 16). Hence, studying the Divine Scriptures is the most beautiful and soul-helping thing. For, like a tree planted by rising waters (Ps. 1:3), so the soul, watered by the divine Scripture, becomes fat and bears its fruit in its time - the Orthodox faith, and is adorned with ever-greening leaves, i.e., godly deeds. For from the Holy Scriptures we are tuned to virtuous actions and pure contemplation. In them we find a call to all virtue and prevention from all vice. Therefore, if we are zealous in research, we will achieve much knowledge. For everything is achieved through diligence, labor and the grace of the giving God. For everyone who eats receives it, and whoever seeks finds it, and it is opened to the one who interprets (Luke XI: 10). Therefore, let us knock on the most beautiful paradise of Scripture, (paradise) fragrant, sweet and luxuriantly blooming, sounding around our ears with the various voices of spiritual God-bearing birds, touching our heart - comforting the sad and taming the angry and filling with eternal joy; placing our mind on the shining golden and bright shoulders of the divine dove and on its brilliant wings lifting it up to the Only Begotten Son and Heir of the Planter of the spiritual vineyard and through Him leading it to the Father of lights (James 1:17). But let us knock not casually, but persistently and zealously; and let us not become weary of knocking. For then only will it be opened to us. If, after reading it once or twice, we do not understand what we read, then we will not become discouraged, but we will not retreat, we will repeat and question. For it is said: ask your father, and your elders will tell you, and they will tell you (Deut. XXXII, 7), since not everyone has understanding (1 Cor. VIII, 7). Let us draw from the heavenly source inexhaustible and pure waters flowing into eternal life! Let us bask (in them) and enjoy insatiably! For the Scriptures possess inexhaustible grace. If we can obtain something useful for ourselves from external (scriptures), then this is not prohibited. Let us only be skillful money changers, accumulating only real and pure gold and avoiding counterfeit gold. Let's take the best thoughts for ourselves; Let us throw gods worthy of ridicule and absurd fables to the dogs, for from these writings we could acquire very great power (protection) against themselves. You should know that there are twenty-two books of the Old Testament, corresponding to the letters of the Hebrew language. For the Jews have twenty-two letters, of which five have a double outline, so that there are twenty-seven of them (all). The letters kaf, mem, nun, pe and tsade are written in two ways. Therefore, the books of the Old Testament in the same way are considered twenty-two, but they turn out to be twenty-seven, because five of them contain two each. Thus, the book of Ruth is combined with the book of Judges and (together with it) is considered by the Jews to be one book; first and second Kings - for one book; first and second Chronicles - for one book; first and second Esdras - for one book. Thus the books are united in the four pentateuchs, and (still) two other books remain, and they are arranged in this order. The five books of the law are: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy; This is the first pentateuch, the law-giving one. Then the second pentateuch, called Γραφεια, and for some Αγιογραφεια, consists of the following books: Joshua, Judges together with Ruth, the first book of Kings together with the second, counted as one book, the third together with the fourth - also as one book, and the two books of Chronicles - also as one book; this is the second pentateuch. The Third Pentateuch consists of books written in verse: Job, Psalms, Proverbs of Solomon, Ecclesiastes and the Song of Songs. The fourth pentateuch is prophetic: twelve prophets as one book, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Daniel; finally, the two books of Ezra, combined into one, and Esther. Παναρετος, that is, the book of the Wisdom of Solomon and the book of the Wisdom of Jesus, which Sirach’s father set forth in Hebrew, and his grandson Jesus, the son of Sirach, translated into Greek, although they are edifying and beautiful, they are not included in (this) number and were not kept in the ark. The books of the New Testament are as follows: the four Gospels - Matthew, Mark, Luke and John; The Acts of the Holy Apostles, recorded by the Evangelist Luke; seven conciliar epistles: one of James, two of Peter, three of John and one of Judah; fourteen epistles of the Apostle Paul, the Apocalypse of the Evangelist John, the Rules of the Holy Apostles, (collected) by Clement. Chapter XVIII. About the sayings used about Christ. There are four types of sayings used about Christ. Some befit Him before His incarnation; others - in the union (of natures), others - after the union, fourth - after the resurrection. There are six types of sayings (befitting Christ) before the incarnation. The first of them denote the inseparability of nature and consubstantiality with the Father, as for example: I and the Father are one (John X, 30). Seeing Me, the form of the Father (John XIV, 9). Those who are in the image of God (Phil. VI, 6) and others like them. The second sayings denote the perfection of the hypostasis, such as: the Son of God and the image of His hypostasis (Heb. 1:3), Great is the Angel of Council, wonderful is the Counselor (Isa. IX, 6) and the like. Still others denote the mutual penetration of hypostases, as for example: I am in the Father and the Father in Me (John XIV, 10), and the inseparable presence (of one hypostasis in another), as for example. (expressions): word, wisdom, strength, radiance. For the word is in the mind (I mean the word in its essence), as well as wisdom, strength in the strong, radiance in the light, abiding inseparably, pouring out from them 196 . The fourth ones mean that Christ is from the Father as His Author, for example. My Father is sick and I am not (John XIV, 28). For from the Father He has being and all that He has; being through birth, and not through creation: I breathed out from the Father and came back (John XVI, 27 - 28). And I live for the Father's sake (John VI, 57). All that He has, He has not through allotment and not through teaching, but as from the Author; for example: the Son cannot do anything about Himself unless He sees the Father doing it (John V, 19). For if there is no Father, then there is no Son. The Son is from the Father, in the Father and together with the Father, and not after the Father. In the same way, what he does, he does from the Father and with Him; for it is one and the same, not only similar, but the same will, action and power of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit 197. The fifth signify that the desire of the Father is fulfilled through the action of the Son, but not as through an instrument or a slave; but as through His essential and hypostatic Word, Wisdom and Power, because in the Father and the Son one movement is contemplated; eg: all the same (John 1:3). I sent my word and healed (Ps. CVI, 20). Let them know that You sent Me (John XI, 42). Sixth (used about Christ) prophetically, some of them (speak) about the future, as for example: he will come (Ps. XLIX, 3); and the saying of Zechariah: Behold, your King is coming to You (IX, 9), also Micah: Behold, the Lord comes from His place: He will come down and tread on the heights of the earth (1, 3). Others speak of the future as if it were the past; eg: This is our God. Therefore, he appeared on earth and lived with people (Baruch. Ill. 36, 38). The Lord made Me the beginning of His ways in His works (Prov. VIII, 22). For this sake of the anointing of Thee. O God, Thy God is more than Thy partaker of the oil of joy (Ps. XLIV, 8) and the like. Sayings that befitted Christ before the union (of natures), of course, can apply to Him after the union; and those that are appropriate after the union are in no way applicable to Him before the union, except prophetically, as we said. There are three types of sayings befitting Christ in the union (of natures). When we talk (based on the concept) about the highest part (of His being), we talk about the deification of the flesh, the union with the (eternal) Word and the exaltation of (it), etc., showing (by this) the wealth imparted to the flesh through its union and close connection with the highest God the Word. When (we start from the concept) about the lower part, we talk about the incarnation of God the Word, incarnation, exhaustion, poverty, humiliation. For this and the like are attributed to the Word and to God due to His union with humanity. When (we mean) both parts together, we speak of union, communication, anointing, close connection, conformity, etc. Based on this third type (of sayings), the previous two are also used. For through connection it is shown what each (nature) has from contact and closest combination with another. Thus, it is said that as a result of the hypostatic union, the flesh was deified, became God, participating in the Divinity of the Word; and God the Word became incarnate, became man and was called a creature and is called the latter, not because two natures were transformed into one complex nature, for it is impossible for one nature to have opposite natural properties at the same time, but because two natures were hypostatically united and penetrate each other unmergedly and unchangeably. The penetration did not come from the side of the flesh, but from the side of the Divine; for it is impossible for the flesh to penetrate through the Divinity, but the Divine nature, once penetrating through the flesh, gave the flesh an ineffable penetration into the Divinity, which we call union 198 . It should be known that in both the first and second types of sayings, befitting Christ in union, reciprocity is noticeable. For when we talk about the flesh, we talk about deification, union with the Word, exaltation and anointing. All this comes from the Divine, but is contemplated in relation to the flesh. When we talk about the Word, we talk about exhaustion, incarnation, incarnation, humiliation, etc. etc.; all this, as we said, is transferred from the flesh to the Word and God, for He Himself voluntarily endured it. The sayings befitting Christ, according to the union, are three types. The first type of sayings indicates His Divine nature, for example: I am in the Father and the Father in Me (John XIV: 10); I and the Father are one (John X, 30). And everything that is attributed to Him before His incarnation can be attributed to Him after His incarnation, except that He (before His incarnation) did not take on flesh and its natural properties. The second indicates His humanity, for example: that you seek to kill Me (John VII, 19), the man who gave you the truth. verbs (John VIII, 40). And this: thus it is fitting for the Son of Man to be exalted (John Ill. 14), etc. [In particular] what is said or written about the words or deeds of the Savior Christ as a man (is divided) into six types. He did and spoke one thing in accordance with (human) nature, for the purpose of economy; this includes the birth of a virgin, growth and prosperity in accordance with the years, hunger, thirst, fatigue, tears, sleep, nailing, death and the like, everything that is natural and immaculate passions. Although in all these states there is a clear union of the Divine with humanity, it is believed that all this truly belongs to the body, for the Divinity did not tolerate anything like this, but only arranged our salvation through this. Christ said or did other things for show; like, for example asked about Lazarus: where will you put him (John XI, 34)? approached the fig tree (Matt. XXI, 19); evaded or retreated unnoticed (John VIII, 59); prayed (John XI, 42); showed that he wanted to go further (Luke XXIV, 28). In this and the like, He had no need, either as God or as a man, but acted like a human being, where need and benefit required; so, for example, He prayed to show that He was not an opponent of God, honoring the Father as His Cause; He asked, not because he did not know, but in order to show that He, being God, is truly a man; avoided in order to teach us not to recklessly expose ourselves to dangers and not to betray ourselves (to arbitrariness) 199 . Different in assimilation and relative; eg: My God, my God! Have you forsaken me forever (Matthew XXVII, 46)? and this: he who knew no sin, commit sin for us (II Cor. V, 21); and this: there was an oath against us (Gal. Ill. 13); and this: the Son Himself will submit to Him who submitted all things to Him (1 Cor. XV, 28). For He was never abandoned by the Father, either as God or as man; was neither a sin nor a curse and has no need to submit to the Father. For, as God, He is equal to the Father and is neither hostile nor subordinate to Him; but as a person. He was never disobedient to the Parent so as to have the need to submit to Him. Consequently, He spoke thus, taking upon Himself our person and placing Himself along with us. For we were guilty of sin and curse, as rebellious and disobedient and for this reason abandoned (by God) 200 . The other (speaking of Jesus Christ) is in mental division. Thus, if in thought we separate what is in reality inseparable, that is, the flesh from the Word, then He is called a slave and ignorant; for He (also) had a slavish and ignorant nature, and if His flesh had not been united with God the Word, it would have been servile and ignorant; but due to the hypostatic union with God the Word, she was not ignorant. In the same sense, He called the Father His God 201. Otherwise (Christ spoke and did) in order to reveal Himself to us and certify; for example: Father, glorify me with the glory that I had with You, before the world was not (John XVII, 5)! For He was and is glorified; but His glory was not revealed and verified to us. (This also includes) the words of the Apostle: By the name of the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness, from the resurrection from the dead. (Fig. 1, 4). For through miracles, the resurrection from the dead, the coming of the Holy Spirit was revealed and confirmed to the world that He is the Son of God. (This also includes) the words: abounding in wisdom and grace (Luke II, 52) 202. Otherwise, (finally, He spoke), taking upon Himself the face of the Jews and counting Himself among them, as, for example, He says to the Samaritan woman: you bow down, but we bow down to him unknown, but we know that there is salvation from the Jews (John IV, 22). The third kind of sayings (befitting Christ by the union of natures) shows one hypostasis, pointing (at the same time) to both natures; for example: I live for the Father's sake: and he who poisons me, and he will live for my sake (John VI, 57). I go to the Father, and you do not see Me (John XVI, 10). Also: before the Lord of glory was crucified (1 Cor. II:8). Also: no one has ascended into heaven except the Son of Man who came down from heaven and is in heaven (John Ill. 13), etc. Of the sayings (befitting Christ) after the resurrection, others befit Him as God; eg baptizing them in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit (Matthew XXVII, 19 - 20), that is, in the name of the Son, as God. And again: Behold, I am with you all the days to the end of the age (Matthew XXVIII, 20), etc., for, as God, He is always with us. Others become Him as a man; for example, eating His nose (Matthew XXVIII, 9); and again: they also see Me (Matthew XXVIII, 10), etc. There are various types of sayings befitting Christ after the resurrection as a man. Some, although truly befitting Him, are not by nature, but by dispensation (salvation) to certify that the very body that suffered was resurrected; (this includes): ulcers, eating and drinking after the resurrection. Others become Him truly and by nature; for example, moving without difficulty from one place to another, passing through locked doors. Others (express what He did only) for show (in relation to us); for example, what is happening further away (Luke XXIV, 28). Others are appropriate to both natures together, such as: I am ascending to My Father and your Father, and My God and your God (John XX, 17); also: the King of glory will come in (Ps. XXIII, 7); also: sitting at the right hand of the Majesty on high (Heb. 1:3). Others befit Him, as He puts Himself along with us, (befits) in the mental separation (of one nature from another), as for example: My God and your God (John XX, 17). So, everything sublime must be attributed to the Divine nature, dispassionate and incorporeal; yet what is humiliated is human; yet in general - to a complex nature, that is, to the one Christ, who is God and man; and we must also know that both belong to one and the same Lord Jesus Christ. For, knowing what is characteristic of each (nature), and seeing that what is characteristic of each nature is accomplished by One, we will believe correctly and will not sin. From all this we recognize the difference between the united natures and the fact that, as the divine Cyril says, Divinity and humanity are not the same in natural quality. However, one is the Son, and Christ, and Lord; and since He is one, then His face is one, the hypostatic union is in no way divided through recognition, differences of natures. Chapter XIX. That God is not the author of evil. You need to know that in Divine Scripture there is a custom to call God's permission His action, as when (for example) the Apostle says in the Epistle to the Romans: or should the wretch in the earth not have the power, from the same confusion to create a vessel for honor, but not for honor? (IX, 21)? Of course, God Himself does this and that, for He alone is the Creator of everything; but it is not He who makes the vessels honest or dishonest, but each one’s own will. This is clear from what the same Apostle says in his second letter to Timothy: in the great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver, but also wood and clay: and these are for honor, and these are not for honor. If anyone cleanses himself of these, the vessel will be in honor, sanctified and useful to the Lady, prepared for every good deed (II, 20 - 21). It is clear that cleansing happens of one’s own free will, for the Apostle says: if anyone cleanses himself. In accordance with this, the opposite assumption indicates that if someone does not cleanse himself, he will be a vessel of no honor, useless for the Master and worthy of breaking it. Therefore, the previous saying, as well as this: God shut everyone into rebellion (Rom. XI, 32) and this: God gave them a spirit of insensibility, eyes not to see and ears not to hear (Rom. XI 8), - all this should be understood not as if God Himself did it, but as if God only allowed it, for a good deed in itself is independent and free from coercion. So, it is characteristic of Divine Scripture to speak of God’s permission as His action and work. But even when it says that God creates evil (Ex. XLV, 7) and that there is no evil in the city unless the Lord creates (Amos III, 7), and then it shows by this that God is the author of evil. For the word evil is taken in two ways and has two meanings: sometimes it means evil by nature, which is contrary to virtue and the will of God; and sometimes evil and painful (only) for our feelings, that is, sorrow and misfortune; they, being painful, only seem evil; in fact, they are good, for for those who understand they serve as the agents of conversion and salvation. Scripture says about them that they come from God. However, it should be noted that the cause of such evil is ourselves, for involuntary evil is born from voluntary evils. 203. You should also know that Scripture tends to speak as if it is in a causal relationship, about things that should be understood in the sense of (only) following (one after the other), as, for example: I have sinned against you alone, and have done evil in your sight: for until you are justified in your words and overcome, you will never judge (Ps. L, 6). For the one who sinned did not sin so that God would win, and God did not need our sin in order to appear victorious through it. For He, as the Creator, incomprehensible, uncreated, having natural and not borrowed glory, incomparably exceeds and conquers all, even those who have not sinned. But (it is said in the sense) that when we sin, He is not unrighteous, bringing (His) wrath, and, forgiving those who repent, He is the conqueror of our evil. (However) we do not sin for this reason, but because this is what happens in reality. Just as if someone is sitting at work and a friend comes to him, then he says: a friend has come so that I don’t work today. Of course, the friend did not come so that he would not work, but it turned out that way, because while he was receiving his friend, he did not work. Such (comings) are called subsequent (one after another), because this is what happens in reality. God, further, does not want Him alone to be righteous, but that everyone, as far as possible, should become like Him 204. Chapter XX. About the fact that there are not two beginnings. We can conclude from the following that there are not two principles - one good and one evil. Good and evil are hostile to each other, destructive to each other and cannot exist one in the other, or one with the other. Hence, each of them must be located (only) in a part of the universe. But then, firstly, each of them will be limited not only by the universe, but also by a part of the universe. Then, who demarcated each one's area? After all, it cannot be said that they entered into an agreement with each other and made peace, because evil that makes peace and unites with good is no longer evil, and good that is friendly towards evil is no longer good. If someone else determined the location peculiar to each of them, then it would most likely be God. (Moreover) one of two things is necessary: ​​either these principles come into contact and destroy each other, or there is something in between, in which there will be neither good nor evil, and which, like a kind of partition, separates both principles from each other. But then there will be not two, but three beginnings. One more of two things is also necessary: ​​either these principles preserve the world, which is impossible for evil, for what is in the world is not evil; or they wage war, which is impossible for good, because war is not entirely good, or evil alone wages war, and good does not resist, but is destroyed by evil, or it always suffers grief and oppression, which cannot be a sign of good. So, (there must be) one principle, free from all evil. But if this is so, then, they say, where does evil come from? For it is impossible for evil to have its beginning from good. (To this) we will say that evil is nothing more than the deprivation of good and deviation from the natural to the unnatural; for nothing is evil by nature; since God created the whole tree, in the form in which it happened, it was very good (Gen. 1:31); (means) and everything that exists in the form in which it was created is good; nevertheless, those who voluntarily deviate from the natural and turn into the unnatural find themselves in evil. By nature, everything is subordinate and obedient to the Creator. Therefore, when any of the creatures voluntarily resists and becomes disobedient to the One who created it, then it becomes evil in itself. Hence, evil is not some kind of essence and not a property of an essence, but something accidental, that is, a willful deviation from the natural to the unnatural, which (precisely) is sin. So where does sin come from? He is an invention of the devil's free will. Therefore, the devil is evil. In the form in which he occurred, he is not evil, but good, for the Creator created him as a bright and brilliant angel and, as a rational being, free; but he voluntarily retreated from natural virtue and found himself in the darkness of evil, moving away from God, Who alone is good, life-giving and the source of light; for everything good through Him becomes good, and since it moves away from Him by will, and not by place, it turns out to be evil 205. Chapter XXI. Why did God, who knows everything in advance, create those who will sin and not repent? God, in His goodness, brings everything that exists from non-existence into existence and has foreknowledge of what will happen. So. if those who sinned did not have the possibility of being in the future, then they would not have become evil, (and therefore) there would be no foreknowledge of them. For knowledge relates to what is; and foreknowledge - to what will certainly happen. But first - being (in general), and then - good or evil being. If for those who will receive existence in the future, by the goodness of God, the circumstance that they, by their own free will, have to become evil would serve as an obstacle to the receipt of existence, then evil would defeat the goodness of God. Therefore, God creates everything good that He creates; Everyone, according to his own will, is either good or evil. Hence, if the Lord said: it would have been better for that man if he had not been born (Mark XIV, 21), then He said this, condemning not His own creation, but the evil that arose in His creature as a result of its own will and negligence. For the negligence of her own will made the good deed of the Creator useless for her. So, if someone to whom the king has entrusted wealth and power uses them against his benefactor, then the king, having pacified him, will punish him with dignity if he sees that he remains faithful to his power-hungry plans to the end 206. Chapter XXII. About the law of God and the law of sin. Deity is good and most good; such is also His will. For what God wills is good. The Law is a commandment that teaches this, so that while we abide in it we may be in the light; breaking a commandment is a sin. Sin comes from the suggestion of the devil and our spontaneous and voluntary acceptance. Sin is also called law. So, the law of God, entering our mind, attracts it to itself and arouses our conscience. And our conscience is also called the law of our mind. (On the other hand), the suggestion of the evil one, that is, the law of sin, entering the members of our flesh, affects us through it. For, having once arbitrarily transgressed the law of God and succumbed to the suggestion of the evil one, we open access to this suggestion (to us), thus giving ourselves over to sin. From here our body is (already) easily drawn to sin. Therefore, the smell and sensation of sin resting in our body, that is, lust and sensual pleasure, are called the law in the destiny of our flesh. The law of my mind, that is, conscience, delights in the law of God, that is, the commandments, and desires it. The law of sin, that is, suggestion through the law that is in the mind, or through lust, sensual inclination and movement and through the unreasonable part of the soul, opposes the law of my mind, that is, conscience and, although I desire the law of God and love (it), but do not desire sin, it captivates me due to confusion (with my members of the body) and, through the pleasantness of pleasure, through the lust of the flesh and through the unreasonable part of the soul, as I said, seduces me and convinces me to become a slave to sin. But the weakness of the law, in the weakness of the weakness of the law in the flesh, God sent His Son in the likeness of the flesh of sin (Rom. VIII, 3), for He took on flesh, but without sin; condemn sin in the flesh, until the justification of the law is fulfilled in those who walk not according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit (Rom. VIII, 3). For the Spirit helps in our weaknesses (Rom. VIII. 26) and gives strength to the law of our mind against the law that is in our hearts. (This is exactly the meaning of this (saying): for which let us pray, as we should, without knowing it; but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings that are not exhausted, i.e. teaches us what we should pray for. Therefore, it is impossible to fulfill the commandments of the Lord except through patience and prayer. Chapter XXIII. Against the Jews, about the Sabbath. The seventh day is called Saturday, as if “Saturday” meant “rest.” For on this day God rested from all his works (Gen. II, 2), as the divine Scripture says. Therefore, the number of days, having reached seven, returns back again and begins again from the first day. This number was revered by the Jews, since God commanded to honor it, and (commanded) not by chance, but with very severe punishments for violation; He commanded this not simply, but for some reasons, mysteriously comprehended by spiritual and discerning (men) 207. As far as I, ignorant, understand, (I will explain) starting from the lower and coarser. God, knowing the rudeness, attachment to the flesh and, in general, addiction to the material things of the people of Israel, and at the same time (its) unreasonableness, (gave this law): first, let the slave and the donkey rest, as it is written (Deut. V, 14), for a righteous man has mercy on the souls of his livestock (Prov. XII, 10); at the same time, also so that, freed from material worries, they turn to God, spending the entire seventh day in psalms and singing and spiritual songs (Eph. V, 19) and in studying the divine Scriptures and resting in God. For when there was as yet no law or inspired Scripture, the Sabbath was not dedicated to God. When the inspired Scripture was given through Moses, the Sabbath was dedicated to God for the purpose of exercising this occupation on that day (i.e. in reading Scripture) and so that those who do not devote their entire lives to God, who serve the Lord not out of love as a Father, but as ungrateful slaves, devote at least a small and insignificant part of their lives to God and (do) this at least because of the suffering of responsibility and punishment for breaking (the commandments). For there is no law for the righteous, but for the unjust (1 Tim. 1:9). (The proof of this is) first of all Moses, who, for forty days and another forty in fasting before God, without a doubt, exhausted himself with fasting on the Sabbath, although the law commanded not to exhaust oneself with fasting on the Sabbath day. If it were objected that this was before the law, then (in this case) what will they say about Elijah the Tishbite, who completed a forty-day journey while eating food once? For he, having exhausted himself not only by fasting, but also by traveling on the Sabbaths of these forty days, violated the Sabbath; and God, who gave the law on the Sabbath, was not angry with him, but, as if as a reward for his virtue, appeared to him in Horeb. What else will they say about Daniel? Didn't he spend three weeks without food? And does not all Israel circumcise the child on the Sabbath, if it be the eighth day? Also, do they not observe the great fast prescribed by law (Lev. XXIII, 27), even if it happens on Saturday? Do not the priests and Levites profane the Sabbath by doing things in the tabernacle, and yet they are innocent? But even if cattle falls into a pit on Saturday, the one who pulled it out is innocent, and those who passed by are condemned. Well, didn’t all Israel, carrying the ark of God, walk around the walls of Jericho for seven days, which undoubtedly included the Sabbath? 208. So, as I said, for the sake of resting with God, so that they could devote at least the smallest part of their time to Him and so that the slave and the donkey could calm down, the observance of the Sabbath was established for those who are still infants, for those enslaved under the elements of the world (Gal. IV, 3), for those who are carnal and cannot understand anything that is higher than the body and the letter. When the end of summer came, God sent His only begotten Son, born of a woman. - man, we are under the law, so that we may redeem those under the law, so that we may receive sonship (Gal. IV, 4-5). For we who received Him are destined to become children of God who believe in Him (John 1:12). So that we are no longer slaves, but sons, not under the law, but under grace; We do not serve the Lord partially and not out of fear, but we must devote all the time of our lives and slaves to Him, I mean, anger and lust, always calming from sin, and turning our leisure time to God, constantly directing every desire to Him, arming (our) anger against the enemies of God; in the same way, the animal under the jugular - that is, the body - should be calmed from slavery to sin, encouraging him to serve the divine commandments. This is what the spiritual law of Christ commands us, and those who keep it are made above the law of Moses (1 Cor. Ill. 10). For when what was perfect came, and part of it ceased (1 Cor. XIII, 10), when the veil of the law, that is, the veil, was torn through the crucifixion of the Savior, and when the Spirit shone with tongues of fire, the letter was rejected, the corporeal ceased, and the law of slavery ended, and the law of freedom was given to us. We celebrate the perfect peace of human nature; I am talking about the day of resurrection, on which the Lord Jesus, the author of life and the Savior, introduced us into the inheritance promised to those who serve God spiritually, into which He Himself entered as our Forerunner, rising from the dead, and after the gates of heaven were opened to Him, He sat down bodily at the right hand of the Father, and those who keep the spiritual law will also enter here 209. Hence, we, who walk in the Spirit and not in the letter, are characterized by all kinds of putting aside the carnal, spiritual service and unity with God. For circumcision is the putting aside of bodily pleasure and everything that is superfluous and unnecessary, since the foreskin is nothing more than skin that is superfluous for the member experiencing pleasure. Any pleasure that is not from God and not in God is an excess of pleasure, the image of which is the foreskin. The Sabbath is rest from sin. So that circumcision and the Sabbath are one, and thus both are kept together by those who walk in the Spirit; they do not commit even minor lawlessness 210. You should also know that the number seven denotes the entire present time, as the wise Solomon says: give a portion to the seventh and give back (Eccl. XI, 2). And the God-speaking David, singing about osmom (Ps. VI, 1), sang about the future state - after the resurrection from the dead. Therefore, the law, commanding the seventh day to be spent in rest from bodily affairs and to engage in spiritual ones, mysteriously showed true Israel, who had a mind that sees God, so that he would at all times draw closer to God and rise above everything bodily 211 Carnal and voluptuous people blaspheme virginity and, as proof, refer to (the words) Cursed is everyone who does not raise a seed in Israel (Deut. XXV, 9). We, relying on God the Word incarnate from the Virgin, affirm that virginity was implanted in the nature of people from above and from the very beginning. For man was created from virgin soil; Eve was created from Adam alone. Virginity lived in paradise. Indeed, divine Scripture says that Adam and Eve were naked and not ashamed (Gen. 25). When they transgressed the commandment, they found out that they were naked, and, being ashamed, they sewed girdles for themselves (Gen. Ill. 7). And (already) after the crime, when Adam heard: you are earth, and you have come to earth (Gen. Ill, 19), and when through this crime death entered the world, then (only) Adam knew Eve his wife and conceived (IV, 1). Consequently, marriage was established so that the human race would not be exterminated and destroyed by death, but that it would be preserved through procreation 212. But perhaps they will say: what does the saying want [to indicate]: husband and wife (Gen. 1:27); grow and multiply (1, 28)? To this we will say that the saying: grow and multiply does not necessarily mean reproduction through marriage. For God could have multiplied the human race in another way, if people had kept the commandment intact to the end. But God, according to His foreknowledge, who knows everything before their existence (Dan. XIII, 42), knowing that people would (in the future) transgress His commandment and be condemned (for this), created husband and wife in advance and commanded: grow and multiply. But let us return to the course (of our thoughts) and consider the advantages of virginity and, which is the same thing, purity. When Noah was commanded to enter the ark and was entrusted with preserving the seed of the world, he was ordered like this: come down, says God, and your sons, and your wife, and your sons’ wives (Gen. VII, 7). He separated husbands from wives so that they, while maintaining chastity, would avoid the abyss and that worldwide drowning. After the end of the flood, He says: go out, you, and your wife, and your sons, and your sons’ wives (Gen. VIII, 16). Here again marriage is allowed for the propagation of the human race. Then Elijah, caught up in a fiery chariot and a celestial being, did he not love celibacy, and is not (this) evidenced by an exaltation that exceeds human conditions? Who closed the sky? Who raised the dead? Who divided the Jordan? Isn't Elijah a virgin? And Elisha, his disciple, who asked for the deep grace of the Spirit, did not receive it, having shown equal virtue? And the three youths? Didn't they, laboring in virginity, turn out to be stronger than fire, because their bodies, due to virginity, were not overcome by fire? Was it not the teeth of beasts that were unable to penetrate Daniel’s body, strengthened by virginity? When God intended to appear to the Israelites, did he not command that the body be kept clean? Is it not otherwise than, having purified themselves, the priests entered the Holy Place and made sacrifices? Did not the law call chastity a great vow? So the command of the law (on marriage) must be understood in a more spiritual way. For it is a spiritual seed, through the love and fear of God, conceived in the womb of the soul, which suffers from the stomach and gives birth to the spirit of salvation. The saying should be understood in the same way: blessed is he who has a tribe in Zion, and a tribe in Jerusalem (Isa. XXXI, 9). Is he truly blessed, even if he were a fornicator, a drunkard, or an idolater? if only he has a tribe in Zion and tribes in Jerusalem? Nobody sane would say this. Virginity is the way of life of angels, a distinctive property of every incorporeal nature. We say this without blaming marriage - let it not happen! for we know that the Lord, during His stay (on earth), blessed marriage; (we also know the words) who said: marriage is honest and the bed is undefiled (Heb. XIII, 4); but (knowing this) we admit that virginity is better than a good (in itself) marriage. For in virtues there are higher and lower degrees, just as in vices. We know that all mortals come from marriage, except for their first parents. For they are from virginity, and not the product of marriage. But celibacy, as we said, is an imitation of the angels. Therefore, to the extent that an angel is higher than a person, virginity is more honorable than marriage. What am I saying angel? Christ Himself is the glory of virginity, not only because He was born from the Father without beginning, without flow or combination, but also because, having become like us, He was incarnated above us from the Virgin without (marital) union and He Himself showed true and perfect virginity. Therefore, although He did not legitimize virginity, for not everyone can bear this word (Matt. XIX, II), as He Himself said, but He taught us virginity by His example and gave us strength for it. For who does not understand that virginity lives today among people? Of course, the fertility that marriage produces is good; good is marriage for the sake of fornication (1 Cor. VII, 2), which suppresses fornication and, through legal intercourse, does not allow the fury of lust to rush towards lawless acts; Marriage is good for those who have no abstinence. But better is virginity, which increases the fertility of the soul and brings God timely fruit - prayer. Marriage is honorable, and the bed is undefiled: but God judges the fornicator and the adulterer (Heb. XIII, 4). Circumcision was given to Abraham before the law, after the blessings, after the promise, as a sign distinguishing him, his children and his household from the nations with whom he dealt. This is clear (from the following): when Israel, alone, by itself, spent forty years in the desert, without mingling with other people, then all those born in the desert were not circumcised. When Jesus brought them across the Jordan, they were circumcised and the second law of circumcision appeared. For the law of circumcision was given under Abraham; then it ceased (its action) in the desert for forty years. And again, for the second time, God gave the law of circumcision to Joshua, after crossing the Jordan, as it is written in the book of Joshua: at this time the Lord spoke to Joshua: make for yourself stone knives from sharp stones, and circumcise the children of Israel the second time (Joshua V, 2). And a little lower: Israel walked forty years and two years in the desert of Mavdaritida: for this reason, do not circumcise the many from those warriors who came out of the land of Egypt, who did not listen to the commandments of God and the Lord determined not to see the good land themselves, by which the Lord swore by their father, to give them a land boiling with honey and milk. Instead of these orders, their sons, whom Jesus circumcised, were born, because they were not circumcised on the way (Joshua V, 6 - 7). Therefore, circumcision was a sign that distinguished Israel from the nations with whom he dealt 213. Circumcision was also a type of baptism. For just as circumcision does not cut off a useful member of the body, but a useless excess, so through holy baptism sin is cut off from us; sin, as is obvious, is an excess of desire, and not a useful desire. It is impossible for anyone to have no desire at all, or to be completely unfamiliar with pleasure. But uselessness in pleasure, that is, useless desire and pleasure, is a sin that cuts off holy baptism, which gives us as a sign an honest cross on the forehead, distinguishing us not from the nations, for all nations have received baptism and are sealed with the sign of the cross, but in every nation it separates the faithful from the unfaithful. Hence, when the truth has appeared, the image and the shadow are useless. Therefore, circumcision is now unnecessary and contrary to holy baptism. For he who is circumcised must eat the whole law (Gal. V, 3). The Lord was circumcised to fulfill the law, and kept the whole law and the Sabbath to fulfill and establish the law. From the same time that He was baptized and the Holy Spirit appeared to people, descending on Him in the form of a dove, from that time spiritual service and a way of life, and the kingdom of heaven 214 were preached. Chapter XXVI. About the Antichrist You need to know what is about to come to the Antichrist. Of course, anyone who does not confess that the Son of God came in the flesh, that He is perfect God and became perfect man, while remaining God at the same time, is the Antichrist. But in its proper sense and primarily, the Antichrist is the one who will come at the end of the age. So, it is necessary that first the gospel be preached to all nations, as the Lord said, and then he will come to expose the ungodly Jews. For the Lord said to them: I came in the name of my Father, and you do not receive Me: another will come in his name, and him you receive (John V, 43). And the Apostle said: because they did not accept the truth for love, they should be saved, and for this sake God will send them the action of flattery, because they believed lies: so that all who did not believe the truth, but were pleased with unrighteousness (II Thess. (Thess.) II, 11). So, the Jews did not accept Him who was the Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ and God, but will accept a deceiver who calls himself God. That he himself will call himself god, the angel teaching Daniel says this: he does not understand the gods of his fathers (Dan XI, 37). And the Apostle says: Yes, no one will deceive you in any way: for if the apostasy does not come first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, the adversary and exalt himself above every spoken god or worshipper, how can he sit in the church of God, showing himself that God exists (II Thess. (Thess.) II, 3). In the Church of God - not in ours, but in the ancient, Jewish one; for he will not come to us, but to the Jews; not for Christ, but against Christ and Christians; which is why he is called the Antichrist 215. Therefore, the gospel must first be preached to all nations (Matthew XXIV: 14). And then the lawless one will appear, his coming according to the work of Satan in all power and signs and lying wonders, and in all deceit of unrighteousness, among those who are perishing, and the Lord will kill him with the word of his mouth and abolish him by the appearance of His coming (II Thessalonians (Thess.) II, 9 - 10). So, not the devil himself. is done by man, like the incarnation of the Lord - let it not be! but a person is born from fornication and takes upon himself all the action of Satan. For God, knowing in advance the depravity of his future will, allows the devil to inhabit him. So, he is born, as we said, from fornication, raised secretly, suddenly rebels, becomes indignant and becomes a king. At the beginning of his reign, or rather, tyranny, he hides behind the mask of holiness; when he becomes victorious, he will begin to persecute the Church of God and show all his malice. He will come with false signs and wonders, fictitious, and not true, and he will deceive and turn away those who have a weak and unsteady mind from the living God, so that, if possible, even the elect will be tempted (Matthew XXIV, 24). Enoch and Elijah the Tishbite will be sent (Mal. IV, 6), and will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, that is, the synagogue to our Lord Jesus Christ and to the preaching of the Apostles, and will be killed by the Antichrist (Apoc. XI, 3). And the Lord will come from heaven in the same way as the Apostles saw Him ascending into heaven (Acts 1, II): perfect God and perfect man, with glory and power, and will kill the man of lawlessness, the son of destruction, with the spirit of his mouth (II Thessalonians II, 8). Therefore, let no one expect the Lord from earth, but from heaven, as He Himself confirmed it. Chapter XXVII. About the resurrection. We also believe in the resurrection of the dead. For there will be, truly there will be, a resurrection of the dead. When we speak of resurrection, we mean the resurrection of bodies. For resurrection is the secondary restoration of the fallen. Souls, being immortal, how will they be resurrected? For if death is defined as the separation of the soul from the body, then resurrection is, without a doubt, a secondary union of soul and body and a secondary restoration of a destroyed and fallen living being. So, the same body that decays and is destroyed will rise incorruptible. For He who in the beginning composed it from the dust of the earth can resurrect it again after it, according to the Creator’s determination, has been destroyed and returned again to the earth from which it was taken. If there is no resurrection, then let us go to hell (1 Cor. XV, 32) and strive for a life full of pleasure and comfort. If there is no resurrection, then how are we different from the dumb? If there is no resurrection, then we should consider the beasts of the field happy, leading a carefree life. If there is no resurrection, then there is no God, there is no Providence, but everything is controlled and moves by chance. For we see that very many righteous people suffer need and insults and do not receive any help in this life, while sinners and unrighteous people abound in wealth and every luxury. And who sane would recognize this as a matter of justice or wise Providence? So there will be, there will be a resurrection. For God is righteous and a rewarder of those who trust in Him. Therefore, if only the soul exercised itself in the deeds of virtue, it alone would be crowned, and if it alone were constantly in pleasure, it alone would, in justice, be punished. But since the soul did not strive for either virtue or vice separately from the body, then, in fairness, together they receive reward. And divine Scripture also testifies that there will be a resurrection of bodies. This is what God said to Noah after the flood: Like a herbal potion I have given you everything. It’s as if you can’t eat meat in the blood of your soul. And of your blood I will require your souls, from the hand of every beast I will require it: and from the hand of every man I will require his brother. They shed blood for man, in its place it will be shed: for in the image of God I created man (Gen. IX, 3). How then will God exact human blood from the hand of all kinds of beasts if He does not resurrect the bodies of the dead? For animals are not put to death for a man. Also to Moses: I am the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. God is not the God of the dead, those who have died and will no longer exist, but the living (Hсx. Ill, 6), whose souls live in the hand of God (Wis. Ill, 1), and whose bodies will come to life again through the resurrection. And Godfather David says to God: Calm their spirit, and they will disappear and return to their dust (Ps. III, 29). Here we are talking about bodies. Then he adds: send forth Your spirit, and they will be created, and you will renew the face of the earth (v. 30). Isaiah also says: the dead will rise again, and those who are in the tombs will rise (XXVI, 19). It is obvious that it is not souls that are placed in coffins, but bodies. And blessed Ezekiel says: and I was sometimes prophesied, and behold, I am a coward, and I copulate bones, bone to bone, each to its own composition. And I saw, and behold, they had veins and flesh stretched, and ascended on them, and the skin stretched out on top of them (Ezek. XXXVII, 7). Then he teaches how, by the command of God, the spirit of life returned to her (vv. 9 - 10) 216. And also the divine Daniel says: and at that time Michael the great prince will rise, O the sons of thy people: and there will be a time of sorrow, a tribulation such as never was, before the tongue was created on the earth, even until the time of it: and at that time all thy people who are found inscribed in the book will be saved. And many from those who sleep in the dust of the earth will arise, these to eternal life, and they to reproach and eternal shame. And he who understands will be enlightened, like the light of the firmament, and from the many righteous, like the stars forever, and will be enlightened again (Dan. XII. 1 - 3). It is clear that when he says: many will arise from those who sleep in the dust of the earth, the prophet points to the resurrection of bodies, for, of course, no one will say that souls sleep in the dust of the earth. But also the Lord in the Holy Gospels conveyed quite clearly about the resurrection of bodies: they will hear, He says, the voice of the Son of God in the tombs, and they will come out, having done good in the resurrection of life, and having done evil in the resurrection of judgment (John V, 28 - 29). No one sane will say that souls are in coffins. But the Lord not only in word, but also in deed itself, confirmed the resurrection of the body. First of all, He raised up four-day-old Lazarus, who had already given over to corruption and stank (John XI, 39-44); He resurrected not a soul deprived of a body, but also a body together with a soul, and not another body, but the same one that had already given over to corruption. For how would they know or believe the resurrection of the dead if characteristic signs did not prove it? But He raised Lazarus to prove His divinity and to ensure His and our resurrection - Lazarus, who had to die again. The Lord Himself became the firstfruits of the perfect resurrection, no longer subject to the power of death. That is why the divine Apostle Paul said: if the dead do not rise, then neither does Christ rise. If Christ has not risen, then our faith is therefore vain, therefore, if we are in our sins (1 Cor. XV, 16-17), And further: since Christ has risen, he is the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep (1 Cor. XV, 16), and the firstborn from the dead (Col. 1, 18). And one more thing; If we believe that Jesus died and rose again, so God will bring those who died in Jesus with him (1 Thess. IV, 14), so, says the Apostle, (i.e.) just as the Lord was resurrected. It is clear that the resurrection of the Lord was the union of His incorruptible body and soul (for they were separated), for He said: Destroy this church, and in three days it will be raised up (John II, 19). The Holy Gospel is a reliable witness that He said this about His body (John II, 21). Touch me and see, says the Lord to His disciples, who thought that they see the spirit, as I am and have not changed, for the spirit does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have (Luke XXIV, 39). And having said this, he showed them his hands and a rib and offered them to Thomas for touching. Is this really not enough to ensure the resurrection of bodies? The divine Apostle also says: it is fitting for this corruptible to put on incorruption, and for this dead thing to put on immortality (1 Cor. XV, 53). And again: it is sown into corruption, it is raised in incorruption: it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power: it is sown not in honor, it is raised in glory: a spiritual body is sown, that is, gross and mortal, a spiritual body is raised (1 Cor. XV, 42-44), which is the body of the Lord after the resurrection, passing through closed doors, not getting tired, not needing food, sleep and drinking. For, says the Lord, they will be like the angels of God (Matthew XXII, 30); there will be no more marriage or childbearing. Indeed, the divine Apostle says: since our life is in heaven, from there we also wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus: who will transform the body of our humility, so that he may be conformed to the body of his glory (Phil. Ill. 20-21), meaning here not a transformation into another image, no, but, rather, a change from the corruptible to the incorruptible 217. But someone says: How will the dead rise again (1 Cor. XV. 35)? O disbelief! Oh madness! Who, with a single will, turned dust into a body, Who commanded a small drop of seed in the womb to grow and form this multiform and diverse organism of our body. Isn’t he more likely to be able to resurrect by desire alone what has already existed and been destroyed? By what body will they come (1 Cor. XV:35)? Crazy (v. 36)! If bitterness does not allow you to believe the words of God, at least believe in the works! For if you have sown, you will not live unless you die; and if you have sown, you will not have the future body, but a naked grain, if it happens, of wheat, or something else from the rest. God gives him a body as he pleases, and to every seed his own body (1 Cor. XV, 36-38). Look, the seeds are buried in the furrows, like in graves. Who forms for them roots, stems, leaves, ears and the thinnest awns (on ears)? Isn't he the Creator of everything? Is it not the command of the One who arranged everything? In the same way, believe that the resurrection of the dead will be according to the divine desire and wave. For His desire is accompanied by power. So, we will be resurrected, since souls will again be united with bodies that will become immortal and put off corruption, and we will appear before the terrible judgment seat of Christ. The devil and his demons, and his man, that is, the Antichrist, the wicked and sinners will be consigned to eternal fire, not material, as it is with us, but such as God alone knows. And those who have done good will be enlightened, like the sun, together with the angels in eternal life, with our Lord Jesus Christ, eternally contemplating Him and being themselves contemplated by Him, and enjoying the joy that flows from Him, glorifying Him with the Father and the Holy Spirit to the endless ages of ages, Amen. Gregory the Theologian, letters to Kledonius. Basil the Great, On the Holy Spirit, 6. Gregory the Theologian, 2nd letter to Kledonius. Gregory the Theologian, word 39. Afanasy Alexander, On the Incarnation. Cyril Alex.. Interpretation on St. John, book. 1st. Gregory of Nyssa, Against Eunomius, book. 3rd. Gregory the Theologian, 1st letter to Kledonius. Vasily Vel. About baptisms, 1.12. Gregory the Theologian, word 40. Basil the Great. On the Holy Spirit, ch. 27. Gregory the Theologian, word 45. Dionysius Areop., On the names of God, 3. John Chrysostom, Discourse LXXXIII on the Gospel of Matthew. Basil the Great, On the Holy Spirit, 27. Gregory of Nyssa. Big public word, 37. John Chrysostom, Discourse 111 on the Epistle to the Ephesians. Gregory of Nyssa. Word for the Nativity of the Lord. Basil the Great, Discourse on the Fourty Martyr Saints. Basil the Great, On the Holy Spirit, 18. Basil the Great, Discourse on the Fourty Martyr Saints and On the Holy Spirit, 18, 27. Kirill Alexander. Treasure, 34. Gregory the Theologian, word 29. Gregory the Theologian, word 32. John Chrysostom, 11th discourse on the Epistle to the Romans. John of Damascus, Dialogue against the Manichaeans. Basil the Great, Discourse on the fact that God is not the author of evil. Basil the Great, ibid. John of Damascus, Dialogue against the Manichaeans. Gregory the Theologian, word 41. Athanasius Alexander., Conversation about circumcision and the Sabbath. Gregory the Theologian, word 45. Gregory of Nyssa, On the structure of man. 16. John Chrysostom, XXXIX conversation on Genesis. Gregory the Theologian, word 40, Gregory the Theologian, word 35, John Chrysostom, 11th conversation on the 2nd letter to Thessalonians. Gregory of Nyssa, On the soul and resurrection. Gregory of Nyssa, On the resurrection of the soul.