Слово 25. В похвалу философа Ирона 189 , возвратившегося из изгнания

1. Although I am sick in body, I will praise the philosopher (for this too is a sign of wisdom); and I will do it very justly. For he is a philosopher, and I am a servant of wisdom, why is it fitting for me to praise him in order to prove my wisdom, if nothing else, at least by astonishment at the philosopher. And according to my reasoning, we must either be wise or respect philosophy, if we do not want to be completely deprived of all goodness and fall into condemnation for unreason, while we are gifted with reason and through the word we flow towards the Word. Show us 190 your wisdom, which is known in all other respects, by allowing yourself to be praised, and patiently listen to the praise. For I will begin to praise not out of flattery (I know the lack of love of a wise man; besides, my word will not add anything to deeds, and will it diminish their dignity with its meagerness), but in order to benefit myself. But philosophy will no longer neglect this, which works on this and takes care of it in order to benefit our life in some way. And the first of the benefits is to praise the good, because praise paves the way for competition, competition for virtue, and virtue for bliss, which is the height of desire, the goal of all aspirations of a lover. 2. So, come, the best and most excellent of philosophers (I will even add) and of witnesses of the truth! Come, denouncer of false wisdom, which consists of mere words and charms with sweet speech, but cannot and does not want to rise above this! Come, you who are right-handed in virtue, both contemplative and active, you who, even in clothing alien to us, 191 speak wisdom in our own way. Or maybe your clothes are not alien to us; since Angels also tend to be luminous and shining when they are depicted in bodily form, which I consider a symbol of their natural purity. Come, my philosopher and sage (for how long can one love wisdom if there is no wisdom?)! Come on, dog 192, I will call you this not for shamelessness, but for daring, not for gluttony, but for limiting yourself to the essential, not for barking, but for preserving what is good, for vigilance in protecting souls, for being affectionate to everyone who is your own in virtue, but barking at all strangers! Come and stand near this Sacrifice, at this mysterious Table, next to me, who through this Sacrifice is secretly leading to deification! Teaching, life, and purification through suffering lead you to it. Come - I will crown you with our crowns, and not among Olympia, not at the small spectacle of Hellas, not for excellence in wrestling, or in hand-to-hand combat, or in running, not for other unimportant feats performed for unimportant rewards and in honor of any of the heroes or demons glorified by misfortune and fable (for such things are respected and honored by them 193, after unreason has called time and custom, which has become law, as its assistants), but before God, before the Angels, before the entirety of the Church, I will loudly proclaim about you, who defeated the lies of heresies, for the glory of the Living God, who teaches you to suffer through your own suffering, who won for such a reward in order to accept the Kingdom of Heaven, to become a god not subject to suffering. 3. What kind of proclamation is this? If you want it to be shorter and more specific, then I will say: here is the most undeceitful ascetic of the truth, even to the point of bleeding, a champion of the Trinity and a persecutor of persecutors, who inflicted evil on them with his readiness to suffer; for nothing brings down a persecutor more than the jealousy of the sufferer! And if you want my proclamation to be more complete and extensive, then I will say: here is the best of the best and the noblest of the noble! I’m not talking about the nobility that the mob understands. Get away from him and me! It is not for us and not for philosophers to marvel at the nobility that originates in fables, graves and long-decayed arrogance, is communicated with blood and with letters and which is given by the night or the hand of a ruler, perhaps an ignoble one, who also prescribes to be noble as to do this or that. On the contrary, I mean nobility, the hallmark of which is piety, good morality and ascent to the first Good, our beginning. There is one proof of such nobility. And our valiant husband was not only an ascetic himself, but also descended from martyrs, and had at home a model of virtue. In wisdom, he is a citizen of the entire universe, because cynical philosophy does not allow one to be limited within narrow limits. And according to the flesh, he is a citizen of the city of Alexandria, who stands alongside us 194 or follows us directly and, surpassing other cities in everything, is predominantly distinguished by ardor, and, what is most beautiful, Christian ardor, and such a commitment to Christianity that comes from will, but is rooted in nature itself. For when piety is inflamed, then jealousy is born; and jealousy is a barrier to faith. 4. Thus he was brought up and received an education suitable to his origin and purpose. When the time has come to choose a type of life (which I believe is the basis for both good and bad behavior), he sees something great, courageous, exceeding the choice of ordinary people. He despises luxury, wealth and power more than those who are excessive in this despise others; he ridicules and rejects luxury as the first of all sufferings, wealth as extreme poverty, and power as the height of powerlessness; because it does not consider it a good thing, because it makes those who have acquired it not better, but most often worse, and it does not remain with those who have it until the end. Philosophy entrusts dominion over the passions, strives with all vigor for the good, even before separation from matter renounces the material, fights with the visible, with all the greatness of natural forces, with all the nobility of will, clinging to the constant. And when I became firmly established in such thoughts, I no longer considered it necessary to discuss which wisdom was better to choose: the external one, which, under the guise and guise of wisdom, plays with the shadows of truth, or ours, outwardly humble, but exalted inwardly and leading to God. On the contrary, with all his heart he chooses our wisdom, without even turning a thought to the worst and without being carried away by the elegance of speech, which the Greek philosophers think so much about. The first task of his philosophy is to find out which of our paths is preferable and more useful both for him and for every Christian. For he considered it a sign of the most perfect and wise soul to understand the particular and the general in every matter; because each of us received existence not for himself alone, but for everyone who has the same nature with him and was created by one Creator and for the same purposes. 5. Moreover, he saw that a deserted, solitary life, withdrawn and alienated from communication with people, although in itself important and high, even beyond human strength, is nevertheless limited only to those who succeed in it, and is denied sociability and condescension - the properties of love, which, as he knew, is one of the first praiseworthy virtues. Moreover, such a life, since it is not revealed in deeds, cannot be verified and compared with other types of life. On the contrary, social life, spent in the circle of others, besides serves as a test of virtue and extends to many and comes closer to God's Economy, which created everything and bound everything with ties of love, and our race, after it had lost its goodness through the sin that came, called again through union and treatment with us. When he realized and exhausted this with his mind, and at the same time recognized it as one of the good deeds to humble the arrogance of Hellenic philosophers, who think to give themselves importance with a cloak and beard, then what does he do? And how does one begin philosophy? He observes a certain middle ground between their vanity and our wisdom: he borrows appearance and clothing from them, and truth and height from us. 6. Therefore, the Peripatetics, Academicians, venerable Stoics and the blind chance of the Epicuruses with atoms and pleasure, crowned with a wave, like one of them - a poet 195, sends away and drives them away as far as possible. In cynical philosophy, he condemned atheism, and praised abstinence from excess and became, as you see now, a dog against real dogs, a wise man against the foolish, and a Christian for everyone. He shames the arrogance of cynics with the similarity of appearance, and the shallowness of some of ours with the news of attire, and proves that piety does not consist in unimportant things and wisdom does not consist in gloominess, but in firmness of soul, in purity of mind and in a sincere inclination to goodness. And at the same time, you can have any appearance you want, and treat anyone you want, and remain alone with yourself, hiding your mind from feelings, and live in the circle of people and acquaintances, secluded in society itself, being philosophical among the unphilosophical, like Noah’s ark, which rushed over the flood waters, or like the great Moses vision - the bush that the flaming fire did not burn, not suffer harm from the treatment of the people or endure nothing more than a diamond under blows, and even, to the best of his ability, correct others by example. The fruit of such a philosophy was not cities built on words, not some, as they themselves called, skindaps 196 and tragelaphs 197 - meaningless combinations of letters, not categories, decompositions and mixtures, not symvams and parasymvams 198 and all naming wisdom, not some features that have no place anywhere 199, not mutual combinations of stars and constellations, invented as an insult to God's Providence. For he considered all this to be secondary and accessory subjects, which he could do for fun, so as not to become a laughing stock for people who pretend to be experts in such things. 7. The first and most important thing for him was to speak the truth before princes, to have boldness before kings, in imitation of the divine David, who spoke before kings and was not ashamed (Ps. 119:46), to stop the recklessness of the worried mob, the power of irritated masters, the exhaustion of dissenting families, the rudeness of the ignorant, the arrogance of scientists, the exaltation of the rich, the contempt of those living in contentment, poverty leading to crime, swift anger that deprives one of reason, immoderation in pleasures, incontinence of laughter, excessiveness of grief; to end the turmoil of youth, the cowardice of old age, the loneliness of widowhood, the despair of orphanhood. Wouldn’t every sane person prefer all this to syllogisms, lines and looking at the stars, judging that if everyone were engaged in inferences, became geometers and astronomers, then no benefit would come from this for our life, but rather everything would be upset; on the contrary, if there is not a single one of the virtues that I have counted in society, everything will necessarily fall into disorder and confusion. And is it necessary to say how much better and higher these virtues are than Antisthenes’ pride, Diogenes’s gluttony and Crates’s socialism? Let us spare these philosophers, at least out of respect for the name 200, so that they too may receive some benefit from this man. But in order not to dwell on chastity, temperance, humility, friendliness, sociability, love of mankind and other virtues in which our philosopher excels everyone, let us turn to what is last in order of time, and first in importance. 8. There was a time that after the heresies there was silence, and the Simons, Marcions, Valentines, Basilides, Cerdons, Cerinths and Carpocrates, who for a long time dissected the God of all and for the Good raised a battle against the Creator 201, with all their nonsense and absurdities were absorbed in their own Depth and were rightly given over to Silence 202; and also the wicked spirit of Montanov 204, the darkness of Manesov 205, the cruelty or purity of Novatov 206 and Savelli’s malicious defense of unity of command 207 left the disgrace 203 and departed; and Novato’s teaching was excommunicated along with others opposing the truth, and Sabelli’s, due to its lack of foundation, was completely rejected and despised. Meanwhile, nothing else upset the Church, for persecution made it even more glorious through its very suffering. But after a while a new storm rises on the Church - this abyss of untruth, the fullness of wickedness, this legion of spirits, the tongue of the Antichrist, the mind that spoke untruths on high (Ps. 72:8), who cut off the Divinity, the one whose undertaking is terrible, and whose death is even more terrible and worthy of the betrayal of Judas, which he dared to do against our Savior, this Arius, who decently received his name from the fury of 208 . He, starting from Alexandria, where he conceived his terrible doctrine, after, like an uncontrollable flame ignited by a spark, flowed through most of the universe, he is overthrown by our fathers and the pious host, which then assembled at Nicaea and confined theology to precise limits and expressions. 9. Then comes a bad reign 209 and evil comes to life again, as if festering wounds are opening and breaking through, as if ferocious wolves, surrounding us on all sides, are tormenting the Church. Priests arm themselves against priests, classes rebel with fury against classes, the tsar himself gives impudence to wickedness, writes laws against Orthodoxy, and under him people 210 become stronger who cannot be called either husbands or wives. But who will properly depict the disasters of that time - expulsion, descriptions of property, dishonor, relocation to the desert of many thousands and entire cities, living there in poverty in the open air, suffering from rain and cold and forced to flee even from the desert itself, because it does not relieve danger? Who will depict these most severe disasters 211 - beatings, deaths, bringing to shame bishops leading a wise life, husbands, wives, youths, elders? Who will depict how rulers of the people invent cruel torments, add new ones to those invented, serve wickedness, and often only deserve approval by inflicting cruelty even beyond the will of the sovereign? Recently this famous persecution came to an end, and Persia perfectly solved our case, destroying the destroyer and, in retribution for the blood of many, satisfying the blood of one. 10. And now the shameful persecution begins 212; under the pretext of protecting Christians from wickedness, it attacks true Christians; and it is all the more terrible than before because then the feat was famous and glorious, but now suffering is not commendable, at least in the eyes of people who judge suffering incorrectly. Do you want me to draw tears from all those who are coming, and perhaps even from the most steadfast one, who is not overcome by any passion, by recalling one of the events that happened at that time? The witnesses to what I am telling are numerous, many have heard the lamentable tale of this suffering, and I think that the history of this time will be passed on to future times. A ship carrying one presbyter 213, who is in distress not for a bad deed, but for his faith, is equipped at sea so as not to save, but to destroy the swimmer. And he, like a pious man, willingly enters the ship, fire is put into his companions, and the persecutor enjoys a new kind of torment. What a sight! What an atrocity! The ship is in the middle of the sea, the shores are covered with spectators, and from them some watch with pleasure, others are tormented. Is it possible to briefly describe a lot to me? The fire ignites, consumes the ship, and with it the swimmer; fire mixes with water, two opposing elements act together to torment the pious; they both share one body. There is an extraordinary lamp above the sea; another approached him, perhaps, as if he were meek and friendly; but, as he approached, he found a sad and incredible sight: a ship without a helmsman, a shipwreck without a storm, a presbyter turned to ashes or not even ashes, because he too was scattered across the waters. The priesthood was not given the respect required to have an honorable death, and if not death, then at least a grave, which is not denied to the wicked. Such is the ship rigged by the wicked, and such is the end of the godly; and the heavenly and punitive fire is never more luminous than the fire that illuminated this event! 11. But what do I care about a stranger? It’s time to begin your own feat and your suffering for piety, which, like a beautiful seal, you attached to all your previous deeds. The evil of this heresy had full force in your city, where it began. Meanwhile, the most holy eye of the universe, the bishop of the priests, your mentor in confession, who taught with his own deeds for piety, this great voice, the pillar of faith, this (if I may say so) second lamp and forerunner of Christ, who rested in a good old age, filled with favorable days, after slander, after exploits, after many rumors about the hand, after the living dead 215, to He is dominated by the Trinity, for which he lived and for which he suffered adversity (I am sure that from this description everyone will recognize Athanasius). Then a new Egyptian plague, or execution, invades the Church - a traitor to the truth, a shepherd of wolves, a robber leaping through the sheepfold, a second Arius, muddy corruption (Hab. 2:15) and strange, a stream of atheism, more abundant than the source itself 216. My tongue is too tired to retell the then iniquities and vile murders, among which this beast occupies the holy throne and which preceded his evil entry. However, out of much I will pay for a little (which you also mourn and mourned before), crying out in the words of David: O God, the nations have come into Your inheritance, desecrating Your holy church, and also with the following: I have laid the corpse of Your servant for meat for the birds (Ps. 78:1-2) and food for the beasts. I will also add these words from another lamentable song of the same prophet: the evil one is an enemy in Your holy, and those who hate You praised themselves in the midst of Your holiday (Ps. 74:3-4). For how did they not boast! How they did not desecrate the holy church with various adventures and atrocities of all kinds! 12. The leader was a godless and lawless man, who did not (which is the most terrible thing in desecration) even have the name of a Christian, but who flowed into the church of God directly from idols, from unclean blood even to the most vile and disgusting, and by such desecration of us he performed, perhaps, service to the demons. A force boiling with rage, an extraordinary and ferocious army, was equipped against unarmed people and non-warriors. The saint's successor, the priest, was expelled, anointed by the Spirit according to the law and rank, adorned with gray hair and prudence 218, and Taveel reigned (Isa. 7:6), the heir of an alien power 219. Weapons are raised against the saints, unclean hands are raised against the sacred, and the chants are drowned out by the sound of trumpets. Look what else followed: men fell dead in the sanctuaries; wives, even with the natural burden they carried, were trampled under foot and as a result gave birth prematurely or, more precisely, became non-bearing; the virgins were dragged mercilessly, subjected to shameful tortures (I am just as ashamed of husbands and wives to describe this and expose in words the secrets of shame, as I am ashamed of them themselves, then exposed); some, out of the indecency they saw, threw themselves into the wells located inside the church, others rushed headlong from the upper porches, others fell in heaps onto the lying corpses. Murders followed murders, defeats after defeats; the shrine is trampled by unclean feet, the altars are desecrated by disorderly movements and songs, even (as I hear - whose daring tongue will utter this?) dances and antics; blasphemous tongues were preached from the holy thrones, the sacraments were subjected to blasphemy, the chants fell silent, and howls were heard in their place; Streams of blood flowed, streams of tears; priests were taken away, hermits were tormented - a perfect resemblance to the invasion of the Assyrians when they came to holy Jerusalem! Neither a word can fully depict, nor a hearing can contain this, and in order to mourn this as it should, the soul and voice of Jeremiah are needed, which itself demands sources of tears (Jer. 9:1), calls on the walls to shed them for such misfortunes (Lam. 2:18), imposes mourning on the paths of Zion, as if there are no ones walking on them on the holiday (Lam. 1:4). 13. The East saw such events, but the West also mourned them, where the exiled priest 220 publicly showed the signs of this madness. How? He presented not the dead, but bloody clothes to the Roman Church and tried to draw tears from everyone with a silent complaint, in order to express suffering and receive help in disasters, which, as we know, was received. For the strong most likely bow to the weak and, out of voluntary goodwill, take the side of the humiliated. And none of the pious could bear this indifferently; but this excites you the more, the more perfect your mind and the more fiery your jealousy. Therefore, you fight for the word, and at the same time you yourself are subjected to attacks of wickedness. After many struggles, in which you fought for the truth in deed and word, teaching, admonishing, exciting, denouncing, reproaching, shaming commoners and leaders, privately and publicly, at all times and in all places, finally, when the evil power indulged in rage, you were captured and (how noble is your misery! how sacred are your wounds!) flagellation, remaining as if a spectator of other people's suffering. Although the visible in you fails, the inner is not destroyed. Your courage is revealed to everyone's eyes; and when the tongue has already refused to speak, you become a silent teacher of patience. 14. What then? You, for whom there is neither your own nor someone else’s side anywhere, are expelled from your fatherland so that others, I think, will learn piety from you. The place of your imprisonment is an oasis, a deserted desert, which through you has already become a significant village. Tell us the good fruits of your exile, as we benefit from the fruits of your return. And let your return be a common spectacle for us. Whom did you teach to philosophize there? Who has been distracted from wicked opinions? Whom did he lead to piety? It’s as if I see the school there in front of me, and I see the last meeting around you. Tell me this too: did you have any consolation for the remains of the flesh, or did poverty enter into your wisdom? Did you have accomplices in your feat, or did you willingly endure the lack of this? Did you want to see your sisters with you, with whom you learned purity and patience, or were you higher than your affection for them? Did the loneliness of your elderly mother bother you, or were you firmly convinced that you had left them the strongest protection - piety? But since you (which is beautifully done) have returned to us, since He is the One who glorifies those who glorify Him (1 Sam. 2:30) and provokes those who provoke (Deut. 32:21), Who does the will of those who fear Him (Ps. 145:19) and breathes into the dead the power of resurrection, Who gives life to four-day-old Lazarus and you four-year-old 221 beyond life. aspirations, Who, according to the vision of the most wonderful and sublime of the prophets Ezekiel (Ezekiel 37:7), puts together bones with bones and composition with composition - and you, filled with love for us, gave again to those who love you, then continue the same work again and with the same boldness, so that they do not think that suffering has weakened you and that you are betraying wisdom out of fear. 15. Shame, as before, the superstition of the Hellenes, and their polytheistic atheism, ancient and new gods, and vile fables, and even the most vile sacrifices, as one of them says 222, purifying dirt with dirt, that is, flesh with flesh, their own flesh with the flesh of the dumb. Shame both their decent statues and the shameful idols with which if they limit the Divinity, then what a pitiful blindness! And if they only portray, then what ignorance! Let them explain what is the reason for such disgrace and what a mysterious meaning there is in it! For it is necessary that the very expressions of beauty should not be ugly; or will they say that there is something besides this? Let them confirm what exactly? What books and theologians are they taken from? Shame the uprisings of heresies, even more zealously, since you have already been tempted by suffering; for wisdom becomes more courageous from suffering and hardens in adversity, like red-hot iron in cold water. Enclose our piety within the limits, teach us to know both the One unbegotten God the Father, the One begotten Lord the Son (called God when He is spoken of separately (καθ’ ἑαυτόν), and the Lord when He is called with the Father, God by nature, Lord by unity of command) and the One Holy Spirit who came or coming from the Father, God, offered to those who understand rationally (Prov. 23:1), disputed by the wicked, but by those who are above them, recognized and preached even more spiritually. Teach us not to make the Father subordinate (so as not to introduce something that is more primary than the Original and which will distort the existence of the Original), and not to make the Son or the Holy Spirit without beginning (so as not to take away from the Father what is characteristic of Him). For they are not without beginning and together in some respect (which is the difficulty) are without beginning. They are not without beginning in relation to the Author, because just as light is from the sun, so they are from God, although not after Him. But They are also without beginning in relation to time, because they are not under time, otherwise the fluid would be older than the permanent and the dependent - independent. 16. Teach not to introduce three principles, so as not to introduce something pagan or polytheistic, and even introducing one, not to introduce any Jewish principle - meager, envious, powerless, or assuming that the Divinity is absorbed by Himself (as it pleases those who, although they produce the Son from the Father, but again resolve into the Father), or (which is what the sages of today like) humiliating the nature of the Son and Spirit and alienating from the Divine, as if It were afraid of confrontation and does not have the power to produce anything higher than creatures. Teach not to recognize the Son as unbegotten (because the Father is one) and the Spirit as the Son (because there is one Only Begotten). Let these Divine properties belong to Them in an exclusive way, namely: to the Son - sonship, but to the Spirit - procession, and not sonship. Teach to call the Father truly Father and in a sense much more true than how our earthly fathers are called, because He is the Father in the only sense, that is, in a unique way, and not in the likeness of carnal fathers, - the Only Father, that is, not in combination with anyone, - the Father of the Only Son, that is, the Only Begotten, - the Father exclusively, that is, not having previously been the Son, - the Father wholly and wholly of the Son (which cannot be reliably said about our fathers), - the Father from the beginning, that is, who did not subsequently become the Father. Teach the Son to truly be called the Son, because He is the Only Son of the Only Father, the Son in a unique sense and exclusively, and not together and the Father, the Son of the wholly and wholly Father, the Son from the beginning, who did not ever begin to be the Son, because it was not as a result of the change of counsels of His Divinity and not as a result of the success of His deification, so that the Father was not ever the Father and the Son the Son. Teach to call the Holy Spirit truly Holy, because no one else is holy in this way and to such an extent, and the Holiness of the Spirit is not something subordinate, but self-originating, it is not something increasing or decreasing, something beginning and ending in time. What is common to both the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit is the non-beginning of being and Divinity; but it belongs to the Son and the Spirit to have their being from the Father. And the distinguishing property of the Father is ungeneracy, and the Son is begotten, and the Holy Spirit is originality (ἔκπεμψις). When you strive to comprehend the image (of birth and procession), then what do you leave for Themselves, Who, according to the testimony of Scripture, alone know each other and are known to each other (1 Cor. 2:11), or what do you leave for those of us who will subsequently be enlightened by the light there? 17. Before you do any of the things that have been said or something similar, you will know as much as They know each other. Now teach us to know this only: the Unity in the Trinity and the Trinity in the worshiped Unity, in Which both separateness and unity are incomprehensible. Do not be afraid that, by confessing birth, you will attribute passion to the Divine. The deity, although it gives birth, does not suffer. And I guarantee you this, that It gives birth divinely, and not humanly, because His being is not human. Be afraid to attribute time and creation to God, for if it happened in time, then it is not God. Be afraid that, standing unnecessarily for God, you do not reject God, making into your fellow creature the One who is equal to the Father in Divinity, Who will free you from slavery if you sincerely confess His sovereignty. Do not be afraid to confess the procession, because God, who abounds in everything, has no need either not to produce or to destroy. Fear alienation and the threat that was announced not to those who theologize, but to those who blaspheme the Holy Spirit (Matthew 12:31-32). Do not give bad honor to the unity of command by shortening or cutting off the Divinity. 18. Do not be ashamed of being accused of tritheism while you can accuse someone else of bitheism; together with him, you will either refute the accusation, or you will come into difficulty, or, when with him, together with his speculations, you suffer the downfall of the Divinity, with you it will be preserved unharmed, although the word will fail. It is better to be exhausted in reasoning under the guidance of the Spirit, than, pursuing ease, to easily agree to wicked opinions. Ignore insistence and objections - this new piety, this petty wisdom - and despise them more than the tissues of spiders, which trap flies, but are easily broken through by wasps, not to mention a finger or something else heavier. Teach to be afraid of only one thing, namely: to undermine faith with your false thinking. It doesn’t matter if they defeat someone with a word, because not everyone is given the gift of speech. It is scary to be separated from the Divine, because everyone needs hope. 19. You will judge all this on your own, even, as far as I know, more carefully and more perfectly. Your wounds and the labors you have endured for the sake of piety guarantee me this. But I, to the best of my ability, will make love with you. When you set out on your good journey, remember the Trinity that dwells in the tabernacles (if only God lives in churches made with hands), remember this small harvest. Although there are many seeds of piety on it, it is still small and meager and is collected from it little by little. For though I was to gather sludge at the harvest (if, by the way, to use the word of the prophet here), and like a fool in deceiving the grapes, I do not sustain the bunch (Mic. 7:1). You see how we harvest fruits; Therefore, try to make the threshing floor richer and the wine press fuller. Tell me about my calling, about the incredible sojourn that I made not to enjoy luxury, but to suffer, in order to partake of glory through the taste of disasters. Hope that this people will be your assistant in prayers and your companion in your wanderings, this flock, meager in number, but not meager in piety, the constraint of which I respect more than the breadth of other flocks. This is what the Holy Spirit says. With Him you will walk through the fire, put the beasts to sleep, tame the rulers. So set out on your journey, travel like this, and return to us again richly enriched, crowned a second time, singing with us the song of victory now and henceforth in Christ Jesus our Lord. To him be glory forever, amen! The philosopher Iron, as can be seen from this word, was originally from Alexandria, according to the teachings of a cynic, suffered from the Arians for Orthodoxy, namely: he was flogged and condemned to exile. Jerome in the “List of Church Writers” by the name of the philosopher Iron means Maximus, also a cynic, famous in the life of St. Gregory the Theologian in that he subsequently attempted to appropriate for himself the throne of the Church of Constantinople. Appeal to the philosopher Iron. According to Elijah's remark, Iron, like a cynic, wore a white cloak, which St. Gregory the Theologian calls it alien, perhaps in color, for Christians leading a wise life, that is, for monks. St. Gregory the Theologian, calling Iron a dog, makes an adaptation to the fact that he was a cynic, since this last name is taken from the word κύων (dog). Plato in his Republic, recognizing Homer as harmful to youth, says that he should be crowned with a wave and expelled from the city. Skindaps is a genus of Indian plant. Since there is no such plant anywhere else, St. Gregory considers this name a meaningless word. Tragelafus is an animal consisting of a goat and a deer, which St. Gregory recognizes it as fabulous. Lucian, ridiculing the philosopher Chrysippus, puts the following words into his mouth: “If a lame man, with his lame foot, stumbles over a stone and receives a wound, then the lameness will be simvama, and the wound on the lame leg will be parasimvama.” St. Gregory the Theologian says about geometric lines that they have no place anywhere, that is, neither in matter itself, because they are considered in abstraction from bodies, nor in thought, because they are not something only mental. Those. cynics, because Iron was a cynic. The Gnostics Valentinus, Cerdon and others taught that a good God was not the creator of the world. Depth (βάθος) and Silence (σιγή), according to the teachings of Simon, Marcion and their successors, were the main of the aeons. Montanus took a dishonest woman with him and called her the Holy Spirit. Manes (Mani - the founder of Manichaeism) taught that unformed matter, or darkness, is co-eternal with God. Novat did not allow those who renounced faith in Christ and even all those who fell after baptism and bigamists to repentance. Sabellius merged the three Persons of the Holy Trinity into the single Person of the Father. Those. from the pagan god of war Ares, or Mars. Under Constantius, the eunuch Eusebius the Arian had great power. Under Emperor Valens, who was the patron of the Arians. According to the legend of some - Urvana, and according to the legend of others - Theodula. For an explanation of this, see the word to Saint Athanasius the Great. This is the Arian Lucius, who expelled Athanasiev's successor Peter and forcibly took the episcopal throne in Alexandria. Palladius, Alexandrian mayor. Successor to St. Athanasius, Archbishop Peter of Alexandria. Taveel St. Gregory the Theologian names the Arian Lucius mentioned above, who expelled Peter and took his episcopal throne in Alexandria. The Alexandrian Archbishop Peter, having escaped from the Arians, flees to Rome to Pope Damasus and brings with him the bloody clothes of those killed by the Arians. See: Socrates. Church history, book. 4, ch. 22; Nikifor, book. 11, ch. 26. He was in exile for four years and during this time seemed to have died for us.