Письмо X. Кубикуларию Иоанну

Since you compel me to state the reason for which God decreed by His judgment that men should be governed by men, although they all have the same nature, all who share in themselves simply therefore appearing to be of equal honor, I will say as best I can, not hiding anything from what I have received from wise and blessed men, but omitting for the sake of brevity much that could be said about this. True reason, they say, mysteriously indicates that man, by the grace of the God who created him, received dominion over the entire visible world as his lot, through abuse he turned the movements of the innate power of his mental essence to the unnatural and thereby, by the fair judgment of God, introduced into himself and into the whole world the now ruling variability and mortality, so that the power of the soul 182 would not remain eternally immortal in those striving for the unnatural, which would not only be extreme evil and an obvious falling away from the true existence of man himself, but also a clear denial of Divine goodness. Therefore, this long-suffering and much-weeping human life, attracting and being drawn here and there [254] due to the great unreason and disorder of the matter that feeds it, or, more precisely, attracting all people in its attraction, makes them accomplices in its torment, not allowing anyone to be completely freed from its excitement. And this was formed for a reason befitting Divine wisdom: so that we would learn about real life, which we foolishly love according to our own disposition, by undergoing suffering from its circumstances, even if it is late, how much harm is caused by attachment to it, and would know that it is much more beneficial for us to distance ourselves from it than to unite with it and, with sound reasoning, would hate it, and, leaving the confusion and excitement of visible things, would prudently turn our desires for the stable immutability of the intelligible. But since we, both enduring scourging and suffering from a thousand evils, are not able to break the friendly connection with life, the all-wise and good God, in His providence, composed a law of dominion for people, from ancient times restraining the frenzy of vice, which through debauchery would appear in life, so that without a leader and stopping the lawless onslaught of the strongest on the weakest, people would not, like the fish of the sea, destroy each other. For the sake of this, I think, as it should have been, and out of necessity, dominion was established for the human race, having received wisdom and power from God, and equal nature was allowed to be divided into those in charge and those under control. So by wisdom the dominion rules those who obey the laws of nature, and by power it justly curbs those who, through the capriciousness of the will, do not want to follow them, and thus grants justice to everyone, governing by good will and fear; and by eliminating the difference of will between people, it clearly shows in all the serene and meek equality of nature. What would never have happened if it were not for fear, which curbs the crowd’s desire for the vicious and, through threats, forcibly leads to the serenity characteristic of the reasonable. After all, what reason convinces the wise to love voluntarily, fear forces the foolish to observe against their will. For this reason, as I was taught, dominion was allowed to enter into human life; and I accept this reasoning as truly explaining the reason. If there is any other justification for dominion, consistent with Divine Scripture, then, I think, it is accessible only to pure reason. However, this does not completely deviate from the purpose of Divine Scripture. After all, it also tells how God allowed people who did not want God’s dominion to be governed at least by people (1 Samuel 8:7), so that disordered anarchy would not give rise to plurality of power and then lead to a destructive rebellion for the entire human race, since the care of it was not entrusted by God’s judgment to anyone who, with the mind of those brought up, would rule towards peace with the mind, but those who plot evil and arbitrarily destroy in themselves with an unnatural disposition, the innate virtue of knowledge would be curbed by the fear of his power. Therefore, the king who tried to observe this law of dominion in this way is glorified as truly second on earth after God, for he became the most faithful executor of God’s will and rightly received dominion over people through obedience to the dominion of God. The one who rejected this law and completely ascribes dominion to himself, and not to God, will naturally do the opposite of this, driving away the virtuous and removing them from all advice and power, while recklessly bringing the evil ones closer to himself and appointing the lords of all his power, which is the abyss of final destruction for both rulers and ruled. May God grant us to willingly submit to His sovereignty by fulfilling His life-giving commandments and worthily honor those who rule on earth according to His will, as guardians of God’s decrees. “Soul power” here must be understood as a vital principle. – Approx. lane You might be interested in: