ЧЕЛОВЕК

For this reason, God created from all the animals only one man with a straight waist and installed his eyes in the upper part of his body, in order to teach him by his very appearance that he should look into the heights. Only this one animal is constructed in this way, while all the others look down and face the ground; man is turned to heaven, so that he looks there, philosophizes about this, thinks about this and has a keen vision of the soul. That is why one Wise One said: “The wise man has his eye in his head” (Eccl. 2:14), that is, he is alien to everything low, strives for heaven, thinks about the high (2). Man is a short-term loan of life, a debt of death that cannot be postponed, an animal unbridled of his own will, evil self-instructing, original cunning, skillful in evil, inventive in injustice, ready for covetousness, insatiably greedy, treacherous by nature, inflated spirit, arrogant insolence, empty arrogance, puffed up arrogance, cooling courage, wayward decay, rebellious dust, arrogant dust, arrogant ashes, a spark easily extinguished, a fleeting flame, a wavering lamp, rotting wood, drying grass, withering greenery, nature soon impoverished. Formidable today, dying tomorrow; today in wealth, and tomorrow in a coffin; today in a crown, and tomorrow under a tombstone; today in purple, and tomorrow in mud; today in the treasury, and tomorrow on the bed; today [surrounded] by flatterers, and tomorrow by worms; today a being, tomorrow nothing. One moment praised and a little later lamented; unbearable in happiness, inconsolable in misfortune; ignorant of himself and curious about what is above him; ignorant of the present and dreaming of the future; mortal by nature and arrogantly considering himself eternal; a nest of every disease, a convenient refuge of every passion, a common and daily gathering of fevers, an open refuge of every sorrow. Oh, what a sad spectacle of our weakness, oh, what a celebration of human insignificance! How much I have said, and I have not found anything more consistent with the prophetic saying that says: a man walks like a ghost, he only worries in vain (Ps. 39:7, 6) (3). Man is light. Light shows what exists; the light of the world is man: having appeared in the world, he showed the light of art, the light of knowledge. The light showed life - the mind invented bread; the light showed the vine - the light of the mind showed the wine contained in the vine; the light showed the wool - the light of the man showed the clothes; the light showed the mountains - the light of the mind taught the carving of stones. That is why the Savior calls the apostles light, saying: “You are the light of the world” (Matthew 5:14). He calls them light not only to honor them, but to show the hope of resurrection. Just as the light, dying out in the evening, does not perish, but only hides, and, having hidden itself, appears again, so a person, immersed in a tomb, as if in the west, is preserved for the east of resurrection (5). Man is a creature of two worlds: the one above is related to his soul, and the one below is related to the body. He connects these two worlds with himself, serves as a bridge between them, having one common Creator with them, who created both the heavenly and the earthly; like a virgin, his soul is contained in his body. And since its nature is twofold, its requirements are twofold. Watch the word carefully. There is a body and there is a soul. The Creator has determined food for the body and words for the soul; the body is nourished by bread, and the soul by teaching; the body has clothing - dresses, has clothes and the soul - virtue (9). God created man and, being good, He created man the same. Do not look at the present person, but keep in mind his first state: after all, God created him in His image. And in order to show that man by nature is not inferior to the stars, Scripture indicates that God placed him in paradise naked, not needing clothing: licentiousness was still alien to his eyes and he did not need any covering. So, Scripture testifies that God created man and placed the first people in paradise and that they were naked and not ashamed. But just as the sun and moon flaunt in all the splendor of their nakedness, so they had the opportunity to admire their natural beauty. Having shown such a benefit to man, placing him among the pleasures of heaven and showing His favor towards him in abundance, God, as was right, sought feelings on his part and taught him to express gratitude to Him by his obedience. But since God saw that it was impossible for a person to keep this gift if he was not in communion with God, who rewarded him, and did not give honor to Him, He prescribed a law for him as a guardian of nature, so that by the memory of the Lawgiver and with his help he would support himself as with some good medicines; and if the law was observed, he promised him immortality, and if it was violated, death. What happened next is known to everyone: namely, man, being inclined by the envy of the devil to break the law, becomes corruptible and is expelled from paradise; then, having multiplied, he began to lead a bestial life and became a receptacle of wickedness and intemperance. Therefore, the prophets proclaimed his initial dignity and subsequent dishonor: “But man will not remain in honor; he will be like animals that perish” (Ps. 48:13). In this state of affairs, in such a fall of human nature, the only begotten Son of God, in accordance with his fatherly intention, wanting to restore man and free him from the Judgment that threatened him, came up with a time and a method of help - a time to begin healing in a timely manner, and a method that would be convenient for cleansing and restoration. Having become a man, but remaining at the same time God, He suffered for the whole world (9). You might be interested in: