Глава 8. Опровержение язычников. (Продолжение)

46) When did people begin to give up serving idols? Is it not from the time when the true God, God’s Word, appeared among men? When, both among the Hellenes and everywhere else, did the oracles become silent and empty? Was it not then that the Savior revealed Himself even on earth? When did they begin to argue about the so-called gods and heroes of the poets that they were only mortal people? Is it not from the time when the Lord triumphed over death and kept the body He took upon Himself incorruptible, raising it from the dead? When are demonic charm and demonic possession neglected? Was it not then that the Word, the Power of God, the Lord of all and even the most demons, descended for the sake of human weakness, appeared on earth? When did they begin to trample on both art and schools of magic? Was it not after the Epiphany of the Word took place among people? And in general, when did Hellenic wisdom become foolish? Is it not then that the true Wisdom of God revealed itself on earth? In ancient times, the entire universe and every country indulged in error, serving idols, and people except idols did not recognize anything else as gods. Now, throughout the entire universe, people are abandoning superstitious worship of idols, flocking to Christ, they worship Him as God, and through Him they come to know the Father, Whom they did not know. And what is surprising: there were thousands of different places of worship, each place had its own special idol, and this so-called god was not able to move to the nearest place in order to convince those living in the neighborhood to honor him; but even in his own place he was barely revered by everyone, no one else gave honor to the neighboring god, and each guarded his own idol, considering him the lord of all; only Christ is one for all; everywhere they worship the same Christ, and what idolatry’s weakness could not do, that is, convince even those living nearby, Christ accomplished, convincing not only those close to them, but the entire universe in general, to honor one and the same Lord, and through Him, God His Father. 47) In ancient times everything was filled with the charm of prophecy; the oracles in Delphi, in Dodona, in Boeotia, in Lycia, in Libya, in Egypt, in Kavira, and the Pythia, in the opinion of people, were the subject of surprise. Now, after Christ is proclaimed everywhere, their madness has ceased and they no longer have a soothsayer. In ancient times, demons seduced people with ghosts, settled in springs, or rivers, or trees, or stones, and with such charms they amazed the foolish; now, by the divine appearance of the Word, their dreams ceased; because a person, using only one sign of the cross, reflects their charm from himself. In ancient times, people revered them as gods, and, out of error, they honored what poets called Zeus, Cronus, Apollo and heroes; Now, after the appearance of the Savior among people, they turned out to be mortal people, but Christ alone is recognized by people as the true God, from God as God - the Word. What can we say about the magic that aroused such surprise in them? Before the coming of the Word, it was strong and effective among the Egyptians, among the Chaldeans, among the Indians, and led the audience to amazement; but with the coming of the Truth and the appearance of the Word, it was exposed and completely abolished. I think no one will ask us to speak about Hellenic wisdom and the greatness of philosophers; because this miracle is in the eyes of everyone. The Hellenic sages wrote so much, but they could not convince even a small number of people from places close to them of immortality and convince them to live a virtuous life. Christ alone, through not lofty sayings, through people not wise in words, in the whole universe convinced numerous assemblies of people to despise death, to think about the immortal, to despise the temporal, to look at the eternal, to regard glory on earth as nothing, and to desire only heavenly glory. 48) However, everything we affirm is not only based on words, but has evidence of truth in experience itself. For whoever pleases, let him come and examine the clear traits of virtue in Christ’s virgins and youths, who observe chastity in purity, and also the faith in immortality in the great host of Christ’s martyrs. And whoever wants to experience what was said before with his own experience, let him come, and against demonic dreams, against the charm of divination, against the miracles of magic, use the sign of the cross they ridicule, and pronounce only the name of Christ; then he will see how the demons are put to flight, the divinations cease, all magic and charm are destroyed. So, who is endowed with what power - this Christ, Who with His name and presence has eclipsed and abolished everything everywhere, Alone overcomes everyone, and filled the whole universe with His teaching? Let the Hellenes, who mock so much and are not ashamed, give an answer to this. If He is a man; then how did one man overcome the power of all their gods, and with His power made it clear that they were nothing? If they call Him a sorcerer; Is it possible for the sorcerer to destroy, rather than maintain, all magic? If he had defeated several Magi, or surpassed only one; then they would have the right to think that the superiority of their art surpassed the art of others. If, however, the cross of Christ triumphed over all magic in general and over its very name; it is clear that the Savior was not a sorcerer, before Whom, as before their Master, the demons, called to help by other sorcerers, take flight. Who is He? Let the Hellenes speak, who only try to ridicule this. Maybe they will dare to say that there was a demon, and therefore had power? But those who assert this are very worthy of ridicule, and they can be put to shame by previous arguments. For how can one who casts out demons be a demon? If I just cast out demons; then one might also think that from the prince of demons he received power over the lower demons, as the Jews said when they mocked Christ. If by His name all demonic possession is repelled and expelled; then it is obvious that in this they are deceived, and that our Lord and Savior Christ did not have any demonic power, as they think. And if the Savior is not just a man, and not a sorcerer, and not some kind of demon, He abolished and eclipsed with His Divinity the fortune-telling of poets, and demonic charm, and Hellenic wisdom; then it is clear, and let it be recognized by all, that truly He is the Son of God, the Word, the Wisdom and the Power of the Father. Therefore, His deeds are not human deeds, but are higher than man, and indeed, both in appearance and in comparison with human deeds, they must be recognized as the deeds of God. 49) For which of the people who ever existed formed a body for themselves from a single virgin? Or which of the people has ever healed diseases similar to those from which the Lord, common to us all, healed? Who corrected natural defects and gave sight to a man born blind? Among them, Asclepius is deified because he practiced the art of medicine and invented herbs against bodily suffering, not producing them from the earth himself, but finding them with the help of natural science. What does this mean in comparison with the deeds of the Savior? He did not heal ulcers, but, as it were, gave birth again and restored the body. The Greeks worshiped Hercules as a god because he fought with people equal to himself and killed animals with cunning. What does this mean in comparison with what was accomplished by the Word? It drove out diseases, demons and death itself from people. They pay divine honors to Dionysus for being a teacher of drunkenness among people; and the true Savior, the Lord of the universe, who taught chastity, is ridiculed by them! But let's leave it at that; what will they say about other miracles of His Divinity? What kind of person died, and because of this the sun became darkened and the earth shook? People are dying to this day and have died before; Has such a miracle ever happened at someone’s death? But I will leave aside the works He did in the body, and I will mention what He did after the resurrection of His body. When was there a person whose teaching from one end of the earth to the other, the same, prevailed everywhere, and therefore His honor spread throughout the whole earth? Or, if Christ, as they say, is a man, and not God - the Word; then why don’t the gods forbid them, so that His honor penetrates into those countries where they are worshiped? On the contrary, the Word, wherever He comes, everywhere with His teaching stops serving these gods and puts their dreams to shame. 50) Before Him there were many kings and tormentors on earth; according to history, there were many wise men and wise men among the Chaldeans, the Egyptians and the Indians. Which of them, I don’t say after death, but even during his life, could have such power as to fill the whole earth with his teaching, and turn away such a multitude of people from idolatry superstition, which our Savior attracted from idols to Himself? The Hellenic philosophers wrote much with persuasiveness and skill in words; but what did they prove as the cross of Christ proved? People liked their wisdom until their death, but what they apparently excelled in during their lives was a subject of dispute between them, and they competed, using tricks against each other. But the Word of God (which is most amazing of all), having taught His teaching in the expressions of the poor, overshadowed the wisest, and drawing everyone to Himself, turned their teachings into nothing, and filled His churches. And a wonderful thing - the Lord, having accepted death as a man, turned into nothing the grandeur of the wise about idols! Whose death has ever cast out demons? And whose death did the demons ever fear as the death of Christ? Wherever the name of the Savior is pronounced, every demon is cast out. Who has tamed spiritual passions in people to such an extent that fornicators live chastely, and murderers no longer wield a sword, and those who were previously fearful become courageous? And in general, who convinced the barbarians and various pagan peoples to put aside their fury and think about peace? Isn't it the faith of Christ, isn't it the sign of the cross? Who else assured people of immortality so much as the cross of Christ and the resurrection of the body of Christ? The pagans wove all kinds of lies, but they could not invent the resurrection of their idols; they did not even think about the possibility of the body existing again after death; and by this especially another will prove to the pagans that in this way of thinking they exposed the weakness of their idolatry, and ceded power to Christ; so that in this too the Son of God is visible to everyone. 51) Which person, after death or even during his lifetime, taught virginity, and did not think that this virtue was impossible in people? Our Savior and King of all, Christ, is so strong in the teaching of virginity that even children who have not yet reached legal adulthood take a vow of virginity in excess of the law. Which of the people could ever go around so many countries, be with the Scythians, with the Ethiopians, or with the Persians, or with the Armenians, or with the Goths, or with the so-called overseas peoples, or with those living further than Hyrcania, or in general, go to the Egyptians and the Chaldeans, to peoples devoted to magic, superstitious beyond measure, with ferocious morals, and everywhere preach virtue, chastity, rebel against idolatry? The common Lord, the Power of God, our Lord Jesus Christ, not only preached through His disciples, but also convinced the hearts of people to put aside the ferocity of morals, to no longer honor the fatherly gods, but to know Him alone, and through Him learn to honor the Father. In ancient times, Hellenes and barbarians, serving idols, waged wars among themselves and were cruel to their relatives. Due to mutual irreconcilable quarrels, it was generally impossible for anyone to travel either by land or by sea without arming their hands with a sword; They spent their whole lives armed, and the sword served them as a support instead of a rod and any help. And although they served idols, as I said, and poured libations to demons, idol superstition could not teach them to soften their harsh morals. When they accepted Christ’s teaching, then miraculously, their hearts seemed to come to tenderness, and they put aside bloodthirsty cruelty, they no longer think about wars, but everything is peaceful with them, a disposition towards friendliness is visible everywhere. 52) Who produced all this? Who united those who hated each other in a union of peace? Who, if not the beloved Son of the Father, the common Savior of all, Jesus Christ, Who out of His love did everything for our salvation? Even from ancient times it was predicted that He would restore the world, when the Scripture says: “They will beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks, and their tongue will not take up the tongue of the sword, and no one will learn how to fight” (Is. 2:4). And there is nothing incredible about this; even now the barbarians, due to the innate rudeness of their morals, while still making sacrifices to their idols, rage against each other, and cannot remain without weapons for an hour; but as soon as they hear Christ’s teaching, they immediately abandon war, turn to agriculture, and no longer arm themselves with a sword, but stretch out their hands to prayer, and in general, they do not fight with each other, but arm themselves against the devil and demons, defeating them with chastity and spiritual valor. Yet this, just as it serves as a sign of the Savior’s Divinity (for what people could not learn from idols, they learned from the Savior), so, not unimportantly, it contains an exposure of the powerlessness and insignificance of demons and idols. For demons, knowing their powerlessness, in ancient times incited people to civil strife, precisely so that, after the cessation of mutual hostility, they would not turn to the fight against demons. And indeed, the disciples of Christ, without waging war among themselves, and with morals and virtuous lives, take up arms against demons, and pursue them, and laugh at their leader the devil; because in their youth they are chaste, abstinent in temptations, patient in their labors, those who are insulted willingly endure insults, those who are deprived do not care about this, and what is most surprising, they disdain death and become martyrs of Christ. 53) And I’ll also tell you about one very wonderful sign of the Savior’s Divinity. What kind of person, whether a sorcerer, a tormentor, or a king, could ever, on his own, enter into a fight with such a number of opponents, and when all types of idolatry, all the demonic army, all the magical science, all the Hellenic wisdom were still in full force, flourished and brought everyone to amazement - resist all this, and overthrow all this with one blow, as our Lord, the true Word of God, did this? He, invisibly exposing the error of everyone, alone snatched away all people from all enemies; and those who worshiped idols trample on them, those who marveled at magic burn books of magic; the wise prefer the interpretation of the Gospel to everything, and whom they bowed to, they leave, and whom they mocked as crucified, they worship Him, confessing Him as Christ God; those who were called gods are expelled with the sign of the cross, but the crucified Savior in the whole universe is called God and the Son of God; the gods whom the Hellenes worshiped are condemned by them as bad, but those who accepted Christ’s teaching are more chaste in life than those gods. If all this and the like are human affairs; then let anyone who wants to prove and convince that the same thing happened before. If all this is not human, but God’s work, it turns out to be God’s work; then why do unbelievers dishonor so much, not recognizing the Master who did this? They are in the same error as man, who does not know God, their Creator, from the works of creation. For if they knew His Divinity by the powers that He showed in the universe; then they would understand that the bodily deeds of Christ are not human, but characteristic only of the Savior of all - God’s Word. Having understood this, as Paul said, “not that they crucified the Lord of glory” (1 Cor. 2:8). 54) How someone who wants to see God, who by his very nature is invisible and not at all subject to vision, knows and comprehends Him from his works; so the one who does not perceive Christ with his mind, let him understand Him from bodily deeds, and let him examine whether these are human or divine deeds. And if human, then let him laugh; and if not human, but Divine, then let him admit it, and no longer laugh at what should not be ridiculed, but rather, marvel that through the humiliated the divine was revealed to us, through death immortality was spread to everyone, and through the incarnation of the Word, the providence for everyone was known and the Creator and Creator of it is God’s Word itself. It became human so that we might become deified; It revealed Himself bodily so that we could acquire the concept of the invisible Father; It suffered reproach from people so that we could inherit immortality. It itself suffered no damage in any way, because it is impassive, incorruptible, and is the original Word and God; He protected and saved suffering people, for whose sake He endured this, through His dispassion. And in general, the merits of the Savior accomplished through His incarnation are so great and numerous that to wish to depict them would mean to become like a man who has fixed his gaze on the depths of the sea and wants to count its waves. How impossible it is to grasp with your eyes all the waves, because the feeling of the one who encroaches on this constantly presents itself with new and new waves; so it is impossible for anyone who intends to comprehend with his mind all the merits accomplished by Christ in the body to even comprehend them in his thoughts; because the things that are again presented to his thoughts are much more numerous than those that he thinks he has already grasped in thought. Therefore, it is better not to dare to talk about all the merits of Christ in general, when it is impossible to depict parts of them, but to mention one more, and leave it to you to be amazed at everything in its entirety; because they are all equally amazing, and wherever anyone turns his gaze, everywhere he is amazed by the Divinity of the Word. 55) So, after what has been said, it is worthy of your study, and you should lay the foundation for everything that was said, and arouse a special surprise in you, that with the coming of the Savior, idolatry no longer increased, and what remained hitherto is diminished and gradually ceases, and Hellenic wisdom no longer shows success, but even what remained until now finally disappears, demons no longer deceive with dreams, prophecies, magic, but as soon as they dare and attempt it, they are put to shame by the sign of the cross. In short, pay attention to the fact that the Savior’s teaching is growing everywhere, but all idolatry and everything that opposes the faith of Christ is daily diminished, weakened and fallen, and having delved into this, bow to the common Savior of all, the omnipotent Word of God, and condemn what is diminished by it and turns into nothing. As with the appearance of the sun, darkness no longer has power, but if it still remained somewhere, it is expelled everywhere; Thus, according to the divine manifestation of God’s word, the idolatrous darkness no longer has power, but all parts of the universe are illuminated everywhere by His teaching. If the king does not appear in any area, but remains hopelessly in his house; It often happens that rebellious people, using the king’s seclusion for evil, appropriate his name for themselves, and everyone, taking on the appearance of a king, deceives the simple-minded, and people are deceived by the name, hearing that there is a king, while they do not see him, due to the complete impossibility of entering his house. But when the real king comes and shows himself; then the rebels who deceived the people are exposed by his appearance, and the people, seeing the real king, leave those who deceived them before. So in ancient times demons misled people, arrogating to themselves divine honor; but as soon as God’s Word appeared in the flesh and revealed His Father to us, demonic delusion is destroyed and ceases; people, looking at the true Father's Word and God, leave idols and recognize the true God. And this serves as a sign that Christ is God’s Word and God’s Power. Because what is human ceases, the word of Christ remains; then it is clear to everyone that what ceases is temporary, but what abides is God and the Son of God, the true only-begotten Word.