How to know God. Basil the Great on knowing God

Epistemology, that is, the doctrine of knowledge, deservedly occupies a paramount place in the traditions of European philosophy. It is this section of theoretical knowledge that reveals the most fundamental and complete expositions of the great philosophical systems of antiquity. In modern European philosophy, in general, it has become completely impossible to begin building a metaphysical system without achieving crystal clarity in one’s ideas about the nature of knowledge as such. Therefore, from Descartes and Hobbes to Kant and Hegel, the theory of knowledge was the primary subject of philosophical reflection. This is also true of Christian theology of the patristic period. The largest taxonomists of the theological teaching of the Church thoroughly thought through and experimentally substantiated the theoretical prerequisites of theological knowledge 1 . One of the illustrative examples of this kind of understanding of the possibilities and ways of acquiring reliable theological knowledge is the experience of the theological epistemology of St. Basil the Great. More than 1600 years separate us from the time of the Great Cappadocians. However, their image does not fade over the centuries. Their thought represents an inexhaustible source of theological inspiration. Their legacy encourages scholars to attempt scientific interpretation of various aspects of their teachings again and again, since their theology is generally recognized as exemplary. Among the three Cappadocians 2, Saint Basil deservedly takes first place. He turned out to be a clear leader not only for his younger brother Gregory of Nyssa, but also for his older friend Gregory the Theologian. In many areas of theological and church activity, it was he who took the first step; he was then followed by both Gregory. Saint Basil took the lead in the harsh theological confrontation with the Eunomians 3; he also said the first word in the dispute with the pneumatomachs 4; he was the first to expose the errors of Apollinaris 5 . Vasily was the first to begin ascetic deeds; he was the first to take the path of church service; was the first to become a bishop, and it was at his insistence that both Gregory of Nyssa and Gregory the Theologian accepted the episcopal rank. In certain theological positions, Saint Basil also found himself ahead of his closest like-minded people. In particular, the issues of knowledge of God were thought out by him, apparently, before them. Basil's attention to issues of theological epistemology could be attracted, on the one hand, by the theological heritage of Origen, which he studied together with Gregory the Theologian during his ascetic exercises in Anissa in the early 360s. 6 On the other hand, having taken part in the Arian disputes, he could not ignore the fundamental issue - the problem of knowledge of God. After all, his main opponent Eunomius claimed that he had perfect knowledge of the Divine essence. Saint Basil had one immediate predecessor in these matters - Saint Athanasius of Alexandria, however, before Basil’s clash with Eunomius, as noted by the excellent expert on patristics and publisher of Saint Basil’s treatise “Against Eunomius” B. Sesbuye, theological disputes “did not reach such a level of rational argumentation” 7, so one can firmly assert that it was Basil the Great who brought theological epistemology to a qualitatively new level. The saint touches on issues of knowledge of God in his large and small works: in the treatises “Against Eunomius” and “On the Holy Spirit”, in conversations on the Sixth Day and in interpretations of the psalms, in letters, especially in the so-called “small theological treatise” - a cycle of letters (letters 233–236) to St. Amphilochius of Iconium, in various homilies and ascetic writings. But in the most concentrated form he raises these questions in his third homily on the biblical words “take heed to yourselves” 8 . I would like to dwell in detail on the content of this true theological masterpiece of Basil the Great, but first it is necessary to outline the general range of topics in theological epistemology. Sources of knowledge about God are usually distinguished into two most general types - evidence of created God and evidence of divine origin. The first type is usually associated with natural revelation (revelation in created nature), the second with supernatural revelation (Divine actions or energies). Saint Basil also adheres to this understanding. He calls knowledge of God in created nature “knowledge from the works of creation, according to the fruits of Divine creativity” (διὰ τῶν ποιημάτων), and revealed knowledge as “knowledge obtained from Divine interventions, manifestations or movements” in the world and the course of history (ἐκ τῶν ἐνεργειῶν τοῦ Θεοῦ) 9 . Knowledge of the second type, revealed by God, is attested primarily in the Holy Scriptures and in Church Tradition. And we know that a certain limited knowledge of God, imprinted in created nature, is available to man both from numerous testimonies of the Holy Scriptures and from universal human religious experience. The knowledge of God from the works of creation, in turn, is divided into two types along the line of the sensory - intelligible, or incorporeal, as the ancients often defined the noumenal 10: 1) knowledge of the sensory - consideration of nature, the world surrounding man and his own physical structure (cf. Rom. 1:19-20 - For what can be known about God is obvious to them, because God has shown it to them. For His invisible things, His eternal power and Deity, from the creation of the world through viewing creations are visible); 2) knowledge of the intelligible - consideration of the human soul, created in the image and likeness of God (Gen. 1:26 - ... let us create man in Our image and in Our likeness). To comprehend such different layers of existence as the sensory and the intelligible, a person has the abilities of sensory and mental perception. Vasily writes: “...the ability of perception is twofold: with physical vision we observe the visible, and with the intellectual abilities of the soul we turn to the study of the incorporeal (τῇ θεωρίᾳ τῶν ἀσωμάτων)” 11 . Among the predecessors of the Saint, Origen speaks about the second kind of knowledge - comprehension of the intelligible: “the intelligible must be examined not with a bodily sense, but with some other one, which is called the Divine sense (sensus divinus)” 12. Let's start with questions of sensory perception. Whenever Saint Basil turns to the created world in his writings and sermons, he pursues one single goal - the knowledge of God and bringing his listeners and readers to the knowledge of God. In his last great work - Commentaries on the Sixth Day - he paints a Christian picture of creation and the existence of the world. The significance of this work is evidenced by the fact that soon after its appearance, Basil’s contemporary, Saint Ambrose of Milan, undertook a translation of Basil’s Six Days into Latin with very minor additions of his own. Over the course of many centuries, numerous Byzantine authors, in imitation of St. Basil, compiled their Six Days. The prevalence of Shestodnev Vasily is also evidenced by the rich manuscript tradition studied by European scientists E. Aman de Mendietta and Stig Rudberg 13 . So, the testimony of the entire created world and the entire world history for Saint Basil lies in one thing - “the world is a school and school for the knowledge of God” 14, in which “rational beings are taught the knowledge of God and where, through consideration of the visible and sensible, the mind is directed to the contemplation of the invisible” 15. Vasily turns to the history of the Old Testament leaders - Moses, who for forty years prepared for the feat of communion with God in the contemplation of nature 16, and Solomon, who turned to created nature and saw the unknown in it 17. God is evidenced not only by the vast space of space and the size of astronomical objects, but also by the most insignificant creatures in size - “everything bears traces of the wisdom of the Creator,” and for an educated person this means one thing: everything visible refers to the invisible, or, as St. Basil puts it in one letter: “phenomena are signs of the invisible world” 18. In this type of knowledge of God - knowledge of God from the works of creation - one dialectical technique is important: whenever understanding God as the Creator of the world, it is necessary to abstract from the emerging sensory-physical representation and transfer to a higher spiritual reality, taking into account the limitations and fundamental incompleteness of evidence of the created world 19. In other words, the boundary between the phenomenal, or in this case the sensory, and the noumenal (intelligible) is very transparent. By developing these ideas, Saint Basil makes his contribution to clarifying the Christian teaching about the logoi scattered by the Creator in the created world. It goes back to the apologists - the martyr Justin the Philosopher and Theophilus of Antioch - and ends with the harmonious system of St. Maximus the Confessor. Vasily claims that “in the world there are certain logoi of the original wisdom, embedded in the universe before any creation” 20, and the righteous is able to comprehend these logoi as the Creator’s plan for His creation 21. Thus, the heavens and the order of the world order serve as guides of faith, 22 leading the knower to the one Creator and Word. One of the possible theological sources for the epistemology of Basil the Great was the early work of Athanasius of Alexandria “On the Gentiles”. Saint Athanasius sets out his vision of the knowledge of God in the created world in a different sequence - first, knowledge of the Divine through self-knowledge, then - knowledge in the external world. Athanasius’s thoughts boil down to the following: the path to God is open to all people without exception, and this path is the rational soul (ψυχή λογική), since with the help of the mind alone one can contemplate and comprehend God, and giftedness with the mind is a predominant property of human nature 23 . Having been cleansed, the soul can see in its own mind, as in a mirror, the image of the Father - the Word 24. For Saint Athanasius, the visible world serves as a complement to the inner knowledge of God. From the world order and the harmony of created things or from revealed deeds, as if by letters, one can understand the Creator. Observing the vault of heaven, the course of the sun and moon, the movements of other stars in the same order, it becomes clear that they do not move on their own, but are moved by the Creator; This is also indicated by the combination of opposites in nature - fire and cold, winter and summer, earth and water, male and female; as a result of their connection, there is not a conflict of opposites, but a kind of fruitful integrity 25. Order, proportionality, improvement, harmonious combination of the world point to a single Lord - the Word 26. Since creation was brought into being by word, wisdom and knowledge, the only Creator of everything is the Word of God 27 . For Athanasius, the Word is the universal rational principle of being, a living God, having a basis only in Himself (αύτοσοφία - Wisdom Itself, αυτολόγος - the Word Itself, αυτοδύναμις - Power Itself, αυτοφῶς - Himself Light, αυτοἀλήθεια – Truth Itself, αυτοδικαιοσύνην – Righteousness Itself); he who denies Him is mad 28. On the contrary, whoever sees this principle in the universe and in his own soul knows God 29. The mentioned third homily of St. Basil on the words “Listen to yourself” is focused on one of the two levels of natural knowledge of God - on knowledge through the intelligible, that is, knowledge of God through self-knowledge, more precisely, through knowledge of one’s inner world. The subject of his close consideration, Basil chooses the Old Testament maxim from Deuteronomy: take heed to yourself, so that no word (thought) may be secret in your heart of iniquity (Deut. 15:9). In other words, beware lest a lawless thought arise in your heart. The book of Deuteronomy itself is marked by special moral content. This is precisely the meaning of the chosen quotation in its first literal sense. However, St. Basil uses this maxim as a reason for a deeper interpretation. He rethinks the primary moral meaning of the quote and gives it a theological resonance. Throughout the entire homily, Vasily refers to it and each time examines it in a new light. At the same time, he uses the technique of semantic inversion, that is, a rearrangement of semantic accents, and achieves an unexpected result: the Old Testament quotation, based on its obvious warning meaning, takes on the meaning of the famous ancient idea, know yourself. It must be said that Saint Basil is not alone in this convergence of ancient and Old Testament prescriptions. Even before him, the connection between these two ideas was established by Clement of Alexandria. He believed that the Delphic oracle - know yourself (γνῶθι σαυτόν) - was borrowed by Greek philosophers from “Moses, who often speaks more clearly - listen to yourself (πρόσεχε σεαυτῷ)” 30. Somewhat later, the founder of the so-called “right wing of Origenism,” as Origenism of the Cappadocian type is sometimes called, St. Gregory the Wonderworker provides evidence of Origen’s pedagogical practice, which dates back to both Basil’s family education, received from Macrina the Elder, a student of Gregory the Wonderworker himself, and his theological self-education. Gregory the Wonderworker writes: “Origen taught to be prudent, so that the soul would be turned to itself and so that I would desire and strive to know myself. This truly is the most beautiful task of philosophy: know yourself. And that this is actually a task for the mind and that this is where prudence lies, this was beautifully said by the ancients, since in reality Divine and human virtue are one and the same, for the soul trains itself to see itself as in a mirror and reflect the Divine mind in itself, and if it turns out to be worthy, it will thereby find the ineffable path of deification” 31 . Let's return to the third homily of St. Basil and try to trace the meanings that he consistently reveals in the quotation from Deuteronomy: 1) pay attention to yourself, that is, pay attention - this is nothing more than a natural manifestation of the instinct of self-preservation in living beings; 2) in a rational being, that is, a person, this instinct manifests itself consciously, and one must beware not only of physical danger, but also of spiritual danger - sin; 3) you should pay attention not only and not so much to your body and property, but first of all and mainly to yourself, that is, to the center of your being. Here the Saint stops briefly and clarifies: “after all, we are nothing more than the soul, or rather, the mind, which is the image of our Creator” 32. Thus, the requirement to listen to yourself receives a new meaning - listen to your soul, and for this it is necessary to “examine yourself, who you really are, what is your nature” 33 - and this is already that same ancient imperative, know yourself. What does self-knowledge give a person? Basil lists the main points: 1) man is the only one of all created beings, “directly created by God” (here the Saint uses the rare word θεόπλαστος); 2) a person is able to achieve a state of bliss equal to that of an angel (τῶν ἀγγέλων ὁμοτιμίαν) 34; 3) in his internal structure, a person is able to distinguish “the judicious and reasonable part of the soul from the passionate and unreasonable one” 35. But the most significant result of self-knowledge is the possibility of knowing God - “an accurate understanding of oneself provides sufficient guidance for acquiring a correct idea of ​​​​God” 36. This type of knowledge of God, in terms of the degree of accuracy and reliability of the knowledge obtained, leaves far behind the knowledge of God from contemplation of the external world, κόσμος. Vasily likens the human soul to a small world, a small universe, μικρὸς διάκοσμος. The basis for knowing God through self-knowledge lies in the God-likeness of the human soul, which Basil affirmed at the beginning of the homily: “As the soul is incorporeal, so God is incorporeal; The human soul is not limited in space like God, it does not have visible outlines, colors, etc., but is cognizable only in its manifestations (ἐκ τῶν ἐνεργειῶν)” 37. However, not only the soul testifies to God, but also the structure of the human body, subject to the intervention of time and disease. Vasily speaks about the anatomical features of the human body, based on the anthropological knowledge of late antiquity: straight growth, slenderness of a person, coherence and harmony of the senses and their location in the structure of the body - all this together testifies to the high plan of the Creator. And Saint Basil concludes his interpretation of the words of Deuteronomy with a quotation from Psalm 138, verse 6: Your knowledge from me is wondrous supplementing it with his own words: “Take heed therefore to yourselves, that you may heed God” 39 . These words are especially important because they conclude the homily. However, the connection between the quotation and its continuation, as well as the entire previous development of thought, remains incomprehensible without a careful grammatical analysis of this passage in the Septuagint and its comparison with the quotation in Basil. The text of the Psalm speaks of the omniscience of God, not limited by any limits. The psalm sings of God's perfect and complete knowledge of man: You have tested me and know... all my ways are known to You. Vasily takes the exact quotation from this Psalm - ἐθαυμαστώθη ἡ γνῶσίς σου ἐξ ἐμοῦ, without making any formal changes to it, and undertakes a fundamental rearrangement of the functions of the genitive case of the demonstrative pronoun - You (σου) and the prepositional group ἐξ ἐμοῦ. 1) Instead of the genitivus subjectivus of the Greek text of the Psalm - γνῶσίς σου 'Your knowledge', that is, knowledge belonging to You, Basil emphasizes here genitivus objectivus - γνῶσίς σου 'knowledge of You', that is, knowledge about You. 2) Instead of genetivus comparationis with the preposition ἐξ ἐμοῦ – ‘(Your knowledge) in comparison with mine’, he puts genetivus separationis ἐξ ἐμοῦ – ‘through’ or ‘from me’, ‘based on knowledge of me’. Thus, instead of the famous verse Ps 139:6: Wonderful is Your knowledge from me (Wonderful is Your knowledge compared to mine), we receive: Wonderful is the knowledge of You through me (Wonderful is the knowledge of You received through the knowledge of me). We will not find such a meaning of this phrase either in the Psalm itself or in the ancient texts available to us that precede St. Basil. Of course, there is no such meaning in any ancient or modern translation of this psalm, since every translation strives to faithfully follow the meaning of the translated text. And Vasily gives this place a fundamentally new meaning. This is clearly a bold author’s rethinking, designed to confirm the main idea of ​​the Saint: the most faithful way of knowing God among the sources available to man in the created world is the path of self-knowledge. For Vasily, this rearrangement is so dear that he resorts to it two more times: in the final section of Shestodnev and in a text that is most likely attributed to him, although perhaps it belongs to an author from his inner circle. In both cases, the change in the usual function of the case is justified and explained specifically, without leaving the slightest ambiguity in the understanding of the Saint’s thought. In the Sixth Day, in the last, ninth conversation on the topic of human creation, Vasily writes: “... it is not so much heaven and earth that leads to the knowledge of God, but our own structure, if someone carefully studies himself, as the prophet says: It is wonderful to know You through me (Ps 139:6), that is, having examined myself, I understood the superiority of Your wisdom” 40. An even more detailed interpretation of the quotation from Psalm 139 is contained in the text of the Discourses on the Creation of Man (Clavis Patrum Graecorum 3215 / Ed. M. Geerard et all. Turnhout, 1983–1998), the authenticity of which was defended by Michael Van Esbroek. This text further clarifies the original thought of Basil the Great: “We tend to study the sky more carefully than ourselves. Do not neglect the miracle contained within you. You are convinced of your insignificance, but further reasoning will reveal your greatness. That is why the wise David, who perfectly knows how to know himself, said: It is wonderful to know You through me (Ps. 139:6). Miraculously, I have come to know You. How? – through me (ποθεν; ἐξ ἐμοῦ). It is wonderful to know You through me. Understanding all the complexity and the wisdom with which my body is structured, through this tiny creature I comprehended the great Creator” 41. St. Basil’s thought in this case is simple - man’s knowledge of God is in direct connection with man’s self-knowledge. In its original basis, this idea boils down to the revealed Biblical truth - the testimony of the creation of man in the image and likeness of God (Gen. 1:26), which underlies all Christian anthropology. Among later authors who took advantage of this expressive technique of Basil the Great, we should mention Blessed Theodoret of Cyrus 42, John Philoponus 43 and St. John of Damascus. The latter wrote in “An Exact Exposition of the Orthodox Faith” ch. 25: “Your mind will be amazed at me, that is, at my device” 44. At the beginning we proposed a distinction between natural knowledge of God and revealed knowledge. Natural knowledge is knowledge about God by the fruits of His creative activity (διὰ τῶν ποιημάτων), and revealed knowledge is knowledge of God by His energies - actions, interventions in the course of history and in the life of an individual. Natural knowledge of God is secondary knowledge; it is formed according to indirect evidence about God as the Creator of the world. Revealed knowledge is direct knowledge, it is a direct meeting with the Divine. And this meeting occurs as a result of the inscrutable movements of God in various manifestations of the Divine nature. In his so-called “small theological treatise” (a series of letters to St. Amphilochius), Basil writes: “We affirm that we know our God from His energies, but we do not promise to get any closer to His essence. For His energies descend to us, but His essence remains inaccessible” 45. And this counter movement is ... I know, even as I am known (1 Cor 13:12). Thus, one of the most reliable testimonies of Divine revelation, and accessible to everyone, is the testimony of our soul, created in the image and likeness of God. To the extent that the movements or energies of the soul are close to the image of God embedded in it, so directly do they testify to God. Thus, in the created the uncreated appears. Of course, this internal experience of knowledge of God is in no way conceivable outside the church tradition. It presupposes strictly defined moral and ascetic preparation. However, this is a subject for another discussion. St. John of Damascus begins his trilogy “The Source of Knowledge” this way: “There is nothing more valuable than knowledge, for knowledge is the light of the rational soul.” – Works of St. John of Damascus. Source of knowledge. M., 2002. P. 55. Let us note that their circle is much wider and includes many church writers who left us their own written heritage, for example, St. Amphilochius of Iconium or Evagrius of Pontus. Most recently, in October. In 2009, at the international theological conference of PSTGU in Moscow, a specialist in Cappadocian theology, Claudio Moreschini, again tried to prove that Evagrius of Pontus belonged to the Cappadocian tradition on the basis of not only biographical, but also theological data. Eunomians are supporters of the heretical teaching of Eunomius, who was in turn a follower of Arius, who proved the dissimilarity of Christ to God the Father. Heresy was condemned at the Second Ecumenical Council in 381. Pneumatomachs were heretics who rejected the Divinity of the Holy Spirit. Their teaching was condemned at the Second Ecumenical Council. Apollinaris the Younger (c. 310-after 382) - a famous ancient theologian, first a faithful supporter of the Church's teaching about the Holy Trinity, then the founder of the heretical doctrine of Christ, according to which the Incarnate Word replaced human reason in the perceived human being. The heresy was condemned at the Second Ecumenical Council. The result of their work was a compilation of the works of Origen, see: Origene. Philocalie, 1–20. Sur les Ecritures (critical text, translation, notes by M. Harl) // Sources chretiennes (hereinafter SC). No. 302. Paris, 1983; Philocalie, 21–27. Sur le libre arbitre (text, translation, note by E. Junod) // SC. No. 226. Paris, 1976. Sesboue B. Saint Basile et la Trinite. Une acte theologique au IVe siècle. Paris, 1998. P. 12. Basilius Caesariensis. Homilia in illud: Attende tibi ipsi / Ed. S.Y. Rudberg // L’homelie de Basile de Cesaree sur le mot ‘observe-toi toi-meme’. Stockholm, 1962. The author’s attention to this text was attracted by Yu. A. Shichalin during a joint reading of monuments of ancient Christian and ancient writing at a seminar in the Greco-Latin Cabinet in the spring of 2002. Basilius Caesariensis. Contra Eunomium 1.14.16–18 // PG 29, 544. See, for example: “Reason distinguishes the intelligible, and feeling distinguishes the sensual.” – Joannes Chrysostomus. In Iob. (in catenis) // PG T 64, 609. This distinction corresponds to the pair visible - invisible in the Creed. Basilius Caesariensis. Homilia in illumination. 3. R. 25. How can one not recall Kant’s famous statement: “Two things always fill the soul with new and ever stronger surprise and awe: the starry sky above me and the moral law within me...”. Origenes. De principiis 4. 4. 10 / Ed. H. Gorgemanns et H. Karpp // Origenes vier Bucher von den Prinzipien. Darmstadt, 1976. Amand de Mendietta E. & Rudberg S. Y. Basile de Cesaree. La tradition manuscrite directe des neuf homelies sur l'Hexaemeron. Berlin, 1980. Basilius Caesariensis. Hexaemeron 1. 6 // Basile de Cesaree. Homelies sur l'Hexaemeron / Ed. S. Giet // SC. No. 17 bis. Paris, 1968. Basilius Caesariensis. Homiliae in Psalmos 33 // PG 29, 357. Basilius Caesariensis. Homilia in principium proverbiorum 12 // PG 31, 404. Basilius Caesariensis. Epistulae 24 // Saint Basile. Lettres. 3 vols/Ed. Y. Courtonne. Paris, 1957–1966. On this see: Contra Eunomium 2.14.26–28 // Basile de Cesaree. Contre Eunome // SC. Nos. 299, 305 / Ed. B. Sesboue, G.-M. De Durand, L. Doutreleau. Paris, 1982–1983; Homiliae in Psalmos 114 // PG 29, 485; De Spiritu Sancto 8.18.38 // Basile de Cesaree. Sur le Saint-Esprit // SC. No. 17 bis. Paris, 1968; Homilia de fide 15 // PG 31, 465. Basilius Caesariensis. Homilia in principium proverbiorum 12 // PG 31, 392. Basilius Caesariensis. Homilia Quod deus non est auctor malorum 9 // PG 31, 345. Basilius Caesariensis. Homiliae in Psalmos 32 // PG 29, 329. Athanasius. Contra gentes and de incarnatione 30–31 / Ed. R. W. Thomson. Oxford, 1971. Clemens. Stromata II 15. 70 / Ed. O. Stahlin et all // Clemens Alexandrinus. Vols. 2–3. Berlin, 1960–1970. Gregorius Thaumaturgus. In Origenes oratio panegyrica 11 // Gregoire le Thaumaturge. Remerciement a Origene suivi de la lettre d’Origene a Gregoire / Ed. H. Crouzel // SC. No. 148. Paris, 1969. Basilius Caesariensis. Homilia in illumination. R. 26. Per. author; Synod. translation: Your knowledge is marvelous to me. – Ed. Basilius Caesariensis. Homilia in illumination. R. 37. Basilius Caesariensis. Hexaemeron 9. 6. (Ps-) Basilius. De creatione hominis sermo primus / Ed. H. Horner // Gregorii Nysseni opera / Ed. W. Jaeger et al. Leiden, 1921– . Suppl. Leiden, 1972, pp. 4–5. An anonymous translation with a slight amendment is given from: St. Basil of Caesarea's first conversation about the creation of man in the image... // Journal of the Moscow Patriarchate. 1972. No. 1. P. 30–31. Theodoretus. De providential orations decem // PG 83, 608. “As David says, “Your knowledge is wonderful to me, it is high, I cannot comprehend it!” - that is: turning my gaze to myself and perceiving Your plan for me, I immediately acquired wondrous knowledge about You.” – Joannis Philoponi de opificio mundi libri vii / Ed. W. Reichardt. Leipzig, 1897. P. 57. Joannes Damascenus. Expositio fidei 2. 11. 25 // Die Schriften des Johannes von Damaskos. Vol. 2. Berlin, 1973; Russian translation: Works of St. John of Damascus. Source of knowledge. P. 207. Basilius Caesariensis. Epistulae 234. 1.