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Against the Eunomians 209 and on theology 1st, or preliminary A word to those who are cunning in words and I will start from Scripture: “I am against you, O pride” (Jer. 50:31), that is, against learning, and hearing, and thought! For there are, indeed, there are people whose ears, and tongue, and even, as I see, their hands itch at our speeches, who delight in “worthless idle talk and the contradictions of false knowledge” and “controversy of words” that leads to nothing useful (1 Tim. 6:4.20). For Paul, the preacher and introducer of the “abbreviated word” (Rom. 9:28), teacher and student of fishermen, calls this all that is superfluous and refined in the word. It would be good if those we are talking about were also somewhat skilled in active philosophy, just as their tongue is resourceful and capable of finding noble and choice words. Then, little and probably less than now, they would go into absurd and strange wisdom and play with words (about a funny thing, and I’ll put it funny) like checkers. But, having abandoned all paths of piety, they have one thing in mind - to ask or solve some question and are like spectacular wrestlers, representing not the fight that leads to victory according to the laws of warfare, but the one that attracts the eyes of those who do not know the matter and receives their approval. And it is necessary that every square be resounding with their speeches, so that at every feast they become bored with idle talk and tastelessness, so that every holiday becomes unfestive and full of despondency, and with every lament they seek consolation in a greater evil - in the proposal of questions, so that in every woman's chamber - this refuge of innocence - the calm is disturbed and the color of modesty is stolen by haste in words! And if it has already come to this, if evil has become uncontrollable and unbearable, there is even a danger that our great sacrament 210 will be turned into a low craft, then let these spies show so much patience so that when our fatherly heart becomes agitated and our feelings are “tormented,” as the divine Jeremiah says (Jer. 4:19), they will accept this word about them without bitterness, and at least a few, if they can, holding your tongue, incline your ears to us. And without a doubt, you will not suffer any damage. Or I will speak into the ears of those who hear, and then the word will bear some fruit, precisely that which you use the word, because although he who sows the word sows in the heart of everyone, yet only one good and fruitful heart bears fruit. Or leave me, laughing at this word, finding in it a new subject for objections and slander against me, which will give you even greater pleasure. Don’t be surprised if I say a word, and it is not according to your law and is strange to you, who too boldly and courageously (I’m afraid to offend by saying: ignorant and impudent) claim about themselves that they know everything and are able to teach everything. Not everyone can philosophize about God, yes! not everyone. - This is not acquired cheaply and not by creeping on the ground! I’ll add one more thing: you can’t always philosophize, not in front of everyone and not touching on everything, but you must know: when, in front of whom and how much. Not everyone can philosophize about God; because people who have tested themselves, who have spent their lives in contemplation, and who have first of all purified, or at least purified, both soul and body, are capable of this. For the unclean, it may be unsafe to touch the pure, as for weak eyesight it is unsafe to touch a ray of sunshine. When is it possible? – When we are free from external mud 211 and rebellion, when what is sovereign in us 212 does not merge with worthless and wandering images, like the beauty of writing mixed with bad writing, or like the fragrance of the world mixed with dirt. For we really need to “stop” in order to “know God” (Ps. 45:11), and “when we choose the time, judge the rightness” of Theology (Ps. 75:3). In front of whom is it possible? Before those who deal with this carefully, and not along with other things, they talk about it with pleasure and after horse races, shows and songs, after satisfying the belly and what is worse than the belly; for for the latter, part of the fun is to argue about such subjects and distinguish themselves by the subtlety of their objections. What should one philosophize about, and to what extent? About what is available to us and to the extent to which the state and ability of understanding extend in the listener. Otherwise, just as sounds or foods that exceed the limit harm some the hearing, others the body, or, if you like, how heavy loads are beyond the strength of those who lift them, and heavy rains harm the earth; so the listeners will lose their former strength if, I say, they are burdened and suppressed with the burden of difficult teachings. And I’m not saying that we shouldn’t always remember God (may people not attack us for this, ready and quick!). Remembering God is more necessary than breathing; and, so to speak, one should not do anything else besides this. And I am one of those who approve of the word that commands us to “meditate day and night” (Ps. 1:2), “evening and morning and at noon to tell” (Ps. 54:18), “and bless the Lord at all times” (Ps. 34:2). And if it is necessary to add what Moses said, then “when you lie down, and when you get up, and when you walk on the road” (Deut. 6:7), and those who do other things must remember God, and with this memory raise themselves to purity. Thus, I forbid not remembering God, but theology unceasingly, I even forbid not theology, as if it were not a pious matter, but timelessness, and not the teaching of doctrine, but non-compliance with the measure. Honey, despite the fact that it is honey, if taken in excess and to the point of satiety, produces vomiting. And “there is a time for every thing,” as I reason with Solomon (Eccl. 3:1). Even the beautiful is not beautiful if it is produced out of order, as, for example, flowers in winter are completely indecent, a man’s outfit on a woman and a woman’s on a man, geometry during crying and tears at a feast. Are we really going to value time at nothing only where it is most necessary to respect timing? - No, friends and brothers (I still call you brothers, although you are not behaving like brothers)! Let us not reason like this, we will not run further than the goal, like hot and uncontrollable horses, throwing off the rider - reason, and rejecting the good rein - reverence, but we will begin to philosophize, without going beyond the limits assigned to a Christian, we will not move to Egypt, we will not allow ourselves to be carried away to the Assyrians, we will not sing “the song of the Lord in a foreign land” ( Ps.136:4), i.e. aloud to everyone, both outsiders and ours, and enemy and friend, both well-intentioned and malicious, who watches us too carefully, and would like every spark of evil in us to turn into a flame, he himself secretly kindles it, fans it, lifts it with his breath to the sky, higher than the Babylonian flame that burns everything around itself. Since they do not find reinforcement for themselves in their own teachings, they look for it in what is weak among us. And therefore, like flies on wounds, they attack our (what should we call it?) failures or mistakes. But let us no longer remain ignorant of ourselves and disrespect decency in such matters. On the contrary, if it is impossible to eradicate hostility, at least let us agree to speak mysteriously about the mysterious, and sacredly about the holy. We will not expose to those who have defiled ears what we should not divulge to everyone. Let us not allow that, in comparison with us, those who worship demons, the servants of shameful fables and things, turn out to be worthy of greater respect, because they too would rather shed their blood than reveal their teaching to the uninitiated. Let us know that there is a certain decency in clothing, food, laughter and gait, as well as in speech and silence; especially since we, in addition to other names and powers, honor the Word in God. Let the competitions themselves be subject to laws. About the birth of God, about creation, about God from non-existent 213, about cutting, dividing and resolving, why listen to someone who listens to it with hostility? Why do we make accusers judges? Are we giving the sword into the hands of our enemies? How and with what concepts do you think the one who approves of adultery and child molestation, who worships the passions and cannot imagine anything higher than the physical, who yesterday and during the day created gods for himself, gods distinguished by the most shameful deeds, will accept the word about this? Is it not with the concepts (to which he is accustomed) rude, shameful, ignorant? And your theology will not make him a champion of his own gods and passions? If we ourselves use such sayings for evil, then it is even more difficult to convince our opponents to be wise as we should be. If we ourselves are “inventive for evil” (Rom. 1:30), then how can they not touch what is really in us? These are the consequences of our internecine warfare! This is the benefit of those who strive for the word more than is pleasing to the Word, and from those who suffer the same fate as those devoid of intelligence, who set fire to their own house, or torment children, or drive away their parents, considering them strangers! But having separated from the alien word the numerous legion that has entered the depths, sending it into the herd of swine, let us turn to ourselves (which is the second subject of our word) and, like a statue, we will carve the theologian in all his beauty. First of all, let’s think about what this zeal for the word and this disease of the tongue mean? What is this new disease? What kind of gluttony? Why, having tied our hands, have we armed our tongues? We praise neither hospitable love, nor brotherly love, nor conjugal love, nor chastity; We are not surprised at the feeding of the poor, nor at the singing of psalms, nor at the all-night vigil, nor at the tears; We do not exhaust our bodies with fasting, we do not move towards God with prayer, we do not subordinate (as those who correctly reason about their composition) the worse to the better, that is, the flesh to the spirit; We do not turn life into thoughts of death; Remembering the nobleness of the mountains, we do not retain dominion over the passions; We do not tame in ourselves neither the rage that makes us arrogant and brutal, nor humiliating conceit, nor reckless grief, nor unbridled voluptuousness, nor lascivious laughter, nor insolent gaze, nor insatiable hearing, nor immoderate talkativeness, nor perverse way of thinking, nor everything that the evil one takes from us against us, introducing, as the Scripture says, “death.” through the window” (Jer.9:21), that is, through the senses. With us it's the other way around. Just as kings grant mercy after a victory, so we give freedom to the passions of others, if only they indulge us and rush against God more impudently or wickedly, and for unkindness we repay with a bad reward, for wickedness with self-will. But “I will ask you” is not enough, a co-questioner and a prophetic husband, “you explain to Me,” says the One who spoke to Job “through the storm and clouds” (Job 38: 1–3). What do you hear, does God have many mansions or one? – Without a doubt, you agree that there are many, and not one? Should they all be filled? Or will some be filled and others not, but remain empty and cooked in vain? – Of course everything, because with God nothing is in vain. - But can you say what you understand by such a monastery: is there peace and glory prepared for the blessed there, or something else? - Not something else, but this. But having agreed on this, let us consider the following. Is there anything, as I believe, that would provide us with these abodes; or is there nothing like that? - There is definitely something. What is it? – There are different kinds of life and elections, and they lead to one or another monastery according to the measure of faith, which is why we call them paths. – And should it go along all the paths, or some of them? – If possible, let one go with all of them. And if not, then as much as possible, in a large number of ways. If even that is not possible, then by some. But if this is also impossible, then it will be accepted with respect, as it seems to me, at least, when someone goes alone preferentially. You understand this correctly. Therefore, what do you think the word means when you hear that the path is one and, moreover, narrow? – There is one path regarding virtue, because it is one, although it is divided into many types. It is narrow because of labor and because it is impassable for many, namely for a great number of opponents, for all who follow the path of vice. That's what I think. - But if this is true, then why, best of all, as if having convicted our teaching of some kind of poverty, have you abandoned all other paths, and strive and hasten on this one path, on the path, as it seems to you, of reason and speculation, and as I say - idle talk and dreaminess? Let Paul enlighten you, who, according to the calculation of gifts, greatly reproaches you for this, saying: “Are all apostles? Are all prophets? And so on (1 Cor. 12:29). Let us suppose that you are tall, higher than the highest, and, if you like, higher than the clouds; Let us suppose that you are a spectator of the invisible, a hearer of the ineffable, raptured like Elijah, worthy of the manifestation of God like Moses, heavenly like Paul. Why then do you make others saints, no more than in one day, make them theologians and, as it were, breathe learning into them, and make up many a host of unlearned scribes? Why do you entangle those who are most weak with cobwebs, as if this were a wise and great thing? Why do you stir up hornets against faith? Why do you create rivals against us, just like ancient mythology created giants? Why, how many frivolous men are there among those unworthy of the name of husband, having gathered them all like rubbish into one pit, and with your caresses making them even more effeminate, have you built a new workhouse for yourself, and not without reason do you benefit from their folly? Do you object to this too? Don't you have anything else to do? Should your tongue necessarily dominate? You cannot stop the diseases of birth and not give birth with a word? But there are many other abundant items for you. Turn this disease to their advantage. Slay Pythagorean silence, Orpheus's beans and this inflated saying of modern times: “he said it himself!” Raze Plato's ideas, the migrations and cycles of our souls, memories and not at all beautiful love for the soul for the sake of a beautiful body; destroy Epicurus' atheism, its atoms and pleasure alien to philosophy; destroy Aristotle's little-encompassing providence, which consists in the independence of things, mortal judgments about the soul and the human view of the highest teachings in mere artificiality; Smite the arrogance of the Stoics, the gluttony and buffoonery of the Cynics. Smite the emptiness and fullness, and those nonsense that are about gods or sacrifices, about idols and demons, beneficial and maleficent, which are divulged about places of divination, about the evocation of gods and souls, about the power of the stars. And if you do not deign to say a word about this, since it is unimportant and has been repeatedly refuted, you want to take up your subject and in it you are looking for food for curiosity, then here too I will show you broad paths. Speculate about the world or worlds, about matter, about the soul, about rational - good and evil natures, about the resurrection, judgment, retribution, Christ's suffering. Regarding this, it is not useless to succeed in your research, and it is not dangerous not to succeed. Now we will not talk much about God, but soon, perhaps more fully, about Christ himself, our Lord, to whom be glory forever, amen. The Eunomians denied not only the consubstantiality, but also the similarity of God the Father and God the Son. In addition, they taught that it is possible to completely comprehend God with the human mind. The present word is directed against this last false teaching of the Eunomians. The Arians taught about the Son of God, what was when He was not, and that, therefore, He became from non-existent to existent. You might be interested in: