Часть 1
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Book 1. About the seduction of man into depravity and about captivity by sin, and at the same time about calling and conversion through repentance and about returning to better things
I consider it unnecessary to ask where and from where: because I know well that you, without any hesitation, would say that from home and to us,
Kirill. What kind of book is this in your hands?
P. Book of the Gospels, the writings of Matthew and John.
K. But do you really think that it should be worn everywhere and with everyone? After all, once you leave the house, you won’t study it on the road, Palladium. Doing this is more enjoyable at home and at leisure.
P. You say well. But I came to talk with you. I also carry a holy book; because, no matter how hard I try, I don’t know what to come up with regarding what our Lord Jesus Christ wanted to show when he said in Matthew: “Do not think that I came to destroy the law or the prophets: I did not come to destroy, but to fulfill. For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not one jot or one tittle will pass from the law, until all is fulfilled” (Matthew 5:17-18), and in the writing of John, telling the Samaritan woman: “Believe Me, that the time is coming when you will worship the Father, neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You do not know what you bow down to, but we know what we bow down to, for salvation comes from the Jews. But the time will come and has already come when true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is looking for such worshipers for Himself. God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth” (John 4:21–24).
K. What seems difficult to you in these words, what is deep and incomprehensible? Tell me, please.
P. The sacred word commands us to move away from ancient rites and abandon the legal truth. To those who desire it even after accepting faith, Paul said: “we are left without Christ, we have fallen from grace, but in our spirit we await and hope for the righteousness of faith” (Gal. 5:4-5). And yet, despite the fact that he indicated in himself the brilliant and great advantages related to living according to the law, he says: “But what was an advantage for me, for the sake of Christ I counted as loss. And I count all things but loss for the excellency of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish, that I may win Christ, and be found in him, not having my own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith” (Phil. 3:7-9). And that the ancient commandment is not impeccable - he clearly stated this; For this reason, he says that instead of it, a new commandment through Christ was given to us with benefit, that is, the Gospel.
He writes like this: “The abolition of a former commandment occurs because of its weakness and uselessness, for the law did not bring anything to perfection; but a better hope is introduced, by which we draw near to God” (Heb. 7:18-19). And again: “For if the first covenant had been without deficiency, there would have been no need to look for a place for another. But the prophet, rebuking them, says: Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not such a covenant as I made with their fathers at the time when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, because they did not continue in that covenant of mine, and I despised them, says the Lord. This is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My laws in their minds, and write them on their hearts” (Heb. 8:7-10). Further, perfectly understanding and explaining the name of the new, he says: “By saying 'new', he showed the dilapidation of the first; but that which grows old and grows old is about to be destroyed” (Heb. 8:13).
So, if the law did not accomplish anything and the ancient commandment was abolished and a new one was introduced, bringing us closer to God, then why does the Savior say: “he came not to destroy the law, but to fulfill it” (Matthew 5:17) - and that “we must worship in spirit and truth” God and the Father (John 4:24)? The last saying, I think, shows that we should leave rituals and service according to the law.
K. What a vast sea of questions you are plunging into! What mind is sufficient to clearly understand such subtle speculations in such a way as to show us that the new scripture is related and close to what was established of old by the wise Moses, and deals with the same subjects, and that life in Christ is not too far removed from the way of life according to the law, if what was prescribed by the ancients is raised to spiritual contemplation! For the law is the image and shadow and image of piety, as if still in the pangs of birth containing the beauty of truth hidden in it. Or don't you think so, as I said?
P. Absolutely so; but what could be the explanation for this? Or how can one live according to the Gospel, and at the same time consider oneself dependent on the ancient commandment and find it necessary to fulfill what was prescribed by Moses?
K. The subject of speech is not simple, as perhaps someone would think; but virtue, I think, is a multi-part and diverse matter; and the glory of life in Christ is embellished before us with very many good deeds. And indeed, the divine David in the forty-fourth psalm places a pure maiden next to Christ, in the rank of queen - the church and clothes her in gilded and decorated clothes, thus saying: “the queen is given to You at your right hand, in robes of gold and adorned” (Ps. 44:10). Here, I think, the word: “gilded” very well denotes honor and nobility, and the word “replete” is a variety of virtues.
For the church is extremely beautiful, having mental decoration, visible not with the eyes of the flesh, but inside the mind and heart, beautifully showing before us the Jew, conceived in secret, due to the numerous decorations that are beautiful and excellent: because, as blessed Paul writes, “For he is not a Jew who is one in appearance, nor is the circumcision that is outwardly in the flesh; but he who is such a Jew inwardly, and that circumcision which is in the heart, is in the Spirit, and not in the letter: his praise is not from men, but from God” (Rom. 2:28-29).
P. So, tell me, if spiritual circumcision was introduced and legal sacrifices were destroyed, and this way of life has no place at all among us; then doesn’t it seem incredible what Christ said: “I came not to destroy” the law, “but to fulfill it.” If not, then nothing, I think, prevents us from honoring the God of all by sacrificing oxen and burning incense, offering him turtle doves and doves, and if there are other things commanded by the ancients, then we should try to fulfill them.
K. However, my friend, you depart very far from the proper view: you think that the law has been destroyed, as if no fruit could be obtained from it, and it is completely useless for the discovery of everything necessary, and has not been changed only to prove the truth; while Blessed Paul writes: “Do we abolish the law by faith? No way; but we establish the law” (Rom. 3:31). For the law is a teacher and leads well to the mystery of Christ (Gal.3.24). We call what was commanded to the ancients through Moses the first fruits of God's messages (Heb. 5:12). If we reject the teacher, who will lead us to the mystery of Christ? And if we refuse to study the first beginnings of God’s messages, then how or where will we arrive at the goal after this? For according to the Scriptures, is not Christ the fulfillment of the law and the prophets? (Rom. 10:4.)
K: That’s what it says. And He is the fulfillment of the law and the prophets, I think, because He is meant and all prophecy of the prophets and the law is addressed to Him. Therefore, reproaching the Jews for unbelief, He said: “Do not think that I will accuse you before the Father: you have an accuser, Moses, in whom you trust. For if you had believed Moses, you would have believed Me, because he wrote about Me. If you do not believe his writings, how will you believe My words?” (John 5:45-47.) So, if He says that He did not come at all to destroy the law, but rather to complete it; then do not think that there has been a complete destruction of what was legalized in antiquity, but rather, as it were, some kind of transformation and, I would say, remaking of what exists in images into the true.
K. Through Christ something similar to this was to be accomplished. Those who have learned the art of painting pictures and drawings, when starting to draw, do not immediately draw a picture that has no flaws and is completely finished, but first shade it with one, less beautiful paint and first make visible the not yet clear outlines of what they intend to depict; then, painting these shadows, each with a decent and appropriate color, they transform the outlines into images that are clear and incomparably better than those that were at the beginning. Isn't that what happens?
K: And those who are engaged in copper craftsmanship, if, for example, they want to make a statue, first they prepare it from wax in a fragile form, then, having melted the copper on the fire, they pour it out and thus very well give their product a perfect appearance and beauty. So, as a variety of colors was superimposed on the shadows, and also the copper melted the figure made of wax, it may seem that the first and initial figures were rejected and almost destroyed. But that's not really the case. The coppersmith and the painter, without sinning against the truth, could say: we did not destroy the shadows and did not reject the figures as completely worthless, but rather completed them. For what was still visible in these shadows and figures as unclear and ugly has turned into something better and more clear.
K: And if anyone wants to seriously study the Holy and inspired Scripture, he will find out that what I say is completely true. For Moses put a veil over his face, because the children of Israel could not look on his face, as it is written (Ex. 34:30-35).
K. Since the minds of the Jews were still stupid, it was as if only the external things in the law were acceptable to them, I mean that which was expressed solely in the letter of the law, but what was hidden inside it and, so to speak, the true face of the thoughts was inconvenient and completely inconvenient. Therefore, the inspired Paul writes to us: “the same veil remains untaken to this day in the reading of the Old Testament, because it is removed by Christ. Until now, when they read Moses, a veil lies over their hearts” (2 Cor. 3:14-15). But let it be so with the Jews. “But we all with unveiled face,” he says, “beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord” (2 Cor. 3:18). For just as those who look into a mirror see the image and outline of the true, and not the true itself, in the same way, I think, those who want to see the beauty of life in Christ can best achieve what they want, using the law, as if a mirror: because, turning the image of things into truth, they recognize in purity that which is most pleasing and pleasing to God.
P. But what could be the reason that the ancients were not given a new and evangelical proclamation from the beginning, but that images and shadows were legitimized?
K. The exact and truer understanding of such an economy must reverently be left to the omniscient God; but still considerations, not alien to good thoughts, lead us to at least moderate knowledge, or perhaps to the fact that we seem to know the reasons for such house-building. So, we say that those liberated from Egypt needed long-term childcare and nutrition, as if characteristic of infants: because they were still stupid and very susceptible to all sorts of absurdities. For them, who were sick with an ineradicable love for the flesh and were seized by insurmountable passions, the desire to immediately rise to the beautiful and embrace a way of life so bright and extraordinary that, walking on earth, to have residence in heaven, according to the Scriptures, was inaccessible and inconvenient in some way (Phil. 3:20); for is not solid food the food of the perfect, and is not milk more appropriate for infants?
K: So, for those who were still infants, there was a need for education, consisting of images, and, so to speak, easier nutrition, and not a word that calls for perfection and can lead to impeccability. The sons of Israel could have been convicted of such frivolity, inattention and succumbing to all kinds of passions that if an accurate study had been made of their morals and aspirations, then, I think, they would not have been recognized as worthy of even a shadow. And Moses showed this. At the command of God, he ascended the mountain to accept the law; and they immediately fell into treason: they made a calf and dared, miserable ones, to say: “Behold your God, Israel, who brought you out of the land of Egypt” (Ex. 32:8).
Moses could not stand such terrible frivolity, he broke the tablets on which the law was, considering those unworthy even of shadows, or images, or in general of any higher education, who had such a numb mind that they forgot about such miraculous actions that were performed on them by Divine power, again paid veneration to the calf and remembered the service performed in Egypt. But then, on the stone tablets, as if in shadows, the ancient law was inscribed “by the finger of God,” as it is written (Ex. 31:18) And this was an image of what, as we believe, happened to us in Christ. The Lord of all, God, as it were, writes into us the knowledge of His will, using for this the Son in the Spirit as a reed: because He called Him that through David, saying: “My tongue is the reed of a scribe” (Ps. 45:2). The Father's reed, that is, the Son inscribed in the hearts of all the knowledge of all good, as with some finger of God, using the Spirit of the Father and His own.
For He called the Spirit of God a finger, saying in one place: “If by the Spirit of God I cast out demons” (Matthew 12:28), and in another: “If by the finger of God I cast out demons” (Luke 11:20). Paul also called us a spiritual letter, saying: “You are our letter, written in our hearts, recognizable and read by all people; you show by yourself that you are a letter of Christ, through our ministry written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone, but on tablets of flesh of the heart” (2 Cor. 3:2-3).
P. That what is contained in the law are images and shadows, this is what I affirm, mind you. Well, let us direct sophisticated and diligent attention to what is proclaimed in the image and try to find the beauty of the truth; because after this the mystery of serving in the spirit will not be unclear to anyone.
K. Truly, most respected, it is not without reason that I was very frightened and very disinclined to this: because, I think, such sublime and extraordinary speculations will hardly be accessible to our powers. I think that when considering the depth of speculation contained in the law, one must say: “Who is wise and understands this? and is this message meaningful?” (Os.14,10)
P. It’s really not an easy matter, my friend; but “ask,” says Christ, “and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; press, and it will be opened to you” (Matthew 7:7).
K. So, we must begin to study what can be beneficial, and first let us offer a prayer, saying: “Open my eyes, and I will understand the wonders of Your law” (Ps. 118:18). It seems that we should, first of all, talk about the seduction of man into depravity, about slavery and captivity to the enemy of all, how and in what way this is accomplished by us and in us: we must also add about how we must turn away from evil and throw off the yoke of slavery from it, and return, on the contrary, to the original state, under the protection and help of God. If our speech follows this proper path, then I think the rest will follow as it should.
P. You reason very correctly.
K. After all, the opportunity to bring fruits and spiritual sacrifices to God, that is, to behave courageously and commendably, desiring to succeed in virtue, is characteristic not of those who have not yet freed themselves from slavery and the violence of the passions, but of those whose minds are in some way already awakening to freedom and are not neglecting the overthrow of the yoke of the power of the devil.
P. I agree, because you think correctly.
K: So, we say that in the beginning man was created, having a mind as if above sin and passions, but not completely incapable of being seduced by what he chose. The best builder of everything, God, found it right to tie the reins of his own desires to him and leave him to do what was pleasing to his self-commanded aspirations: because it was necessary for virtue to appear freely choosing, and not by necessity, and not firmly established by the laws of nature, since this is characteristic only of the highest essence and superiority. When this animal received in perfection the abilities of its own nature through the skillful dispensation of God, it was immediately enriched with likeness to Him: the image of the Divine nature was inscribed in it when the Holy Spirit was breathed in; for He is the “breath of life” (Gen. 2:7), since God by nature is life.
P. Is this why the Divine Spirit became the soul of man?
K: Isn’t it extremely absurd to think so? After all, the soul would then be unchangeable and would remain the same, but it is changeable; and the Spirit is not something changeable. Or, if He suffers from change, then this vice will relate to the Divine nature itself, since the Spirit is the Spirit of God and the Father, and also of the Son, essentially poured out from Both, that is, from the Father through the Son. So, it is ignorant to think that the Spirit was pressed into the soul and passed into human nature; but what was created was animated by indescribable power and immediately adorned with the gift of the Spirit; for otherwise we could not be enriched in the Divine image.
K: So, God, having decorated his creation, gave him residence in paradise. But since it was necessary not to allow someone so illustrious and crowned with the abundance of the highest blessings to easily rise to arrogance, not paying attention to the fact that he is a slave and that there is a limitation for servants (because a very broad path to glory and excessive freedom lead to an arrogant and disgusting disposition of spirit): then the law of abstinence was given to him, as a reason not to forget about the Master, so that he would always be this law we call to remembrance of the One who commanded with authority and undoubtedly knew that he was subject to the decrees of the Possessing One. But that wicked and God-hating beast was not calm.
P. I think you are talking about Satan, who, like lightning, was cast out of the heavenly circles (Luke 10:18), because he suffered from such childishness that he wanted to be God and dreamed of demonstrating his superior nature.
K. You explain well. Being the inventor and father of envy and sin, he did not want to remain inactive in relation to the earthly animal, that is, man. Then, approaching with deception and seduction, he led him into disobedience, using the woman as an instrument of his wickedness: because they always cast us into ugliness, that is, into sin, the pleasures that exist with us and in us; the image of pleasure is a woman; as a result of seductions arising from pleasure, the mind often comes to what it does not want. And so, what appears in Adam as something that happened tangibly and sensually can be seen in each of us happening mentally and intimately: because the pleasure that arises captivates the mind and little by little leads one to think that the crime of the Divine law means nothing at all.
This will be confirmed by the disciple of Christ, who says: “When tempted, no one should say: God is tempting me; because God is not tempted by evil and does not tempt anyone Himself, but everyone is tempted by being carried away and deceived by his own lust; But lust, having conceived, gives birth to sin, and sin once it has been committed gives birth to death” (James 1:13-15).
K. So, human nature, having exchanged (for pleasure) the grace of God and was already stripped of its original blessings, was expelled from the paradise of sweetness, immediately turned into ugly and then found itself subject to destruction.
P. Necessary; for, I think, the lack of God's gifts is nothing more than the loss of all good. And human nature would very easily fall into infatuation with everything absurd, if it were not for the grace of the Savior holding it in virtue, enriching it with the highest blessings that come from it.
K. You say well, and I quite rightly agree with you; because food suitable for acquiring spiritual strength is provided by living bread, that is, the word of God; for it is written that “bread will strengthen a man’s heart” (Ps. 103:15). The Word of God frees us from slavery and passions and very well gilds us with brilliant qualities related to freedom. If God, as it were, squeezes His hand and does not supply us with an abundance of these gifts, then, of all necessity, we succumb to unwanted evil and move away from all virtue, we take upon ourselves, as it were, an alien yoke and reach such a measure of evil and insatiability that finally we almost lose the very reason that serves us for all good and cohabitates with us; and the heart of the victim is completely devoid of wisdom according to God, as if raped by Satan and willingly succumbing to his insults and outrages.
P. Will you show how this happens, or will you let us be content with unfounded reasoning?
K. Less than that. I will show this as well as possible, skillfully elevating what happened to the ancients into the image of intelligible things. What is subject to feeling and bodily vision will become for us a visual and most obvious image of what is cognizable by subtle speculation. It is written about the forefather Abraham: “there was a famine in that land. And Abram went down to Egypt to live there, because the famine had increased in that land” (Gen. 12:10). Having left his dear and native land, he moved to another, which God showed him: “Go,” he says, “from your land, from your kindred and from your father’s house, ... to the land that I will show you” (Gen. 12: 1). But since hunger was overwhelming and caused inevitable harm, he was forced not to voluntarily see Egypt; however, he did not settle in it, but rather lived there like a stranger.
K: This presents us with a beautiful image of things invisible.
K. Reproaching the disobedience of the Jews, God said: behold, I send “not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but a thirst for hearing the words of the Lord, and from the east to the west they will walk ... seeking the word of the Lord, and will not find it” (Am. 8, 11-12). But, my friend, for those who are oppressed by such hunger, and are deprived of food that supports virtue, and do not have food from heaven and on high, does not, by all necessity, the mind become like a migrant and a fugitive? He turns to the shameful and, as if from his own land, expelled from firmness in virtue, descends into another state of desire, no longer subject to God, but subject to the scepter of the devil: for the first one who brought sin into the world is, in my opinion, the father and king of sin, the image and imprint of which, I think, it is very fair to recognize Pharaoh, the leader of the Egyptians, among whom the darkness of error was very deep and absolutely no method of evil was untried.
P. What grief befell blessed Abraham because he came to the country of Egypt?
K. The greatest; because he was almost transported beyond all evil. You can easily learn this from the Holy Scriptures, which read: “And it came to pass, when Abram came to Egypt, that the Egyptians saw that she was a very beautiful woman; Pharaoh’s officials also saw her and praised her to Pharaoh; and she was taken into the house of the Pharaohs” (Gen. 12:14–15). Look, my friend, he almost lost his wife.
P. What an unpleasant incident and capable of upsetting you!
K: And the same thing happens to ourselves in the spiritual sense; for whoever happens, as if from his own fatherland, to fall from his usual and much-loved good behavior and virtue, go over to the worse and submit to the scepter of the devil, he is terribly attacked and plotted by evil and nasty forces from everywhere and in every possible way; and if they see that one of those who have fallen under their power may not have an ugly understanding, they try to transfer it to their leader and offer him to satisfy his lust, so that he will bear fruit no longer to God, but to Satan; for “its food, as it is written, is chosen” (Hab. 1:16).
They try, as it were, to faint the caught and slipped mind, so that it does not refuse, paying much attention to freedom, from serving them; sometimes they give him pleasure in earthly objects and, so to speak, enrich him with insignificant joys, just like the princes of Egypt, as if caressing towards blessed Abraham, they wanted to distract him, who had lost his wife, with honors and the bringing of gifts from excessive sadness; for it is written: “And Abram had it good for her sake, obviously Sarah: and he had flocks and herds and donkeys, and male and female servants, and mules and camels” (Gen. 12:16). Satan, attracting us to the most short-lived things, depriving us of free birth and fertility, and out of his insatiability exposing the noble mind to his desecrations and outrages, binds us with the pleasure of earthly objects.
He once reached such madness that he approached Christ Himself with temptation: “And having raised Him up,” it is said, “showed Him all the kingdoms of the universe in a moment of time, and the devil said to Him: “I will give you power over all these kingdoms and their glory, for it has been handed over to me, and I give it to whomever I want; So, if You worship me, then everything will be Yours” (Luke 4:5-7).
P. That's right; but tell me, I ask you, what kind of reinforcement or help can there be for the victims?
K. This help, most honorable one, is God and his grace, which does not forever allow the exhausted mind to be under the feet of the devil, but protects and delivers it, which is in no way able to help itself. If you want, you will see that the same thing happened with the forefather Abraham. When the righteous man despaired and could not do anything, God stood up for him and freed his wife from the debauchery of the Egyptians: “But the Lord struck Pharaoh and his house with heavy blows for Sarai, Abram’s wife” (Gen. 12:17). Then Pharaoh released the righteous woman’s wife, who had barely escaped reproach. So, God, and He alone, can remove the mind that has fallen into it from the hand of the devil and return it to its original goodness.
P. Therefore, driven by the lack of higher blessings, we sometimes descend to the shameful and vile.
P. But, of course, it is fitting for a benevolent God not to allow us to fall into anything like that.
K: Indeed, this is very decent and desirable to God, my friend: because He would be very little good and would not love virtue very much if he did not have this goal in relation to us. But it is our own fault that we are exposed to evil, angering the Lord of all; for then He sends us a weak and unmanly mind. Or don’t you hear him crying through one of the holy prophets: “Behold, I am setting up stumbling blocks for this people, and because of them fathers and children together, their neighbor and their friend, will stumble, and they will perish” (Jer. 6:21). The wise Paul also writes about some: “And because they did not care to have God in their minds, God gave them over to a depraved mind—to do lewd things” (Rom. 1:28). But the divine Isaiah represents this even more clearly, speaking as if on behalf of the children of Israel or, in fact, on behalf of those who fell into sins: “but behold, you are angry, because we have sinned of long ago” (Is. 64:5).
P. So, tell me, will we, who neglect our duties and are caught in sins, lay the blame on God and complain to Him for His anger, as if we had sinned from this?
K: We will not blame God: that would be madness; but when we say: “You are angry because we have sinned for a long time,” we mean something like this: if we did not have your favor, Master, then nothing would prevent us from being under the unlimited power of sin, due to the weakness of our nature, and then indulging in all evil.
P. I understand what you are saying.
K. Deprived of heavenly care and protection and at the same time suffering punishment for extreme frivolity and an uncontrollable inclination towards evil, weak and easy to catch, will we not find ourselves susceptible to all evil? You can see this clearly if you read Jeremiah's words. The rude people of Judah, although they very abundantly enjoyed bounties from God, although they overcame all their enemies and finally achieved, perhaps, the highest glory among people, despite the fact that they were planning rude and complete disobedience. Having almost said goodbye to the commandments given through Moses, and imputing the Divine decrees to nothing, the Jews were rushing with an uncontrollable attraction to destruction and destruction. Under the oak and poplar and shady tree, according to the word of the prophet (Hos. 4:13), they built altars, and, in the thickest groves, erected churches for demons, they decided to honor them by sacrificing oxen and burning incense and calling, without blushing, their products gods and saviors and all sorts of similar names.
And once they reached such stupidity that even the unholy killing of children was considered an object of boasting and they thought that with this they were bringing the most choice sacrifice to their gods. But even this did not stop the works of wickedness among the children of Israel; constantly adding, as if some kind of addition to their insolence, an unbridled striving for all sorts of absurdities, they in no small measure provoked the anger of the Lawgiver and the good against them. Since they self-confidently overthrew their slavish attitude toward Him, He finally allowed them to be defeated by enemies and taken into involuntary service, that is, to the Chaldeans and Babylonians. These, leaving their household affairs, came with the intention of enslaving them and burning the holy and glorious city; and those suffering from their attack barely thought to ask the prophet Jeremiah how this misfortune would end for them.
“And Jeremiah said to them, “Thus say to Zedekiah: Thus says the Lord God of Israel: Behold, I will bring back the weapons of war that are in your hands, with which you fight against the king of Babylon and against the Chaldeans who are besieging you outside the wall, and I will gather them in the midst of this city; And I myself will fight against you with an outstretched hand and a strong arm, with anger and rage and great indignation; And I will smite those who dwell in this city, both man and beast; they will die from a great plague." Then a little later he says: “And say to this people: Thus says the Lord: Behold, I set before you the way of life and the way of death: whoever remains in this city will die by sword and hunger and pestilence; and whoever goes out and gives himself up to the Chaldeans who are besieging you, he will live, and his soul will be to him instead of prey; For I have set My face against this city, says the Lord, for evil and not for good; he will be delivered into the hands of the king of Babylon, and he will burn him with fire” (Jer. 21, 3-6, 8-10).
So, you understand that as soon as we offend God with our arrogance, we will no longer be able, unfortunate ones, to resist the forces of our enemies, but since the wrath of God seems to lie on us and attacks us, we will become slaves from free people and will lead an inglorious and miserable life.
J. The law of God leads a gentle and obedient person to an impeccable lifestyle and serves as a kind of lamp for everyone to indicate what is useful and necessary, and whoever is overcome by respect for it will, I think, lead a life not unworthy of wonder and, as if in a holy city, will dwell in the firmness of virtue and the steadfastness of piety.
If someone prefers to readily throw themselves into worldly pleasures, as if into some grove and forest, rich in beautiful flowers and trees, willingly to dwell in worldly pleasures, to take into the mind and heart, as if swarms of ghosts, multiform pleasures and to incense the fruits of their zeal before the demons: then he will very rightly lose his highest protection and will represent the easiest prey for those who want to take it; expelled, as it were, from the holy city, from the original good behavior, he will now go, as if under an involuntary yoke, wherever the rulers please, and will be far from God, undergoing, in relation to his spiritual disposition, relocation to Babylon, that is, beyond the boundaries of the holy land, in which “know... God... and great is His name” (Ps. 75:2). Therefore, those suffering such a cruel disaster and falling into the hands of enemies, unable to bear their way of life as slaves and slaves, cried out: “By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat and wept when we remembered Zion” (Ps. 136: 1). I think the human mind suffers from something similar.
K. He is always lazy and sluggish in his desire for the blessings that are at his fingertips, and does not really strive for what is in his power. If an inclination for the worse occurs and a decrease in the beauties that he has occurs, then, having suffered this, he is almost unaware that he should have resisted with all his might and not allowed the test in practice, but prevented its onset.
K: Therefore, it is necessary, wise and very useful to carefully prevent a bad state and the onset of involuntary service and try hard in advance to reject the fact that if we experience it, we will be subject to all evil.
K. And if, as a result of the wrath of God, the yoke of involuntary slavery is imposed on us and we are forced to fall into a corrupt mind (Rom. 1:28), then it will not be easy to resist. I would say that it is useful to at least remember from what state we have passed into, and to bitterly mourn our carelessness and the impoverishment of heavenly help: “For Godly sorrow produces unfailing repentance leading to salvation, but worldly sorrow produces death” (2 Cor. 7:10). If the wrath of God has not burdened us, if we have the opportunity to arbitrarily choose and do what we please, and if we are able to maintain a free and unforced inclination in one direction or another, I mean, towards evil and good, then we must courageously put aside the effeminacy of vice, we must, I think, constantly reject the pleasures offered by our enemies and submission to the enemies who are called the princes of this age, because, at least in this case, we got Whose share is happiness, I mean happiness, which is highly valued in the world but it will undoubtedly lead to a shameful and unattractive end.
K. Wouldn’t you like us to argue, taking examples from antiquity?
K. When famine exhausted the people who inhabited, so to speak, the whole earth, the sons of Jacob decided to go to Egypt; the youths numbered ten; and the purpose of the trip was to buy bread, and there was no other. After they had achieved this and it was already known that they were brothers of Joseph, who was then distributing grain and governing the Egyptians, what had happened reached the ears of Pharaoh: “And Pharaoh said to Joseph: Tell your brothers: do this: load your cattle..., and go into the land of Canaan; and take your father and your families and come to me; I will give you the best... in the land. Egyptian, and you will eat the fat of the land. I command you to say to them: do this: take you from the land of Egypt chariots for your children and for your wives, and bring your father and come; and do not spare your goods, for the best of all the land of Egypt I will give you (Gen. 45, 17-20). Thus, the ruler of the land of Egypt promised to give them rest and greatly fatten them with luxury, and also gave them chariots. I think to make the journey easier for those who are hesitant.
And they immediately arrived with their entire household, I don’t know how, preferring a temporary meal of food to the land and country given by God; for it was much better and more reliable for them to feed from it, even if this was achieved with little difficulty. And having come to Egypt, they thought, perhaps, that they had already escaped the labors that they had at home, and they were pleased with the feeling of present pleasures. But over time, this people, noble and free from ancient times and by origin, falls under the inglorious yoke of slavery. So, when a fall into shame is associated with worldly happiness, then we must reject it, my friend, if we have freedom on our minds and if for us the deeds and thoughts characteristic of slaves are disgusting and hateful.
P. You said it very well.
K. What, shouldn’t we also say something else that, as it seems, will bring considerable benefit, just like what we just said?
K. Rapsak the Babylonian, an Assyrian military commander, once led countless warriors and came with the intention of besieging the holy city, or, better said, intending to destroy it to the ground, and, moreover, without difficulty. Following this, before weapons, he used not new for him, but very familiar slander about God. Having spoken a lot of discordant things, he finally proclaimed to the inhabitants of the holy city: “This is what the king of Assyria says: “For thus says the king of Assyria: Be reconciled to me and come out to me, and let everyone eat the fruit of his vine and his fig tree, and let everyone drink water from his own well, until I come and take you into a land like your land, a land of bread and wine, a land of fruits and vineyards" (Isa.36:16-17; 2 Kings 18:31-32). Look, he promises bliss and pleasure under the grapes and fig trees, but he added: “And drink the water of your stream.”
P. What does this show if it is raised to spiritual contemplation?
K. In two ways, I think, the power of evil is realized in us. People prone to sin reach all sorts of absurdities because they are persuaded to indulge either in pleasures that come from outside, or those that are innate and present within us, convinced either by themselves or by others. And the disciple of the Savior shows us that this is true, saying this: “For all that is in the world is carnal lust, and the lust of desire, and the pride of life” (1 John 2:16). The lust of the flesh is innate to us, rooted and abiding in us; The divine Paul called it “the law of sin,” dwelling in the fleshly members (Rom. 7:23). But pleasures and pleasures that come from outside and are alien are those that come through the eyes, because through the eyes wonder is aroused at what comes from wealth, and at beautiful clothes and at other things to which some are attached, who pronounce a non-contemptuous judgment about them, as if they receive the most pleasant pleasure from them.
So, the grapes and the fig tree can be an image of pleasure and pleasure occurring from outside and coming, because they perfectly show both the short duration and rapid fading of things that are in the world, and at the same time the sweetness combined with the property of darkening. For every worldly pleasure is sweet for those who participate in it at the present moment, but it greatly darkens and greatly intoxicates the one who receives it. And “flow” is an image of innate and existing movements within us; because they are not brought into us, like those previously mentioned, but, as it were, flow into us and well up from the flesh itself. Evil forces tell us that we will be given free participation in all these natural and introduced pleasures and very extensive use of them if we, leaving abstinence as if a holy and unshakable city, come to the king of Babylon, who was the image of Satan.
But although Rapsaks promised the inhabitants of the holy city that if they went over to the Babylonians, then the pleasure of the present moment would arise and increase in them; they disobeyed, reasoning correctly; because the desire to choose the worldly will certainly be followed by the need to fall into involuntary slavery and be among the captives.
P. The word is true. But how can liberation from these evils be achieved? Be so kind as to tell me, I beg you.
K. What else, if not the opposite of the first and what was in the beginning? Submitting to the attraction of our own desires to a shameful way of life and rejecting the beauty of blameless behavior, we fell into a low and captive Mind, thinking only about earthly things and indulging in every possible way in carnal pleasures. That is why God finally allowed us to fall into a corrupt mind.
P. So, one must strive for virtue in the opposite way?
K. Without hesitation, my friend, no longer clinging to worldly life, in accordance with what Paul correctly said: “For you are dead, and your life is hidden with Christ in God” (Col. 3:3), but more eagerly with the desire that our names should be written in heaven, considering our highest fatherland and city and strongly crying out to God: “Be not silent to my tears, for I am a stranger You are also a stranger, like all my fathers” (Ps. 38:13). For whoever wanders on earth and together belongs to the bright heavenly city is truly a stranger and a stranger, as is naturally revealed from the matter itself. Therefore, the Savior’s disciple commands us to consider this praiseworthy, glorious and wonderful: brethren, “I ask you, as strangers and strangers, to flee from carnal lusts, which war against the soul” (1 Pet. 2:11).
P. But for success in virtue, is such a disposition sufficient, that is, the cessation of carnal lusts?
K. It is necessary that wisdom should also be added to that which relates to other good morals, obviously spiritual; for it is written: “Your commandment is immensely extensive” (Ps. 119:96). Isn’t there a double defilement in us: mental and physical? And I find it very fair that what is proper to defile should be followed by something equivalent and equivalent to it, which is proper to purify.
K. Just as, without a doubt, there is a double impurity, mental and physical, so cleansing, naturally, must be mental and physical. And that considering life in the world as a sojourn is not useless for those who are so inclined, it is not difficult to see if we resort to comparison with Abraham, to whom God said: “Get thee out of your land, from your kindred and from your father’s house... to the land that I will show you; and I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing; I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse those who curse you; and in you all the families of the earth will be blessed” (Genesis 12:1–3). Do you understand that He commanded to leave not only the land and home, but also from kinship and the father’s house, and to go to the land that the Caller will show him?
K: Is it not clear that when God calls for an obviously spiritual followership, and wants to lead those whom he wishes to honor out of life in the world, that is, a life spent in pleasure and carnality, then it is very senseless to consider anything better than this? So, let the fatherland, and the clan, and the father’s house, and the acquisition of earthly things be imputed to nothing! And the Savior Himself called us to the same courage, saying: “Whoever loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; and whoever loves a son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me; and whoever does not take up his cross and follow Me is not worthy of Me” (Matthew 10:37-38). And he added: “And everyone who leaves houses, or brothers, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for My name’s sake will receive a hundredfold and will inherit eternal life” (Matthew 19:29). Don’t you recognize as a deed of the greatest power in Christ such a bright and wondrous courage, which imputes all this to nothing, and highly values following Christ?
P. Absolutely so; for those who were invited to the wedding and refused to come were deprived of the most beautiful hope and joy in Christ; one of them said: “I got married and therefore cannot come” (Luke 14:20), - the other, saying that he bought land, preferred temporary benefits to an invitation (Luke 14:18).
K. Smart, Palladium! You please us by speaking what is fair and by your understanding quickly coming to an understanding in advance of what is the purpose of our word. So, look, those who completely and fully obey God and prefer hope in him to carnal objects and the love of worldly pleasures will undoubtedly be able to receive blessings from above in abundance. For what does God say to Abraham? “And I will bless you and magnify your name” (Gen. 12:2) and the following. Do you see how many spiritual blessings He showered upon him? Isn’t it also worthy of attention how Abraham moves away from his native land? “And Abram took with him Sarah his wife, Lot his brother’s son, and all the property that they had acquired, and all the people that they had in Haran; and they went out to go to the land of Canaan; and they came to the land of Canaan; And Abram walked through the land ... to the place of Shechem, to the oak grove of Moreh” (Gen. 12: 5-6). He moved out of Haran, nothing from He did not leave his own there, but with all his family and house he very willingly moved to the land of Canaan, which God showed him.
Then he passes through this land into its length and comes to a high land. Likewise, let him who has decided to faithfully follow the Divine commands and recognize a higher calling as worthy of special attention, depart from life in worldly pleasures entirely and, as it were, with his entire family, without at all leaving his thoughts where he once was; for in this way he will actually depart and pass through the earth; since he was called by God in order that he might, as Blessed Paul writes, “be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and depth and height” of the mysteries of Christ (Eph. 3:18). Then he will comfortably ascend to high ground, that is, to a spiritual disposition established at the height of virtues and no longer falling from any direction into carnal knowledge. And what good will be given to the one who achieves this, we learn from the same Holy Scripture: “And the Lord appeared,” it is said, “to Abram and said...: to your descendants I will give this land. And there he built... an altar to the Lord, who appeared to him” (Gen. 12:7).
When he was in the land of his fatherland and had not yet moved to the holy land, he was only given the prophecy that he should move to another land, neglecting his native one; and after he came to the land of Canaan with all his house and household and reached the holy land, he was given the grace of the vision of God, and the certainty of hope in the immutability of the promise, and permission to build an altar.
In the same way, while we remain in the world and in its vile pleasures, there will be no grace from God; but when we are called and submit to the Divine laws and, as if to a high land, ascend to the desire and readiness for every good thing, God sends us the knowledge of his glory, promises the steadfastness of hope and makes our mind so strong that we are able to offer spiritual sacrifices (1 Pet. 2:5), and become the aroma of Christ to God and the Father, according to Scripture (2 Cor. 2:15), and also present the body to Him a living sacrifice, acceptable to God, reasonable and spiritual service (Rom. 12:1), pleasing to God; for He lovingly accepts expressions of spiritual service and counts them as a spiritual sacrifice.
P. So, we must move on to the better, moving away from the shameful - to accept the higher calling as willingly as possible and to love as much as possible staying in what is approved by the law and, by God’s definition, is recognized as the best. And we will not consider the desire to go back and return to something that causes harm to be innocent.
K. Without a doubt, my friend: because it is very difficult to want to again be exposed to those diseases from which you got rid of; so for those who have once been removed by the power of God from worldly life, it is very dangerous to even look at it and remember their sins, allowing love for them into their souls. Therefore, the divine Singer begged, saying: “turn away my eyes from seeing vanity” (Ps. 118:37). For truly vanity is the entertainment of this life and empty enjoyment of temporary things. Whoever actually decides to follow the straight path must retreat and move away from them and even avoid contemplating them in thoughts, combined with pleasure; this is easy to understand from the following.
K. The inhabitants of Sodom, furiously inflamed by unnatural lust, neglecting the law of copulation, which nature established for the birth of children, seduced by the beauty of men and committing the most absurd deeds, incited them to anger and, so to speak, forced the Creator, although a humane one, to subject them to punishment. When the term of their punishment was at the door, since long-suffering towards them had, as it were, been exhausted, the executors entered Sodom. It is written about this: “And those two angels came to Sodom in the evening, while Lot was sitting at the gate of Sodom. Lot saw and stood up to meet them, and bowed down with his face to the ground and said: My lords! go into your servant's house and spend the night, and wash your feet, and rise in the morning and go on your way. But they said: no, we spend the night on the street. He strongly begged them; and they went to him and came to his house. He made them a treat and baked unleavened bread, and they ate” (Gen. 19:1-3).
Lot, descended from the blood of Abraham, brought up in the laws of justice and imbued to no small extent with reverence for God, lived in Sodom, but was there a stranger and a foreigner both by birth and disposition: “For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? What does light have in common with darkness? (2 Cor. 6:14), according to Scripture. Rising above the vices of the natives and following his usual path of life, he practiced holy deeds. Having great respect for the law of hospitality, he, sitting at the entrance to the city, friendly welcomes those entering it, knowing that this is a God-loving matter. When the executors of the sentence came over people who unbridledly indulged in debauchery (and these were two Angels), he hastily meets them and with his greeting gives obvious proof of his inherent kindness; for “bow down with your face to the ground” convinces them to enter his house and take advantage of the amenities according to the laws of friendliness. And they say: no, we will relax on the street.
By this they indicated that they were strangers and homeless, and, I think, aroused the person disposed to provide hospitality to a stronger insistence, almost hinting politely that it would be indecent for him to leave them without shelter at this very crossroads; and the righteous man, realizing this, insisted more strongly and did not seize on their refusal, as a person with an inactive and sluggish soul would have done. So, he brought them into his house, offered them unleavened bread and made them a treat. This is what the righteous did; and the Sodomites, suffering from undisguised and vile lust, lawlessly surrounded the house of the righteous man and, going beyond the limits of extreme shamelessness, demanded that they be allowed to do their usual deed; Thus, when hospitality should have been shown, they wanted to offend by unnatural fornication. And when Lot turned them away from such wild and vile plans, they wanted to inflict violence on him, and perhaps he would have had to undergo this if the deliverers had not arrived. “Then the men stretched out their hands,” it says, “and brought Lot into their house and the door...
locked; and the people who were at the entrance to the house were struck with blindness, from the least of them to the greatest, so that they were tormented while looking for the entrance” (Gen. 19:10-11). But the help provided to him was not limited to this alone; for it is also written: “When the dawn rose, the angels began to hurry Lot, saying: Arise, take your wife and your two daughters, which are with you, so that you do not perish for the iniquities of the city. And as he hesitated, those men..., by the mercy of the Lord towards him, took him and his wife and his two daughters by the hand, and brought him out and placed him outside the city” (Gen. 19:15-16). Here is a clear indication for you that we are encouraged to move away from sin not only by words and exhortations addressed to the mind, but the Savior of all, God, extends His condescension to us to such an extent that he provides active help, according to the word of Scripture: “You hold my right hand; You guide me with Your counsel and then You will receive me into glory” (Ps. 72:23-24). Since human nature is not very strong and does not have enough strength to avoid evil, God seems to assist it in this.
He appears to give her double grace: he convinces her with instructions and invents means of helping her, making her inaccessible to the evil that is close to her and dominates. In addition to this, you can also see the truth that there are very few who care about justice and that there is a great scarcity of good men in life: “a faithful husband,” as it is written, “is a great thing to find” (Proverbs 20:6); but such a person is a chosen man and not in the least worthy of heavenly care. Although he is in the world mixed with others, he does not suffer any harm from this, he is admired like a lily from among thorns, and the righteous will not perish with the wicked, according to the broadcasts of the saints (Gen. 18:23-25).
P. So, there is no doubt that under the protection of God and with the assistance of the holy Angels we will be freed from the predominance of depravity, and we will undoubtedly achieve the fact that we will never in any way be subjected to the punishments that the wicked are subjected to - we who believe in God, who clearly declared through one of the prophets: “For I am the Lord your God; I hold you by your right hand, I say to you: “Do not be afraid, I will help you.” Fear not, O worm Jacob, O little-populated Israel; I will help you, says the Lord and your Redeemer” (Is.41:13-14).
J. Does not the removal of Lot by the hand of Angels show that Almighty God is the helper of the saints? For Angels could be the image of God; three first approached Abraham at the oak of Mamre, but two only entered Sodom: “For the Father judges no one,” according to the Savior Himself, “but has given all judgment to the Son” (John 5:22), with whom, without a doubt, the Holy Spirit is present and in whom by nature abides.
P. You understand the matter very well. Let us consider further, if you like.
K. Immediately, and now I will say: “When they were brought out, one of them said: save your soul; do not look back and do not stop anywhere in this vicinity; flee to the mountain, lest you perish” (Gen. 19:17). In the words: “save your soul,” in my opinion, the following is clearly stated: “Lay hands hastily on anyone, and do not become a participant in the sins of others” (1 Tim. 5:22), and overcome the obstacles encountered in the world; because nothing can serve as a ransom for the soul: “What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his own soul? or what ransom will a man give for his soul?” (Matthew 16:26.) And that it was ordered to go without turning back, this perhaps means that, returning to depravity, one should not again become like-minded with those who were punished by fire for intemperance, for it is said: “no one who puts his hand to the plow and turns back is fit for the Kingdom of God” (Luke 9:62).
But one must stick to the path to salvation, without being distracted here and there, and maintain a mind that is not frivolous and not distracted by empty dreams of worldly pleasures, but perfect and vigilant and always carefully looking straight ahead. I will say something even greater; The angel not only says that Lot needs to go without turning back, but he made a useful addition: “Do not stand in this whole border: save yourself in the mountain, so that one day you will be rich.”
P. What do the words indicate: “do not stand still in all this territory”?
K. I think that laziness and inactivity away from evil are dangerous and harmful.
K. The prophetic word says: woe to him who “does the work of the Lord carelessly” (Jer. 48:10). “Run to receive” (1 Cor. 9:24), says the divine Paul. Whoever does not want to hastily and carefully flee from the shameful, because, honoring his mind, it is difficult to be distracted from the past, as if with sorrow it moves away from every vice and very slowly moves on to what is by nature useful, he does nothing more than stop near evil, whereas he should quickly run away: for it may happen that, constantly postponing and dodging, we will be comprehended by justice before we leave the limits of evil, before Let us cleanse ourselves of dirt before we wash away from the soul the filth that has deeply penetrated into it as a result of previous negligence, before we throw off the burden of guilt and take upon ourselves the saving yoke in order to receive peace from Christ (Matthew 11:28-29).
So, this is a very good admonition: “do not stand still in all this territory,” that is, do not find yourself slow in any kind of depravity, but ascend, as if on a mountain, to an excellent and glorious life, which does not have anything half-profound in itself, but shines high and exalted in virtue, alien to a low way of thinking, that is, earthly and carnal; for it is written: “For the powers of God on the earth have been greatly exalted” (Ps. 46:10). The way of thinking befitting saints is very high above earthly things, “and the chicks of the kite fly high” (Job 5:7), as it is written; since the saints have in heaven, as if on a mountain, a city to which they belong, and they consider their fatherland on high, as Paul writes: seek the things on high, and not the things on earth (Col. 3:2).
P. So the mental mountain is a life spent in holiness, and the height of an excellent life, and a life spent in impurity, sin-loving and mired in earthly things, seems low.
K. You said it well: since this is precisely what the words themselves clearly indicate; but you will be surprised at this.
K. The blessed Angel said that the wondrous Lot must, running away without stopping and without looking back, ascend the mountain; but this one begged, saying: “Behold, Thy servant has found favor in Thy sight, and great is Thy mercy which Thou hast done to me, that Thou hast saved my life; but I cannot escape to the mountain, lest misfortune overtakes me and I die; Now, it’s closer to run to this city, it’s small; I’ll run there - he’s small; and my life will be preserved.... And he said to him: Behold, to please you I will do this also: I will not overthrow the city of which you speak; hasten and escape there, for I cannot do any work until you get there. That is why this city is named Zoar. The sun rose over the earth, and Lot came to Zoar” (Gen. 19, 18–23).
P. What benefit could this have for us? I would like, as you know, to learn.
K. Really, although you are very capable of quick understanding, do you not understand that those who have just moved away from depravity and recognized the need to enter the path of salvation, cannot suddenly and not immediately grasp virtue and achieve what they approve of? It will not be easy for anyone to move to an excellent way of life and will not be far from the passions that seem to have grown with him, but he will emerge from them little by little, striving for the best and laying the foundations of exploits; he will not be too high or far, but will only, as it were, move to another land, that is, to a life, although praised, but not yet high and not achieving radiant glory, such as, for example, life was under the guidance of the law, which led to the beginnings of an excellent and good life; for it is written: “The beginning of the way of good is to do righteousness” (Proverbs 16:6).
Just as for those who seek knowledge and strive for mysterious contemplation, at first the catechetical teaching is suitable and very decent, and for those who have grown “to a perfect man, according to the age of the fulfillment of Christ” (Eph. 4:13), more solid food is appropriate, that is, the teaching of higher subjects, a full course of dogmatic research, so in this case, that is, in the correction of morals and mode of action, it is suddenly impossible for anyone to rise to an impeccable state, or to an extraordinary and sublime way of life; but, I think, everyone will gradually approach the perfect state, starting with a small and moderate state and, as it were, first resorting to a small city adjacent to a high mountain, that is, a way of life that is lower and more insignificant in comparison with the excellent and sublime life. Therefore, the image of people in this position may be the righteous Lot, who does not want to immediately ascend the mountain, but to stop in the small city of Zoar. And in the Gospel preaching itself, don’t we often encounter the same dispensations regarding believers?
After all, Blessed Paul says in his Epistle: “It is good for a man not to touch a woman. But, in order to avoid fornication, each one have his own wife, and each one have his own husband... For I desire that all people should be as I am; but each has his own gift from God, one one way, another another” (1 Cor. 7:1-2, 7). Do you see how he pointed us to the highest degree of abstinence, as if to a mountain, saying: “It is good for a man not to touch a woman,” however, he allowed us to stop at Zoar, that is, in a way of life that is lower than perfect, I mean the permission to copulate with one of his wives? And the Savior said that the best land will yield fruit, some a hundred times, some sixty, some thirty (Matthew 13:23); and He did not distribute the talents in equal measure, but gave to others five, to others two, to others one (Matthew 25:15), showing by this, I think, the inequality of abilities and distributing to each, depending on his suitability and understanding; because, as we recently said: “everyone has his own gift from God, one this way, another another.”
K. So, the blessed Angel allows us to stop at Zoar: “And he said to him: behold, to please you I will do this also: I will not overthrow the city of which you speak; hasten and escape there, for I cannot do any work until you get there. That is why this city is named Zoar. The sun rose over the earth, and Lot came to Zoar." And you will be surprised, my friend, to learn the meaning of what was said. “And he said to him: Behold, to please you I will do this also: I will not overthrow the city of which you speak.” For in truth, a way of life that is imperfect in virtue is not pleasing to God, and submission to passions in anything in His eyes is worthy of rejection and is not far from condemnation. However, out of love for mankind, He allows this and, having commensurated what is achievable for a person at first with his nature, he commands those who only care about goodness, but do not yet lead a completely innocent life, to be saved. But even for them, reaching this measure and achieving this state, achievement would be impossible without Divine light and heavenly illumination: “The sun rose over the earth,” it is said, “and Lot came to Zoar.”
P. How rightly you said it!
K. So, wondrously, Lot entered the small city with the permission of God; and the wife who followed him and fled with him turned out to be weak even for this: “she looked back,” it is said, “behind him, and became a pillar of salt” (Gen. 19:26). Note that a courageous mind and good sense, having begun to exercise in virtue, if it does not completely achieve what is pleasing to God, at least gradually produces an improvement in passionate states; and a weak and unmanly mind, which means a wife, due to a return to depravity becomes unfit for use. For I think this is indicated by the fact that the woman became a pillar of salt. It can be a sign of withered sense and a mind that is disposed to turn into stupidity and has reached the extreme, as it were, of insensibility. And the Savior Himself said that salt that has lost its pungency will have no power; it will become completely unfit for use, will be thrown out and trampled under human feet (Matthew 5:13).
And so Lot's wife became petrified, and a little later he made up for what was missing; for it is written that “And Lot went out from Zoar and lived in the mountain, and his two daughters with him, for he was afraid to live in Zoar. And he lived in a cave, and with him his two daughters” (Gen. 19:30). The mind moves forward towards perfection as if by steps and gradually ascends to that for which at first it was not disposed and not very capable; he moves forward and upward to the better, supported by prudence and spiritual courage, as if by his daughters, and leaving below voluptuousness and cowardice, the image of which was his wife. He already lives, as it were, on a mountain and in a cave, since the mountain very well indicates the height and exaltation of spiritual well-being, and the cave indicates the rootedness and strength of constancy in virtue. For this is what is written about good men: “He who walks in righteousness and speaks the truth; who despises the gain of oppression, keeps his hands from taking bribes, stops his ears so as not to hear about bloodshed, and closes his eyes so as not to see evil; he will dwell on the heights; his refuge is inaccessible rocks” (Is. 33:15–16).
It would not be strange to have another explanation for this. Namely, the stone is Christ, due to the strength and invulnerability of the highest of all essences, and by the cave one can understand the church existing in Christ - the refuge of the saints and the cover of the pious, under which the righteous live and all those who escape punishment by fire.
P. How good this explanation is, my friend! But I would like us to take up other proofs, because I value the love of perfect knowledge of what is useful above all else.
K. And in fact, Palladius, you say the just Knowledge that you mentioned can only be the fruit of a very inquisitive thought; and as for us, our speech will not slow down, because I don’t want to impose on myself the silence that comes at the wrong time, with such brilliant and pleasant explanations. That it is necessary to completely and in every possible way, if possible, be cleansed from the disposition towards evil and communication with it, and that returning to virtue is only possible in this very way, we can easily see by closely fixing the gaze of the mind on what happened to the divine Abraham and on the mind-boggling events accompanying the exodus of the children of Israel, which they once accomplished, breaking the bonds of the dominion of the Egyptians.
P. So, let's talk about this in order. Be sure that you will give us great pleasure if you want to do this.
K. We talked about how the once divine Abraham, oppressed by unbearable hunger and lack of necessities, did not come to Egypt voluntarily, but yielded to necessity. Pharaoh, who was a stranger and a stranger, caused grief and insulted him with his claims: he wanted to do violence to his wife, fueled by an unbridled lust for committing a shameful deed. But God did not allow him to fulfill this: “he struck,” it is said, “with heavy blows, Pharaoh and his house because of Sarai, Abram’s wife” (Gen. 12:17). Pharaoh is the image and imprint of the devil’s intemperance: because the goal and main concern of the devil is to throw into the souls of the saints the seeds of his inherent impurity, so that they bear pleasant and acceptable fruits to him; I mean guilt in various sins. And everyone would be caught and unwittingly submit to his dominance, but because of the powerlessness that our nature suffers from, but God does not allow it, repelling the attempts and evil intentions of the evil one against the saints.
The Divine Abraham would not have been able to avoid harm if he had not returned, leaving Egypt, to his former, God-given country, having reached which, he began to engage in good deeds in freedom. For it is written like this: “And Abram rose up from Egypt, he and his wife, and all that he had, and Lot with him, to the south. And Abram was very rich in cattle, and in silver, and in gold. And he continued his journeys from the south to Bethel, to the place where his tent had formerly been between Bethel and between Ai, to the place of the altar that he had made there at the beginning; and there Abram called on the name of the Lord” (Gen. 13:1-4). Do you understand that those who return from worldly intemperance to a holy life need to take with them, as it were, everything they own? For the forefather Abraham also departed from the land of Egypt with his entire household and family, and I will add, his entire household. One must withdraw in every possible way and in some way move with the whole house into the desert, that is, into an unperturbed and pure disposition of spirit, from which human nature initially emerged, inclined towards the worse due to the impoverishment of the highest blessings in it.
This is mysteriously indicated by the transition to foreigners as if from the original and very expensive land and tent, where there was an altar. Returning in this way until we arrive at the place and country before the former altar, that is, the holiness that was first implanted in us, we call on the God of all, pronouncing this prophetic appeal: “Lord, do you know no other: we call your name” (Is. 26:13).
P. You said it quite decently.
K: You can also see that this is so by carefully considering what once happened to the children of Israel. When at first, forced by hunger, they fell into the power of the Egyptians, the Egyptians, having subjected them - people descended from the roots of the saints and from ancient times free - to an unexpected and unusual yoke of slavery, roughly oppressed them, having come up with the following reason for their cruelty against them: “And arose,” it is said, “in Egypt a new king who did not know Joseph, and said to his people: behold, the people of the children of Israel are numerous and stronger than us; let us outwit them so that they do not multiply; otherwise, when the war happens, they will unite with our enemies and arm themselves against us, and will come out of our land” (Ex. 1, 8-10). freedom: “And they appointed over him,” it is said, “commanders of work, so that they would exhaust him with hard work. And he built for Pharaoh Pithom and Rameses, cities for supplies” (Ex. 1, 11).
The fruits of his unbearable lust for power were continuous suffering in working with clay and bricks - cities fortified with walls, building embankments in the fields; and the workers did all this for free and with a lot of sweat. So the rulers of the world of this age (Eph. 6:12), having captured the unfortunate human souls, exhaust them with work on clay and bricks, in general with works done in the earth and with the earth, and subjecting them to difficult and profitless exercise (for such are the works of the flesh and pertaining to the flesh), they force them to begin a bitter and very miserable life, which in no way will bring benefit to those forced to lead it. For what benefit will carnal affairs and passions bring to our unfortunate soul? The profit from us, so to speak, will go to the devil and the demons and will bring wealth and glory to the kingdom of opponents, just as Pharaoh, of course, considered it a considerable praise for himself that the children of Israel built cities for him, being forced to do this without food or pay.
P. Exactly; what you said is very clear.
K. So, the work of the Israelites represents an outline and, as it were, a clear image of our vain and worldly activities on earth, during which Satan himself and with him the evil forces are present and rush at us, which the Holy Scripture denotes by the name of overseers. By this I mean evil care (Eccl. 1:13), full of sweat and labor, filled, as it were, with dirt, impurity and vile pleasure. But even then God had mercy on those who were very lawlessly and cruelly oppressed by the rule of the Egyptians and were in slavery without any legal basis. He immediately chose an excellent man, Moses, as the servant of His compassion for them. So what? Don't we see that God does this to us too? For when we fall into sins, He shows us mercy and immediately sends His law into the hearts of everyone, as if a mediator leading us to a free life.
P. I understand what you are saying.
K. Do you want us, having shortened the volume of the story, to say as appropriate as possible?
K. So this is what is written: “After this Moses and Aaron came to Pharaoh and said...: Thus says the Lord God of Israel: Let My people go, so that they may celebrate a feast for Me in the wilderness. But Pharaoh said: Who is the Lord, that I should obey His voice and let...Israel go? I do not know the Lord, and I will not let Israel go” (Ex. 5:1-2). Moses and Aaron argued that Israel should be released from the country and land of Egypt, because God calls for a holiday: for a true holiday is to free yourself from the yoke of involuntary slavery, submit to God and do what is pleasing to Him without any guidance, that is, when no one forces you to choose and love what is pleasing to Him. But Pharaoh speaks very wildly and rebels against the glory of God, claiming that he does not know the Lord, who He is, and will not let Israel go. But the divine Moses does not give up and firmly insists that what is pleasing to God must be accomplished.
So also when Satan does not allow those who have fallen under his power to go free, they need to take courage and overcome, I think, every obstacle, but they should not appear timid, but must stand their ground, saying: “The God of the Jews has called us; let us go into the desert for a three-day journey to offer a sacrifice to the Lord our God, so that He does not strike us with a plague or a sword” (Ex. 5:3); since this is what the wise Moses cried out then. For us Jews, he says, it is not a calf, like your Egyptians, that is the object of adoration, nor is it a pig, not a goat, not an idol depicting a person, not the outlines of birds, not images of reptiles - objects placed in your churches; but we have been called by God and the Master who created the universe. And so great and incomparable with the gods of the Egyptians and above every creature is the God of the Hebrews, who calls us into the desert to offer there a sacrifice pleasing to Him.
The word Egypt means darkening, and I think that here we must understand spiritually what is expressed in the shadows and images; namely, we must carefully avoid every matter that tends to darken, and, as if having come out of a country subject to a tyrant (I’m talking about Satan), that is, from a tendency to sin, courageously hasten to move to a free and pure life and follow the path of a legal course of action, not subject to demons; for then we will be able to offer to God the fruits of righteousness. Moses demanded that the children of Israel make a three-day journey into the desert, showing by this that one must not be close to the limits of depravity and life under the control of a tyrant. The Divine Moses comes up with something intricate as a justification and very plausibly shows that it is necessary for those called from God to leave Egypt: “but not when,” he says, “death or murder happens to us.”
P. What does this mean? This is not easy to understand for those who want to understand.
K. I'll explain it to you. The Egyptians had a custom, which has been preserved to this day among idol worshipers, that those entering churches should avoid meeting a dead body; because they consider it the greatest desecration not only if someone wants to touch it, but also if they happen to just look at it. So, based on their customs, Moses persuades them to think that the children of Israel could not have made a pure sacrifice if, when they began this work, they had unexpectedly encountered death or murder, that is, either someone who had died a natural death or who had lost his life at the hand of a murderer. You, he said, have churches and sacred places, locks and gates, and those who enter them are able to offer sacrifices blamelessly, in your own opinion; and we, making sacrifices in the middle of the city, on the crossroads and fields, are inevitably defiled by the sight of the dead: for there is absolutely nothing that delays vision. The narrative presented seems probable, as consistent with the customs of the Egyptians; but what the wise Moses said will be correct even if it is understood spiritually.
We need to make sacrifices as if in the desert, celebrate a sacred holiday, moving away from the land of Egypt, and avoid the sight of death. For only by having a calm mind and far removed from worldly darkness and turning our gaze away from everything that leads to deadness and destruction, will we make a pure sacrifice to the God who rules over everything. Dead works are carnal works; and worldly darkness is a darkening that comes from bad and vain entertainments, polluting the pure and transparent ether of the mind. That those who wish to serve God blamelessly must avoid them, the word of history convinces us of this.
P. What has been said is not incomprehensible; Explain to me what follows next.
K: So the Israelites had, I think, an uncontrollable and strong desire for ancient freedom. Having received an inclination towards this, they aroused terrible anger in the one who kept them under the yoke of slavery; Considering such desires to be an act of idleness, he orders to increase the severity of work for them, demanding that their assigned work be completed without delay and at the same time stopping the usual distribution of straw; for he said: “You are idle, idle, that’s why you say: let’s go and make a sacrifice to the Lord. Go and work; They won’t give you straw, but give you the required number of bricks. And the overseers of the children of Israel saw their trouble in the words: Do not reduce the number of bricks that is [allotted] for each day. And when they left Pharaoh, they met Moses and Aaron, who stood waiting for them, and said to them: “May the Lord see and judge you, because you have made us hated in the eyes of Pharaoh and his servants and put a sword in their hands to kill us” (Ex. 5:17-21).
Don’t you recognize as undoubted, my dear, that when someone intends to free himself from the yoke of the power of the devil and in return to delight in the bright and free glory of serving God, to give himself leisure and to know the other Master, as it is sung in the Psalms: “Stop and know that I am God” (Ps. 45:11), then this kind of leisure and desire is the enemy of all will he accuse us of some kind of lawless deed and will oppose it together with other evil and unclean spirits, cruelly forcing us to constantly cleave, in accordance with the habits of each, to carnal and earthly uncleanness and worldly objects and not at all allowing us to abstain from habitual vices? But he will also make the fulfillment of his demands difficult to achieve so that evil, due to the excessive ease of achievement, does not calm down and does not reach the point of satiety. For this, I think, is indicated by the insistence on the required number of bricks and the deprivation of that which facilitates their preparation, that is, straw.
By nature, we are inclined to strive especially diligently and strongly for what is familiar to us and to be inflamed with a more ardent desire for it when something appears on the way to it that makes it impossible to achieve it. When the Divine law weans the human mind from shameful deeds, then a particularly strong desire invades, drawing us towards them and just not convincing us to blame the legislator. The image of this, as if in shadow, is presented to us by the overseers of the children of Israel, oppressed by work and not seeing a convenient way to fulfill it, since they lacked straw; they strongly blamed Moses and Aaron, saying that they had given rise to the misfortune that had befallen them, and that they had to endure greater oppression for no other reason than because a desire for freedom arose in them as a result of the conviction produced by the words of Moses and Aaron.
P. Do you not admit that they (the overseers) speak justly and truly?
K. I admit it completely, Palladium; because, as soon as a good desire and good thinking aroused us to the determination to do what is pleasing to God, and we remember the law leading to piety, then the enemy of all forces us even more evilly to what is by nature harmful. But God rescues us and saves us. And in fact He said to Moses: “Therefore say to the children of Israel: I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians, and will deliver you from their slavery, and will save you with an outstretched arm and with great judgments; and I will accept you as My people and will be your God, and you will know that I am the Lord your God..., who brought you out from under the yoke of Egypt” (Ex. 6:6-7). When Satan turns us away and drives us away from every good desire and in all possible ways pushes us away from the inclination towards good, the law of God turns us to a good desire, showing the invulnerability of the one who cares about it, encouraging us to boldness through the brightest hope, strengthening us with faith and entrusting us to God as the true savior and liberator.
P. How beautiful and saving is faith and an ardent desire to follow God!
K. You said it right. And that faith goes to good as to its limit, you will clearly see when our speech reaches its goal. When Moses and Aaron came to Pharaoh in order to negotiate with him again and convince him to release Israel from the land of Egypt and release them from long-standing bonds, they wanted to win him over with extraordinary signs: they showed the transformation of the rod into a serpent and announced that with the help of God they could very easily perform even greater and more excellent miracles. But he ordered his Magi to do the same, expressing through this almost the following: and we are not ignorant of such matters; but the Egyptians have many more such people than you; and to work miracles is the art of the Magi, of which you belong. When he became very hardened and did not let Israel go, then four terrible plagues befell him, each worse than the other; for a strange transformation of water into blood took place; then toads, scnips (midges) and, finally, dog flies made the pharaoh much softer due to unbearable suffering.
And so, calling Moses to himself, he said: “Go, make a sacrifice... to your God in this land. But Moses said: this cannot be done, since our sacrifice to the Lord our God is disgusting for the Egyptians; If we begin to make a sacrifice disgusting for the Egyptians in their eyes, will they not stone us? We will go into the desert, a three-day journey, and we will offer a sacrifice to the Lord our God, as he tells us.... And Pharaoh said: I will let you go to sacrifice to the Lord your God in the desert, but do not go far” (Ex. 8:25-28). So also when Satan opposes us and strongly contrives to resist our zeal for good, God opposes him with his hatred of evil, curbs and tames the brave through executions. Then only he lets go reluctantly; however, he tries to convince us that we should not serve God completely zealously and not completely leave his power; just as Pharaoh commanded the Jews to make a sacrifice not outside his land, but in it. And Moses wisely answers: “This cannot be done.”
So the inventor of sin is always the adviser of evil deeds; but Divine law rejects them and forbids them to do what he (Satan) likes. Therefore, those who want to lead a correct life must heed not what the evil one says, deceiving them, but what Divine prophecy tells us: for “Your word,” it is said, “is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path” (Ps. 118:105).
K. So, when the evil one holds us back and wants to imprison and subjugate us to himself, we must serve God, who is one by nature, and, moving away as much as possible from indecision, say: “No one can serve two masters: for either he will hate one and love the other; or he will be zealous for one and neglectful of the other” (Matthew 6:24). It is also written: “Woe to the timid hearts and the weak hands, and to the sinner who walks in two paths!” (Sir.2, 12). I affirm that it is necessary to perform pure and immaculate service to God, who rules over all, completely renouncing service under the power of the devil, thus courageously embarking on the search for something better; otherwise, says Moses, we will offer a sacrifice to the Lord our God that is abominable for the Egyptians; If we begin to make a sacrifice disgusting for the Egyptians in their eyes, “will they stone us” (Ex. 8:26). As for the historical content, this refusal was plausible; because Moses here calls the objects of deification disgusting; since the Egyptians worshiped calves.
If, he says, we sacrifice them to the God of the Jews, we will certainly arouse anger in the Egyptians, who consider this an unbearable matter; the explanation is convincing; and in relation to spiritual contemplation it brings considerable benefits. For by killing what the crowd of demons highly values, considers significant and deserves all respect, we perform a service that is very pleasing to God.
K. Do they not hold carnal passions in high esteem? And, of course, not on their own, but precisely because through them we perish and fall into the bonds of slavery to demons.
K. By killing them and, as it were, slaughtering them, we will smell like a sweet aroma to God. And Paul writes: “present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service” (Rom. 12:1). And this will be done correctly by the one who mortifies “your earthly members: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil lust and covetousness” (Col. 3:5). So, each of the passions that exist in us is an abomination of the mental Egyptians, that is, the primary object of their reverence. And that the Divine Scripture usually calls an abomination that which belongs to the number of idols and is an object of worship, God convinces of this, speaking through the mouth of Jeremiah about the Jewish synagogue: “Why did my beloved create abominations in my house?” (Jer.11, 15) If anyone wants to understand the abomination of the Egyptians as an object of hatred and disgust, then he will not move away from the correct understanding. For what unclean spirits, as is their habit, always hate and turn away from, is offered from us to God in the stench of fragrance, as a spiritual sacrifice, faith, meekness, self-control, chastity, mutual love and the glory of a sincere relationship with God.
P. Who are they who offer sacrifice in the land of the evil one? And who can be understood as offering outside that land?
K. Those who have not yet left the land of Egypt and offer sacrifices to God in it are very numerous and, perhaps, countless; while those who are outside the country and in the desert are very few and they are the chosen ones: “for many are called,” it is said, “but few are chosen” (Matthew 20:16). For we are all called to freedom through faith in Christ and redeemed from the power of the devil; and Christ did this to us, whose beautiful prototype for the ancients was Moses and Aaron, so that you might imagine Immanuel, who, according to the wise dispensation, is in one and the same person the Lawgiver, the High Priest, and the Apostle. But very many of those who are called willingly remain in their former evil, have not yet left worldly delusion with all their thoughts and serve God with idle faith alone. We say about them that they make sacrifices in Egypt or not much further away from it: for “stretch not far away,” says the hard-hearted Pharaoh, even if you come out of the land of Egypt.
And those who want to please God with a complete change for good and are completely freed from worldly vanity, those rush beyond the borders of the land of Egypt, avoid the power of the tyrant and, as if in the desert, in a calm and free life, the pure ones make a pure sacrifice to God. I would say that in another way those who move to the truth from serving the creature instead of the created and are called to the knowledge of God by nature should go as far as possible from the land of Egypt. Those who have not destroyed the remnants of the former error in their souls have not yet completely emerged; for some observe days and months and times and years (Gal. 4:10). They, having been called by Christ to the dignity of freedom, make a sacrifice to God while still living in Egypt, that is, continuing a life that is not unpleasant to Satan. If someone has completely moved out, having said goodbye to previous customs, then he makes a sacrifice in the desert and leads a life worthy of all praise.
P. I agree, because you understand correctly; but let our speech take its own course again.
K. So Pharaoh deceives, refuses his promise and does not let the children of Israel go; then, struck by three other executions, he agrees with difficulty, saying that he will let him go; but again he turned out to be lying. For the devil is a liar and did not stand in the truth, according to the word of the Savior (John 8:44). God sends a huge hail storm on the Egyptians and threatens to bring locusts, the destroyer of the fields, if I may use the Greek expression. Then, then finally, the once formidable and invulnerable servants of Pharaoh’s shamelessness raise a great cry against him, saying: “How long will he torment us? let these people go, let them serve the Lord their God; Don’t you still see that Egypt is perishing?” (Ex. 10:7). In this regard, it occurs to me that perhaps Satan surpasses the forces subordinate to him in those areas in which it is proper for him to exceed them.
For, as if, although they are very cruel, very unforgiving, and come late and with difficulty, they still come to at least a moderate feeling of the wrath of God; and he surpasses them in his extraordinary cruelty and has become callous to the extreme; for it is written: “His heart is hard as a stone, and hard as a millstone” (Job 41:16). So, when a great cry arose against Pharaoh, then only he said to Moses and Aaron: “Go, serve the Lord your God; who and who will go? And Moses said, Let us go with our young and our old, with our sons and our daughters, with our sheep and with our oxen, for we have a feast to the Lord. [Pharaoh] said to them: So be it, the Lord is with you! I’m ready to let you go: but why with children? you see, you have a bad intention! no: go alone men and serve the Lord, as you have asked” (Ex. 10:8-11).
Understand, dear ones, that Moses demanded complete eviction, but he says: not so; he said that he would let go in part, but the remainder should be some guarantee for the return of those leaving, since their household was supposed to remain in Egypt. Let, he says, every young man of yours and all your generation of age go. And the divine Moses strongly insists that everyone should leave, leaving nothing behind - and he achieved it when he was mature! write to the elderly, with sons and daughters, with herds of bulls and other livestock. Likewise, those who are trying to achieve true freedom should carefully move away! from worldly evils and follow the path of virtue, without leaving the slightest part of their soul and thought, through which they could again fall under the power of the evil one. The Divine Law calls to this the youths and virgins, the old and the young, according to the word of the Psalmist (Ps. 148:12), and every kind of age conceivable in Christ. The divine John also addresses them, saying: “I wrote to you, fathers, because you have come to know the Beginningless One.
I wrote to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the evil one” (1 John 2:14). It can be explained another way: young men can be an image of courage, elders - prudence, and sons and daughters - childhood, conceivable in Christ; for with courage, prudence and simplicity according to God we pass from sin to holiness; “Be of good courage,” it is said, “and let your heart be strong” (Ps. 30:25), and also: “Be wise as serpents and simple as doves” (Matthew 10:16). And saying that sheep and oxen must be brought out along with people, indicates, I think, that we should not leave to Satan even the bodily and unreasonable movements occurring in us. Therefore, the divine Paul writes: “Just as you presented your members as slaves to uncleanness and lawlessness, for wicked works, so now present your members as slaves for righteousness, for holy works” (Rom. 6:19).
P. Why does Pharaoh release the young men and adults and keep others?
K. Tell me, who remains in Egypt?
P. I think they were, of course, women, young children, weak old people and dumb animals.
K. How come you, excellent husband, didn’t immediately realize this?
K. He is burdened by those who are strong and young and have a strengthened disposition towards piety; therefore, I think, he wants, although not entirely voluntarily, to get rid of those who resist him, who are able to resist and stand up for themselves when they are offended, according to the word of Scripture: “Resist the devil, and he will flee from you” (James 4:7); and those who are incapable of behaving courageously, he strongly desires to keep, and as inactive and non-militant people, he loves those who suffer from a feminine and soft disposition of spirit, those who seem to be old and weak, those who are, as it were, in childhood, also rude and unreasonable, whose image is oxen and sheep.
K. The stubborn and adamant Pharaoh deceives again. Then, when his whole country was devastated by hordes of locusts, he invites Moses to his place, accompanied by Aaron, and says: go, serve the Lord your God: “go, serve the Lord..., let only your flocks and herds remain, and let your children go with you. But Moses said: ... give also into our hands sacrifices and burnt offerings to offer to the Lord our God; let our herds go with us, not a hoof will remain; for we will take some of them as a sacrifice to the Lord our God; but until we get there, we do not know what to sacrifice to the Lord...” (Ex. 10:24-26).
P. What is the meaning of what the wise Moses said? And how can you take something from Egypt and from Pharaoh and offer it as a sacrifice to God?
K. But the point is clear, my friend. He who opposes and opposes those who want to act piously, if he cannot completely subjugate someone, wants to achieve this at least in part: and the Divine law teaches to withdraw completely and not allow the slightest particle of soul and mind and any impulse to bodily movements to be and remain under the power of the enemy; On top of that, it teaches us to bring to God the best and choicest things from worldly life. This is what it means, in my opinion, to take from Egypt and sacrifice to God. Is this not what those who, with the help of worldly wisdom, fight for our sacred and Divine dogmas do, achieve beauty of speech and wit in knowledge and perform reasonable service to God? For, although “all wisdom is from the Lord” (Sir. 1:1), according to Scripture; but we say that the great successes of the Hellenic poets and prose writers in the beauty of speech were made in a worldly spirit.
And the divine Paul says: “we have not received the spirit of this world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we might know what was freely given to us from God, which we proclaim not in words taught by human wisdom, but in words taught by the Holy Spirit” (1 Cor. 2:12-13). And that what Moses said in secret is true, that God by nature will not reject the best of worldly life, Moses immediately clearly shows this, although in image and shadow. For, by the command of God, he said that it was necessary to rob the Egyptians, to take gold and silver vessels from those living in the same house and from neighbors, which was done through the mediation of women; since they are insinuating, very talkative and skilled in cunning. And the gold and silver vessels taken from the Egyptians, I think, mean, as I said recently, that which some of those living in the world justly boast of, even if they have known the true God. This is what I'm talking about.
Although all people have common movements of the mind and soul and a capacity for everything good and bad, those of them who have made good use of natural advantages lead a glorious and excellent life; and those who madly turned them to what they should not show themselves that the benefits received from nature can lead to the most shameful deeds. For courage and prudence are good for those who make the best use of them, but harmful for those who do wrong; because you can be courageous and prudent with praise and approval, or you can have these qualities with great shame. They are common and exist for everyone - both among those who are still mistaken and among those who know God.
So, when courage, which was previously the producer of depravity, and the sharpness of understanding are turned by us to what is pleasing to God, having been taken from worldly life, as if from the Egyptians, then they will become sacred and pleasing to God, because they will acquire a new mood - for the benefit of virtue and to promote sanctification, just as the gold and silver vessels taken from Egypt turned out to be suitable for the construction and decoration of the sacred tabernacle. The sons of Israel, after they had robbed the Egyptians and after the death of their firstborn, barely freed themselves by slaying a lamb in the image of Christ; for this could not be achieved in any other way, since all liberation is in Christ and through Him - “every good gift” (James 1:17). They are expelled from Egypt at midnight, as if getting rid of both darkness and slavery; for he who is enslaved to sin always loves to be in spiritual darkness, and not in the Divine light; “Everyone who does evil hates the light” (John 3:20), according to the word of the Savior.
They take with them the unleavened dough and flee without any supplies of life: “And the Egyptians forced the people, it is said, in order to quickly send them out of that land; for they said: We will all die. And the people brought their dough before it was leavened; their kneading bowls, tied up in their clothes” (Ex. 12:33–34). For those who intend to cleave to God and have chosen communion with Him, I think, should not take with them the remnant of worldly evil and stock up on alien and unsacred food for the journey, obviously in a spiritual sense; but we must desire to be unleavened bread and seek the bread that gives life to the world. Such will celebrate purely and, performing service acceptable to God, will remain constantly under His authority.
P. So, there is no doubt that God-loving and good people need to come, as it were, to some holy and sacred land - to life under the rule of Christ and free from tyranny - and hasten to make sacrifices not in the land of enemies, that is, not being in a sin-loving frame of mind, and if not in a very impeccable one, but in a state inclined to virtue, and in such a moral state that has come out from under the power of the devil.
K. Think no differently, my friend: because our reasoning was conducted correctly. But you can, if you wish, consider this with the help of another similarity. When the inhabitants of the holy city, I mean Jerusalem, dared to offend God, the Savior of all, by doing all sorts of absurdities; Then the Babylonians fell to the authorities, who, having taken them captive by force of arms, turned them into slavery: because they inevitably had to give in to the victors. Being in great sadness and mourning their unexpected disasters, they wanted to find at least a small relief from suffering, precisely by singing to God to soften the bitterness of their inherent sorrow; “For they remembered God and rejoiced” (Ps. 76:4), said the divine David, showing that singing to God is a spiritual holiday. But, although they wanted to sing praises to God as was their custom, they felt ashamed to offer such sweet sounds to the ears of foreigners and, as it were, to throw into the air a very pleasant and captivating song for them, since the Babylonians mocked them and were burdened by their playing of musical instruments.
That’s why they said: “By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat and wept when we remembered Zion” (Ps. 136:1), in which, according to the laws and customs of the Jews, a sacrifice of praise was offered, performed on stringed and spiritual instruments and enchanting with its sounds those approaching the church of God. But since they were strangled by the yoke of slavery to foreigners, they say with tears: “We hung our harps on the willow trees in the middle of it” (Ps. 136:2), thereby indicating that they are not engaged in songs; because the willow is a barren plant, or better yet, one that loses its fruit: that is what it is called by one of the Greek poets. And so the musical instruments remained inactive and sterile; and the Jews express the reason for this inaction by crying: “How can we sing the song of the Lord in a foreign land?” (Ps. 136:4.) And when Baruch brought to them the words of the book of Jeremiah, “I wept all,” it is said, “and I shook hands, and prayed with prayers before the Lord. And I gathered up money, as every hand could: and sent to Jerusalem to Jehoiakim the great priest, the son of Hilkiah, the son of Salom, and to the priests and to all people who were with him in Jerusalem."
And a little later: “And I said, behold, I sent silver to you, that you may buy burnt offerings and sin offerings and incense with silver, and make a sacrifice, and offer it up on the altar of the Lord our God” (Bar. 1:5–7, 10). They considered it indecent for themselves to make sacrifices when they were evicted from the holy land and did not live under the control of God, but were subject to another and fell under the power of a tyrant; they provide worship to those who still live in the holy city and have the honor of performing sacred rites; in doing so, they are guided by an obviously correct consideration in the investigation of what is decent and necessary. And the wise Daniel himself abstained from sacred actions, but, being a captive with others, he outwitted the force of circumstances, and in this way: he prayed three times a day; but in his upper room the windows were facing and open towards Jerusalem; for so it is written (Dan.
6, 10) He thought that his prayer would only be pleasing to God when he, if not in body, then in thought, removed himself from the alien and hated land and, looking with his mental eyes at the most God-loving land and entering, as it were, into the church itself, would offer prayer for whomever he wanted.
P. Indeed, all our reasoning was well conducted.
Book 2. About the fact that it is impossible to avoid death, which comes from sin, and the power of the devil otherwise than through sanctification performed by Christ, and that justification is not in the law, but in Christ
So, thorough reasoning has shown us, Palladius, that this is both a glorious and useful thing to carefully avoid that which is harmful by nature, and to strive unswervingly to become servants of God.
Kirill. And we confidently affirm that we must, in every possible way moving away from the shameful, seek the best.
K. We later found that it is necessary, moving as far as possible from the love of the pleasures of worldly life and the confusion associated with them, to hasten to make a sacrifice to God and, being in a state of mind as if in the desert, to serve Him calm and pure, free from filth, beautiful and pleasant.
K. And has not it been shown by countless examples that when Satan, in his lust for power, brought us under his power and wanted to keep us with him, the Divine law called us to the dignity of freedom, contrasting his abominations with instruction in beautiful deeds and guiding us to the best?
K. So, the giver of salvation and the author of all our prosperity is God, who shows us the path to rapprochement with him through the mediation of Christ. Isn’t this mediation of Christ an image, and a very clear one at that, the mediation of Moses?
K. The Divine Moses freed Israel from carnal slavery, delivered him from the labor of making bricks and from earthworks and, as if being in the middle between God and people, conveyed to them heavenly verbs. Our Lord Jesus Christ, transforming into truth what existed as if in image and shadows, takes us out of mental slavery, eliminating the sin that previously ruled over us and shaking the power of the devil. He convinces those who consider it a duty to study Him to leave their earthly way of thinking and caring for the carnal, as if transforming this disposition of spirit into a desire for virtue and quite clearly proclaiming to us the will of God and the Father. That is why He said: the words that I speak are not Mine, “but the one who sent Me” (John 14:24). And again: “For I did not speak from Myself; but the Father who sent Me, He gave Me a commandment, what to say and what to say” (John 12:49).
And Moses himself in his deeds saw the image and likeness of Christ’s mediation, when he said to the children of Israel: “The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brethren,” listen to Him, “just as you asked the Lord your God at Horeb on the day of the meeting” (Deut. 18:15-16). Thus, what was accomplished through Moses, and the power of his mediation, was an image and likeness; but much more indescribable is the way of mediation in Christ. For he was the servant of the law and the shadow and the transmitter of the highest guidance, and Christ, as the Lord of the law and the prophets, lays down the laws that are pleasing to Him and became a mediator due to the fact that in Him divinity and humanity come closer and, as it were, converge into one, since in Christ both are conceived together. “And Moses is faithful in all His house, as a servant,... and Christ is as a Son in His house; “We are His house” (Heb. 3:5-6), we who have been brought through faith in Him to true freedom.
So, there is no doubt that the priestly teacher Moses is the mediator of carnal freedom, letters and shadows; Our Lord Jesus Christ is the author of that which is above the law, and gives incomparably better carnal freedom, that is, spiritual freedom. That is why He said to the sons of Israel freed according to the flesh: “If you continue in My word, then you are truly My disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free” (John 8:31-32). And again: “Everyone who commits sin is a slave of sin. But the slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever. So, if the Son sets you free, you will be truly free” (John 8:34-36).
P. You said it very well.
J. After this we should not glory in fleshly glory, but in spiritual glory and in the righteousness that is in Christ, and not in the law. For if remaining in sin is slavery, and the law does not in the least justify, but, on the contrary, condemns and accuses those who transgress it; then isn’t it clear to everyone that all justification is in Christ, that through Him and in Him spiritual perfection is achieved by the power of sanctification? And the wise Paul writes: “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, first to the Jew, then to the Greek. In it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith, as it is written: The righteous shall live by faith” (Rom. 1:16-17). In the following words he depicts the uselessness and powerlessness of the ancient law: “And that by the law no one is justified before God, this is clear, because the righteous will live by faith. But the law is not of faith; but whoever does it will live by it” (Gal. 3:11-12). Thus, by faith in Christ we are justified and freed from spiritual slavery.
K. That’s not what I’m saying; It was not in vain that the law was proclaimed; it is given to help, as it is written. In fact, in relation to education, to the knowledge of sinfulness and to the fact that we can assimilate the simplest principles of God’s messages (Heb. 5:12), how can we not consider it useful? But he is powerless to cleanse from sin and bring to sanctification. And the divine Paul told us: “But we know that whatever the law says, it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth is stopped, and the whole world becomes guilty before God, because by the works of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight; for by the law is the knowledge of sin” (Rom. 3:19-20). So, the law is able to indicate sin, but does not lead to the praise of virtue. And indeed, to say, for example: “Do not commit adultery, do not steal (Ex. 20: 14-15), do not break an oath, and all the like,” was characteristic of the law, as indicating the types of depravity and removing impurity, but not introducing the knowledge of virtue and not communicating to the listeners the clearest knowledge of an immaculate life.
For, in my opinion, it is unreasonable to propose among the rules of the most perfect way of life that one should not commit a shameful thing. On the contrary, I consider it very fair that we should only receive a commendable review in all respects if we, having rejected and driven away evil and, as it were, left below to remain in depravity and vile impurity, we ascend to the very heights of virtue. Our Lord Jesus Christ says: truly, truly, “I say to you, unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:20). You, of course, understand that the Savior commanded us to accept a righteousness that is higher than the legal; and the wise Paul, knowing that this is a wonderful thing, writes: “Although I have hope in the flesh. If anyone else thinks to trust in the flesh, then more so I, circumcised on the eighth day, from the family of Israel, the tribe of Benjamin, a Jew of the Hebrews, according to the teaching of a Pharisee, through zeal a persecutor of the Church of God, and according to legal righteousness blameless. But what was an advantage for me, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ.
And I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish, that I may win Christ, and be found in him, not having my own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith” (Phil. 3:4-9).
P. I understand, because it is said clearly; However, say this: if the ancient law was not sufficient for perfection, then why was not justification through faith and sanctification through it proclaimed to us from the very beginning?
K: Therefore, friend, I would say that it is natural for the dirty to be washed, the defiled to be cleansed, and the darkened to be enlightened. I think it is proper, according to the word of the Savior, to heal the paralytic, and to call to repentance those who are not sanctified, but burdened with sins (Matthew 9:12-13). Was it not necessary that those called for forgiveness should be condemned in advance and that they should be released after they had been exposed to danger due to their inherent weakness? Therefore, it was necessary that first the law, the index of sin, should appear, as if some kind of accuser and strict accuser of universal weakness, so that the greatness of the Divine goodness revealed through Christ would become clear to us. For where or how could the grace of forgiveness take place if it were not preceded by accusation? If, keeping the brevity of speech, we need to turn to some ancient narratives, then I will point to Abraham, to whom God gave the promise of grace through faith, and since he was among the first to receive mercy, then it was in him that He showed that the forgiveness granted by the goodness of God is above the law.
For it is written that “Abram believed the Lord, and He counted it to him as righteousness” (Gen. 15:6). Moreover, Paul also testifies, saying: “When was it imputed? after circumcision or before circumcision? Not after circumcision, but before circumcision. And he received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness through faith, which he had while uncircumcised” (Rom. 4:10-11). He heard God clearly saying that all nations will be blessed because of you (Gen. 12:3). This about “you” can mean: in your likeness. This is precisely how Paul understands this and says: “And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles through faith, foretold to Abraham: In you all nations will be blessed. Therefore those who believe are blessed with faithful Abraham” (Gal. 3:8-9). So, circumcision is a sign of the faith that exists in uncircumcision, Abraham was not justified by the works of the law, and the praise of faith is higher than carnal circumcision, because he was called the friend of God.
P. It is natural now for me to be perplexed as to why this slowdown in sanctification through faith occurred? Why does the sign seem to be in first place, and the highest seem to be in second place?
K: Didn’t we just say that it was a work of amazing and ineffable art, that the condemning law preceded in time the justifying faith? Does not light shine in darkness (John 1:5) and power is not made perfect in weakness (2 Cor. 12:9), according to Scripture?
K. So, “The Law came after, and thus the crime increased”; for where there is no law, there is no crime (Rom. 5:20). And how would it be possible to know about the forgiveness of a crime and the disposition towards it if the law did not condemn us in advance? That what I said is true and that my reasoning on this subject is not weak or absurd, this was confirmed by Paul, saying that the law “was given after the transgressions, until the time of the coming of the seed to whom the promise relates, and was taught through angels” (Gal. 3:19). Being very wise, Paul tries in advance to stop in advance the cunning and doubts that may someday arise among some. For it was natural for some to be indignant at the delay of justification by faith and to say that the previous advent of the law was the abrogation of the ancient promise. Therefore he says: “Is the law contrary to the promises of God? No way! For if a law had been given that could give life, then true righteousness would have come from the law; but the Scripture has concluded all under sin, so that the promise might be given to those who believe through faith in Jesus Christ.
And before the coming of faith, we were imprisoned under the guard of the law, until the time when it was necessary to open ourselves to faith. So the law was a guide for us to Christ, so that we might be justified by faith; after the coming of faith, we are no longer under the guidance of a teacher. For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus" (Gal. 3:21-26). He explains the same bewilderment very well by adding: “I say that the covenant about Christ, previously established by God, is not abolished by the law, which appeared four hundred and thirty years later, so that the promise loses its validity. For if the inheritance is by law, it is no longer by promise; but God gave it to Abraham according to the promise” (Gal. 3:17–18). Thus, the law, having imprisoned us in sin, became for us a guide to Christ, for Christ is the goal of the law and the prophets. Therefore, He said to the Jews who did not believe in him: “If you had believed Moses, you would have believed Me, because he wrote about Me” (John 5:46). This means that we are not justified by the works of the law, but, on the contrary, by faith in Christ. “All who are established by the works of the law are under oath.
For it is written: Cursed is everyone who does not continually do all that is written in the book of the law. ...For it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree,” so that the blessing of Abraham through Christ Jesus may come to the Gentiles, so that we may receive the promised Spirit through faith” (Gal. 3:10, 13–14).
P. But, most respected, if you please, let’s now move on better to something else that is useful to know; about the law and economy through it, this is enough.
K. So tell me what is pleasant for you, and what is not too difficult for me to say.
P. My bewilderment is not very difficult and not impossible to resolve; and I think that what we are looking for can be comprehended even very easily if Christ sends us Divine light. So, after we have accepted justification by faith and put an end to serving in shadows and images, we will not honor God with bloody offerings?
K: Of course; for it is written: “Honor the Lord with your wealth and with the firstfruits of all your increase” (Prov. 3:9); “Such sacrifices are acceptable to God” (Heb. 13:16), according to the saints.
P. So, it is foolish to worry about sacrificing oxen and fulfilling the instructions of the ancient commandment; for the slaughter of sheep and incense, in addition to cookies and fine flour poured with oil, turtle doves and doves, are sacrifices characteristic of the worship of God of that time. But why, tell me, was this not rejected from the very beginning, but only now God lays down what pleases Him and reveals to us images of spiritual sacrifice?
K: So do you think and dare to say that God first decreed incorrectly and, as if erroneously deviating from the most perfect good, could hardly find the best? Or did he first choose what existed, as it were, in the shadows, as what seemed sufficient to Him, and then was subjected to some passion for novelty that is characteristic of us, and therefore made a different decision and established for us a new way of worshiping God, previously unknown?
P. Not at all; in my opinion this is nonsense. I don’t even think that there was any inherent possibility for Him to make a mistake at least in anything; but I am only very pleased to know by what motive He legitimized one thing for earthly creatures then, and now another.
K. Your words force us to go back, didn’t I say that the law was a teacher, that is, a nourisher of all those still young, and that to people who were not able to understand what true good is and what is the perfect and pleasing will of God, it mysteriously pointed out this and denoted it as if in crude images? And you will understand, and you will understand without much effort, that the image of spiritual service has always been very pleasing to God from the very beginning; but he was still unattainable and inaccessible to the souls of the Jews. Therefore, what was needed was a word suitable for young people, simple instructions and skillful care for children, without anything difficult or harsh; that is why God first laid down the law that is in the images. However, He showed in advance that true ministry will come and will be in due time; and He recognized bloody sacrifices and service, which was a shadow, as worthy of rejection and set it aside, saying through the prophet Amos: “I hate, I reject your holidays and do not smell the sacrifices during your solemn assemblies.
Remove from Me the noise of your songs, for I will not listen to the sound of your harps” (Am.5:21,23). And through Micah he portrayed a man who wanted to know exactly how he could do good without blame: “With what shall I appear before the Lord, bow down before the God of heaven? Shall I come before Him with burnt offerings and first-year-old calves? But is it possible to please the Lord with thousands of rams or countless streams of oil? Shall I give Him my firstborn for my transgression, and the fruit of my womb for the sin of my soul?” (Mic. 6:6-7.) Then right after this He says, “O man! It has been told to you what is good and what the Lord requires of you: to act justly, to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God” (Mic. 6:8.) Isn’t it obvious that this is the same as what Christ said: “If anyone wants to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me” (Matthew 16:24)? And again: he who loves Me, “Let him follow Me; and where I am, there will my servant also be” (John 12:26). So, serving Christ does not consist in worshiping God under the law, but in the holy and spiritual.
P. . You said it very correctly.
K. And with the voice of Isaiah He strongly rebukes the children of Israel, saying: “Hear the word of the Lord, O princes of Sodom; Hear the law of our God, O people of Gomorrah! Why do I need your multitude of sacrifices? says the Lord. I am satisfied with the burnt offerings of rams and the fat of fattened cattle, and I do not want the blood of bulls and lambs and goats. When you come to appear before Me, who demands that you trample My courts? Bear no more vain gifts: smoking is disgusting to Me; New moon and Saturdays, holiday gatherings I can’t stand: lawlessness - and celebration! My soul hates your new moons and your holidays: they are a burden to Me; It’s hard for me to carry them” (Is. 1:10-14). He says the same thing through the prophet Malachi to people who are very hateful to Him; Moreover, He Mentions those times when all over the earth they will offer Him a bloodless and mental sacrifice; the incense is incomparable. He said this: “My favor is upon you, says the Lord of hosts, and the offering from your hands is not pleasing to Me.
For from the east of the sun to the west my name will be great among the nations, and in every place they will offer incense to my name, a pure sacrifice; My name will be great among the nations, says the Lord of hosts” (Mal. 1:10-11). You understand that according to His words, all nations will offer Him incense and a pure sacrifice. And calling the later covenant with us in Christ new, He recognized the first as old (Heb. 8:13); for the divine Paul also writes to us that here, having spoken of a pure sacrifice to come in his time from every nation, He condemns the ancient one for not being such. For how can a sacrifice be pure if it does not purify and does not have the power to perfect in virtue? Therefore, blessed Paul says that she was not blameless, and it was necessary to bring in what was perfect by Christ, and to find a place for the second sacrifice (Heb. 8:7).
P. So, service in the shadows is completely displeasing to the all-holy God?
K. Quite so. We can hear Him speaking clearly to the children of Israel through the mouth of Jeremiah: “Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Add your burnt offerings to your sacrifices and eat the flesh; For I did not speak to your fathers, nor did I give them any commandment in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt concerning burnt offerings and sacrifices; but he gave them this commandment: “Obey my voice” (Jer. 7:21-23). Thus, as for the exact will of the legislator, according to it, at the beginning, the law that exists in the shadows would not have been proclaimed at all, and the service in the spirit would not have been kept silent. But since this was a difficult matter and the possibility of perfect virtue was not available to the people of that time; on the contrary, for them it was cruel and severe, a written law was prudently established, as if it were some kind of exercise characteristic of childhood, having the image of truth. However, the lawmaker clearly showed us that this is not what He especially desires, but what is desired is what Christ proclaimed.
Therefore He said again: “Therefore I struck through the prophets and smote them with the words of My mouth, and My judgment was like the rising light. For I want mercy, not sacrifice, and knowledge of God more than burnt offerings” (Hos. 6:5-6). For in the sight of God, love for brothers in fulfillment of the law and the advantage of knowing Christ, through whom the Father Himself can be known to us, is much better than a calf that perishes and the slaughter of a sheep. And no one will doubt that this knowledge brings eternal life when Christ says to the Heavenly Father: “This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent” (John 17:3). But how can one doubt that the truth itself will in no way lie?
K. And about Israel, who avoided communion with God, because, having not accepted faith, they did not know Him, He decisively says that they can only return to their original state only through Christ, abandoning the legal customs. It is precisely written like this: “For for a long time the children of Israel will remain without a king and without a prince and without a sacrifice, without an altar, without an ephod and without a teraphim. After this the children of Israel will turn and seek the Lord their God and David their king, and they will revere the Lord and His goodness in the last days” (Hosea 3:4-5). For when the fulfillment of tongues comes, then all Israel will be saved (Rom. 11:25-26), but in Christ; and He is called David because He is from the seed and tribe of David. That even the very sacrifices under the law will be abolished, He clearly stated, saying through Joel: “Gird on sackcloth and weep, priests! howl, altar servers! Come in, sleep in sackcloth, O servants of my God! for your grain offering and drink offering are no longer in the house of God" (Joel.
1:13), and also through the same prophet: “The grain offering and drink offerings have ceased in the house of the Lord; the priests, the servants of the Lord, weep” (Joel 1:9). Moreover, He promised that the tabernacle itself would be removed, saying: “And it will come to pass, when you have multiplied and become abundant in fruit on the earth, in those days, says the Lord, they will no longer say: ‘the ark of the covenant of the Lord’; he will not even come to mind, and they will not remember him, and they will not come to him, and he will no longer be” (Jer. 3:16): because when the sacrifice in images and blood was completely destroyed, it was necessary to remove the tabernacle itself, since in its place a more true one was erected, that is, the Church, about which Christ Himself said: “I will dwell here, for I have desired it” (Ps. 131, 14). And that the way of serving will transfer and change for the better into a new ministry in Christ, this is clear from what Malachi writes to us about God: “And he will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the sons of Levi and refine them as gold and as silver, that they may offer sacrifice to the Lord in righteousness.
Then the sacrifice of Judah and Jerusalem will be acceptable to the Lord, as in the days of old and as in former years” (Mal. 3:3-4). Do you understand that he is talking about what is about to be a remaking and transformation of the priesthood, and with it the victims?
K. Isn’t it to these thoughts that the words “refines” and “cleanses”, which seem to be said about gold and a goldsmith, are meant to lead us to?
K. That the Word made man should spiritually accomplish something of this kind, God the Father testified to this, saying: “Behold, I am sending My angel, and he will prepare the way before Me, and suddenly the Lord, whom you seek, and the Angel of the covenant, whom you desire, will come to His church; Behold, He comes, says the Lord of hosts. And who will endure the day of His coming, and who will stand when He appears? For He is like a refiner’s fire and like a refiner’s lye, and He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and He will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and like silver” (Mal. 3:1-3). Thus, He says that the renewal and transformation of the priesthood will take place, showing that the image of the sacred rite will be none other than the sacrament of Christ. Through the voice of Ezekiel, He also said about those chosen for consecration: “They will draw near to Me to serve Me, and will stand before Me to offer Me fat and blood, says the Lord God. They will enter My sanctuary and approach My table to serve Me and keep My watch” (Ezek. 44:15-16).
Shall we not rightly call the “fat” and the “blood” and the service “at the table” the sacrament of Christ?
K. God showed us very clearly the very time at which the transition to better things and renewal will take place, saying: “On the eighth day and beyond, the priests will offer your burnt offerings and thanksgiving offerings on the altar; and I will be merciful to you, says the Lord God” (Ezek.43:27). The eighth day He calls the time of the Resurrection of our Savior, when burnt offerings began to be made, that is, the perfect and complete dedication to God of those who believed, pleasing to God, and the offering of spiritual gifts. The divine Paul also teaches this when he writes: “through Him let us continually offer to God the sacrifice of praise, that is, the fruit of lips glorifying His name” (Heb. 13:15). And again: “Do not forget also to do good and be sociable, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God” (Heb. 13:16). And what other fruits from us, justified by faith, can be offered to God, if not prolonged and unceasing praise? And the purest sacrifice is the incomparable fragrance of an immaculate life.
P. Our reasoning is excellent and true that least of all can one be justified by the law, but, on the contrary, by faith in Christ and the spiritual guidance of the Gospel. But I would like this to be told in clear examples and that I could learn this from the Holy Scripture itself.
K: I am ready to begin this, my friend, at your request. But you, for your part, seek the exact and definite meaning of each of my provisions, and if it seems to you that I am not thinking or speaking quite correctly, then you judiciously correct and change in accordance with the truth, imitating the best builders, who, when their work deviates from what is proper, skillfully remake it in the way that seems best. And as if the beginning of our speeches about this we will make the priestly teacher Moses; Having briefly touched on the narrative about it, I will try to completely convince and clearly show that the law did not at all achieve perfection and is insufficient for salvation, but that the Redeemer of all and the Savior is Christ.
P. Know that you will bring considerable benefit if you show yourself free from slowness in this too. Although it is very difficult to understand what we are talking about, and the knowledge of what we are looking for is very difficult to achieve, yet God who reveals is rich.
K. You speak well; and your speech encourages me to, like dogs with a keen sense of smell, follow the tracks of thoughts hidden in the depths and invisible. So, when in the desert called Midian, blessed Moses, tending flocks of sheep, was at the very foot of Mount Horeb, he was shown, according to the dispensation of God, something strange and amazing. “And the angel of the Lord appeared to him,” it is said, “in a flame of fire from the midst of a thorn bush. And he saw that the thorn bush was burning with fire, but the bush was not consumed. Moses said: “I will go and see this great phenomenon, why the bush is not burned” (Ex. 3:2-3). Kupina is not one of the plants cultivated by humans; on the contrary, it is a type of wild thorn and mountain plant, on which a terrible miracle was performed, which was a beautiful image of the sacrament. The angel was the one who was apparently completely consumed by fire from everywhere, yet did not communicate to the tree the slightest effect of fire, but as if it did not exist, and the tree did not take any part in the warmth coming from the fire.
K. Israel, as if it were a wild tree and did not have the tender fruits of righteousness (since it was brought up in the laws of Egypt), was given, through the mediation of Angels, a law capable, however, of enlightening, if it were understood spiritually, and of dispelling mental darkness (because this is also the effect of fire); however, it was useless for those who accepted it, and, of course, not in itself, but because those to whom this law was given did not perceive its light in their minds and hearts, and only having externally mastered the letter, as if the appearance of light, did not actually have what they thought to have. Something like this, in my opinion, means that the fire was visible around the bush, but did not impart any warmth to the tree. And that the light of the law was useless for the Jews, this is clearly shown by the Savior Himself, saying: “Search the Scriptures, for through them you think to have eternal life; and they testify of Me. But you do not want to come to Me in order to have life” (John 5:39–40).
And a little later He still says to the Jewish teachers and all the people: “Do not think that I will accuse you before the Father: you have an accuser, Moses, in whom you trust. If you do not believe his writings, how will you believe My words?” (John 5:45, 47.) For those who very foolishly rejected the completely elementary teaching through the law, how would they receive the teaching from Christ, who imparts knowledge of the perfect good? Seeing a burning bush, but not being consumed and not in the least inferior to the fire, blessed Moses was surprised at why the bush was not burning. So one can be amazed at the complete insensibility of the Israelites, who, having accepted the law from God as a helper and protector, and equipped with its light, did not value it at all and, not having established this in their minds and hearts, did not receive benefit from it, because their minds truly seemed to be dead and lifeless, and in fairness one could say about them: why does the bush not burn? Otherwise, together with us, they would become burning in spirit (Rom. 12:11).
K: This event seems to allow us to intelligently see other thoughts in it. When the Israelites were about to leave the land of Egypt, throw off the yoke of involuntary service, and as a result fall under the wrath of their master, then God gave what happened to the bush as a sign that they would be much stronger than the fire itself and would be elusive to those who could oppress them, in accordance, I think, with the Divine saying: “Fear not, for I am with you.... The flame will not burn you; ...the rivers will not cover you” (Is. 43:5,2).
K: So Moses was surprised at the vision and hastened to approach it. “The Lord saw that he was coming to watch, and God called to him from the midst of the bush and said: “Moses! Moses! He said: here I am...! And God said: Do not come here; take off your sandals from your feet, for the place on which you stand is holy ground” (Ex. 3:4-5). Blessed Moses is for us the image of the law: “they have Moses and the prophets” (Luke 16:29), says blessed Abraham in the gospel stories. Or does what was said seem incredible to you?
P. Not at all: Moses is truly the representative of the law.
K. So Israel and the flock that lived according to the law and under the law were called: “The Lord,” it is said, “the God of the Jews has called us” (Ex. 3:18). And although they listened to the calling of God, as Moses also testifies: “and they said: everything that the Lord has said we will do.” (Ex. 24:3); but since submission to the law does not have sufficient power for cleansing: “it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins” (Heb. 10:4); then Moses is forbidden to approach God: “Do not approach here,” it is said (Ex. 3:5). For good is not accessible through the law and the power of life according to the prescriptions of Moses is not very sufficient to lead to God; Christ places us before Him through sanctification, because those who try to unite with the holy God must be holy: “Be holy,” it is said, “for I am holy” (Lev. 11:44). And that the way of life according to the law is not completely blameless, the Lord immediately showed with the words: “Take off your shoes from your feet, for the place on which you stand is holy ground” (Exod. 3, 5).
He ordered the priest Moses to take off his shoes, showing by this that the path of life according to the law was not yet pure and not completely free from the works of corruption and deadness. And that one should not approach God in whom there are remnants of deadness and corruption, the divine Moses learned this from the custom of the Hellenes: since they did not enter churches with shoes on their feet made from dead animals, and this, according to their laws, was considered a kind of defilement. But what freed us from deadness, corruption and the impurity that relates to this is, my friend, not the law and not the path of life according to the letter of Moses, but, on the contrary, faith in Christ and the most complete purification of the gospel way of life. Or is that not what I'm saying?
K. When Moses took off his shoes, then ran and approached, God cried out: “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. Moses covered his face because he was afraid to look at God” (Ex. 3:6). Thus, having put aside the deathly way of thinking and, so to speak, walking with clean and free feet along the path of life in Christ, we will be close to God, obviously, in a spiritual state, and not in distance in space; because these works of Moses are images and shadows. Then we will assimilate the doctrine of the heavenly secrecy and gather within ourselves the knowledge of God, since the Father reveals Himself to us in the Son. We will see Him, and we will see Him incomparably better than the ancient people saw Him in the face of Moses, who turned away his face because he was afraid to look at God, which signifies the weakness of the mind of those who teach in the law, who do not stand in some way before God and cannot contemplate His glory, in accordance with what is sung in the Psalms: “Let their eyes be darkened, so that they cannot see” ( Ps.68:24), or with the following words: behold, “a people who are foolish and unwise,” they have eyes and do not see (Jer.5:21).
We, fixing our pure and enlightened eyes on the doctrine of the ineffable nature, contemplate in the Son the excellent beauty of the horn and the Father. And while to the Jews, who thought that they had seen the Father, Christ wisely said: “But you have never heard His voice, nor seen His face” (John 5:37); Philip, very curious and more persistent than he should be, however, out of curiosity, asking and saying: “Lord! show us the Father, and it is enough for us. Jesus said to him: I have been with you so long, and you do not know Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; how do you say, show us the Father? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father in Me? The words that I speak to you, I do not speak from Myself; The Father who abides in Me, He does the works” (John 14:8-10). That the understanding and teaching imparted by the commandment of the law is not very strong and is not sufficient for accurate and impeccable knowledge of God, we can see this, as if in the shadow and mysteriously, in Laban’s two daughters. For it is written that “Laban had two daughters; eldest name: Leah; youngest name: Rachel.
Leah had weak eyes, but Rachel had a beautiful figure and a beautiful face.” And although the patriarch Jacob was committed to Rachel, he married Leah before her (Gen. 29, 16–28). If this image is raised to truth, then you will see the sacrament of Christ. Two wives are called to a spiritual union with Christ and are in marriage with Him: the eldest and the first, called through Moses in the person of the Jewish synagogue, to which it was said by the voice of the prophets from God: “But your eyes and your heart are turned only to your self-interest and to the shedding of innocent blood, to doing oppression and violence” (Jer. 22, 17); the second is the youngest and most beautiful, that is, the Church of the Gentiles, to which the divine David said: “Hear, daughter, and see, and incline your ear, and forget your people and your father’s house. And the King will desire your beauty; for He is your Lord, and you shall worship Him” (Ps. 44:11–12); and in another place it is said to her: “Your eyes are doves” (Song. 1, 14).
The beauty of the Church, of course, is mental and truly not earthly; for it is written, “All the glory of the daughter of the King” is Heshbon (Ps. 44:14), and Heshbon in Hebrew means “within” because the beauty of the Church is elusive to the eyes of the body, but clearly visible to the eyes of a pure mind. Isn't it?
K. So, according to the law, it’s not possible through childcare! to contemplate Divine and pure beauty, but rather in Christ and through His instructions.
K. And it is not Moses or the law that is sufficient, my friend, for redemption and deliverance from the hand and power of the devil, but the Lord of Moses, that is, Christ, and the power of His sacrament. And indeed, when God said: “And the Lord said...: I have seen the affliction of my people in Egypt, and I have heard their cry from their taskmasters; I know his sorrows and am going to deliver him from the hand of the Egyptians and bring him out of this land... into a good and spacious land where milk and honey flow” (Ex. 3:7-8), and immediately added: “And now the cry of the children of Israel has already reached Me, and I see the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them. So go: I will send you to Pharaoh...; and bring my people the children of Israel out of Egypt” (Ex. 3:9-10), then Moses exclaimed in clear and definite words: “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh... and bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?” (Ex.3, 11). Isn’t this image clear and doesn’t the method of refusal have anything to do with the incomparably higher and most excellent, that is, Christ? Otherwise it would be incongruous to say: “Who am I”?
After all, it is very easy to deliver nations and save tribes and lead them to freedom when the one who holds them in slavery, that is, Satan, is crushed and weakened.
P. Very easy; you said it right.
K. What then? Isn’t it quite convenient to see from here that the Only Begotten became the leader of the salvation of all? For by Him we have been redeemed and, as the prophet says, “not an intercessor, less than an angel, but the Lord Himself saved” us (Is. 63:9).
P. Where do you derive this from?
K. The God of all clearly commanded Moses to immediately go to the children of Israel and directly say that with the help and intercession of almighty God they would easily be freed from difficult slavery in Egypt, return home and, having again received the freedom of their fathers, would dwell in the holy land and there they would abundantly enjoy the benefits that God would give them. “And Moses answered,” it is said, “And if they do not believe me and do not listen to my voice and say: The Lord has not appeared to you? ... And the Lord said to him, What is this in your hand? He answered: a rod. The Lord said, Throw it on the ground. He threw it on the ground, and the rod turned into a serpent, and Moses fled from it. And the Lord said to Moses, Stretch out your hand and take him by the tail. He stretched out his hand, and He took it... and it became a rod in his hand” (Ex. 4:1-4).
P. What an extraordinary miracle, my friend! Tell me again yourself, what does it mean?
K. If you please, I’ll tell you. It was not unknown to Moses that the Israelites, having lived for a long time with the Egyptians, having fallen into all kinds of sins and enjoying native pleasures, would therefore be slow and very incapable of good behavior; and he wisely thought that the burden of work would involuntarily force them to obedience if they saw him performing miracles; for although it is truly difficult to lag behind Pleasure and not easy to tame the wildness of passions in us, however, when sweat overcomes and painful work is imposed, then, promising to free them from them, he could easily convince them to despise even the most pleasant things.
And I think that God, who has knowledge of every good, in his very wise judgment at this very time sent upon the Israelites the especially intolerable and painful love of power of the Egyptians so that they would be disposed to flee, so that they would not become, attached to ordinary pleasures, stubborn and very intractable and would not willingly become accustomed to serving in Egypt, despising the goodness of the Caller. them to freedom, placing higher the pleasure of the present time in comparison with small, sometimes occurring labors, and even considering it better than the blessings of God themselves. And indeed, they, with great joy, having freed themselves from the oppression of their former rulers, living in the desert and feeding on the highest and heavenly food - I mean the food of manna - not without tears they remember the Egyptian luxury, arguing that it was better and preferable for them to die while enjoying the Egyptian dishes, and childishly exclaiming: “Oh, that we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we were sitting at the meat pots, when we ate our fill of bread!” (Ex. 16:3).
K: So, Moses knew that some kind of miracle was necessary to convince them to obey. Therefore he says: “If they do not listen to me and say: the Lord did not appear to you?” (Ex. 4, 1). And the Lord immediately commanded everyone to perform a miracle, as if it were some kind of exercise; By this experience, He convinced in advance, I think, his servant that for all others, as well as for him, what he did would be enough to accurately demonstrate his divine calling, since no one else has the power to change the nature of existence at will, except the Creator of everything. At the same time, He mysteriously offered this miracle as an indication of salvation through Christ; because in it we will see the transformation of human nature into an ancient state and, as it were, its transformation into what we were in Adam, just brought into being and not yet deprived of the highest glory and sanctification.
P. How? Your speech is unclear.
K. Isn’t the rod, or scepter, a symbol of the kingdom for us, Palladium?
P. Without a doubt; after all, some of the ancients swore by him, as people who are engaged in chanting Hellenic deeds say.
K. What then? Don't you agree that he is a plant of paradise, which grew green in the gardens before it was cut down?
K. So now transport your thoughts to the ancient Adam and in him, as at the beginning and root of the race, imagine all of humanity; at the same time, think about the fact that he was created in the image of the One who created him, appointed to possess everything that is on earth, and that, leading his life in holiness, he was, as it were, in the hand of God and was as if a paradise plant, blooming and noble. When he, seduced by the tricks of the serpent, moved away from his original state and was convicted of neglecting the Divine commandment, then, torn away from his first position and root, he slipped out of the hand of the One who held him in holiness, fell to the ground, that is, from the heights of virtue, and faint-heartedly came to the idea of choosing the carnal, having already fallen ill with unmitigated malice and not differing in anything, I think, from the serpent. So he lost his original kingdom and glory, was expelled from paradise and removed from pleasure. Isn’t this what the divine Moses told us?
K. The Lawgiver, seeing him descend to such depravity, ran away in some way and was disgusted by his inherent malice; just as Moses, leaving the serpent, ran, for it is written that the Holy Spirit of wisdom will flee from deceit and will go away “from foolish speculations” (Wis. 1:5), since holiness and impurity, light and darkness, justice and injustice cannot come together.
K. So, the rod fell out of the hand. Moses, may mean that the one created in the image of God was at first a plant of paradise and was in the glory of the kingdom and in the hand of the Creator, and then fell to the earth, because he chose to be mindful of the flesh and, as a result of extreme cruelty, was like a serpent in the eyes of the Divine. But Moses was commanded to stretch out his hand and take the serpent by the tail, and he immediately turned into what he was before, and was no longer a serpent, but again a rod and a plant of paradise. And God the Father, when he deigned to renew everything in Christ and recreate what had been created into its original state, sent to us from heaven the Only Begotten, His right hand, truly the creator and savior of everything, according to the Scripture: “The right hand of the Lord has created power, the right hand of the Lord has exalted me” (Ps. 117:15-16). It was then that He raised up the human race lying on the earth and, having freed us from the bestial cruelty consisting of depravity and sins, through sanctification He elevated us to royal honor and meekness characteristic of virtue.
And He gave first and foremost the ancient dwelling intended for believers to the thief hanging with Him: “Truly I tell you,” He said, “today you will be with Me in Paradise” (Luke 23:43).
P. Our reasoning was excellent and correct. However, tell me also why God commands to take the serpent by the tail, and not by the head or the middle?
K. Because, my dear, it had to be done this way: since taking it by the tail, and not by the middle or by the head, was suitable for the sacrament.
K. After all, every animal has a head, as it were, a beginning, and a tail an end. Let us now think of the entire human race as one animal. Christ took him by the tail, that is, by the last and final parts of him, for He came in the last times of the age. And how, although Moses took the serpent by the tail, the transformation reached the very head, for the whole serpent turned into a rod; in the same way, although Christ took over the last parts, the transformation through grace extends to the entire race and reaches the very head, that is, Adam; for it is written that “For this purpose Christ died, and rose again, and lived again, that he might be Lord both of the dead and of the living” (Rom. 14:9). In this way, together with the latter, the redemption of the former is accomplished.
P. The reasoning is convincing for us, and the explanation does not depart from the goal.
K. He made him very firm in the faith promised by two other Divine signs; for immediately after this it is written: “Again the Lord said unto him, Put thy hand into thy bosom. And he put his hand into his bosom, took it out..., and behold, his hand became white with leprosy, like snow. [Also] he said...: Put your hand in your bosom again. And he put his hand into his bosom; and he took it out of his bosom, and behold, it again became the same as his body” (Ex. 4: 6-7). See how decent and very worthy of wonder is what is being done, and how it can lead, like the first, to an explanation of the sacrament of Christ.
P. Explain this, because I don’t understand anything yet.
K. Although leprosy is a disease of the flesh, it exceeds the strength of doctors and is not amenable to their art. Further, the leper is defiled and unclean according to the ancient commandment of Moses, and is also very hateful for the Hellenes who respect the customs; because the one who suffers from this is half dead, and the dead are disgusting and unclean. So, the ability to heal the leper, as supernatural and exceeding our measure, is attributed to the only Divine and ineffable nature and action. That is why they were surprised at Christ when He with authority cried out to the leper: “I want, be cleansed” (Matthew 8:3): for the omnipotent voice performed a miracle in this man, which raises the very dead from their graves and which is stronger than death and corruption.
So, God commanded Moses to hide his hand in his bosom, then ordered him, having stripped it of his tight-fitting clothing, to show it all covered with leprosy; when he hid her a second time in his bosom, he immediately reveals her free from what happened to her, so that the Israelites would understand from here that Moses, as if armed with ineffable and ineffable power, would protect the offended and lawlessly enslaved Egyptians. This narrative is not extensive, but is useful for research. And I think that it is necessary, carefully examining the meaning of the proposed passage, to find out what it means that the hand was hidden in the bosom, and that, when taken out of there, it was severely affected by leprosy. It is also necessary to consider the method of cleansing, namely, that by putting his hand into the bosom, he freed her from the disease.
P. Truth; Studying each of these questions will bring us a lot of benefit.
K: It seems to me that such a strange event, as if in the shadows, points to something like this. While man, created in the image of God, was, as it were, cherished in the bosom of God and had not yet trampled upon the commandments given to him, until then, surrounded by the protection and love of God, he remained pure, holy and did not know mortification in death. When he came out from under the protection and love of God through deviation towards evil, he obviously turned out to be defiled, vile and sick with deathly uncleanness. But when God and the Father again accepted us into Himself in Christ, clothed us with Divine grace and has us, as it were, in the bosom through adoption, then we, together with uncleanness, casting off the deadness that came from the ancient curse, are elevated to our original state; for it is written about the hand of Moses that it was restored “and behold, it became the same again” (Ex. 4:7).
K: And then the third sign tells us very clearly and openly about the mystery of Christ; because God also said this to Moses: “If they do not believe you and do not listen to the voice of the first sign, then they will believe the voice of the other sign; If they do not believe these two signs and do not listen to your voice, then take water from the river and pour it onto dry land; and the water taken from the river will become blood on the dry land” (Exodus 4:8-9). For the last sign for the world was the death of Christ and cleansing by water and blood with the addition, without a doubt, of the holy body, which is designated by dry land; I won’t even talk about the fact that blood and water flowed out of our holy ribs when they were pierced by a spear, because this is very well known to everyone. But the fact that the death of the Savior is called a sign can be clearly learned from the Holy Scriptures. The very daring Pharisees, although many miracles had already been performed, as if none had happened, approached Christ with the words: “Teacher! We would like to see a sign from You” (Matthew 12:38).
He answered them: “An evil and adulterous generation seeks a sign; and no sign will be given to him except the sign of the prophet Jonah, for just as Jonah was in the belly of the whale for three days and three nights, so the Son of Man will be in the heart of the earth for three days and three nights.” (Matthew 12:39–40). So, the first help to us in Christ was given through the law of Moses; for the law, according to the voice of the prophet, “is to help the Father” (Is. 8:20); but Moses took it by the tail. The second then purification in Christ was through the holy prophets and through the voice and messenger of John; for they said: “Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean” (Is. 1:16), and this one called for the baptism of repentance. And the third sign, which is also called the last, is the death of Christ, which was followed by faith. “If,” it is said, “they do not believe you and do not listen to the voice of the first sign, then they will believe the voice of another sign” (Ex. 4:8).
You see, He says very clearly that faith will not follow the first sign, that is, not the help of the law, and not the middle cleansing, that is, the cleansing through the holy prophets and John, but only the voice of the last sign; for the sacrament of Christ is not silent, but calls everyone throughout the whole earth with a high and loud preaching (Proverbs 9:3) to purification by water and blood and to life-giving through the communion of holy flesh. Thus, the ministry of the law consisted in foretelling about Christ, and it itself is not very sufficient to save anyone. I think it can be shown that Moses clearly expresses this in his same writing. Although God told him: “I will be with you” (Ex. 3:12), and previously convinced him of this by working miracles, he begged Him, saying: “Oh, Lord! I am not a man of speech, and I was like that both yesterday and the day before, and when You began to speak to Your servant: I speak hard and am tongue-tied. The Lord said...: Who gave the mouth to man? who makes one dumb, or deaf, or sighted, or blind? Am I not the Lord...?
therefore go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what to say to you [Moses] said: Lord! send another whom you can send” (Exodus 4:10–13). For the law is weak and not strong enough to save the whole earth and remove man from the power of the devil. Moses did not know that he was tongue-tied and weak-voiced, especially when God began to talk to him and when he commanded him to talk about Him. So, He says, say to the children of Israel: “I am who I am... This is My name forever” (Exodus 3:14-15). The law is tongue-tied in the sense that it cannot separately present the doctrine of the Existing One and is not able to lead the mystery to the worshiped in the Holy Trinity, the venerable and ineffable nature. He has a weak voice for this, since he can only speak to the Israelis, and even then with difficulty, he is heard in Judea alone; and as for all other nations, his preaching, so to speak, did not reach their ears. That is why the divine Moses, having the foresight to have enough power to accurately and perfectly present to his listeners the teachings about God and to easily preach it to everyone!
earth, that is, Christ, says: “Lord! send someone else whom you can send.” For the one who is truly “able” is Christ; and that in due time He will be chosen for this by the good pleasure of God the Father, this is also foretold by the law. The refusal of Moses both after the Divine promise and after the manifestation of many signs may be an image of Israel, delaying and at the same time denying the Divine and Gospel service under the authority of Christ and from obedience, since the Israelites, after so many countless teachings about faith and after the appearance of miracles, retained their disobedience and remained unbelievers. Moses' refusal was twofold, for there were two times in which Israel was unbridled and stubborn: during the time of Moses, Joshua and the Judges, and then immediately after that time, in which there were prophets and John, who was, as it were, in the middle between the Apostles and prophets, since he was the end of the prophetic ministry and, as it were, the beginning of the apostolic lordship. But Moses’ refusal aroused God’s anger, and then another order was made, through which the Egyptians, oppressed by the lust for power, had to be saved.
“Then the anger of the Lord was kindled against Moses, and He said, “Have you not a brother Aaron, the Levite? I know that he can speak..., and behold, he will come out to meet you, and when he sees you, he will rejoice in his heart; You will speak to him and put words...in his mouth, and I will be with your mouth and with his mouth and will teach you what you should do; and he will speak for you to the people; So he will be your mouth, and you will be to him instead of God” (Exodus 4:14-16). For when the law turned out to be weak, and the Israelites were very rebellious, Christ was sent, the true Levite, the great High Priest, placed along with those under the law as their brother in humanity, who spoke to Moses as God, but instructed by the Father, as a prophet, although He is Lord: “I will raise up for them a Prophet from among their brethren, like you, and I will put My words in His mouth, and He will speak to them. everything that I command Him” (Deut. 18:18). And Christ Himself said: “I... do not speak from Myself: but the Father who sent Me, He gave Me a commandment, what to say and what to say” (John 12:49).
So, Christ spoke to the people and became the mouth of Moses, spiritually explaining His law to us, and Moses, for his part, was His mouth, speaking to God. For Moses appears in some respects to be closer to God, since Immanuel was under the law and declared that He kept the precepts of the wise Moses, saying: “Do not think that I came to destroy the law or the prophets: I came not to destroy, but to fulfill” (Matthew 5:17). Thus, Christ is a clear interpreter of the sacrament, translating the inarticulate language of the law into intelligibility and transforming the thinness of the letter into a very harmonious explanation; for the law in Christ is spiritual and Christ’s messages are akin to the ancients, because Aaron was the brother of Moses.
P. This means that the law itself was weak, because it did nothing.
K. That's what I say; and the low character of life under the law can be seen from what follows; since it is written that “And Moses went and returned to Jethro his father-in-law, and said to him: I will go and return to my brothers who are in Egypt, and see if they are still alive? And Jethro said to Moses, Go in peace. ... And the Lord said to Moses in [the land of] Midian: go, return to Egypt, for all who sought your life are dead. And Moses took his wife and his sons, put them on a donkey, and went to the land of Egypt” (Ex. 4:18-20).
P. But what of this? I cannot understand or explain what anyone could justly blame against life under the law.
K. Meanwhile, Palladius, those who direct a sophisticated gaze at the meaning of the above passage will find it deserving of very strong censure; since the divine Moses, chosen for the messengership, does not directly go to this task, leaving worldly things, but partly indulges in carnal concerns and consults with his family in advance about his journey. And he did not leave the land of the Midianites until he learned that the ruler of the land of Egypt had died, for he was very afraid of being killed. When he was freed from these fears, having received notification from God, then only he, taking his wife and children, comes to the land of Egypt, fulfilling what he was commanded. This is precisely the image of life according to the law, divided in some way and looking at both sides, that is, both the Divine and the human; for it is not free from earthly and worldly concerns and is not entirely sacred, while the gospel life devotes absolutely no part to what concerns the flesh! or for worldly affairs, as if he completely devotes himself to God to those who have submitted to Christ.
“But those who are Christ’s,” it is said, “have crucified the flesh with its passions and lusts” (Gal. 5:24). Therefore, when one of the disciples, having approached Christ, said: Teacher, “let me first go and bury my father,” he was admonished regarding a completely sacred life, immediately hearing: “Follow Me, and let the dead bury their dead (Matthew 8:21-22). And the divine Paul writes to some: “When God... was pleased to reveal His Son in me, so that I might preach His gospel to the Gentiles, I did not then consult with flesh and blood” (Gal. 1:15-16). And Moses consults; for, as it is said, life is divided according to the law and still lies under the fear of death: Moses was afraid to go to Egypt, avoiding death. But in Christ this too has been abolished, as St. Paul will assure us, speaking about Christ and about us: “And since the children are partakers of flesh and blood, He also took part in the same, so that through death he might destroy the one who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver those who through the fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives” (Heb. 2:14-15).
Therefore, the mind of the saints boldly resists death itself, as Paul said elsewhere: “For to me life is Christ, and death is gain” (Phil. 1:21), and again: “Who will separate us from the love of God: tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or the sword?” (Rom. 8:35.) That life under the law is obsessed with the fear of death, and the glorious life in Christ has renounced it, this is clear from the Holy Scriptures, which say that “death reigned from Adam to Moses” (Rom. 5:14). But who abolished death, shook the power of corruption and saved, together with the believers, those who were once schoolmasters under the law, who else but our one Lord Jesus Christ? “Not an intercessor, a lower angel, but the Lord Himself saved them,” said the prophetic prophecy (Is. 63:9). You can see this mystery, and very clearly, again, as if in an image, in what happened to blessed Moses. When he was already leaving the land of Midian and hastened to Egypt, God said to him: “When you go and return to Egypt, see that all the miracles that I have entrusted to you, do before the face of Pharaoh” (Ex. 4:21).
Then a little further it is said: “On the way, at an overnight stop, it happened that the Lord met him and wanted to kill him. Then Zipporah, taking a stone knife, cut off the foreskin of her son and, throwing it at his feet, said: “You are the bridegroom of my blood” (Exodus 4:24-25). Do you need a long argument for clarity? Is the subject matter clear?
P. Not at all: I don’t understand at all what, as if in the shadows, is indicated in what happened.
K. Isn’t it true, in your opinion, my dear, that human nature was bound by death as a result of that ancient curse? After all, we are told in Adam, as at the beginning and deepest root of the race: “You will return to the ground from which you were taken” (Gen. 3:19).
K. And since the beginning of the race happened to be subjected to death, which occurred from sin, then it necessarily passed on to us, and along with the root, the branches rising from it were also corrupted, because from a destructible body, the fruit is destructible. Thus death reigned over everyone, even until Moses himself, that is, until the times under the law. (Rom. 5:14). That death had power before Moses and that everything human is subject to corruption, a clear and obvious image of this is the attempt of an Angel against Moses that took place at that time. However, Moses’ concubine and wife Zipporah restrained the destroyer and turned her away from him, circumcising her child with a stone, begging and saying: “One hundred is the blood of the circumcision of my son” (Ex. 4:25). “The blood has stopped,” she says, not in the sense that the flow of blood has stopped; I don’t think that this ever distracted the destroyer from wanting to kill; but she seemed to say: what was pleasing to God was done and fulfilled, that is, the circumcision of a son, just as if someone said, for example, “an image of such and such a matter has become,” or: “a discussion has begun about this,” instead of saying: the matter has come to an end and has been explained.
P. But who should we mean by Zipporah? What does the stone and the circumcision made by it mean? And how was the divine Angel rejected and Moses escaped the death that threatened him and deserved him, after his son was circumcised?
K. The subject is dark, and the meaning of what is being studied is truly incomprehensible; but, trusting in God, I will say again as best I can. Zipporah, the daughter of the priest of Midian (and he was from a different race and not from the blood of Israel), presents to us the image and personification of the church of the Gentiles, called to God from worldly service, for she was told in one place by the mouth of David: “Hear, daughter, and see, and incline your ear, and forget your people and your father’s house”: because “the King has desired your beauty; for He is your Lord” (Ps. 44:11-12). So, she is called a follower of the law and united with Moses the teacher, who beautifully leads to the mystery of Christ. For the law is the primary teacher; he leads to the beginnings of the words of God and, through hints and shadows, seems to sow in us the knowledge of the mystery of Christ. After all, Christ said to the Jews, who rejected the most sacred Moses: “Do you think that I will accuse you before the Father: you have an accuser, Moses, in whom you trust. For if you had believed Moses, you would have believed Me, because he wrote about Me” (John 5:45-46).
If we take Zipporah to be the personification of the pagan church, then the son who comes from her will, without a doubt, be the image of a new people, since those who believed accepted spiritual childhood in Christ and rebirth in God; David in one place called them a people built (Ps. 101:19). This newborn child in Christ, that is, the new people of circumcision through faith, rejects death from itself; for stone is a sign of indestructible nature, the strength and strength of which is indicated by the hardness of the stone. And Joshua, having transported the Israelites across the Jordan, circumcised them with “knives of stone” (Joshua 5:3), prefiguring spiritual circumcision in Christ; since Christ is the stone, which he clearly points to as if in an image, as I just said, and the stone that circumcised the son of Zipporah.
Then death retreated and the one seeking to kill departed from Moses, having honored the sacrament of circumcision in Christ, and this event predictably announces to us that not only did death withdraw from those worthy of circumcision in Christ, but that this matter, I mean the sacrament of Christ, served as a help to the fathers themselves; because just as we all died in Adam, so the grace given through Christ is transferred to everyone: “For to this end He died, that He may possess both the dead and the living” (Rom. 14:9). Thus, during the circumcision of the new people, the life of the fathers was also corrected, for those who live are alive to God; the sacred word told us this (Luke 20:38). And the time of circumcision, spiritually conceived, was the coming of Christ, who, as God, is older than Moses, but takes second place and follows him, since He appeared as a man to serve for us.
Note that God first chose Moses, and then added Aaron, foreshadowing that in relation to the mission and ministry of Moses there would be a later appearance of Christ, Who was equal to Moses in humanity, but had a Divine and incomparable superiority over him, because he was born of God the Father. If you want, then you can see this from the Holy Scripture itself: “And Moses and Aaron did,” it is said, “as the Lord commanded them, and so they did. Moses was eighty, and Aaron eighty-three years old, when they began to speak to Pharaoh” (Ex. 7:6-7). Do you hear that both of them were equal in that they reached the eightieth year, although Aaron was in service after Moses? Christ: He is in some way equal to Moses in humanity and is second in economy, but incomparably surpasses him and rises above him in Divinity and the glory of the Holy Trinity.
P. The explanation is very clear and understandable.
K. What then? Isn't the following also worthy of consideration?
K. That the Israelites, without a doubt, would not have come out of the land of Egypt and would not have been freed from slavery so painful and terrible for them, even more so, they would not have completely escaped the death sent to the firstborn in Egypt, and the difficultly avoided hand of the destroyer, if they had not slain a lamb in the image of Christ, who took away the sins of the world. They anointed the thresholds with blood according to the law given through Moses, and they made the Sacrament of Christ as a weapon and a protection for their souls. For the death of Christ is a medicine that liberates from death, and participates in a mysterious blessing above corruption, according to Scripture: “Truly, truly, I say to you: ... Whoever eats My Flesh and drinks My Blood has eternal life” (John 6:53-54). And when they devoured the lamb, they ate unleavened bread with it; and this image of unleavened and pure food indicates the goodness of the Gospel instructions, which, however, will not be without labor and not without the bitterness of sorrows. So, eating bitter herbs along with unleavened bread means that the simple and pure life in Christ will not be without bitterness.
Therefore, it was necessary to add bitterness to unleavened food; since “and all,” it is said, “who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus, will be persecuted” (2 Tim. 3:12). But those who suffer are blessed; for, suffering together with Him, they will also reign with Him, according to the Scriptures (Rom. 8:17). Does this reasoning deviate towards something bad?
Book 3. About the fact that it is impossible to avoid death, which comes from sin, and the power of the devil otherwise than through sanctification performed by Christ, and that justification is not in the law, but in Christ
So, when the sacrificial rite of the Israelites was completely completed and when, in addition, the firstborn Egyptians were exterminated, and Christ drove away the destroyer from the sanctified, as if in an image, then they, with difficulty emerging from the land of those who ruled over them and hastening to reach the land promised to them, do not go straight into it, but are distracted from the direct path by deviations, as if in the opposite direction; for again it is written like this: “When Pharaoh sent the people away, God did not lead them along the road of the land of the Philistines, because it was close; for God said: lest the people repent when they see the war, and return to Egypt. And God led the people along a desert road to the Red Sea" (Ex. 13:17-18).
Palladium. What is hidden in this too?
Kirill. It needs to be explored, if you will. Consider that when a straight path lay before them and it was possible, by taking a short path, to reach quickly, for the Promised Land, it is said, “because it is near,” the Creator of everything led them along another path, which made up a large circle, because he knew in advance the readiness of the Ancients to fall away and the still uncontrollable tendency to cowardice.
P. There is absolutely nothing unclear in this speech.
K: So, we need to move on to spiritual contemplation. Those moving away from worldly life and demonic dominion, as if from some Egyptian land, are led to sanctification and hope in God by a direct and completely short path - faith in Christ and justification in Him, according to the wise saying of Paul: “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart, that is, the word of faith, which we preach. For if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved, because with the heart one believes leading to righteousness, and with the mouth one confesses leading to salvation” (Rom. 10:8-10). God did not allow the ancients to take this short and short path, but invented, as it were, a certain circle that did not have a direct direction - a law that in verbal turns and riddles contained a longer and not without difficulties former schoolchildren.
And this is so that, using the hay-written, as if some kind of preparation for a more perfect one, and having previously been taught the sacrament, they would not be foolishly moved as a result of any terrible circumstances to distance and fall away from Christ, but, as if prepared in advance and taught truly useful things, they would be more ready to desire and voluntarily accept the truth and would have a firm and unshakable love for God. Therefore, as if through a long and indirect path of ministry through writing, “the law was... a teacher” (Gal. 3:24). Not so Christ; for He showed us the direct and close path, that is, the path through faith, completely transforming us into grace and the duty to be courageous in the face of what opposes us, especially teaching us to love suffering for its good, to cheerfully resist the deceits of the devil and to say with the prophet: “Behold, the Lord helps Me: who will condemn Me?” (Isa.50, 9). And the amazing boldness that produces such amazing boldness in us cannot be absolutely anything other than the power from above, that is, the communion and communion of the Holy Spirit.
P. I understand what you are saying, and I am surprised at your wit.
K. Immediately after this, what is added can indicate the time of salvation through Christ; for in the fifth generation, it is said, “And the children of Israel came out armed from the land of Egypt” (Ex. 13:18). And we were freed from slavery, as well as from labor consisting of empty pursuits, and from hard work on earth and dust - you understand what I’m talking about - as if in the fifth generation, in the fifth time, according to the Gospel parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like the owner of a house, who went out early in the morning to hire workers in his vineyard. He did the same, as it is said, at the sixth and ninth hours. Going out again about the eleventh hour, he found others standing idly, and said to them: Why are you standing here idly all day?... Go, you too, work in my vineyard (Matthew 20:1:5-7). And so notice that the latter are sent into the vineyard as if in the fifth generation, that is, in the last times, when the Only Begotten became man and suffered slaughter for the sake of the life of all. Why did the law of Moses prescribe that the lamb should be taken on the tenth day of the first month, and slaughtered “at the evening” of the fourteenth day of the same month (Exod.
12:6), in order to simultaneously indicate to us, on the one hand, the fifth time, as if in the fifth day, and on the other hand, by the expression towards evening, to indicate that the Savior’s slaughter will take place at the end of the age.
P. The whole purpose of inspired Scripture seems to be centered in the mystery of Christ.
K. Absolutely: “The end of the law and the prophets is Christ” (Rom. 10:4); for besides Him, “there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12). So said the disciple of the Savior. And the proof is close if we add to this the following: “And they moved,” says the Scripture, “[the children of Israel] from Succoth and encamped in Etham, at the end of the desert. The Lord walked before them by day in a pillar of cloud, showing them the way, and by night in a pillar of fire, ... the pillar of fire did not depart by night from the presence of ... the people" (Exodus 13:20-22).
K. Firstly, because He is “the pillar and foundation of the truth” (1 Tim. 3:15), unshakable and completely indestructible, and stretching high above the earth; for in Christ we are freed from the wisdom of the flesh and from being bogged down in earthly vices, raised by Him, as it were, to a height, mindful of things above (Col. 3:2) and established in heaven (Phil. 3:20). For it is written: “For the shields of the earth are God’s; He is exalted above them" (Ps. 46:10). Christ also said somewhere in the voice of the same David about the earth and about the holy Apostles: “I will establish its pillars” (Ps. 74:4). For the holy disciples towering above the earth were established “with power from above” (Luke 24:49), as endowed with the grace of the Holy Spirit: they were precisely pillars in conformity with Christ and by being likened to him by the grace of the Spirit. So, understand that for no other reason than for the sake of what we just said, Christ was called a pillar: He led, says Scripture, by day a “pillar of cloud,” and by night a “pillar of fire,” to show them the way (Ex. 13:21).
Night in Divine Scripture usually refers to the time before the coming (of Christ), during which, even under the rule of Satan, the darkness of ignorance held those on earth; and during the day, on the contrary, is the time of the coming of our Savior, in which we are enlightened, having perceived with our minds the radiance of the true knowledge of God and contemplating with the eyes of the heart the Sun of Truth. And Paul will testify, speaking of the time before and after the advent: “The night is past, and the day is at hand: let us therefore put away the works of darkness and put on the weapons of light. Let us behave decently as in the daytime” (Rom. 13:12–13). If ancient time is represented in the image of night, and, on the contrary, in the image of day - the time in which the Only Begotten became man, then we affirm that He preceded the Israelites in the form of fire, as if in a condemning and punishing law, for fire is a sign of punishment; and to us in the form of a cloud, as if in the image of holy baptism and salvation through water. Isn't a cloud water?
K. When the Israelites left the Egyptians, the ancient power-hungry, that is, Pharaoh, became angry and decided to pursue them. “He harnessed,” says the Scripture, “his chariot and carried away his people along with him: and he took six hundred chosen chariots and all the chariots of Egypt, and the captains over them all” (Ex. 14:6-7). And then, after a little: “Pharaoh drew near, and the children of Israel looked back, and behold, the Egyptians were coming after them: and the children of Israel were greatly afraid and cried out to the Lord” ( Exodus 14:10) And they murmured against Moses, saying openly: “And they said to Moses: Are there no graves in Egypt, that you brought us to die in the wilderness? What did you do to us when you brought us out of Egypt? Isn’t this what we said to you in Egypt, saying: Leave us, let us work for the Egyptians? For it is better for us to be slaves of the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness” (Ex. 14, 10). 11-12). To this Moses says: “But Moses said to the people: do not be afraid, stand still - and you will see the salvation of the Lord, which He will do for you today, for the Egyptians whom you see now will never again be seen by the Lord;
And the Lord said to Moses: Why do you cry to Me? Tell the children of Israel to go, and you lift up your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea, and divide it, and the children of Israel will pass through the sea on dry land” (Exodus 14:13-16). And God made clear the image of help. For “And the angel of God, who walked before the camp of... Israel, moved and went behind them; The pillar of cloud also moved from before them and stood behind them; and he entered into the midst between the camp of Egypt and between the camp of ... Israel, and was a cloud and darkness for some and illuminated the night for others, and the one did not draw close to the other all the night" (Ex. 14: 19-20). This is exactly how the story is told; and I think that we need to again penetrate into the depths of thoughts, putting a subtle meaning into what is written.
K. So, the sons of Israel set off, hastening, to the holy land, while God, as if in a pillar of fire and cloud, walked ahead and led them: for it would have been completely impossible to reach the heavenly and holy city if Christ had not led and if He had not made clear the way of salvation. Indeed, those who decide to achieve this are gnashed with their teeth by enemies scattered throughout this world, but the law excites to boldness and encourages those who are afraid. And that the horde of opponents will fall, Scripture shows quite clearly: for this is obviously revealed to us from the fact that the Egyptians were destroyed, and those, on the contrary, who were in fear of torment, God saved, as if again in the form of holy baptism: for “tell,” he says, “to the children of Israel, that they should go, and you lift up your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea, and divide it, and the children of Israel will pass by.” in the middle of the sea on dry land" (Ex. 14:15-16). Doesn't the divine Paul write about the sons of Israel that "and they were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea" (1 Cor. 10:2)?
K. So, those who want to follow Christ and hasten to the city on high should not be established in the law and invariably abide in the decrees of Moses and remain in shadows and images, but on the contrary, they must rise up and move away in the other direction, that is, to holy baptism. For the ancients also served as an example of this, walking at the command of God in the midst of the waves and, as Paul says, being baptized in the sea. Then, just then, they will have Christ Jesus as an assistant, the very Mediator between God and people - for the Word, being God, was made flesh (John 1:14), - the Mediator also in another sense of economy, namely in the fact that He usually walks among those who worship Him and their persecutors and does not allow them to collide, holding back the attacks of enemies. For “the Angel of God moved,” says Scripture... and the pillar of cloud... and entered into the midst between the camp of Egypt and between the camp... of Israel... and they did not draw near one another all night” (Ex. 14:19-20). Again, in the Angel, as in the pillar of cloud, Christ is depicted, for “His name is called the great council Angel” (Is. 9:6).
P. This means that if Christ mediates, we will not encounter those who want to attack us.
K: Exactly so; you think correctly. However, I will say this, and this thought, I think, will not move away from the goal. Having just decided to renounce the pleasure-loving and worldly life and trying with the greatest zeal to follow the laws of God, but not yet being enriched with grace through holy baptism, we are not very strong or capable of suffering and enduring labor for the sake of virtue and being able to endure the test of struggle. And just as newly blossoming plants can suffer harm from too much impact of the sun, just as they would suffer a lot if they were shaken by the gusty blows of the winds, as a result of which they, no doubt, need artificial protection and a fence around them: in the same way, I think, the human soul, just beginning to avoid the slavery of passions and striving for the better and wanting to follow the Divine law, is weak and very tender and can easily be she is frightened, seeing before her the work and the law of struggle, and will wish to remain again in what she was before.
So the Israelites, seeing the preparation of the Egyptians and losing their presence of mind at the mere thought of battle, grumbled at the divine Moses, saying: “Isn’t this what we told you in Egypt, saying: leave us, let us work for the Egyptians? For it is better for us to be in slavery to the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness” (Ex. 14:12). So, the human soul, before holy baptism, is incapable of struggle, is quite prone to slavery and is very easily subject to fear. But if she, having received grace, was clothed with “power from above,” she would very firmly resist those who want to persecute her, and would courageously fight with them; Having Christ as a commander and protector, she would very easily repel the uprisings of enemies: for we can win only in this very way.
P. Now consider what examples you will present to us of this; without a doubt, you will not lack them.
K. Indeed, this is easy to explain with very many examples, but first of all, the closest and taken from what Moses himself wrote about, namely: those who lost their presence of mind at the mere sight of the Egyptians later, when they had already crossed the Red Sea and completed the transformation of holy baptism, because they were baptized, says Scripture, into Moses, just as the wise Paul writes: “in the cloud and in the sea” (1 Cor. 10:2); then they turned out to be warlike and terrible in resisting enemies, however, only through Christ. It is written about this: “And the Amalekites came and fought against the Israelites in Rephidim. Moses said to Joshua: Choose husbands for us..., and go and fight the Amalekites; Tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill, and the rod of God will be in my hand. And Joshua did as Moses told him, and [went] to fight the Amalekites; and Moses and Aaron and Hur went up to the top of the hill.
And when Moses lifted up his hands, Israel prevailed, and when he lowered his hands, Amalek prevailed; but Moses' hands grew heavy, and then they took a stone and placed it under him, and he sat on it, while Aaron and Hor supported his hands, one on one side, and the other on the other side. And his hands were raised until the sun went down. And Joshua overthrew Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword. And the Lord said to Moses: Write this in a book for remembrance, and teach Joshua that I will completely blot out the memory of the Amalekites from under heaven. And Moses built an altar and called its name Jehovah Nissi. For, he said, there is a hand on the throne of the Lord: the Lord has war against Amalek from generation to generation” (Ex. 17:8-16).
P. But what is the meaning of what was written? I don't quite understand.
K: And in my opinion, there is nothing difficult for those who want to see. For whoever thinks about Joshua receiving orders from Moses, what else can he assume than that the Word, being God, was under the law, according to the state of mankind, and in some way was subject to the decrees given through Moses in various forms, now undergoing circumcision according to the flesh (Luke 2:21), now paying didrachms (Matthew 17:24-27), and together with those who are under the law placing Myself, as it were, under the law and clearly saying: “I did not come to destroy, but to fulfill” (Matthew 5:17). But although He was under the law according to humanity, at the same time He was also God, the Savior and Redeemer of all the people. For having chosen from all the people of Israel and from all the Gentiles strong men, I mean, of course, the holy apostles and those who were called through faith, to whom it can be said directly: “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a special people” (1 Pet.
2:9), - He opposed with them the prince of this age, about whom He, the Lord of all, the all-conquering Himself, says: “Now is the judgment of this age: now the prince of this age will be cast out” (John 12:31). And the divine John crowns those who conquered with Him and through Him with such a brilliant definition: “I am writing to you,” he says, “young men, because you are strong ... and have overcome the evil one” (1 John 2:13-14). Am I not speaking the truth?
K. Moses said that the militia should be carried out on the next day (Ex. 17:9): since the saving deeds of Christ did not appear in his time, but were accomplished in a further and successively following time, that is, after Moses and the law. Then Moses ascends to some height and to the top of a hill, so that from there he can look at the battle and at the successful actions of the leader of all Jesus in it. Accordingly, secret teaching according to the law leads to the opportunity to look, as if from afar, at the victorious deeds of Christ. And when Moses raised his hands, he defeated Israel, and when he lowered his hands, he weakened and defeated Amalek. For for the devil himself and for every enemy, even if he strongly desired to overcome, not only all Israel was invincible, but also all those who considered it an honor to be conformed to Christ by bearing His reproach, that is, the honorable cross: for the arms, stretched out to their full length in the air, clearly depict the appearance of the cross. And those who did not accept the cross, having no helper, became very accessible to enemy attacks.
So, when Moses stretches out his hands, depicting to us the appearance of the cross, and Amalek falls exhausted, this image shows us, of course, those who, with the help of an honest cross, defeat Satan and overcome their enemies. When we see Moses giving up his hands, and Amalek prevailing, we understand those who, due to their unwillingness to accept the cross, came under the power of the devil and were defeated by him. To such Christ also appealed, saying: truly, truly, I say to you, “If you do not believe that it is I, you will die in your sins” (John 8:24). The hands of Moses, says Scripture, were heavy, they were difficult to erect and rose very slowly to depict an honest image of the cross. This, I think, secretly indicates that Israel was not very ready to accept faith, very slowly and with difficulty inclining to the desire to accept the “reproach of Christ” (Heb. 11:26; Heb. 13:13). That is why the divine Paul beautifully calls this cross a temptation for the Jews (1 Cor. 1:23).
“And then they took,” says Scripture, “a stone and put it under it, and he sat on it, and Aaron and Hur supported his hands, one on one side, and the other on the other side” (Ex. 17:12). Christ is a “stone” precious, “chosen, cornerstone, honorable” (Is. 28:16; 1 Pet. 2:6), on which he rests (since sitting means tranquility), the best and more those of the Israelites, this “remain according to the election of grace” (Rom. 11:5), stretch out their arms, that is, accept the cross, when Christ, as it were, confirms and supports them in this, as He is designated in Horus and Aaron, contemplated together as Judge and Bishop. For Horus was an incorruptible judge, and Aaron the bishop, preserving this “remain” of the Israelis “according to election.” grace”, for salvation through faith. This, I think, shows what was said prophetically in the voice of Isaiah: “If the Lord of hosts had not left us a small remnant, we would have been like Sodom, we would have been like Gomorrah” (Is. 1:9). So, when the enemy fell - I mean Amalek, “write,” says the Scripture, “this for a memorial in a book and teach it to Jesus” (Ex. 17, 14).
For through the Scripture of the holy Evangelists, the deeds performed by Christ were transferred into endless and long-lasting remembrance. He commanded that the scripture be given “into the ears of Jesus”; for the writings of the saints are a gift to Christ, as praises and songs of victory to Him. When Amalek fell and was defeated, Moses erected an altar to God and signed the name on it: “My Lord is my refuge” (Exodus 17:15). And this may be an image of Christ, for He became our Lord and refuge, having defeated the prince of this age, trampling the power of death and offering himself for us, as if a pure sacrifice for a fragrance pleasing to God and the Father. ( Eph.5:2) Thus the altar, to which it is fitting and true that the name is given: “My Lord is my refuge,” was truly an image of Christ.
P. I agree; you are thinking correctly.
K. Christ, having fought with his hidden right hand against the spiritual Amalek and defeated him, took possession of the nations and plundered “their vessels,” as He Himself says, binding the “mighty one” (Matthew 12:29): for the flock that was once in his power, I mean those of the pagans, Christ united with those previously flocked, and for this reason he said: “I have other sheep, which not this fold, and these I must bring: and they will hear My voice, and there will be one flock and one Shepherd” (John 10:16). But Christ, according to the Scriptures, “is our peace, who made both one and destroyed the barrier that stood in the middle, abolishing the enmity in His Flesh, and the law of the commandments by teaching, and He united into one new man” those who were of circumcision and those who were outside the law (Eph. 2:14-15). Consider also the following great mystery, as if in shadow and riddle, closely connected with what we have now said.
For the Scripture says this: “And Jethro the priest of Midian, the father-in-law of Moses, heard all that God had done for Moses and for Israel his people, when the Lord brought Israel out of Egypt, and he took Jethro the father-in-law of Moses, Zipporah the wife of Moses, who had previously been returned, and her two sons, of whom one was named Gersham, because Moses said, “I am a stranger in a strange land.” and the other's name was Eliezer, because [he said] the God of my father was my helper and delivered me from the sword of Pharaoh. And Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, came with his sons and his wife to Moses in the wilderness, where he encamped at the mountain of God, and let Moses know: I, your father-in-law Jethro, am coming to you, and your wife and her two sons with her. Moses went out to meet his father-in-law, and bowed... and kissed him, and after mutual greetings they entered the tent. And Moses told his father-in-law about everything that the Lord had done with Pharaoh and with ... the Egyptians for Israel, and about all the difficulties that they encountered on the way, and how the Lord delivered them.... Jethro rejoiced over all the good deeds that the Lord showed Israel when he delivered them from the hand of the Egyptians ....
And Jethro said, Blessed be the Lord, who delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians, and out of the hand of Pharaoh, who delivered this people out of the power of the Egyptians; Now I have learned that the Lord is greater than all the gods, in the same way that they exalted themselves over the Israelites. And Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, offered burnt offerings and sacrifices to God; and Aaron and all the elders of Israel came to eat bread with Moses' father-in-law before God. The next day Moses sat down to judge the people, and the people stood before Moses from morning until evening. And he saw... Moses' father-in-law, everything that he was doing to the people, and said: What is this that you are doing to the people? Why do you sit alone, while all the people stand before you from morning to evening? And Moses said to his father-in-law: The people come to me to ask God for judgment; when something happens to them, they come to me, and I judge between one and the other and declare... the statutes of God and His laws.
But Moses’ father-in-law said to him: “You are not doing this well: you will torment both yourself and this people who are with you, for this matter is too difficult for you: you alone cannot correct it; listen therefore to my words; I will give you advice, and God will be with you: be a mediator for the people before God and present [their] affairs to God; teach them [God’s] statutes and laws, show them [His] way which they should walk and the works they should do; look... out of all the people, capable people, fearing God, truthful people, hating self-interest... let them judge the people.” And a little later the Scripture says again: “And Moses listened to the words of his father-in-law and did everything that he said” (Ex. 18: 1-22, 24).
P. Continue and, dividing it into parts, explain.
K. Do you not agree that the Midianite is a foreigner and a pagan? For he did not come from the root of Abraham. On the other hand, he was a priest and minister of the imaginary reverence that was widespread on earth at that time. Although people worshiped, as they say and as they themselves thought, the Most High God, for example, without a doubt, Melchizedek; but they also accepted other gods, including among them wonderful creations, such as the earth and sky, the sun and moon, and the more significant of the stars. And such corruption and error was a primordial error, it has reached the present day and continues. This is what some of those living in Phenicia and Palestine still think in their madness, who call themselves worshipers of God, but follow some middle path of worship of God, not indulging in either purely Jewish customs or Hellenic customs, as if torn and divided in two. And the Israelites, who once chose such a way of thinking, were rebuked by the prophet Elijah, saying: “How long will you limp on both knees?” (1 Kings 18:21), then to Baal, to Baal, then to God, to God?
So Jethro, in all likelihood, followed precisely this kind of worship of God. When he learned about what God had done for the salvation of the Israelites, then, captivated by stories worthy of respect and wonder, with his whole house and his entire family he went to the sacred Moses, who, having seen him, willingly accepted him, brought him into his tent (Ex. 18:7) and told him exactly about the glorious deeds of Divine power and about miracles that surpass any word. In fact, many of the wandering, I’m talking about the pagans, are called to change their thoughts about God, first through rumors transmitted by someone about God, and then by themselves resorting to the Divine law, that is, to instruction through the Holy Scriptures. Thus they enter into the first tabernacle: for the law is able to bring in; and those convinced by the most ancient narratives then proceed to accept the idea that God is one and only and that offerings should be made to Him.
So the Midianite, having heard the story of Moses, said: “Now I have learned that the Lord is greater than all the gods, in the same way that they exalted themselves over the Israelites. And Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, brought burnt offerings and sacrifices to the Lord (Ex. 18:11-12). So, Moses, that is, the introductory instruction through the most ancient writings, is the initial teacher and leads us to the first principles of true knowledge of God.
K. But Christ brings those who are taught by the law to perfection; when I speak again about the law, then understand the Old Testament. So, Moses, regarding Jethro, used only the stories about God and, however, exchanged Jethro’s opinion for a clear confession that there is no other God except the one by nature and true. And this is the first faith of those being instructed, I mean moving away from polytheistic opinions and accepting the truly one and true God. But Aaron honored Jethro with a meal and called for eating bread, for the Scripture says: “And Aaron and all the elders of Israel came to eat bread with Moses’ father-in-law before God” (Ex. 18:12); since Christ, the truest Aaron, satisfies us with living bread; satisfies not only those who are among the Gentiles, but together and especially those chosen from the blood of Israel, of whom the elders were images. And the fact that it was necessary to “eat bread ... before God” is a significant indication of sanctification; for what is so much before the eyes of God if not the mystical meal and sacrifice and those participating in it?
K. That, in what Christ does, we achieve a better understanding than through teaching in the law, we can easily see this, taking Moses and Jethro as a clear image of this matter, for Scripture says that the divine Moses sat, judging, “the people stood before him ... from morning to evening” (Ex. 18:13); Jethro gives an opinion, which Moses respected and, judging that it was the best, accepted: for it is said: “And Moses listened to the words of his father-in-law and did everything that he said” (Ex. 18:24). The one who is always able to give the best advice and opinion should not, of course, be considered to have a more excellent understanding?
K. That improvement through Christ, which leads us to knowledge that is incomparably superior, is better and much higher than learning in the law, this could easily be shown by the most sacred Paul, who, for the superior understanding of Christ, as he himself says, with great readiness renounces the advantages of the law and recognizes them as “skills that he may gain Christ” (Phil. 3:8). And to those who honor only what was handed down through Moses, and do not allow for perfection through Christ, the prophet Jeremiah said: “How do you say: ‘We are wise, and the law of the Lord is with us?’ But the lying reed of the scribes turns it into a lie. The wise men were put to shame, confused, and entangled in a snare: behold, they have rejected the word of the Lord; What is their wisdom? (Jer.8, 8-9.) And for us, who do not reject the saving word, since we joyfully accept the Preaching of Christ, He became “wisdom from God” (1 Cor. 1,30).
So, it is precisely in knowledge that we have surpassed those in the law and, instructed by the stories of the law, having eaten bread in the presence of God, we learned better both to speak and to think: for Jethro gives opinion and Moses obeys; Meanwhile, Jethro, in justice, can be the image of those who are of the pagans, and Moses of those who are of the law.
K. So, perfection through Christ and the power of His sacraments makes us wise and presents us as prevailing over death, overthrowing the hidden and mental Amalek, that is, Satan. And the Psalmist very rightly said that “With God we will show strength, He will overthrow our enemies” (Ps. 59:14); and about us, enlightened in the faith, he proclaimed, as if turning to God: “for You are the adornment of their strength” (Ps. 88:18), “and in Your name they will rejoice all the day” (Ps. 88:17); for we glory in being saved in Christ, and having Him as “an armor of favor” (Ps. 5:13), according to the Scriptures. An example and clear image of this can also be written for us at the end of the Second Book of Kings; and it says this: “When David arose the next morning, the word of the Lord came to the prophet Gad, David’s seer: go and tell David: Thus says the Lord: I offer you three punishments; choose for yourself one of them that would happen to you.
And Gad came to David and told him and said to him: Choose for yourself whether there will be a famine in your country for seven years, or that you will flee from your enemies for three months, and they will pursue you, or that there will be a pestilence in your country for three days? Now judge and decide what I should answer to Him who sent me. And David said to Gad: It is very hard for me; but let me fall into the hands of the Lord, for great is His mercy; If only I would not fall into the hands of men.... And the Lord sent a plague on the Israelites from the morning until the appointed time; and of the people died, from Dan to Beersheba, seventy thousand. And the Angel stretched out his hand against Jerusalem to devastate it; but the Lord regretted the disaster and said to the Angel who was striking the people: enough, now lower your hand. The Angel of the Lord was then at the threshing floor of Orna the Jebusite. And David spoke to the Lord when he saw the angel striking the people, saying: Behold, I have sinned, I have... acted lawlessly; and these sheep, what did they do? let Thy hand turn against me and against my father's house.
And Gad came that day to David and said, Go, build an altar to the Lord in the threshing floor of Orna the Jebusite. And David went according to the word of Gad...as the Lord commanded. And Orna looked and saw the king and his servants coming towards him, and Orna went out and bowed to the king with his face to the ground. And Orna said: Why did my lord the king come to his servant? And David said, “I will buy from you a threshing floor to build an altar to the Lord, so that the defeat of the people may cease.” And Orna said to David: Let my lord the king take and sacrifice whatever he pleases. Here are oxen for the burnt offering, and carts and oxen harnesses for firewood. All this, king, Orna gives to the king. Orna also said to the king: May the Lord your God be merciful to you! But the king said to Orna: no, I will pay you what it is worth, and I will not offer to the Lord my God a sacrifice taken for free. And David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver. And David built an altar to the Lord there and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings.... And the Lord had mercy on the country, and the defeat of the Israelites ceased” (2 Samuel 24:11-25).
P. But what is the inner meaning of these words? What is proposed is completely incomprehensible.
K. Without a doubt, incomprehensible and truly difficult to understand; however, I will say the thought of the proposed passage, concluding a lot in a few words and paying attention to the meaning. So, Palladius, see, as if in a mirror and in refined contemplations, the mystery of Christ and the image of the economy of our salvation.
P. You yourself can do this perfectly well when God gives you the power of understanding.
K: So, listen; I'm already starting my speech. As a result of the wrath of God, death devoured the people of the Lord, and until “from the morning until the appointed time” (2 Samuel 24:15), without any obstacle, the destroyer had power; when he intended to lay his hand on the Jerusalemites themselves, God restrained him. Seeing the Angel, David begged the Lord, saying about himself that he had sinned and that it would be better and much fairer for the shepherd and leader to die than for the sheep, since they do not understand anything. Then, at the direction of God, he erects an altar on the threshing floor of Orna, which he bought along with the threshing oxen for fifty shekels. When he had completely built the divine altar, he performed sacrifices on it, “burnt offerings and peace offerings” (2 Kings 24:25). Thus, the extermination finally stopped and the death that had previously raged was stopped. Holy Scripture also indicates that the altar was initially small and Solomon subsequently added to it. Would you say that these words briefly express the essence of what was proposed?
P. That's true; but understand also how the meaning of this can be understood.
K. Or don’t you know that human nature undoubtedly fell into death and corruption, having aroused the wrath of the Creator, so to speak, at the beginning of our race, that is, in Adam, who rejected the first-given Divine commandment and heard the following: “dust you are and to dust you will return”? (Gen. 3:19.)
K. So, “from the morning,” that is, from the first times of the present age, death devoured those on earth at the “appointed time” (2 Samuel 24:15), that is, until the time of the meal; for when the time for a holy meal came for us - obviously, a meal in Christ and a mysterious one, in which we eat heavenly and life-giving bread - then from ancient times the terrible and difficult death was abolished, since God was propitiated. And with difficulty the destroyer was restrained: when he already wanted to lay a striking hand on those living in the holy city, spiritual Jerusalem, then only he was forbidden, since God was propitiated: “take it away now,” says the Scripture, “it is enough” (2 Samuel 24:16). The Church is a holy city, the inhabitants of which are perfected for sanctification through the living bread. The divine David also remembers such a holy and amazing city, saying: “Glorious things are proclaimed about you, city of God!” (Ps.86:3). For Christ, who is life and gives life, has dwelt in us.
Therefore, God drives away the destroyer from the sanctified, as he no longer has to conquer after the appearance of the holy meal, which in secret means lunch time. So Christ, as if seen in the person of David, delivered us. since He saw that death destroys those on earth, He became an intercessor for us before the Father: He offered Himself for us and voluntarily subjected Himself to death; He put the destroyer to shame, calling his sin His own, not because He committed sin, but because, according to the Scriptures, He Himself “takes our sins upon Himself and suffers for us” (Is. 53:4), “was counted among the evildoers” (Is. 53:12), and although He Himself did not know sin (2 Cor. 5:21), but was “a curse for us” (Gal. 3:13 It is necessary, as it is said, to endure more for the shepherd than for the sheep (2 Samuel 24:17); and He, as a good shepherd, “laid down His life for the sheep” (John 10:11). 2 Kings 24:16), having erected an altar, offered to God “burnt offerings and peace offerings” (2 Kings 24:25), these are the types and images of sacrifices according to the law.
By the threshing floor you mean the Church, having reached which, death finally stopped and was abolished, and the destroyer held back the terrible and destructive hand of ancient times; for the Church constitutes the house of Him in whom life is by nature, that is, Christ. We call the Church a threshing floor in some likeness and image: in it, following the example of sheaves and ears of corn, gather those who are cut off from worldly life by the word of the holy inhabitants, that is, the Apostles and Evangelists, in order to be lifted up to the highest courts and brought, like clean bread, as if into the Master's granary, into the heavenly Jerusalem, after putting aside obscene and unnecessary deeds, and together with thoughts, which are understood as if in the form of straw. And Christ said to the holy Apostles: “Do you not say that there are still four months and the harvest will come? But I say to you: lift up your eyes and look at the fields, how they are white and ripe for harvest. He who reaps receives his reward and gathers fruit into eternal life” (John 4:35–36).
And he also says: “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; Therefore, pray to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest" (Matthew 9:37-38), calling, as I think, spiritual harvest the multitude of those who believe, and calling holy harvesters those who have in their minds and tongues the Divine word, which is "living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword: it penetrates to the dividing of soul and spirit, joints and marrow" ( Hebrews 4:12). The blessed Baptist also used the name of the threshing floor to designate the Church - in the following way, speaking about Christ: “I baptize you with water, but one stronger than me is coming, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to untie; He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His fork is in His hand, and He will clear His threshing floor and gather the wheat into His barn, and burn the chaff with unquenchable fire” (Luke 3:16-17).
So, this spiritual threshing floor, I mean the Church, was bought by Christ for fifty shekels, that is, not at a cheap price; for He gave Himself for it and built an altar in it; and since He Himself is the performer of the sacred act, since He was the “high priest” (Heb. 6:20), then He Himself offered Himself as a sacrifice, as if in the form and image of an ox threshing, and ate the alley as a burnt offering and a peace offering. For in Christ the barrier that stood in the middle has been destroyed, and we, who have been separated and separated through sin since ancient times, together with Christ enter through Him and in Him to God the Father, after the destruction of this ancient enmity: “For He is our peace,” according to the Scriptures (Eph. 2:14).
P. So, by the ox threshing we will mean Christ? How is this possible?
K. But, my dear, didn’t the law of Moses call our holy disciples oxen that threshed? For it is said mysteriously: “Do not turn away (“do not stop your mouth”) the threshing ox” (Deut. 25:4). And blessed Paul, having understood this very clearly, says: “Does God care about oxen? Or, of course, is it said for us? So, this is written for us; For he who plows must plow in hope, and he who threshes must thresh in hope of receiving what he expects" (1 Cor. 9:9-10). Thus, the blessed disciples, in the image of the first, that is, Christ, are called oxen. But Christ is signified as an ox threshing in another sense, namely: through Him purification, through Him the putting aside of unnecessary things, that is, pleasures and carnal wisdom peculiar to the world, which are food for fire, like straw. When the altar was erected, on which the peace offering and the burnt offering were laid, the sorrow ceased: for the Lord listened to the earth and the destruction was stopped.
So then, as Christ offered Himself as a sacrifice for us, death was abolished and corruption destroyed, since Almighty God inclines his ear, as if already ready to the prayers of all: “before they call, I will answer” (Is. 65, 24.) And the remark that the former altar was small and what was subsequently added to it, indicates the success of the Gospel that was to be in its time, and, on the one hand on the one hand, to the limited nature of the holy churches at the beginning, on the other hand, to their expansion in subsequent times. For the altars are constantly expanding, since others are constantly joining the former churches and growing into an immeasurable multitude of peoples who are liberated through the sacrifice in Christ, having Him as a sacrament, and a holy sacrifice, and a cleansing fragrance, and, as it were, an amazing altar, and the ruler of the Church, depicted in the form of a threshing floor.
P. How clear and visual this reasoning is! It is made with great art.
K: Wouldn’t you yourself, and even without the slightest hesitation, say that Christ is the life of all and the redemption?
P. Be sure that I would say, because that’s what I think.
K. He alone died for all, being a satisfactory price for all, and made his own soul a ransom for our souls, shaming the cruelty of the devil and, as it were, stopping the condemnation of sin dominating us and the unbridled word of accusation against everyone.
J. Since sin reigned over the inhabitants of the earth, who became very prone to evil from youth, as it is written (Gen. 8:21), and since the heart of man is carefully attentive to the need and desire to do evil, then, of necessity, we were subjected to the condemnation of death. For violation of the Divine law and rejection of the Master’s desires is punished by death. But the Creator showed His mercy to such damaged human nature: the Only Begotten became man, bore a body naturally subject to death, and took on flesh, so that, having endured for us the death that threatened us for sin, he could bring sin into inaction and then pacify the accusing Satan; since we in Christ Himself suffered punishment for our guilt in sin, for “He took upon Himself our infirmities and bore our sicknesses” (Is. 53:4), according to the voice of the prophet. Are we not “by His stripes we are healed” (Is. 53:5)?
P. Truth: “He took upon Himself our infirmities” and was neglected and afflicted” (Is. 53:4).
K. So, when Christ suffered for us, then sin is crushed and, I think, will no longer forcefully accuse those sanctified through Christ; and the prophet Zechariah will clearly show this to us, speaking as if in a vision: “And the angel who spoke with me came out and said to me: lift up your eyes again and see what is coming out? When did I say: what is this? He answered, “This is an ephah,” and said, “This is their image throughout all the earth.” And behold, a piece of lead rose up, and there sat a certain woman in the midst of an ephah. And he said, “This woman is wickedness itself,” and he threw her into the middle of the ephah, and threw a piece of lead over the hole of it. And I lifted up my eyes and saw: behold, two women appeared, and the wind was in their wings, and their wings were like the wings of a stork; and they lifted up the ephah and carried it between earth and heaven. And I said to the angel who spoke with me: Where are they taking this ephah? Then he said to me: to build a house for her in the land of Shinar, and when everything is prepared, then she will be placed there on her foundation” (Zech. 5, 5-11). Would you like us to talk again about each part separately and consider it as far as possible?
K. The Prophet saw a certain measure coming from Jerusalem, and when he asked about “what is?” – The angel said: “This is their image throughout the whole earth” (Zechariah 5:6), and this is as if he said: by this measure the sins of the whole earth are measured in due time. For when our sin reaches a significant magnitude, then the offended Lawmaker sends punishments; often, out of His characteristic love for mankind, He endures and refrains from punishing those who sin, without completely pouring out His wrath before fulfilling the measure of their sins. So God spoke to the sacred Abraham: “The measure of the iniquities of the Amorites has not yet been filled” (Gen. 15:16). Also, to the Pharisees, who uncontrollably insulted Him, Christ said: “Complete the measure of your fathers” (Matt. 23:32). So, when the measure came out, “a piece of lead is thrown into the ground, the woman who fills the measure is thrown into the middle, and takes the lead piece into her own mouth; and the divine Angel says: this is lawlessness” (Zechariah 5:7-8).
P. The Scripture is not yet entirely clear.
K. It will be clear, and soon. The words “piece of lead” signify Christ Himself, who is taken up, that is, ascended, through the cross and, according to His divine merits, is contemplated in glory: “God has highly exalted Him and given Him a name that is above every name” (Phil. 2:9). He closes the mouth of sin according to how it is sung in the Psalms: “and all iniquity will stop its mouth” (Ps. 106:42), so as not to speak in accusation of those who have sinned through weakness and are justified in faith, for “Who will accuse God’s elect? God justifies them" (Rom. 8:33-34.) If Christ suffered for us, then why would it be consistent to demand that we ourselves be punished for our sins?
P. You said very correctly: we are justified in Christ and have completely rejected the accusation of sin. But I would be especially pleased to learn from you why Christ is designated as if in tin (lead), and iniquity appears as if in the person of a woman.
K. And this is easy to see from the Holy Scriptures: for Christ is likened to many other things, since, depending on the quality of the signified, what is contained in Him is thought.
K. Christ has become for us an affirmation and a strength, an unshakable support and an indestructible foundation, which is why he is called a stone, for it is said: “Behold, I lay a stone for the foundation of Zion... chosen, the cornerstone, honorable... and he who believes in Him will not be put to shame” (Is. 28:16). He, then, is the bright and wonderful treasure of the Church, our spiritual wealth, and is called beads. “Again,” it is said, “the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for good pearls, who, having found one pearl of great price, went and sold everything he had and bought it” (Matthew 13:45-46). Through Himself He brought us closer to God and the Father, destroying with His Body the enmity, as it is written (Eph. 2:13-16); That’s why he spoke to the Heavenly Father and God about those who are justified by faith in Him: Father, “that they may all be one, just as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You, so that they also may be one in Us” (John 17:21). For this reason He is called a stone of tin; for the objects to be joined are soldered with tin.
And, in another place, in the voice of Zechariah, God, pointing us to his own Son, who has in due time to come and is to come, said: “When those seven look joyfully at the plumb line in the hands of Zerubbabel” (Zech. 4:10). In the same way, in the place we are considering, the words “piece of lead” (Zech. 5:7) are spoken about Christ; and I will tell you what is the reason for this. Impure silver, melted together with tin, is extremely well purified, since tin, by its nature, absorbs the impurity of the metal burned with it. Christ accomplished something similar in us ourselves; He united physically, and at the same time spiritually, with the obscene and thus melted the impurity that was in us; for He lifts up our sins, so that for His sake and through Him we may be pure and enlightened. And the prophet Jeremiah mourned the people of Judah, who did not accept cleansing through Christ, in the following words: “The bellows was burnt, the lead was rotten by the fire: the smelter melted in vain, for the wicked were not separated; They will be called rejected silver, for the Lord has rejected them” (Jer. 6:29-30).
So, you understand, the Divine Scripture knew that the purification of silver could not be accomplished without tin. Therefore, Christ, since He cleansed us indecent, is likened to tin and Himself stops the mouth of sin, depicted as if in the form of a woman. But a wife is a sign of weakness and at the same time of pleasure, and through them all lawlessness is committed: whose mind is darkened in advance by one or another pleasure and is thus weakened, he abandons labors leading to virtue, and the human soul bows to sin; That’s why it is said about some that they are “more lovers of pleasure than lovers of God” (2 Tim. 3:4). And the prophet appeals to those who, due to spiritual weakness, are struck by sin and relaxation, which consists in depravity: “Strengthen the weak hands and strengthen the trembling knees” (Is. 35: 3).
P. But it is so; and the two women who bring measure and iniquity into the land of Babylon, tell me, what can they point to?
K. The lips of iniquity, dearest one, are stopped through Christ: in Him we are justified, freed from all accusation, and the condemnation of iniquity is removed from us: for such was the purpose of the dispensation towards us of Him who because of us, for our sake and in our place, suffered death, although He rose again: for it was impossible for life to be overcome by death. But some did not believe the Gospel of Christ and, having not accepted redemption from sin, are again burdened with it, placing it on their heads due to powerlessness of thought, relaxation of the mind and lack of spiritual courage. They are carried away by every evil spirit and, violently driven to every kind of uncleanness, they hasten very zealously towards evil. The sign of haste is the wing, which was, as it was said, “the stork” (Zech. 5:9); This is a species of bird that always flies around the most fetid swamps and collects for food what it gets from the dirt and uncleanness.
So, those who waste their cares on defilement can quite naturally be called having “stork wings”; they are also effeminate and effeminate, finally similar to the sin that rules over them. For just as through sanctification those who are under Him and with Him have become conformed to Christ, so those who are burdened with it and have chosen to live with the impurity of vice are conformed and alike with lawlessness. “They carry the measure” to Babylon and there they find a home for it (Zechariah 5:9-11); by this, as I think, it is covertly indicated that if anyone does not want to accept what Christ has done and does not love the barrier of sin, due to concern for only impurities, he will move away from holy Jerusalem, that is, from the holy mother of the “firstborn,” the beautiful city on high (Heb. 12, 22-23). Then, having sin as an almost unbearable burden, he will settle with the Babylonians, that is, he will have a share and lot with the godless idolaters: for those who neglected the redemption made through Christ are like the atheists.
So the Savior said: “If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone; If he listens to you, then you have gained your brother; But if he does not listen, take with you one or two more, so that by the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established; if he does not listen to them, tell the church; and if he does not listen to the church, then let him be to you as a pagan and a tax collector” (Matthew 18:15-17). So, it is clear, and most importantly, all Divine Scripture has testified that all justification and all redemption are in Christ.
Book 4. That a person, called by God to justification and redeemed, must follow Him and avoid effeminacy leading to vice, try, on the contrary, to live in accordance with the law and courageously
So, it is dangerous, as you can see, Palladius, and I would even say that it is extremely shameful and very absurd not to desire to courageously overcome depravity and sin, but, as if crushed in excessive pleasures and immersing the mind in the effeminacy characteristic of women, to lose the courage necessary for virtue; whereas it is quite possible, through the mediation of Christ, to ascend to everything worthy of praise, and this is precisely what the most sacred Paul encourages us to do, saying: “Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might” (Eph. 6:10).
Palladium. You speak well.
Kirill. So, we will “create power” (Ps. 59:14) in Christ. However, without difficulty, I believe, it is impossible to successfully fight against passions and be able to arouse your Spirit to this.
K. This is truly a glorious and worthy task, inaccessible to the lazy, but easily achievable for those who value labor, as it is written: “He who works for himself drives away his own destruction” (Proverbs 16:26). And to be able to do excellent things with little effort, it seems unreasonable to even think about it. But isn’t the salvation of our soul and the fight for our own lives above all else for us?
K. Which fighters, in your opinion, are especially deserving of the brilliance of glory - those who fight correctly and with experience and who keep in mind that they should win - or those who very willingly indulge in pleasure and prefer an idle life to a more worthy one?
P. But how or where can a doubt arise that winning is least characteristic of people suffering from carelessness, and that this befits people who are more efficient?
K: Therefore, shall we assert that for those who have said goodbye to labor and chosen a carefree and luxurious life, this will lead to glory?
K: So, the most hardworking people gain fame, but without exploits no one can become famous.
K: If so, Palladius, then we must go the direct way to what is worthy of praise and try to acquire the courage that leads to virtue, and that great courage, which is a source of wonder for the inspired Scripture and is familiar and friendly to the souls of saints. So blessed David, addressing people who are especially disposed to this, says: “Take courage, and let your hearts be strengthened, all you who hope in the Lord!” (Ps. 30, 25). And since he accomplished this very thing, and, moreover, primarily before others, he boasts, saying: “The Lord is my light and my salvation: whom should I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life: whom shall I fear?” (Ps. 26:1.) For the temptations that surround us are countless, and the multitude of demons, exceeding, I think, any number, excites us to sin; In addition, we are attacked by the considerable ferocity of our innate lusts, covetousness, arrogance and related to murder - envy, hatred, slander and all sorts of similar vices.
And so those who easily allow themselves to be led away and, so to speak, do not even want to touch the tip of their finger in order to courageously endure the attack, carelessly leave victory to the enemies, like “undercooked beets,” according to the word of the prophet (Is. 51, 20), as if thrown to the ground and without a fight, stretched out under the feet of depravity. On the contrary, people who love virtue and are good, striving for the highest glory and desiring a share in eternal life, courageously and courageously meet the attacks of their passions, mortifying their flesh and resisting the movements that are born in and from it: in this way, with the greatest skill driving away all kinds of depravity and sin, they lead a holy and blameless life, addressing which and the divine Paul says: “Therefore, Stand yourselves, having your loins girded with truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; and above all, take up the shield of faith, with which you will be able to quench all the fiery arrows of the evil one” (Eph. 6:14-16).
For it is very fitting for the saints to have spiritual armor, the Savior Himself commands us to strive for it, although in a different way: “let your loins be girded, and the shoes of your feet be burning lamps” (Luke 12:35). Girding means firmness (as if the tightness of clothing), necessary in order to suffer for good and for the love of God; shod feet - readiness and speed in moving away from the world, and as if the feet immediately go where the Divine law commands; and the burning lamps mean the reluctance to live in darkness and ignorance and the procession in the light of Christ to everything worthy of surprise. Thus, to the Jews, who, due to their mental defects, did not want to do this, Christ said: “Walk while there is light, so that darkness does not overtake you” (John 12:35). virtues and courage combined with prudence are what makes a lover of piety glorious and famous.
K. In a carefree life we will not find glory, but if someone chooses to work for himself, then only he will become glorious and famous. And indeed, while the children of Israel were still living in Egypt, the wicked Pharaoh appointed formidable and cruel overseers over their work; and they, having used this strict way of life, although against their will and under compulsion, imposed on them, as an exercise in suffering, actually received more benefit than harm. The pharaoh of the Jews was afraid, seeing that they were growing into an immense multitude, and deciding to villainously stop such their growth and multiplication, “And they appointed,” it is said, “over him the commanders of the work, so that they would exhaust him with hard work” (Ex. 1, 11). However, this intention had a completely opposite outcome for the Jews: since the oppression to which they were subjected served as a reason for their even greater growth, when God wisely disposed of this matter and opposed Pharaoh’s evil deeds with his grace: “But the more,” it is said, “they exhausted him, the more he multiplied and the more he grew” (Ex. 1:12).
So Satan also causes sorrow, gnashing his teeth at holy men and always attacking especially those whom God has taken to himself as belonging to Him: “his food is his,” it is said, “the chosen ones” (Hab. 1:16): but those who undergo these sufferings become through temptation better than themselves, and strength in exploits, without a doubt, reveals them more glorious; so that by what Satan plans to afflict and harm, by this especially, contrary to his will, he brings benefit, and by means of which he thought to conquer, thereby making them even stronger. When the mentioned insidious plan had an unexpected end for Pharaoh, and when it was already too late, and even then with difficulty, Pharaoh began to notice that what he wanted to harm the Jews with was benefiting them, he immediately changed the method of his malice: calling the Jewish midwives, he told them: “When you midwife the Hebrew women, then watch during childbirth: if there is a son, then kill him, and if daughter, then let her live. But the midwives feared God and did not do as the king of Egypt told them, but let the children live" (Exod.
1, 16–17). When this wicked and bloody plan against the Jewish people did not come true, since God did not allow the grandmothers to commit such wickedness, then Pharaoh finally turns to obvious violence and no longer considers it necessary to secretly oppress the Jews, but undertakes an open war and determines inhuman death for those born: “Then Pharaoh commanded all his people,” it is said, “saying: throw every newborn son [of the Jews] into river, but let every daughter live” (Ex. 1:22). The female sex does not bother him at all, since a woman is not distinguished by a warlike spirit or capacity for wisdom; on the contrary, he is concerned in both respects with the male sex, as wise and warlike. Likewise, the dragon, defiled by murder, I mean Satan, finds the effeminate mood of the soul very pleasant and desirable, pampered and timid and, moreover, suffering from an inability to wisdom; on the contrary, the readiness for courage, which overcomes effeminacy and rises above timidity, as well as a strong mind, is hostile and terrible to him.
For this reason, of course, he keeps the female sex alive and does not extend his villainous intent and intentions to them; since it would be stupid, I think, to try to enter into a fight with those who are already prostrate on the earth by themselves and are so weak that, of their own impulse, they willingly submit. On the contrary, he tries to destroy the male sex, plunging him into an environment of temptation. This, it seems to me, is sung by the divine David, saying: “If the Lord had not been with us when people rebelled against us, they would have swallowed us up alive when their rage flared up against us; the waters would drown us, the flood would pass over our souls” (Ps. 123:2-4).
K. Now pay attention to the method of malicious intent. At first, Pharaoh exhausted them with hard work, villainously contriving, through the oppression he invented, to ensure that the Jews did not increase in number. But this oppression was still secret, and the tyrant’s goal was not very clear. This malice was opposed, as I recently said, by the grace of a merciful God; so that the more the Jews were oppressed, the more their strength and number increased. Then, secondly, Pharaoh wanted to arm the midwives against Jewish women: but God did not allow this to happen either. Finally, the third and final method of malice was that he, no longer hiding his secret cruelty, ordered all his people to exterminate the male sex. Likewise, Satan invisibly wages war on courageous people and plots his evil intentions in a threefold way. He begins the war with insidious plans, preventing the mind from growing in virtue: namely, he arranges it in such a way that he is tormented by unexpected labors and surrounded by difficult trials.
But, finding himself unable to cause any harm by this, since God helps us, Satan often stirs up our fellow believers and fellow tribesmen against us and tries to encourage them to enmity and warfare with us, as Paul testifies, saying: “in dangers among false brethren” (2 Cor. 11:26). If he fails in this too (since the Protector of the saints sends down on them the fear of God, as he once did to the midwives), then finally he openly incites his servants to cruelty and murder. But even at the same time, we will firmly hold on to the love of courage and zeal for courage, knowing that what Satan hates is precious to God, so that those who overcome effeminacy are highly valued by Him and worthy of His care.
P. I agree. But now, it seems, is the time to consider this on the basis of Holy Scripture; for you certainly have no shortage of evidence of this kind.
K. In this case, let's talk, if God willing, about what is contained in the so-called Numbers (and this is the book of Moses): and “And the Lord said to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, in the tabernacle of meeting, on the first [day] of the second month, in the second year after they came out of the land of Egypt, saying: Number the whole congregation of the children of Israel by their families, by their families, by the number of names, all the males without exception: from twenty years and above, all those who are able to fight in Israel, number them by their armies, you and Aaron” (Num. 1:1-3).
That in the divine census and in the book of God the persons who are male and, moreover, the most warlike and have reached maturity, that is, spiritual strength and the measure of “the age of the fulfillment of Christ” (Eph. 4:13); this is quite clearly revealed from the cited passage of Scripture: because it is the male sex that is counted and, moreover, those who have reached twenty years of age or more, as I think, not for any other reason than so that we can understand that the weakness of strength and imperfection of meaning, which we consider characteristic of people who are still very young and have not yet reached that measure of maturity that the Divine Law knows and defines, that is, the twentieth year, is subject to rejection and is unfit. On the contrary, those males who have reached the age of majority are valued, counted and known to God by number, by gender, and by name.
So to the holy Apostles, who were already at such a manly age and had reached such a measure of reason, Christ once said: “However, do not rejoice that the spirits obey you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven” (Luke 10:20); and once again: “Are not two small birds sold for an assarium? And not one of them will fall to the ground without the will of your Father; But even the hairs of your head are all numbered” (Matthew 10:29-30). The expression that their hairs are numbered, I think, very well shows to what detail the care for them extends. So, people of full age and male gender were written in the book of God. The census was completed through Moses and Aaron, so that in both of them we would understand one Christ, in Moses as the lawgiver, and in Aaron as the high priest; since He became for us both a legislator and at the same time a reverend and gentle bishop (Heb. 7:26), and through His mediation a census of people who have reached manhood and are distinguished in virtue is carried out in the divine books.
The wise John also addressed them, saying: “I am writing to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil one” (1 John 2:13). They are those about whom we just said: “all males without exception: from twenty years old and above, all fit for war in Israel.” That the Creator, loving virtue, assimilates such people to Himself through their protection and deigns them to His care, you can see this, Palladius, from what is written immediately after. Namely, God obviously said to Moses and Aaron: “You must have with you from each tribe one man, who is the leader of his generation” (Numbers 1:4). And so each tribe appoints for itself a leader, protector, chief adviser and manager of actions more glorious and warlike than others; they depict Angels who guard the chosen people and those included in the book of life, since it is written about every righteous person: “The Angel of the Lord will encamp around those who fear him, and will deliver them” (Ps. 33:8).
And that we, by the will of God, are protected by the help of Angels, could be shown from everywhere, and I consider it unnecessary at the present time to collect evidence of this; however, those who wish can do this very conveniently if they want.
P. So, in the form of Moses and Aaron - through Christ is a census of courageous people being completed?
K. So I say: because, according to a probable guess, what was said by blessed Daniel leads us to such a conclusion.
P. What do you mean?
K. He saw the Father appearing as if in old age, covered with gray hair and shining with clothes like snow: “the judges sat down,” it is said, “and the books were opened. I saw... like the Son of man walking with the clouds of heaven... until the Ancient of Days, and he was brought to Him” (Dan. 7:10, 13). So, when the Only Begotten appeared in a form similar to ours, then the Father opened the books, stopped judging those guilty of sin, and finally allowed courageous people to be included in the census, to be included in the heavenly ranks and to be kept in the memory of God. I also hear the song of blessed David about those who raged against Christ: “Let them be blotted out from the book of the living and not be written with the righteous” (Ps. 68:29); they fell due to weakness of reason and, due to cowardice, remained outside the society of Christ, while they were given honor according to the good and philanthropic command of God and the Father; because they were invited to a marriage, but lazily and carelessly answered the saints who invited them to the feast, saying one: “I bought land,” the other: “I got married and therefore cannot come” (Luke 14:18, 20).
The answer is heard from everywhere: I can’t; since the human mind, inclined towards worldly pleasures, is weak and powerless to accomplish the works of God; for this reason he will not participate in the heavenly and divine holiday.
P. So, only those who are of age and courageous and who have already come to reason are entered into the divine census and into the book of the belly, while all others are rejected? Or some other way?
K. By diligently and watchfully paying attention to what is said in Scripture, you will understand the truth. After all, not only those who have reached maturity and are twenty years old from birth are included in the census, but it was also decided to include “every male sex.” Do you understand what I'm talking about?
K. So, if the courage conceivable in Christ and people significantly capable of acting virtuously are required preferentially, so that those who have reached such a degree of glory, having become courageous, warlike and having emerged from a childish understanding, have a separate census: then each of us, my friend, is not due in the census and glory some special and appropriate place, commensurate with the lordship of our deeds?
K. After all, among the holy Apostles there will never be anyone who is not like them. There is no way this can be.
K. We also do not assert that together with people who are very famous for their many types of virtue and practiced in leading a life that is very consistent with the law, a person of a different kind can be placed; but it is clear that each will receive a share according to his measure.
K. So, since we believed in the Savior and Redeemer of all and in baptism abundantly received heavenly and highest power, since we were clothed with “power from above” (Luke 24:49), sealed by the Holy Spirit, then we are placed in the rank and series of persons of the male sex and are numbered in the book of God. However, there is some difference here, namely: the more sacred and holy ones are placed in the census as if they were first and closest to God; since, although everyone has the same faith in Christ, not all believers are the same and equal in their morals and life, but, in the words of Blessed Paul, “one one way, another another” (1 Cor. 7:7). Therefore, those who surpass others in the severity of life and are therefore more holy, occupy first place in the divine census and in the memory of God; and those who have less holiness, because they have less virtue, are undoubtedly in second place in the census.
P. But how can this also be made obvious?
K: From the same Scripture. Our speech is not without reason; since after the census that the God of all things made regarding persons of male sex and mature age, He then predicted for us another kind of census. This is what is said about this: “And the Lord spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, saying: Number the sons of Levi according to their families, according to their generations; all males from one month old and above were numbered. And Moses numbered them...according to the word of the Lord, as commanded” (Numbers 3:14-16). When a census was taken in this way by tribes and families, he immediately shows the total, saying: “All the numbered Levites, whom Moses and Aaron numbered at the commandment of the Lord, according to their families, all males, from one month old and upward, were twenty-two thousand” (Numbers 3:39). After this he adds: “And the Lord said to Moses: Number all the firstborn males of the children of Israel, from one month old and upward, and count them by name; And take the Levites for Me, I am the Lord, instead of all the firstborn of the children of Israel, and the cattle of the Levites instead of all the firstborn of the children of Israel.
And Moses numbered, as the Lord commanded him, all the firstborn of the children of Israel, and all the firstborn males, according to the number of names, from one month upward, were twenty-two thousand two hundred and seventy-three. And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Take the Levites instead of all the firstborn of the children of Israel, and the cattle of the Levites instead of their cattle; let the Levites be mine. I am the Lord. And for the ransom of the two hundred and seventy-three, who are in excess of the number of the Levites, from the firstborn of Israel, take five shekels per person, take according to the holy shekel, twenty geras in the shekel, and give this silver to Aaron and his sons, as a ransom for the excess against their number" (Num. 3:40-48). What a difficult, Palladius, and inconvenient thing it is to understand such a distinction, made so subtly and that's right!
P. You are telling the truth. However, direct your mind to inquiry, placing your hope in Christ, the giver of every good thing.
K. Note that what is sought in the first census is all persons who are male and twenty years of age, that is, intelligent and courageous and so mature that they can do what is pleasing to God. But enough about this, because, I think, what has been said is quite sufficient. And in these two censuses (the second and third), by divine and sacred definition, all males are included from the tribe of Levi, and from the rest of the people, not every male without distinction, but only the firstborn, starting in both cases from one month and above. The number of the Levitical children was twenty-two thousand, and the number of the firstborn was twenty-two thousand two hundred and seventy-three. After this, God commands that the Levites be dedicated to him instead of the firstborn. But since it turned out that the number of firstborns in the people was two hundred and seventy-three more, the Lawgiver determined that a ransom should be brought for them to the tribe of Levi, so that the Levites would perform sacred rites and worship services for them, so that this ransom was, as it were, payment for their continuous intercession.
Do you agree that this is the meaning of this passage?
K: So, this is what I will say, and my speech, as it seems and as likely, will not deviate from the goal. When memorization took place and, as it were, a search for the courage and prudence conceivable in Christ took place, then the male sex, having considerable physical age, was entered into the census. But in addition to this, it was necessary to clearly indicate the census of faith and love for Christ, with the addition of the differences that can be seen between believers: since some of them, along with the acceptance of faith, observe holiness in deeds and obedience to God, while others do not completely commit sanctification, but give a part to worldly objects. Therefore, the Lawgiver rightly commands that the sacred should be preferred to the unholy, as if in an image of the Levitical generation, and establishes that it should have first place in the census. Therefore, the Levitical race is mentioned first, followed by the male sex and the firstborn. For God values very highly those who have spiritual courage and conformity with Christ, who is the firstborn (Rom. 8:29).
Thus, blessed Paul writes to some who are limping in faith and weakened by empty thoughts: “My children, for whom I am again in the throes of birth, until Christ is portrayed in you!” (Gal.4, 19). So, everyone who is firstborn in the image of Christ, belongs to the male sex and is distinguished by wisdom is accepted and entered into the book of God. Note that of the remaining tribes, as I recently said, not all males are counted without distinction, but only the firstborn; this is because not every person differs in faith and conformity with Christ, but there are many who do not believe: and only the firstborn are rewritten and counted, for the sake of Him who is the firstborn in us and “in many brethren” (Rom. 8:29). On the contrary, in the Line of Levi, every male person without distinction is included in the census and general counting, because the holy belongs entirely to God. One month of age and above fits in, for what reason? Because infancy in Christ, characteristic of believers, is not rejected by God, while a very small age is, as it were, a sign of simplicity in Christ and spiritual infancy.
As we said about the people most fit for war, that their census was beautifully and impeccably done from the age of twenty and above, so now we affirm that the age of one month serves as a clear sign of infancy in Christ. Paul says something similar: “Brothers! Do not be children in your mind: be infants in evil, but be mature in your mind” (1 Cor. 14:20).
P. Thus, we must think that we will participate in what the saints do at the risk of their lives, behaving courageously and making great efforts to acquire praise.
K. Of course it is: they, being themselves filled with divine gifts, which they received through labor and effort and countless deeds, also fill us with what was given to them by the love of God. So Blessed Paul, addressing some of those who believed, says: “For I greatly desire to see you, so that I may impart to you some spiritual gift for your strengthening” (Rom. 1:11). Wouldn't you call it a heavenly gift and a spiritual gift to have an impeccable and unfalse knowledge of God and an accurate knowledge of all that is best?
P. Yes; this knowledge is life-giving: because exact knowledge of Him who is by nature and truly the Creator of everything and God, and what is the best way of life, leads to long-lasting and endless life.
K. You said it right. And Christ Himself, teaching us this, commanded the Apostles: “Freely you have received, freely give” (Matthew 10:8). But, in addition, in another respect, the lordship of the saints can be useful for other people, namely: in their praiseworthy deeds, our failures seem to disappear, and our kindly God, out of attention to the spiritual strength of glorious men, forgives even the weakest their misdeeds. So, for example, the Israelites, uncontrollably rushing towards disobedience and not leaving any form of indecency untested, inevitably aroused the wrath of the Lawgiver against themselves; but when He already wanted to punish those who had so grossly insulted Him for their insolence, and meanwhile the prophet Jeremiah offered Him prayers for them, then what did God answer him? “Walk,” He said, “through the streets of Jerusalem, and look, and scout, and search in its squares, will you find a man who keeps the truth, who seeks the truth? I would spare Jerusalem” (Jer. 5:1). In the same way, He said that He would have averted the punishment of fire from the Sodomites if there had been at least five righteous and good people among them.
Thus, even very great sinners are sometimes saved by the merits of saints from immediate punishment, softening the wrath of God and restraining rage. As for those who sincerely accepted the faith, but cannot achieve such spiritual strength as to acquire the wealth of divine gifts through their own labor, the saints make such people participants in their glory, guiding them as much as possible, attracting them to everything that pleases God, making them sharers in their exploits and giving to the souls of other people what they themselves barely achieve with great difficulty. That we will actually be partners with the saints in their inherent valor and partners in their exploits due to the fact that God, in his meekness and love for mankind, will, as it were, mix and merge together our sins with their righteousness and unite what is insufficient with what is perfect so that it is acceptable, this can also be proven from the following.
K. The Moabites and Midianites, wicked and barbarous nations, however, inhabited the land of promise, which the children of Israel were to inherit. When the war was already close and had to come immediately, so that they (the Moabites and Midianites) were soon to perish, since they were not able to resist the army of Israel, then they made an attempt to drive away the enemies with the help of the art of sorcery and other wicked means they used. But when, despite all their efforts, they could not cause any harm to the enemy (since God Himself protected him and forced the false prophet Balaam to pronounce a blessing on him instead of the curse for which he was hired), then, being in an extremely difficult situation, they decided among themselves that they could only harm Israel except if he offended God, his Protector, and, thereby deprived of heavenly help, decided to enter into battle.
Knowing that the male sex is ardent and eager for the female sex and that youth is unsafe against this kind of unclean pleasures, they sent dressed-up libertines for indecent intercourse with the Israelis, whose beauty was easily captivated by anyone who had a tendency towards carnal sin and, following whose suggestions, little by little was distracted from serving God. Thus, the disease of apostasy was added to their fornication, as it is written: “And Israel cleave to Baal-peor” (Num. 25:3); God said the same thing through the mouth of the prophet: “You yourselves are on the side of harlots” (Hos. 4:14). The Lawgiver was greatly indignant at this, and quite rightly, and this matter did not go unpunished for the Israelites; because for this they immediately fell into unbearable disasters, when fornicators began to be exterminated at the hands of their brothers and neighbors. Following this, God commanded that war be undertaken against the Midianites, saying to the priest Moses: “Avenge the Midianites for the children of Israel, and then you will go back to your people.
And Moses spake unto the people, saying, Equip a people of yourselves for war, that they may go against the Midianites, to execute the vengeance of the Lord upon the Midianites; send a thousand from each tribe, from all the tribes...of Israel to war. And out of the thousands of Israel, a thousand per tribe, twelve thousand armed for the war were selected. And Moses sent them to war, a thousand each from the tribe, them and Phinehas the son of Eleazar..., the priest, to war, and in his hand were the sacred vessels and trumpets for alarm.
And they went to war against Midian, as the Lord commanded Moses, and killed all the males; and together with their slain they killed the kings of Midian: Ebiah, Rekem, Zur, Hur and Reba, the five kings of Midian, and they killed Balaam the son of Beor with the sword...; And the women of Midian and their children the children of Israel took captive, and all their livestock, and all their herds, and all their goods, they took as spoil, and all their cities in their dominion, and all their villages, they burned with fire; and they took all the captured and all the spoils, from man to beast; and they brought the captives and the spoil and the captured things to Moses, and to Eleazar the priest, and to the congregation of the children of Israel, to the camp, to the plains of Moab, which is by the Jordan, opposite Jericho. And Moses and Eleazar the priest and all the princes of the congregation went out of the camp to meet them. And Moses was angry with the captains of the army, the captains of thousands and the captains of hundreds, who came from the war, and Moses said to them: [why] have you left all the women alive?
so they, on the advice of Balaam, were a reason for the children of Israel to depart from the Lord to please Peor, for which there was defeat in the company of the Lord; therefore, kill all male children, and kill all women who knew a husband on a man’s bed; and keep all the female children who have not known a man’s bed alive for yourselves” (Num. 31:1-18). After God commanded this, selected young men gathered to wage war and the most enduring and excellent ones flocked from each tribe, so that the best people from each tribe would serve for the glory of the whole people and the valor of the part would be transferred to the whole, according to the wise saying of Paul: “Therefore, if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; If one member is glorified, all members rejoice with it” (1 Cor. 12:26).
P. Your reasoning is correct.
K. So, a strong army of selected young men came out against the Midianites; Phinehas, the priest’s son, was with them, and there were also sacred vessels and pipes, called signal ones. For to courageous people Christ, our great high priest, is always a companion and companion; Angels also fight with them, symbolically indicated by the sacred vessels: because the rational spirits living in heaven are truly holy and sacred vessels, since they are placed by God to help us. In the same way, there are also signal trumpets, that is, the speeches of preachers about God, which make it very clear how to overcome enemies, that is, the passions that exist in us. So, the priest, that is, Phinehas, is the image of Christ, the holy vessels are the Angels, and the signal trumpets are those who proclaim the word of God to us.
Thus, we will easily overcome our opponents in Christ, saying what is sung in the Psalms: “With You we will gore our enemies with our horns; in Your name we will trample underfoot those who rise up against us” (Ps. 43:6), which is what the Israelites actually did. Having devastated all the cities and the entire country of the Midianites, they presented all the spoils to Eleazar the priest and the entire assembly of the sons of Israel: this means that the righteous deeds of the saints are like sacred offerings to the high priest of all Christ and do not remain hidden from the nations, according to the word of Scripture: “For there is nothing hidden that will not be made manifest, nor hidden that will not be made known and not revealed” ( Luke 8:17). So, the fact that everything captive is brought before the eyes of the priest and all the people is done figuratively and prudently. However, Moses reproached the victors for the fact that they did not complete the job completely accurately and impeccably; since, he said, men should not have been taken captive alive, as well as women who had known the marriage bed.
From a historical perspective, this is quite convincing; because in that country, which was soon to come into the possession of the Israelites, of course, the male sex had to be destroyed, since in a short time it would reach mature age and strength and would become hostile to the people of Israel; and along with the men, the female sex also had to be destroyed, since it became the cause of temptation and, if it had remained intact, would probably have become the same again. As for spiritual contemplation, I think one can see in what has been stated that this is skillfully expressed.
K. The warriors chosen from each tribe, although they won the victory, did not remain free from accusation. This indicates, and moreover, very clearly, that even those who are distinguished by courage will never have perfect impeccability: because what seems to us to have been done correctly will in no way remain free from censure and guilt, as soon as God Himself subjects it to careful examination and testing. Therefore it is written: “If You, Lord, notice iniquity, Lord! who can stand?" (Ps. 129, 3) - also: “Cleanse me from my secrets from the willful deeds of Your servant, so that they do not prevail over me” (Ps. 18, 13-14). So, in the courage of even chosen people one can find something worthy of just reproach, which is seen by the knowledge of the Lawgiver, although it eludes our gaze; for we cannot in any way know this, according to to the word of Scripture: “Who understands the Fall?” (Ps.
18:13) And Isaiah in one place says that “all our righteousness is like filthy rags” (Is.64:6); because we can never have very great perfection and integrity. Likewise, the wisest Paul, although he wrote: “I know nothing about myself, but by this I am not justified; But the Lord is my judge” (1 Cor. 4:4) The reproach, further, was not made by Moses to everyone in general, but only to military leaders, commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds; for “the strong will be greatly tormented” (Wis. 6:6): the law must be applied especially to them in all severity, as it is written: “to him much will be given, much will be required of him” (Luke 12:48). That is why the Savior’s disciple wrote: “My brothers! Let not many become teachers, knowing that we will suffer greater condemnation” (James 3:1). So, the charge, which applies to everyone, is applied only to military commanders and leaders of detachments; since, with the vigilance of superiors, subordinates almost always behave commendably.
Therefore, it is written to the people who are in subjection: “Obey your leaders and be submissive, for they watch over your souls, as those who must give an account” (Heb. 13:17). After the beating of women and children, the divine Moses does not allow the soldiers to settle in the camp uncleaned, but commands them to first cleanse themselves, saying: “And stay outside the camp for seven days; Whoever kills a man and touches the murdered one, be cleansed on the third day and on the seventh day, you and your captives; and cleanse all garments, and all leathern articles, and all things made of goats’ hair, and all wooden vessels” (Num. 31:19-20). You see that even the most perfect and glorious race of chosen people among us is not completely blameless, for no one is clean from filth (Job 14:4), even if someone distinguished himself among people for whom praiseworthy things are common: for perfect holiness is preserved until the age to come. So, Moses commands the victors to stay outside the camp and perform purification on the third day and the seventh.
The third day means or the third time in which purification was accomplished through Christ - the time that followed the time of Moses and the time when the face of the holy prophets was revealed; or the time of the Resurrection, when Christ rose from the dead, nailing the handwriting that was against us to the honorable cross and suffering for us, which freed us from sin (Col. 2:14). The seventh day encourages us to understand the time of the end of the present age, when, having completely cast aside the burden of sin and received holiness as our inheritance, we will be with Christ, leading an immaculate, pure and blessed life in Christ.
P. Well said, in my opinion.
K. You will also be surprised at the following mystery. Immediately after Moses the priest Eleazar begins to speak and says: “And Eleazar the priest said to the soldiers who went to war: this is the decree of the law that the Lord commanded Moses: gold, silver, copper, iron, tin and lead, and everything that passes through the fire, put it through the fire, so that it is purified, and in addition, it must be cleansed with cleansing water; whatever does not pass through fire, put through water; and wash your clothes on the seventh day, and be clean, and after that enter into the camp” (Num. 31:21-24). Note that Moses, who spoke first, indicated to the victors the time of cleansing, but did not yet indicate the method of cleansing (because the law foretells the time of cleansing through Christ), and the method was announced by the second, the priest following Moses, that is, Eleazar: because after Moses Christ gives the regulations, Who no longer indicates the time of cleansing, since the time has already come, but reveals the method of cleansing and, so to speak, puts before our eyes, finally, the mystery itself, explaining the real purpose of the law.
Eleazar commanded that vessels that could withstand the force of fire should be carried through the fire; everything else that by nature did not have strength in itself, but was weak and could easily be subject to complete destruction, that is, clothing and products made of leather and wood, he ordered to be carried through the water, under vessels of gold, silver and other similar substances, covertly meaning us, for whom Christ had purified himself, both by fire and by water; since we are baptized “with the Holy Spirit and fire” (Matthew 3:11). So, the passing through fire and water of what was collected from captive booty clearly indicates the cleansing of us, whom, as if formerly the property of the devil, Christ acquired for himself by entering the house of the strong man, plundering his vessels and binding the strong man (Matthew 12:29). Further, Eleazar commanded the victors to enter the camp only when they washed their clothes on the seventh day and thus became clean.
So the complete cleansing and putting away of all filth will be accomplished in the final times of the end of the world, when, as I recently said, sin will be completely destroyed and human nature will be raised to its original and ancient beauty: “It will be then,” it is said, “...and the way along it will be called the holy way: the unclean will not walk on it... And those who have been redeemed by the Lord will return” (Is. 35: 8-10). I think that this explanation is not correct. However, if anyone wishes to understand this passage differently, we will say this: it was decreed that the vessel of each of the victors, whether it be made of gold, or silver, or copper, or some other similar substance, should pass through fire; since the word of psalmody teaches us that the souls of the saints are tested in no other way than in similar ways. Namely, David sang: “You have tried us, O God, you have refined us, as silver is refined.
...We entered fire and water, and You brought us out to freedom” (Ps. 65, 10, 12).
P. However, most respected one, those who are more inquisitive can say: how the chosen Jewish warriors fought and defeated the Midianites and how they were cleansed from the defilement they received in the war, this has sufficiently clarified your reasoning for us; but it’s time to show whether we will actually participate in the courage of courageous people and whether we will become accomplices in their excellent deeds, even if we do not have complete equality with them in virtue and are inferior to them in courage? This is what you promised to explain in your argument.
K. But immediately and immediately there follows a further decree related to this, which gives a very clear and easy-to-understand instruction. “And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, Count the spoil of captivity, from man to beast, you and Eleazar the priest, and the leaders of the tribes of the congregation; and divide the spoil in half among those who fought, who went to war, and among the whole congregation; and from the soldiers who went to war, take tribute to the Lord, one soul out of five hundred, from people and from herds, and from donkeys and from flocks; take it from half of them and give it to Eleazar the priest as an offering to the Lord; And from half the children of Israel you shall take one share out of fifty, from the people, from the herds, from the donkeys, and from the flocks, and give it to the Levites who serve at the tabernacle of the Lord. And Moses and Eleazar the priest did as the Lord commanded Moses” (Num. 31 25–31). And so the divine command was immediately fulfilled: a careful and accurate calculation of the spoils and division into halves was carried out; the plots or firstfruits of the Lord were given to Eleazar the priest and to the tribe of Levi. So what?
Can your mind overcome oblivion and remember what we said at the beginning?
K. Doesn't it say in the Holy Scriptures that a thousand from each tribe were gathered to wage war?
P. Indeed said.
K. And equally, didn’t we say directly and clearly that the glory and praise of one part will transfer to the whole, since the meekness and love of God arranges this very well for us, so that, so to speak, from one most fragrant incense, composed of various types of incense, one common fragrance ascends to God and, together with the most excellent part, receives praise and not so different?
P. Truth: this is what we intended to explore.
K. See how clearly God establishes this for the children of Israel. Although the chosen warriors, a thousand from each tribe, fought with the Midianites, and gained victory, I think, with difficulty and sweat, they immediately shared the spoils taken in the war with the entire community, and thus the rest of the people were honored by the valiant deeds of courageous people: “divide,” it is said, “the self-interest of you and Eleazar the priest and the princes of the hosts of the fatherland: and divide the self-interest among the soldiers who went to battle and among the whole host" (Numbers 31:26-27). That along with the most chosen and most famous, the somewhat insufficient, going behind their greatness, will be glorified, the divine Paul also makes it clear: having enumerated the ancient saints who became praiseworthy by faith and acquired radiant glory by zealous worship of God, he says: "All these died in faith, not receiving the promises ... because God He provided something better for us, so that they would not reach perfection without us” (Heb. 11, 13, 40), and he also writes to others (Corinthians): you are already perfect, “you began to reign without us.
Oh, if you really reigned, so that you and I could reign!” (1 Cor. 4:8). Do you see how, together with those who have achieved perfection, those who are among the insufficient are also improved, and those who are unequal in strength are blessed along with the elect? And the divine David sings: “Blessed are you by the Lord, who made heaven and earth. ... The Lord remembers us, blesses [us], blesses the house of Israel, blesses the house of Aaron; He blesses those who fear the Lord, small and great” (Ps. 113:23, 20–21). Together with the great, those called small are also blessed, who, although they cannot boast of equal strength with them and are inferior to them in their readiness to endure suffering, are equal to them, perhaps, in zeal and faith and delight Christ with their feasible firmness. Moses and Eleazar can be the image of the one high priest and legislator of Christ, sharing the self-interest of the people in the presence of the holy Angels, whose image can be the leaders of the tribes of society.
Don't you recognize that there are many holy Angels on earth, appointed by God to help believers and guide nations?
P. I admit; How can one not admit this?
K. We expect that Christ will come from heaven with the holy Angels, sit on the throne of His glory and give everyone the reward due to him and the honor corresponding to his good deeds. So the wise Isaiah says about Christ: “Therefore I will give Him a portion among the great, and He will share the spoil with the mighty, because He gave His soul to death and was counted among the evildoers, while He bore the sin of many and became an intercessor for the criminals” (Is. 53:12). So, the division of goods will be accomplished by Christ, which is typified in Moses and Aaron, since Christ is both the legislator and the high priest.
P. You said it very well.
K: But isn’t the very method of dividing the spoils also worthy of surprise?
P. Of course so: because those who remained alone received the same share as those who fought.
K. Not the same at all, but much smaller. True, one half of the total spoils was received by those who fought, and the other half by the entire community. But the number of the sons of Israel extended to six hundred three thousand five hundred and fifty, and the tribe appointed for sacred rites was left aside and not included in the list (Num. 1:46-47), and meanwhile the number of those who fought was one thousand per tribe. Therefore, if all the spoils were divided in half and if both parts of the people received half of everything, then, without a doubt, a much greater reward went to those who were fewer in number, and not to those who were more numerous and outnumbered. So, whatever the glory and measure of the heavenly gift that will one day be given to all the people, in any case, exactly half of it will be allocated to the chosen ones and those who have shown themselves worthy of divine attention, and the other half will be given to the rest of the mass of the people, even if it were much more numerous: “many are called, but few are chosen” (Matthew 20:16). (Do you understand what has been said?) After all, this is not easy to understand.
P. I understand. Although we will be participants in the glory of the saints, but to a lesser extent than they: after all, this very thing makes your reasoning quite clear.
K. You said that right. But pay attention, in addition, to something else, through which you can especially easily discern the boldness of courageous people before God.
K. God commanded the twelve thousand warriors to present to the high priest one head from every five hundred, from both people and cattle, from the half of all the spoils he had separated - this was a tribute from them to the Lord. God commanded the rest of the multitude to give to the sacred tribe one soul per fifty. If we again accept that Eleazar represents the one and truly only high priest, that is, Christ, then it will follow that the gifts of the chosen people are dedicated to Christ exclusively and truly and as if personally: for they bring them to Him himself, without the mediation of anyone, which is what the blessed disciples of Christ actually did, and the teachers of the nations are still doing now, dedicating to Christ, as an exclusively offered gift to Him, their labors in preaching the Word God's And the rest of the multitude of praised people, although they make gifts for the glory of Christ, do so through the mediation of the saints, since the saints are meant by the sacred tribe; for it is said: “a chosen race, a royal priesthood” (1 Pet. 2:9).
So, the reverence and fear of God of those people is accepted through the saints, because although they bring gifts, they are not such that would actually relate to the person of Christ Himself. Those who collected collections for the benefit of the poor (1 Cor. 16:1 et seq.), sent relief to the saints who lived in Jerusalem (2 Cor. 9:1; Rom. 15:25-26), or brought benefits to people dedicated to God through some other service, tried to do something similar. Thus, the gifts of the most excellent people are offered to God Himself, and the gifts of less perfect people are offered through the mediation of the saints and take second place. And besides, the first give one soul per five hundred, and the second from fifty; this is because praiseworthy people have fewer debts, so their offering is less; and the less perfect have much more debts, therefore the amount they bring is greater; According to the falls of each one, gifts are brought for them. Whoever is given more will, it is said, love more; and whoever is allowed less will love less (Luke 7:47).
So this is why those who are not equal with them offer ten times more than the elect, not because the latter are more pious and lead a more praiseworthy life, but because they, being subject to much greater stumbling, inevitably have a need for much greater purification; since, according to the words of the Savior, “he who is washed needs only to wash his feet, because he is all clean” (John 13:10). Thus, holy people also have a need for cleansing, albeit a very small one, since human nature suffers from the illness that it cannot be completely free from sin.
K. So, the warriors chosen from each tribe, in obedience to the Divine decree, divided the spoils of war with the whole community and brought gifts to the Lord in accordance with the prescribed order; Meanwhile, the leaders of the elect honor God with the most excellent gifts, as having a more brilliant glory in comparison with those. This is what is written about them: “And the commanders of the thousands of troops, the commanders of thousands and the captains of hundreds, came to Moses, and said to Moses: Your servants have counted the soldiers who were entrusted to us, and not one of them is missing; and so, we brought an offering to the Lord, who took out some of the golden things: chains, wrists, rings, earrings and pendants, to cleanse our souls before the Lord. And Moses and Eleazar the priest took from them the gold in all these articles; And all the gold that was offered as an offering to the Lord was sixteen thousand seven hundred and fifty shekels, from the captains of thousands and captains of hundreds. The soldiers robbed each for themselves.
And Moses and Eleazar the priest took the gold from the captains of thousands and captains of hundreds, and brought it to the tabernacle of meeting, in remembrance of the children of Israel before the Lord” (Num. 31:48-54). Do you hear how accurately, says Scripture, the number of those who fought was made, so that there was no one left who would not bring a gift, in accordance with Divine favor? But in addition, they (the leaders) say that they themselves decided to bring from themselves to God what he did not command to bring - wrists, necklaces, earrings and other jewelry made of gold. After all, the Lawgiver commanded that gifts be brought from people and from cattle, and these gifts, in accordance with the Divine and heavenly decree, have already been brought: but the leaders of the chosen warriors also make a voluntary offering from selected jewelry and thus with their generosity they go further than the limit prescribed by law. Having received these gifts, Moses and Aaron bring them into the holy tabernacle and preserve them there as a memorial before the Lord.
So also the leaders of the peoples and those appointed as rulers honor God with brilliant and most excellent offerings, offering and dedicating to Him, as if some decoration, many kinds of virtue; as if exceeding the measure of the law itself, they receive more brilliant glory.
P. What, for example, do you mean?
K. To those who proclaim the Gospel, Christ determined to live from the Gospel (1 Cor. 9:14); Paul tried to confirm this by decree of the law, when in one place he wrote: “Are not those who eat sacrifices partakers of the altar” (1 Cor. 10:18), and in another he proved with irresistible examples the complete innocence of this, saying: “Who, having planted grapes, does not eat its fruit? Who, while tending a flock, does not eat milk from the flock? Am I only saying this based on human reasoning? Isn't that what the law says? For in the Law of Moses it is written: You shall not muzzle an ox that is threshing. Does God care about oxen? Or, of course, is it said for us? So, this is written for us; for he who plows must plow with hope, and he who threshes must thresh with the hope of receiving what he expects.” Immediately after this he added: “If we have sown spiritual things in you, is it great if we reap bodily things from you? If others have power over you, don't we? However, we did not use this power, but we endure everything, so as not to put any obstacle to the gospel of Christ.” Then he confirms this, saying: “Why am I rewarded?
Because, preaching the Gospel, I preach the good news of Christ freely” (1 Cor. 9:7-12,18). Do you see how he exceeded what was established by Christ and the ancient law? Having the power to live from the gospel, he offered the gospel freely, dedicating this work to Christ as a voluntary gift. In the same way, neither the ancient law nor the new preaching legitimized celibacy for us, as Paul says: “Concerning virginity, I have no commandment from the Lord” (1 Cor. 7:25); however, very strict zealots of piety, mortifying their flesh, offer to God, as a brilliant gift, their abstinence that surpasses the law and, like some skillfully crafted decoration, their excellent life, composed of deeds and words.
Moses and Aaron, it is said, brought the gifts they brought into the holy tabernacle: this is because the righteous deeds of holy people are pleasing to Christ and constitute wealth and brilliant praise, through which they also acquire a long, or rather endless memory for themselves and show themselves worthy of Divine attention; since something like this is indicated by the words that offerings are laid before the Lord. Truly a great and excellent thing is to be before the eyes of God; because God shows unusually great honor to those whom He honors with His sight.
P. From much that has been said so far, it seems to be revealed that we must be convinced and admit that the offering of gifts to God is not so becoming for anyone else than for people who are very courageous and accustomed to acquiring glory.
K. Delno, Palladium; you judge correctly. And not only by the very essence of the matter this should be so, but the Holy Scripture also testifies to this. When, during the continued stay of the sons of Israel in the desert, God wanted to erect a holy tabernacle, as an image and mark of the church consisting of pagans, then He also commanded that everything needed for this be collected.
He said this to the priest Moses: “When you number the children of Israel when they are numbered, let each one give a ransom for his soul to the Lord when he numbers them, and there will be no destructive plague among them when they are numbered; everyone who enters the number must give half a shekel, the shekel of the sanctuary; There are twenty gerahs in a shekel: half a shekel is an offering to the Lord; everyone who is counted twenty years old and above must give an offering to the Lord; the rich shall give no more, and the poor no less, half a shekel as an offering to the Lord, as a ransom for your souls; And take the ransom money from the children of Israel, and use it for the service of the tabernacle of meeting; And it will be for the children of Israel as a memorial before the Lord, for the redemption of your souls” (Exodus 30:12-16). Here again the Lawgiver commands to make an exact calculation and orders to collect tribute to the Lord in half a didrachm.
He also clearly defines who should bring tribute: not women and not those who were still in childhood, God allowed to do this; through this, I think, He rejects everything that is powerless, effeminate and imperfect in mind and, as it were, includes in the number of those obliged to bring gifts mature and blossoming young men who appear for revision, to whom He appointed the twentieth year from birth. Thus, according to the law, only those who have become above childish sense and feminine understanding are found worthy to bring gifts to the Lord, have already grown to the measure of a husband and have reached the fullness of age, understood in Christ and spiritually (Eph. 4:13). Such go for revision, that is, they show themselves worthy to appear before the eyes of God, as it is sung in the Psalms: “The eyes of the Lord are directed towards the righteous” (Ps. 33:16). The ransom was appointed for the salvation of those who brought it, for the construction of the holy tabernacle and as a memorial before the Lord: so the valiant deeds of the saints build churches and are useful for decorating the holy tabernacle, and at the same time accomplish the salvation of the soul and crown courageous people with endless glory.
Isn’t it true, because my reasoning seems correct to you?
K. So, God commanded to collect a ransom, that is, the didrachm - this was the tribute of people who had reached the age of manhood. And the leaders of the tribes added to what was prescribed by the law and brought even greater and more worthy gifts, selected from the things that were in their possession, as it is written: “The princes brought an onyx stone and set-in stones for the ephod and breastplate, also incense, and oil for the lamp and for the preparation of anointing oil and for fragrant incense” (Ex. 35, 27-28). Isn't this similar to what we talked about a little earlier? Thus, the majority of those who fought brought to God, according to this commandment, part of the captive booty from man to cattle, and the captains of thousands and centurions added to this wristbands, necklaces, chains, rings and all kinds of gold items, which Eleazar the priest placed all in the most sacred tabernacle. Here the whole multitude of mature people pays the didrachm, and the leaders again bring selected stones for the amice and words that belonged to the decoration of the leader in the priesthood.
So the leaders of the peoples offer themselves for decoration to Christ, as if they were precious stones; That’s why the prophet says, pointing to the holy Apostles: “stones are lying holy on the ground” (Zech. 9:16); such, for example, was the divine Paul, who traveled around the countries from Jerusalem to Illyricum for the sake of preaching the gospel (Rom. 15:19). So, precious stones for the glory of Christ constitute the host of saints. They are both the oil of anointing and the composition of incense, since they spread around them, like a fragrance, the knowledge of Christ and, as if with oil, with wise teaching and words inspired by the Spirit, they fatten the souls of people who are secretly taught. The incense, it is said, was composite: because the knowledge of Christ is composed of two sides, since He is together God and man - however, from both there is one, the Son and Christ, to whom it was said in one place and by ourselves: “Your name is like ointment poured out” (Song. 1, 2).
P. So, before the eyes of God there are warlike and strong people and their fruit - the building of churches and everything that serves the glory of God - this is revealed to us from what has been discussed.
K. You said it right. And that those who always behave in such a commendable manner will be given by God a glorious and special lot and participation in all good things - how or why could anyone doubt this? Or don’t you hear what David sings: “bear the labors of your fruits” (Ps. 127: 2), and also what the wise and holy Paul writes: “Whatever a man sows, that he will also reap” (Gal. 6: 7.)
K. Of course, the one who behaves courageously will not remain without reward, and without a doubt he is faithful when he says: “For God is not unjust, that he should forget your work and the labor of love which you have shown in His name” (Heb. 6:10). Yes, God will not forget at all, but will distribute rewards for work to those who overcome laziness, which leads to sin. The following passage from the same book of Numbers will convince us of this: “The Lord spoke to Moses and Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest, saying: Number all the congregation of the children of Israel from twenty years old and upward, according to their families, all those who are able to go to war against Israel” (Num. 26:1-2). Then, after the numbering was completed by tribes and tribes, “And the Lord said,” it is written further, “to Moses, saying: “For this purpose we must divide the land according to the number of names; whoever is more numerous, give him more inheritance; and whoever is smaller in number, give him less inheritance: everyone should be given an inheritance in proportion to the number of those included in the count; The land should be divided by lot, according to the names of the tribes of their fathers they should receive inheritances; by lot they must divide their inheritances, both those who are numerous and those who are few” (Num. 26:52–56).
This was the law of inheritance for those who had reached the age of twenty. After numbering the common people, the family of the Levites is counted: “according to their generations...,” it is said, “These are the generations of Levi: the generation of Libni, the generation of Hebron, the generation of Mahli, the generation of Mushie, the generation of Korah” (Num. 26:57-58). Having then numbered the race of Moses and Aaron, he again continues (the Scripture) about the sons of Levi: “And they were numbered twenty-three thousand of all the males, from one month old and upward; for they were not numbered with the children of Israel, because no inheritance was given to them among the children of Israel. These are those who were numbered by Moses and Eleazar the priest, who numbered the children of Israel in the plains of Moab by the Jordan, opposite Jericho; among them there was not a single person who was numbered by Moses and Aaron the priest, who numbered the children of Israel in the wilderness of Sinai; for the Lord told them that they would die in the wilderness, and there was none left of them except Caleb the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua the son of Nun” (Num. 26:62-65).
Now, again briefly considering each particular, let's talk about this more clearly and separately.
P. So speak without any delay: after all, it is pleasant to discuss in detail about subjects of this kind.
K. So, summarizing the meaning of the passages cited in a few words, we say. Again God commands to count people who are mature and skilled in military affairs. This is because, as we have already said before, in the custody and census of God and in the book of the living are not those who are powerless and inactive, and not those who are still infancy in mind, but all those who are already strong and ready to fight against passions and sin, have come to their senses and are fully fit to accomplish and fulfill what is pleasing to God. It was they who divided the land among themselves by tribe, by name and individually: because those in question will be heirs of the holy land and sharers in the desired blessings by tribe and by generation, as it is said: “Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.... Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy” (Matt. 5:5, 7), as well as in other beatitudes: because this is how would be the own destiny of the merciful, meek, poor in spirit and persecuted for the sake of righteousness.
In addition, the crown of glory is given to everyone individually and by name, since God honors everyone according to his good deeds and gives courageous people the grace they need, although, however, one might think that it is imparted to a greater extent and in a richer allotment: “good measure,” it is said, “shaken down, pressed together, and running over, will be poured into your bosom” (Luke 6:38). The same I think this is also indicated by the fact that God said: “Whoever is more numerous, give him more inheritance; and whoever is fewer in number, give him less inheritance: everyone should be given an inheritance in proportion to the number of those included in the number” (Numbers 26:54); since the greater number of names is a clear image of the superiority of abundance in virtue; lot, in accordance, perhaps, with the words addressed to God: “into Your hand are my lots” (Ps. 30:16): because the Divine decision will make an unmistakable division of future benefits, when the One who knows everything that concerns us will determine the inheritance for everyone due to him.
The Levites are again counted separately, from one month and above; they were not given an inheritance among the children of Israel and they were not subject to revision with them: because the more sacred generation is always the more holy; That is why his census is separated from the census of others and his inheritance is not with others; but it is subject to separate revision. The destiny and inheritance of this kind of people is the God of all, according to the word of Scripture: “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God” (Matthew 5:8). While the so-called poor in spirit will inherit the Kingdom of Heaven, those who choose mourning will be comforted, the merciful will receive mercy: the pure in heart, it is said, are blessed because they will see God. These are the most sacred and holiest above all others, and their heritage and destiny is accurate vision of God, that is, knowledge of the Divine. This is precisely what Christ promised to grant to the holy Apostles when he said: “Hello I have spoken to you in parables; but the time is coming when I will no longer speak to you in parables, but will tell you directly about the Father” (John 16:25).
The census of the more sacred people is completed from one month, as I said recently: this is because of the holy men included in the census and in the book of God, not only those who are famous for spiritual strength and wisdom, but also those who remain in simplicity in Christ and are infants in relation to malice (1 Cor. 14:20). So, in the sacred race, everyone is recorded, both the wise and the simple; You can see such a difference, Palladius, between the souls of saints in their way of thinking and living. It is also added that “among them there was not a single person who was numbered by Moses and Aaron the priest, who numbered the children of Israel in the wilderness of Sinai; for the Lord told them that they would die in the wilderness, and there was none left of them except Caleb the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua the son of Nun” (Num. 26:64-65), which clearly shows that the inheritance and inscription in the book of God were not assigned to those who disbelieved, on the contrary, this befits those who accepted faith, of course, in Christ: because of those who disbelieved, the divine David said: “Let them be blotted out from the book of the living.” and let them not be written with the righteous” (Ps. 68:29).
That grace is for believers, this is secretly shown to us by Divine prophecy in the above narrative: because for this purpose the word of God says mysteriously that the census took place under the Jordan; for he who has been baptized is included. However, Israel is not completely without hope, but, according to the prophet, the “remnant” is saved (Is. 10:20–21); His image is served by Caleb and Jesus, who alone among all survived, received an inheritance and were included in the census along with those who were not subject to accusations of unbelief. Pay attention also to the fact that the distribution of inheritances and the census of the saints is carried out everywhere through Moses and the first in the priesthood (high priest), so that by both, as I said before, you understand one Christ, as the high priest and lawgiver, through whom all grace is given and inscription in the books on high, which blessed Daniel saw, as he himself states: “the books were opened,” he says, “(Dan. 7, 10). Since there are many different censuses, there are many books, not just one.
P. So, the word of the parable tells us correctly and wisely: “A well-behaved wife gains glory, ... but the hardworking gain wealth” (Proverbs 11:16).
K. Yes, they, of course, are established, and God is merciful to them, protects them, fattens them with the highest blessings, crowns them with brilliant honor and richly adorns them with loud glory. Isn’t He true who said: I live, “says the Lord, ... I will glorify those who glorify me” (1 Sam. 2:30)?
K. And I think that anyone who is strong and has acquired skill in spiritual courage, who tries to fight visible and invisible enemies, is able to save himself and others and can do everything through God (Phil. 4:13).
K: Would you like us to see how this very thing, as if shaded in a picture, is depicted in the stories about the divine Abraham that are very useful for us?
P. I would very much like this. How could it be otherwise?
K. It is written that Lot settled and lived in Sodom. But when a cruel and difficult war befell that country, and when the close and neighboring nations, together with their leaders, took possession of that city, then Lot was taken away along with other captives. One of the survivors, having come, “notified,” it is said, “Abram the Jew, who was then living near the oak grove of Mamre, an Amorite, brother Eshkol and brother Aner, who were allies of Abram. Abram, having heard that ... his relative was taken captive, armed his servants, born in his house, three hundred and eighteen, and pursued the enemies to Dan; and, dividing, attacked them by night, he and his servants, and smote them, and pursued them to Hobah, which is on the left side of Damascus;
When he was returning after the defeat of Chedorlaomer and the kings who were with him, the king of Sodom came out to meet him in the valley of Shaveh, which is now the royal valley; and Melchizedek, king of Salem, brought out bread and wine - he was the priest of the Most High God - and blessed him, and said: Blessed is Abram of the Most High God, Lord of heaven and earth; and blessed be God Most High, who hath delivered thy enemies into thy hand. [Abram] gave him a tenth of everything. And the king of Sodom said to Abram: Give me the people, and take the property for yourself. But Abram said to the king of Sodom: I lift up my hand to the Lord God Most High, the Lord of heaven and earth, that I will not even take a thread or a shoe strap from all yours, lest you say: I have made Abram rich; besides what the youths ate, and besides the share belonging to the people who walked with me; Let Aner, Eshkol and Mamri take their share. After these incidents, the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision... and it was said: Do not be afraid, Abram; I am your shield; your reward... is very great. Abram said: Sovereign Lord! what will you give me?
I remain childless; This Eliezer from Damascus is the steward of my house. And Abram said, Behold, thou hast not given me seed, and behold, the man of my household is my heir. And the word of the Lord came to him, and said, He shall not be your heir, but he who shall come out of your body shall be your heir. And he brought him out and said...: Look at the sky and count the stars, if you can count them. And he said to him, “You will have so many descendants” (Gen. 14:13–24, 15:1–5). Do you see the readiness of holy men for courage and how willingly they endure suffering? As soon as Abraham learned that Lot was in danger, he immediately felt pity for the misfortune of his relative and, taking with him members of his household and some allies who were not Jews, he hastily set out against the oppressors, easily defeated them and freed from captivity both his nephew Lot and others who had fallen into the hands of the victors. After this, justly giving the honor due to Abraham as a conqueror, the king of Sodom and Melchizedek, priest of the Most High God, came out to meet him, as it is written.
He did not meet Abraham empty-handed, but brought the signs of the priesthood that existed at that time - bread and wine, blessed Abraham and gave him sacred words as a reward. So Abraham showed himself courageous and won; Those who are courageous in Christ and have the most God-loving boldness in their souls are always the same. As an example and to certify my words, I will also point to the holy Apostles, who, when Satan easily plundered everything and opponents of the true teachings carried away the souls of ordinary people, courageously resisted the enemies, arming with them their household, that is, people brought up on the Holy Scriptures, as well as some allies who were not Jews, I mean those who, still thinking about worldly matters, They strive, however, with the saints and compete with them. Taking courage in this way, they won and snatched those captured by him from under the dominion of Satan. By extracting some from idolatry and worship of the creature instead of the Creator, and others from false knowledge, they save them.
For such bright and great courage they also receive reward, namely: not only honors from people in the world: “who were with him,” it is said, “the king of Sodom went out to meet him in the Shave valley, which is now the royal valley; and Melchizedek, king of Salem, brought out bread and wine - he was the priest of the Most High God” (Gen. 14, 17-18). Therefore, very rightly they say about themselves: “Blessed are you by the Lord, who made heaven and earth” (Ps. 113:23). And that Melchizedek is the image of the priesthood of Christ, to prove this, I think, there is no need to say much, since Holy Scripture alone is enough for this. When, further, the king of Sodom said to the divine Abraham, as the winner: give me the men, and take the horses for yourself, then Abraham immediately swore that he would not take anything except food for those who labored with him, and the share of his allies - Eschol, Abnan and Mamre.
Likewise, holy men, although they wage war, fight courageously and take upon themselves all kinds of labor for the sake of the freedom of those exposed to disaster, however, they do not take anything from the world and do not collect earthly wealth, carefully avoiding the censure that comes from this: “Do not say,” it is said, “that I made Abraham rich.” They only accept food from those to whom they benefit; since “the worker is worthy of reward for his labors” (Luke 10:7), and Christ commanded those who proclaim the Gospel to live from the Gospel (1 Cor. 9:14). And the allies receive their parts; this, I think, means that God blesses the competitors of the saints in matters relating to this life; since due to the fact that they follow the right path, their property accordingly abounds; To those who have not yet completely renounced earthly objects, but are, as it were, divided between God and the world, God also gives earthly blessings. So he blessed Jacob by multiplying the livestock (Gen. 30:30).
K. To those who have achieved such great glory and lordship, as if to their close relatives, the Author of salvation says that they should not fall into despondency, and beneficially promises them that they will receive a great reward; through this, he drives away as far as possible the weak and timid disposition of spirit from the host of those who fear Him, encourages them to zeal with the hope of receiving the promised benefits and makes them stronger. Therefore, the divine Paul, who had such a mood of soul, said in one place: “I can do all things through Jesus Christ who strengthens me” (Phil. 4:13), and in another: “I have finished my course, I have kept the faith; but now there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness” (2 Tim. 4:7-8). The divine Abraham grieves greatly and does not remain free from grief because he had a household member instead of a son. What will you give me, he says to God, when I remain childless? (Gen. 15:2.) And thus, he considers having illegitimate fruit on a par with childlessness. Then God promises him a son from a free woman, that is, Isaac, and says that in him he will be the father of many nations and will have offspring like the stars of heaven.
So it was very regrettable for the holy Apostles to have illegitimate fruit, as if from some slave, from lawful service. On the contrary, they desired a son from a free woman, that is, from the New Testament; and such was Christ, in whose image Isaac is understood to be a son by promise and through faith. So Blessed Paul says about the advantages under the law that he had: “But what was an advantage to me, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. And I count all things but loss for the excellency of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish, that I may win Christ, and be found in him, not having my own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith” (Phil. 3:7-9). In Christ the Apostles became the fathers of many nations and countless descendants, as, obviously, Abraham did in Isaac. What has been said, however, we apply not only to the ancient men and holy Apostles, but also to those who after them received the lot of the priesthood, to the leaders of the church, and, finally, to every righteous and good person.
Book 5. About courage in Christ
So, Palladius, holy men, despite the fact that they fight for the lives of other people, strive, however, not to acquire for themselves anything found in the world: for in this way they become wise and strong, filled with good hope and well protected by heavenly favors. And it cannot be otherwise, as you well know, my friend. After all, if their mind is above worldly entertainment and temporary desires, then they will find their enemies very easily defeated and will easily overcome their opponents, since God Himself overthrows their power. But if they themselves are captivated by worldly passions and carried away by earthly desires, in this case they become defenseless and easily caught by those who want to attack them, and, being deprived of the highest protection, they become easy prey for their enemies.
Palladium. And what evidence could there be of what was said, I would like to know?
Kirill. The Holy Scriptures, which appropriately proclaim what happened to the ancients. Doesn’t the divine Paul also say that it was written “for our teaching”? (1 Cor. 10, 11.)
P. I confirm; because what we learn from it brings us considerable benefit. The shadows were images of truth.
K. So, let's start the reasoning. When the children of Israel crossed the Jordan, they rushed to Jericho and, following Divine instructions, tried to besiege it with the intention of immediately taking possession of it and taking it; here, according to the law of war, there were also people excellent in military affairs, as it is written: “And Joshua the son of Nun called the priests [of Israel] and said to them: bring up the ark of the covenant; and the seven priests shall bear the seven trumpets of jubilee before the ark of the Lord” (Joshua 6:5-6). So we too, according to the command of Christ, conveyed through the mouth of the leaders, will take up arms against our enemies, undertaking the struggle not “against blood and flesh, but against the principalities, against the powers” (Eph. 6:12) and against the law that rules in the fleshly members (Rom. 7:23). Then we will stand before the eyes of God, as if clothed with divine and spiritual armor, since our weapons are “not carnal,” according to the word of Paul, 2 Cor. 10:4 and distinguished for the glory of righteousness. So, God, the Lord of all, looks at warlike people, clothed in the bright armor of righteousness, that is, as if armed warriors are passing before the face of Christ.
And of course, it is a very honorable and truly desirable thing to be in the sight of God, if it cannot be recognized as untrue that, as it were, some kind of punishment God imposes on those who offend Him, He turns away from them, saying: “And when you stretch out your hands, I close My eyes from you” (Is. 1:15). When the siege continued until the seventh day, Joshua again said to the children of Israel: “Shout, for the Lord has delivered the city to you! the city will be under a spell, and everything in it will be given to the Lord...; Only let Rahab the harlot live, she and everyone who is in her house; because she hid the messengers whom we sent; but beware of the accursed, lest you yourself be cursed if you take anything from the accursed, and lest you bring a curse upon the camp of the [sons of] Israel and cause harm to it; and all silver and gold, and vessels of copper and iron, shall be holy to the Lord, and shall enter into the treasury of the Lord” (Joshua 6:15-18).
The rest of the booty taken from the war he (Navin) allowed to be used by courageous people, and all the silver, gold, copper and iron, he says, should be brought into the treasury of the Lord: this constituted what is called anathema, that is, separated from everything and assigned to God. But having counted the commandment for nothing, “[and they took],” it is said, “... Achan the son of Charmias, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zara, from the tribe of Judah, took from the accursed thing, and the wrath of the Lord was kindled against the children of Israel” (Joshua 7:1). This means that for those who lead to battle against the worldly pleasures and entertainments of this life, a strong spirit in Christ, who decided to acquire for themselves glory with the weapon of truth and are already before the face of Christ, such, I believe, should not desire anything that arouses surprise in the world: neither wealth, nor glory, nor power, nor superiority, nor the wicked teachings of Hellenic wisdom.
The image of the brilliance of distinctions and advantages is silver: because this substance is shiny, the image of wealth is gold; copper indicates the euphony of the tongue, which distinguishes the wise men of this world, and iron, which is very hard and overcomes any substance, indicates strength and power. If anyone wishes to acquire these objects for himself, then, even if he had a high place with God, was ranked among the warriors and was distinguished by spiritual greatness, he will thereby offend God and, having decided to sadden his comrade-in-arms and protector with such a crafty deviation (from this command), will be subject to the wrath of God for this.
P. You said it well, and I can agree with you. But explain this to me, removing your reasoning for a short time from events and history: why are silver, gold, copper and iron dedicated to God, and not, on the contrary, thrown out of the camp either as objects, perhaps useless, or as capable of desecrating, since through spiritual contemplation it turned out that they are unclean?
K: This is because, Palladius, all lordship, wisdom and wealth, as well as strength, are worthily and righteously attributed to God. For His is glory and all glory, riches, wisdom and power. And if anyone receives from Him and becomes rich from the treasure of the Lord, that is, has mental wealth, glory and intelligence and spiritual strength, then he will be worthy of general attention and competition; and if he wishes to accept this from the world, he will be shameful and hated before God, who loves virtue, and will be subject to judgment and punishment. For wealth, in any case, will be followed by the love of pleasure, while splendor and the advantage of its direct neighbor is pride; and the love of power is closely connected with power, and with worldly wisdom the absurdity of teachings, although the language of those who set them out is euphonious. This is what Paul says: “If anyone among you thinks to be wise in this age, let him be foolish in order to be wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in the sight of God” (1 Cor. 3:18-19). So Achar, who did not receive from the treasure of Christ, but as if from the world - from Jericho, insults God (Joshua 7:1).
The destruction that arose from this and what happened as a result of the wrath of the Divine did not extend only to those convicted of this, but struck the entire society, for, having become uninvolved in help from above, the once invincible Israel became weak and powerless.
P. But how or where could one know that the word about this is true?
K. From what was written after that. For after what happened at Jericho and what was done there gloriously and courageously by all Israel, Joshua (Joshua) sent men from Jericho to Ai, “They went and searched Ai. And they returned to Jesus and said to him, “Let not all the people go, but let about two thousand or about three thousand men go and smite Ai; Do not bother the whole people there, for they are few [there]. So about three thousand people went there from the people, but they fled from the inhabitants of Ai; the inhabitants of Ai killed up to thirty-six of them, and pursued them from the gate to Sevarim and defeated them on the descent from the mountain; why the heart of the people melted and became like water” (Joshua 7:2-5). Having taken cities and devastated countries and easily defeated the most savage tribes, they find the inhabitants of Ai invincible, barely escape and retreat not without damage, whereas at first they did not even want the full number of warriors to be called to arms, and openly admitted that it would be easy for a few to conquer the city.
For “let not all the people go,” they said, “but let about two thousand go” (Joshua 7:3). When Jesus was very upset by this unexpected disaster and unexpected misfortune, tore his clothes, fell down before God and wondered how this happened, then God said: “Get up, why did you fall on your face? Israel has sinned, and they have transgressed My covenant which I commanded them; and they took from the accursed thing, and stole, and hid, and put it among their things; therefore the children of Israel could not stand before their enemies and turned their backs to their enemies, for they fell under the spell; I will no longer be with you unless you destroy the accursed thing from among you” (Joshua 7:10-12). When Achar was indicated, Jesus asked him, saying: “My son! Give glory to the Lord, the God of Israel, and make a confession to Him and tell me what you have done; don't hide it from me.
In response to Joshua, Achan said: Indeed, I have sinned against the Lord God of Israel and have done this and that: among the spoils I saw one beautiful Shinarite robe and two hundred shekels of silver and an ingot of gold weighing fifty shekels; I liked it and took it; and behold, it is hidden in the ground in the midst of my tent, and the silver is under it...” (Joshua 7:19-21). You understand that the one who stole it himself says that he saw among the spoils multi-colored clothes, two hundred didrachms of silver and a golden tongue worth fifty didrachms and thought about them, that is, he had a lawless desire to acquire them. This clothing is considered military and they say that it was a cloak woven in different colors: this military attire is a symbol of greed: because the military class seems to be innate with a strong passion for greed. Silver is the image of worldly brilliance, and the golden language is the image of the sweet-tongued Hellenic wisdom: this is also in some way the language and method of education of the Hellenic sages, as if golden and very precious, due to the brilliance of the presentation.
When the sin was already revealed, Jesus punished Achar as not only having caused harm to himself, but also having spread harm to the entire society that resulted from his intemperate desire. And perhaps this is indicated very well and wisely by what was said to us through the mouth of Paul: “Cast out the wicked from among you. a little leaven leavens the whole lump” (1 Cor. 5:13:6). So, was it not clearly shown to you first in Abraham that the glory of their strength remains safe for the saints and that they easily achieve the opportunity to overcome their enemies if they do not want to seek anything from the world - and then the opposite of this in Achar, who deviated from the right path and leaned toward the worldly?
P. Absolutely so: it is said clearly.
K. And that the saints should appear everywhere the same both in lifestyle and in opinions, this is obvious, since the law clearly says: “A woman should not wear men’s clothing, and a man should not dress in women’s clothing, for anyone who does this is an abomination to the Lord your God” (Deut. 22:5): because it is an abomination before God and a most unpleasant sight in His eyes when effeminacy takes the form courage, for this means: “A woman should not wear men’s clothing,” and so it is when courage suffers from effeminacy, for this is similar to putting a man in women’s clothing.
P. What are you saying?
K. Isn’t hypocrisy a bad and dishonorable thing before God and people?
K: Well, if someone, being lustful and intemperate and exposed by their very actions in this, subsequently embellished himself with the glory of moderation, would you yourself, Palladius, praise such a person?
K: Don’t you also think that in reality a moderate and decent person should be stable in the same opinion and not appear to be different from what he is?
K. So, let not the weak and effeminate disposition of some be hidden behind the glory of courage - for this means: “A woman should not wear men’s clothing” - and let the truly strong not strive for effeminacy, for this again means the saying: “A man should not dress in a woman’s dress”: because in both there is the same vice, and both one and the other sin is an insult to virtue.
P. Apparently, an unreliable thing and not harmless is effeminacy.
K. Without any doubt: for this is a passion completely worthy of rejection and hated by God. Therefore, the one guilty of this will be blotted out from the sacred lists. I affirm that a truly strong and courageous person should in no way carelessly allow his mind to reach the point of relaxation; on the contrary, he should guard it from all timidity and laziness, fully established in faith in God and say: “I can do all things through Jesus Christ who strengthens me” (Phil. 4:13), and renounce the desire to think about earthly things, as causing destruction and making us unworthy before God. So in Deuteronomy it is written again: “When you go out to war against your enemy and see horses and chariots [and] more people than you, then do not be afraid of them, for the Lord your God is with you, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt. When you begin the battle, then let the priest come and speak to the people, and say to them: Hear, O Israel!
As you enter into battle today with your enemies, do not let your heart faint; do not be afraid, do not be dismayed, and do not be dismayed by them, for the Lord your God is coming with you to fight for you against your enemies [and] to save you. Let the overseers announce to the people, saying: whoever built a new house and did not renovate it, let him go and return to his house, so that he does not die in battle, and another does not renovate it; and whoever planted a vineyard and did not use it, let him go and return to his house, lest he die in battle, and another should not take advantage of it; and whoever is engaged to his wife and does not take her, let him go and return to his house, lest he die in battle and another take her. And the overseers will also announce to the people and say: let him who is fearful and cowardly go and return to his home, so that he does not make the hearts of his brothers timid, like his heart” (Deut. 20:1-8).
P. That those who have received boldness from God should be distinguished by virtues and take courage in all good things, this I affirm; but how or in what way some are sent away from the battlefield as unfit, I cannot understand.
K: Don’t you know that he is not worthy before God and will not dare to endure labor for the sake of piety, who does not consider life in this world to be a coming? This is very well and clearly depicted, as if in an image and outline, in the lives of the saints. The divine Abraham lived in tents and moved from place to place. And all Israel in the wilderness often changed camps and dwelt in tents. The prophet David is also very famous for this, saying to God: “Depart from me, ... for I am a stranger with You and a stranger, like all my fathers” (Ps. 38: 14, 13). He strove strongly for the highest abodes, saying: “How desirable are Your dwellings, O Lord of hosts! My soul is weary, longing for the courts of the Lord” (Ps. 83:2-3). Such think about heavenly things and long for the heavenly abodes, which the Savior Himself promises to those who love him, saying: “I go to prepare a place for you. And when I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and take you to Myself, so that you also may be where I am” (John 14:2-3).
So, the image of one who is not able to consider this present life as an adventure is the one who builds a house and diligently devotes himself to caring for it, and the image of the covetous and self-seeking person is the one who plants grapes; a misogynistic and effeminate person who has given over his mind to the lusts of the flesh can be denoted by one who transgresses to betrothal to his wife. Therefore, at the voice of the military herald, they move away from the sacred and warlike meeting. What was typical for those consumed by these passions to think and speak, the herald announced in advance. Isn’t it true that it is pleasant for those who suffer from these passions to enjoy peace during persecution and not engage in deeds of love for God, since they think that if they have to suffer anything in battle, they will lose their homes and property and pleasures dear to them? That is why it happens that they are timid and cowardly.
So, what was typical for them to think and say, the scribe proclaimed, as if by indirect denunciations and covered censures, striking the cowardly, who finds an excuse to excuse his weakness and, as if some kind of food for his cowardice, collects worldly pleasures. Therefore, God commanded the army herald to make the last appeal open and undisguised: “And again,” it is said, “the overseers will announce to the people, and say: whoever is fearful and cowardly, let him go and return to his home, so that he does not make the hearts of his brothers timid, like his heart” (Deut. 20:8). He says the following almost directly: he who is devoted to earthly things, builds houses, plants a vineyard and is overcome by the pleasures of carnal knowledge will, without a doubt, be timid and powerless; and such a person is completely worthless and will be to the detriment of others. For “bad communities corrupt good morals” (1 Cor. 15:33), and those who are easily captivated by cowardice sometimes lead even the strong and brave to cowardice.
For this reason, the divine Paul reproached some who wanted to prevent him from going to Jerusalem; for he says: “What are you doing? Why are you crying and breaking my heart? I not only want to be a prisoner, but I am ready to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus” (Acts 21:13). It should also be noted that the refusal of those invited to the marriage was as follows: “I bought land, - and, - I got married and therefore cannot come” (Luke 14, 18, 20). This is what is written in the Gospel parables. It is not difficult to be convinced of this, if you wish, from ancient examples.
P. Speak without any delay, for you will bring great benefit.
K. So, this is what we read in the book of Numbers: “the people moved from Ashiroth, and stopped in the wilderness of Paran. And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, Send men from you, that they may spy out the land of Canaan, which I have given to the children of Israel; Send one man at a time from the tribe of their fathers, the chief of them. And Moses sent them from the wilderness of Paran, according to the commandment of the Lord, and they were all chief men of the children of Israel” (Num. 13:1-4). After numbering those sent by tribes and clans, “They went,” it is further said, “and spied the land from the wilderness of Sin even to Rehob, near Hamath” (Num. 13:22). And a little later: “and they came to the valley of Eshol..., and there they cut a vine branch with one bunch of berries, and two carried it on a pole; they also took pomegranates and figs; they called this place the valley of Eschol, because of the bunch of vines which the children of Israel cut there. And having spied the land, they returned after forty days.
And they went and came to Moses and Aaron and to all the congregation of the children of Israel in the wilderness of Paran, to Kadesh, and brought an answer to them and to the whole congregation, and showed them the fruits of the land; and they told him and said: We went to the land to which you sent us; it truly flows with milk and honey, and these are its fruits; but the people living in that land are strong, and the fortified cities are very large, and we saw the sons of Anak there” (Num. 13:24-29). Do you notice how the fearful and not very brave of those who surveyed the land of promise openly admitted that this land is rich in grapes and fat and abundant with ripe fruits, but they add something to this for the sake of intimidation, calling the people living there brave, saying all about the fact that the cities are strong and fenced with walls, thus taking away from Israel the hope of conquest and by intimidation leading to cowardice?
K. But the wise and courageous of them, Caleb and Joshua (Joshua), resisted their idle talk, saying to the people and to the divine Moses: “Let us go and take possession of it, because we” will overcome them (Num. 13:31). Those sent with them did not cease to assert that it would be difficult for the Israelites to take the land of promise. Then it is said: “the whole congregation raised a cry, and the people wept [all] that night; and all the children of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron, and the whole congregation said to them: Oh, that we had died in the land of Egypt, or that we had died in this wilderness! and why is the Lord leading us into this land so that we may fall by the sword? our wives and our children will become spoils for the enemies; wouldn't it be better for us to return to Egypt? And they said to each other: “Let us appoint a ruler and return to Egypt” (Num. 14: 1-4). The entire crowd fell into such a pitiful state and cowardice; and even when Joshua tried to return them to courage, and tore their clothes, and expressed countless praises of the land, they did not want to take heart, with unreasonable cowardice, grieving God, who fought for them, and leaving the fulfillment of their hope to their own strength.
That is why God finally swore, saying: if any of these men saw the land, “He promised with an oath to their fathers, ... except Caleb the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua the son of Nun” (Num. 14, 23, 30). Is it really still doubtful that a timid person who avoids work and has little faith destroys others along with himself, corrupting them with evil conversations, and is deprived of his inheritance and hope in God, but the courageous and strong one rests in hope and will be a friend of God?
P. Undoubtedly; because it's been proven enough.
K: And thus, as we said at the beginning, whoever is devoted to worldly pleasures is not capable of joining the ranks of the spiritual army.
K: And I would also add - for, I think, one should not miss out on something useful - that even someone who has recently begun to practice any virtue is still incapable of battle, but can very easily be carried away to sin.
K. In Deuteronomy it is written: “If anyone has recently taken a wife, he should not go to war, and nothing should be placed on him; let him remain free in his house for one year and please his wife, whom he has taken” (Deut. 24:5). But should we, Palladium, stick to just the direct literal meaning? Does the philanthropic Lawgiver really force a man capable of war to sit at home and does not allow him to gain praise, leaving him to be carried away by empty conversations with his wife and prefer carnal knowledge to the necessary?
P. I can least of all agree that this was the thought of the Legislator. But there seems to be some more plausible meaning hidden here.
K. So, I will repeat what I said: a husband who has touched virtue, but is not yet sufficiently established in it, can easily be carried away to the opposite.
P. Tell me, how? Because I don't understand this enough.
K. Solomon says in one place: “Say to wisdom: ‘You are my sister!’ And call understanding your relatives” (Prov. 7:4). We, as it were, become close to the virtues when we try to bear fruit in them as much as possible: when one, for example, acquires wisdom in knowledge through exercise, another meekness and quietness of disposition, or another chooses something like that for fulfillment. So, can a mind that has just begun to practice these virtues be able to withstand testing and temptation? And isn’t someone who has only recently entered into a relationship with wisdom, if he encounters people who pervert what is right, sooner become corrupted than overcome and avoid harm from them, not yet being sufficiently stable and established in reason?
K: Doesn’t a person who, although he tries to be meek, but has not yet practiced enough in this, easily become angry when someone irritates him?
K: A proven sage, entering into a struggle with the wise, does not courageously counter their intricacies with correct conclusions?
K: Isn’t he who is strengthened in meekness intractable to anger, even if someone has ever called him to it?
K. So, the law speaks correctly, beautifully depicting the virtue that cohabits with the saints, as if under the guise of a wife: “If someone has recently taken a wife, then he should not go to war, and nothing should be placed on him; let him remain free in his house for one year and please his wife, whom he has taken” (Deut. 24:5). He does not allow someone who, so to speak, has just established himself and has a still fragile desire for good, to be burdened with labor and persecution, but, as if idle and sitting at home, in the warmth, he allows to be united with virtue by the bonds of love. We will find that the holy Apostles did the same, who wisely write in their epistle to those converted from the pagans and recently called to the knowledge of God: “For it pleased the Holy Spirit and us not to lay on you any more burdens than these necessary” (Acts 15:28). For, having prudently omitted the most difficult of the commandments, they command to preserve the few and necessary ones, knowing the unbearable burden of suffering for those who have only recently been brought to worship of God.
And to such, God forgives everyone’s anger and guilt, even if they fell out of cowardice, going through an unusual path of labor; when he then brings His judgment and subjects him to the movements of His wrath, then it is no longer those who are weak due to unaccustomment to work, but those who, more of their own free will, fall into temptation and effeminacy and very willingly indulge in their disorderliness. For isn’t virtue difficult to achieve, and isn’t the path to it laborious, and isn’t it necessary for those who decide to fulfill it to work with great effort?
K. But it would not be reckless, even more: it would not be unworthy and indecent to lead those who have just been brought to this state with condescension (since they are not yet fully established in jealousy, they walk as if with unsteady feet and still suffer from impotence), but to deal with an experienced one harshly, through punishments and fear, involving him in enduring suffering and curbing himself, as if out of necessity.
P. You reason very well.
K. This matter will seem clear if we want to investigate in detail what happened in the ancient times. For it is written like this: “And Moses led Israel away from the Red Sea, and they entered the wilderness of Shur; and they walked three days in the wilderness and found no water. They came to Marah and could not drink the water in Marah, for it was bitter, which is why the name was given to that [place]: Marah. And the people murmured against Moses, saying, What shall we drink? [Moses] cried out to the Lord, and the Lord showed him a tree, and he threw it into the water, and the water became sweet” (Ex. 15:22-25). Not long before, having risen from the land of Egypt and throwing off the heavy and unbearable yoke of slavery, the sons of Israel, by the calling of God, hastened to cross over to the land long promised to their fathers. The first difficulty they encountered on the way was the lack of water, which was barely available for those who had been thirsty for a long time, and even that was not without difficulty for use: “for it was bitter,” as it is written. But through the insertion of the tree it changes into pleasant and sweet, after God showed the divine Moses the way to do this.
Therefore, taught by the law of God it is preferable to follow God, who delivers us from slavery to the passions, and free ourselves from the violence of demons, those who are tempted must work with great effort and place on themselves the crown of glory, exhausting carnal desires with ascetic labors and, as if some kind of beast, taming with thirst and hunger the unbridled movement of passions, constantly heading towards pleasure. That is why the first “warfare” for us who want to observe abstinence is “against the flesh” and what is of it. And I do not think that anyone could exercise virtue in any other way. So, the thirst that befell the ancients in the desert was a prototype of ascetic labors, and the physical was the beginning of spiritual exercises.
Further, pay attention to the fact that the Israelites do not immediately, from the very beginning, rush into battle (for they do not immediately undertake warfare against the “principalities and powers” (Eph. 6:12), having recently begun to fight the passions and follow the path of virtue, since those under trial do not yet have enough courage and firmness), but are tested in the labors of the struggle against the flesh, while God proportions the severity of the work with the skill subjects. This, I think, is what the words mean: “No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but when you are tempted he will also give you the way of escape, so that you can endure it” (1 Cor. 10:13). Deeds for the sake of virtue, which in themselves are very bitter, are transformed into pleasant and sweet by Christ, Who is called and is the tree of life. For He Himself said in the Gospel Scriptures: “If they do this to a green tree, then what will they do to a dry one” (Luke 23:31), calling Himself a green and good-flowering tree.
God shows the tree to the divine Moses, for the Father alone reveals the Son, since He alone knows Him: “Who the Son is, no one knows except the Father” (Luke 10:22). So, in Christ, the tree of life, the bitter becomes sweet, the unbearable becomes endurable, that which is harmful by nature becomes necessary for life.
J. If it is true that labor, when it is very bitter, exhausts the body, and at the same time makes the soul partaker of eternal life (as Paul said somewhere: “When I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Cor. 12:10); and also: “even if our outer man decays, the inner one is renewed day by day” (2 Cor. 4:16), then who would want to take on such bitter toils, if I had not the sweet hope in Christ?
P. Of course, I think no one.
K. So, look (for we need, Palladius, to recall what was said at the beginning) at Israel, languishing with thirst in the desert, murmuring against the wise Moses and falling into such cowardice with impunity. He did not cause judgment and did not suffer the consequences of wrath, although God usually punishes those guilty of this, because he who just begins to exercise virtue enjoys mercy, even if he falls; but the one who even after that reveals extreme cowardice and unbridled attraction to absurd wishes does not receive leniency. So in the book of Numbers the Holy Scripture again speaks of the children of Israel: “And they departed from the mountain of the Lord three days' journey, and the ark of the covenant of the Lord went before them three days' journey, that they might find a place where they might stop. And the cloud of the Lord overshadowed them by day as they departed from the camp. When the ark was rising on its journey, Moses said: Arise, O Lord, and Your enemies will scatter, and those who hate You will flee from Your presence! And when the ark stopped, he said: Return, O Lord, to the thousands and thousands of Israel!
The people began to murmur out loud to the Lord; and the Lord heard, and His anger was kindled, and the fire of the Lord kindled among them, and began to consume the edge of the camp. And the people cried out to Moses; and Moses prayed to the Lord, and the fire subsided. And they called the name of this place Taberah, because the fire of the Lord was kindled among them” (Num. 10:33–36, 11:1–3). And after that: “They set out from Mount Hor by the way of the Red Sea to pass through the land of Edom. And the people began to become faint-hearted on the way, and the people spoke against God and against Moses: why did you bring us out of Egypt to die in the desert, for here there is neither bread nor water, and our souls are disgusted with this worthless food. And the Lord sent poisonous serpents among the people, which bit the people, and many of the people of Israel died” (Num. 21:4-6). So, you see that a grumbling and murmuring people was destroyed by fire and snakes.
For at the time when some were coming down from the mountain of the Lord, in anticipation of the ark, seeking for them a place ahead to rest, and when Moses was praying and interceding for them, and the cloud was overshadowing them, others, calling the bread sent from heaven unprofitable, uttered a very loud cry against God and Moses. As a result of this, some, of necessity, became food for fire, while others immediately died from the bite of poisonous snakes.
P. What should we notice about both passages of Scripture? And what is the mountain of the Lord?
K. The Mountain of the Lord, I think, is what Scripture calls Sinai, onto which the Creator of all descended in the form of fire, appeared to all the people, as it is written (Ex. 19), and uttered laws for activity. “There God gave the people a statute and a law, and tested them there” (Ex. 15:25). But Christ was the establisher of these laws even of old. That is why He calls the laws given through Moses His words; for He said: “For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not one jot or one tittle will pass from the law, until all is fulfilled. ... Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will not pass away.” will pass away” (Matthew 5:18, 24:35). So, let’s leave the rough shell of history and penetrate into the subtlety of the spiritual meaning hidden under it.
Truly, those who have already been rewarded with contemplation and knowledge of God, with the eyes of the mind, contemplated the lightness of the Divine nature, as if on a mountain, that is, in extreme and inaccessible greatness (for the glory and nature of God is above all), who, so to speak, presented themselves to Christ through faith, turned out to be attentive to His words and promised obedience (for Israel did the same then, saying: everything that the Lord God said yours, “we will create and listen” (Ex. 24:3), - such will enjoy the care appropriate to those close to Him, and will be rewarded with providence aimed at their salvation. For God Himself will be their leader and protector and will go ahead to find them a place of rest. That is why Christ first, for our sake and for us, opposed Himself to the anciently victorious Satan, so that we would go through fasting and temptation in the desert. had peace, seeing Satan defeated, fallen and cast down under our feet. That is why He said: “In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer: I have overcome the world” (John 16:33).
He was the first for us and for us, having fought with death, he destroyed its power, but he gave us peace, renewing us into incorruption. He was the first to enter paradise, as having removed the “convertible weapon” (Gen. 3:24), and removed from us the sin that blocked the entrance to paradise. He Himself paid our debts for us: “by His stripes we were healed,” as it is written (Is. 53:5). He was the first to ascend to the Father and God, renewing our path to heaven and preparing the heavenly mansions, as He said: I will go and prepare “a place for you” (John 14:2). So, in the ark of the covenant Christ was truly represented. For it was built from rotting trees and contained within itself the Divine Law, which is the Word of God. You can see the corresponding sacrament in Christ; because “God was the Word” (John 1:1), in the imperishable church. The ark preceded the Israelites, providing them with a place of rest: and Christ precedes us in the manner just mentioned.
And besides, fulfilling the ministry of a mediator, He is an intercessor and propitiation for us before the Father, just as Moses of old, when raising the ark from its place, said: “Arise, Lord, and Your enemies will scatter, and those who hate You will flee from Your face! And when the ark stopped, he said: Return, O Lord, to the thousands and thousands of Israel!” (Numbers 10, 35–36). For when the Only Begotten rose to our aid, speaking in ancient times with the voice of the Psalmist: “For the suffering of the poor and the groaning of the poor, now will I rise, says the Lord” (Ps. 11:6), then the enemies fell and the adversaries and those who entered into the struggle with the glory of the Divine fled. Because on the cross He triumphed over the principalities and powers and by His death abolished the prince of this age, according to what is written (John 12:31, 16, 11; Heb. 2:14). When He seemed to have calmed down and brought the entire economy to an end by the Resurrection from the dead and the ascension into heaven to the Father, He turned the entire earth and made thousands of them His worshipers. “When I am lifted up from the earth,” He says, “I will draw everyone to Me” (John 12:32).
So, the prayer of Moses was a prototype of the intercession of Christ, who in human form prayed and asked us from God and the Father for all that is best, as the divine John says: “we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous; He is the propitiation for our sins, and not only for ours, but also for the sins of the whole world” (1 John 2:1-2). In addition, in Him we also have the ark of the patron, as is secretly evident in the overshadowing cloud. Let those who are justified by faith in Him hear these words: “The sun will not strike you by day, nor the moon by night” (Ps. 120:6). Some, regarding the expression in the Gospel parable about the distribution of rewards - we have suffered “the burden of the day and the heat” (Matthew 20:12) - say, if I am not mistaken, that here by the “burden of the day” and “heat” we mean an extraordinary and higher power for destroying, like fire, unbridled passions, and also, perhaps, temptations. So, Christ “The Lord is my strength and my glory for our salvation” (Ex. 15:2).
When some of those who have been worthy of contemplation of God, having themselves been listeners of Divine broadcasts and through the confession of faith, having already promised good obedience, so to speak, by deviating to the worse, reject the one who precedes and guides them, I mean Christ, Who cares to find for them a place of peace, intercedes, as if as an intercessor, and serves as a patron - which is implied covertly in the image of a cloud - then, truly then, and completely according to justice, giving an account of their own folly, they will suffer cruel punishment through fire. And in this sense, I think, the wise Paul himself said: “If we sin willfully, there remains no more sacrifice for sins, but a certain terrible expectation of judgment and the fury of fire, ready to devour our opponents” (Heb. 10:26-27).
P. Therefore, those who, because of sin, have rejected the whole economy that is conceived in Christ will be food of fire. Murmuring, it seems, means apostasy and unwillingness to accept the salvation accomplished through Him, although they have tasted grace and have a sure guarantee of the future in the experience of the past.
K. Exactly. And others, giving in to cowardice, made the same cry and grumbled in vain against God and Moses, calling manna from heaven worthless bread, but such perished from snakes. And those who insult the Savior of all and the Redeemer with ingratitude and value the grace of freedom at nothing, and moreover condemn His life-giving word and the gift of the Holy Spirit as useless, will be subjected to the bites of the foul-killing dragon. Those who did not fall into such absurd falls will avoid the punishment and judgment that threatens evil and will prevail over their enemies, “they will step on the asp and the basilisk and trample the lion and the serpent” (Ps. 90:13). So, it is undoubtedly and evidenced by deed itself that it is dangerous for people already experienced in struggle and not caring about receiving praise for their labors and already in some way accustomed to exploits for the sake of virtue to be frivolous and fall into cowardice.
P. Firmly proven and true.
K. This speech confirmed for us the idea that not only is grumbling against God hateful and subject to judgment, but cowardice itself contains a kind of criticism or dissatisfaction with the goodness of the Savior, especially if the labors involved were still insignificant; but what is worthy of damnation and what is not worse is to love licentiousness and, having the opportunity to unhinderedly enjoy the Divine gifts and be nourished from above and through the Holy Spirit by the words sent down, to unbridledly strive for corruptible pleasures and the satisfaction of unclean carnality. For the preferential choice of the bad is a clear insult to the best and saving, and the preference for the heavenly over the earthly, despite the fact that the latter contains the greatest vileness, is the most wicked decision of the mind. And rightly so, the prophet Isaiah almost cries for such, saying: “Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil, who call darkness light, and light darkness, who call bitter sweet, and sweet bitter!” (Isa.5, 20). And as we will see, the Israelis fell into such grave sins.
For immediately after the punishment that naturally followed the grumbling, they began to suffer from lust for the most shameful deeds: as if despising what was given from God and wickedly grieving for the blessings of heaven, they thereby necessarily irritated the Judge against themselves, as it is written: “The strangers among them began to reveal whims; and the children of Israel sat with them and wept, and said, Who will feed us with meat? We remember the fish that we ate for free in Egypt, cucumbers and melons, and onions, and onions and garlic; and now our soul languishes; there is nothing, only manna in our eyes. Moses heard, it is said, that the people were crying among their families, each at the door of his tent; and the anger of the Lord was greatly inflamed, and it was sorrowful for Moses” (Num. 11: 4–6, 10).
Do you really not recognize it as worthy of the wrath of the Divine and the condemnation of holy men when even people, tested in labors, descend to such relaxation and powerlessness in reasoning that they begin to suffer from an uncontrollable desire to return to extreme impurity, and are so weakened by intemperance that they childishly cry about the impossibility of allegedly bearing the strong pressure of lust?
P. You say correctly.
K. When the wise Moses was perplexed and fell into great despondency and loudly cried out that he alone was not able to ever restrain a people so changeable and easily turning to extravagance and apostasy, God indicated to him men, ten in number, as ascetics and helpers to take care of the people, whom he distinguished with the gift of the Holy Spirit. For they began to prophesy in the camp. He said to Moses: “Say to the people: cleanse yourself for tomorrow, and you will eat meat; since you cried in the hearing of the Lord and said: who will feed us with meat? It was good for us in Egypt, then the Lord will give you meat, and you will eat... You will eat not for one day, not for two days, not for five days, not for ten days, not for twenty days, but for a whole month... until it comes out of your nostrils and becomes disgusting to you, because you despised the Lord who is among you, and wept before Him, saying: “Why did we come out of Egypt?” (Num. 11, 18–20.) What especially upset the Liberator was that Israel did not even think about slavery itself and, for the sake of meats and the most fetid vegetables, considered the labors incurred in Egypt as nothing.
And we ourselves are often forced by ardent and acute pleasures to consider slavery to the devil bearable and to impose on ourselves the yoke of sin for the sake of corruptible and earthly desires. But just as then He gave meat to eat not for one day, not even ten, but thirty days - which signifies the duration of anger against them: so now He allows those who are uncontrollably indulged in worldly pleasures, according to their will, to enjoy even carnal pleasures, and to enjoy them for a long time. For it is said that He “gave some to a depraved mind to do lewd things” (Rom. 1:28). But just as for the Israelites food became an abomination, so for those who love the flesh and prefer corruptible and earthly things to spiritual manna, which is the word of God, such a direction will lead to death. This is the meaning, I think, of the saying: “he who sows to his flesh will from the flesh reap corruption” (Gal. 6, 8). Liberation from this disease is as follows: “Walk in the Spirit, and you will not fulfill the lusts of the flesh, for the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh: they oppose each other” (Gal. 5:16-17).
Thus, if the Israelites wanted to consider sufficient the pleasure provided by manna, which is the spiritual bread of Angels and the image of the sweetness given through the Holy Spirit, then they would not satisfy carnal lust and would not reap incorruption from it. And then the most expressive monuments of that people appeared: “there,” it is said, “they buried a capricious people” (Num. 11:34), in accordance with another saying: “they will be an abomination to all flesh” (Is. 66:24); and the people who suffered it are called “those who lustful,” according, as I think, to what is said about some: “their glory is in shame” (Phil. 3, 19) For both the name and the endless shame for cowardice serve as this gravestone inscription over the unfortunate dead and at the same time a sign of what they were guilty of.
K. So, truly, those who have chosen for themselves the path of love should especially avoid impatience in enduring labor, cowardly murmuring and ungrateful idle talk, and not allow themselves to be desecrated, which comes from corruption and love of the flesh, which is more wicked than anything else. For such a one wavers on both sides and has shattered shins of reason, as it is written: “Woe to the timid hearts and the weak hands, and to the sinner who walks in two paths!” (Sir. 2, 12). Those who attach full importance to firmness in enduring suffering and constancy in patience should, I think, bring to mind the word of Christ, Who says: “If anyone wants to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me” (Matthew 16:24), that is, if anyone wants to be My disciple, let him willingly follow the path of the same sufferings as My, let him walk as if on the same path and loves her. Because then he will find peace for himself and will live with Me. This is what He Himself asked of us from God and the Father, saying: “I want them to be with Me where I am” (John 17:24).
However, we remain with Christ even when we walk on earth, but we live not carnally, but spiritually, and we ourselves try to build for ourselves an abode and a place of peace, that is, to do what is pleasing to Him. A type of this is presented to you in the book of Numbers. On that day, it is said, when the tabernacle was erected, a cloud covered the tabernacle of testimony, and from the evening a fire was visible above the tabernacle until the morning. This is how it always was: a cloud covered it [during the day] and a likeness of fire at night. And when the cloud lifted up from the tabernacle, then the children of Israel set out on their journey, and in the place where the cloud stopped, there the children of Israel encamped.
At the commandment of the Lord the children of Israel set out on their journey, and at the commandment of the Lord they stopped: all the time that the cloud stood over the tabernacle, and they stood; and if the cloud was over the tabernacle for a long time, then the children of Israel followed this instruction of the Lord and did not depart; sometimes the cloud was over the tabernacle for a short time: they stopped at the direction of the Lord, and at the direction of the Lord they set off on their journey; sometimes the cloud stood only from evening until morning, and in the morning the cloud rose, then they set off; or the cloud stood day and night, and when it rose, they then departed; or if the cloud stood over the tabernacle for two days, or a month, or several days, then the children of Israel also stood and did not set out on their journey; and when it rose, then they set off; at the commandment of the Lord they stopped, and at the commandment of the Lord they set out: they followed the commandment of the Lord, according to the commandment of the Lord given through Moses” (Num. 9: 15-23). When the holy tabernacle was erected in the desert, it was filled, as it is said, with a cloud.
Then, regarding the departure and stay of the Israelites with her, God gave detailed instructions, commanding them to observe the time of her departure with special care, and pointing out to those prone to laziness the danger threatening for non-compliance with this. So literally. Now let's look at it from the spiritual sense. At the same time, as the truest tabernacle, that is, the Church, was erected and shone on earth, it was filled with the glory of Christ. For nothing less than this, I think, signifies the covering of the ancient tabernacle with a cloud. So, Christ filled the Church with His glory and for those who are in ignorance and delusion, for those who are, as it were, in the night and in darkness, He shines like fire, sending down spiritual enlightenment on them, and for those who are already enlightened and have a Spiritual day in their hearts, He gives overshadowing and cover from Himself and waters them with spiritual dew, that is, with consolations from above through the Holy Spirit. For this is what was represented as fire at night and as a cloud during the day.
Because those who were infants needed, really needed, enlightenment and illumination leading to the knowledge of God, and those standing above them and already illuminated by faith needed protection and help, so that they could courageously endure the heat of real life and the burden of the day. For “all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution” (2 Tim. 3:12). When the cloud rises, the tabernacle is raised, and when it stops, it stops; the Israelis did the same with her: this is because the Church follows Christ everywhere and the holy host of believers does not deviate from the One who calls to salvation.
P. But what can be understood among us as rising from a place and stopping, in the presence and under the leadership of Christ?
K. There is no difference in these words of Scripture, in my opinion; since the raising and stopping of the tabernacle together with the cloud represents to us, as it were, some figurative expression of the desire to be with God. However, directing the mind to the most subtle considerations possible, let us also say that the first rise from the place is an ascent from unbelief to faith, from ignorance to knowledge and from ignorance of him who is by nature and truly God, to the clear knowledge of the Lord and Creator of everything. The second, subsequent and beneficial ascent is the ascent from depravity and corruption to the desire to think and do as best as possible. And the third, preferable to the previous one and more glorious, is the ascent from shortcomings to perfection in action and teaching. Don’t we gradually move towards spiritual growth in Christ, striving to come “to a perfect man” and reach “to the measure of the age of fulfillment” of Him (Eph. 4:13)? Perhaps this is what the voice of the divine Paul tells us about: “Forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the honor of the high calling” (Phil. 3:13-14).
As we mentally ascend from ignorance to knowledge, from ignorance to understanding, from unbelief to faith and constantly succeed in virtues, are we not transported from place to place? And when moving from one disposition or skill to another, aren’t we like ordinary travelers?
K. But no one could get out of the state of depravity, nor achieve the best and stay in it in any way without the participation and leadership of Christ, which is why He said to His holy disciples: “Without Me you can do nothing” (John 15:5). So, then rising from a place at the same time as the movement of the cloud and stopping together with the stopping of the cloud covertly means being with God and doing everything with Him. However, “by the commandment of the Lord,” it is said, “let them be exalted” (Num. 9:23). This, I think, means that those who consider it necessary to follow Christ also need a word that arouses them to courage and well-being, befitting saints: “only everything,” it is said, “should be decent and orderly” (1 Cor. 14:40). What follows is an example of the same thing.
For this is what God said to the priest Moses: “Make yourself two silver trumpets, hammered, make them, so that they serve you for convening the society and for taking down the camps; when they blow the trumpet, the whole congregation will gather to you at the entrance of the tabernacle of meeting; When one trumpet is blown, the princes and captains of Israel will gather to you; when you sound the alarm, the camps standing towards the east will rise; when you sound the alarm for the second time, the camps stationed to the south will rise...; let the alarm be sounded as they set off on their journey; and when it is necessary to call a meeting, sound the trumpet, but not the alarm; The sons of Aaron, the priests, shall sound the trumpets: this shall be a statute for you forever throughout your generations” (Num. 10:2-8).
P. What, tell me now, do the two trumpets and the difference of signs mean? Also, why did God command that pipes be forged and made of silver?
K. Two trumpets: this is because exhortation preaching in churches is of two kinds. One leads those who believe to right-mindedness in doctrine and exposes the word of the corrupt as a lie, such as, for example, the word “forbidding marriage and teaching inappropriately to eat what God created” (1 Tim. 4:3). Among these I would also include the Jewish teachers, who, rejecting what was approved and confirmed by the Divine law as outdated, and considering it completely insignificant, commanded those led by them to rest on their own teachings and on the commandments of men. And some foolishly taught those justified by faith to be circumcised, “so that you may boast in your flesh,” according to what is written (Gal. 6:13). But it was said about them: “Beware of dogs, beware of evil workers” (Apoc.22:15; Phil.3:2). Another kind of preaching leads to moral correction and clarifies the path of life in Christ. Silver trumpets, by the nature of the substance from which they are made, excellently indicate to us the lordship and special purity of this and that type of preaching.
It is said: let the people be called to the tabernacle with the sound of trumpets (Num. 10:3): this is because those who live, as it were, in their tents are called into the church by preaching. We exhort those who come here to ascend from what is shameful to what is appropriately sanctified, and we beautifully teach them to move from bad to good. Does not the word lead the compliant and true lover of life in Christ to right-mindedness in doctrine and moral correction?
K: So, two trumpets gather the people to the tabernacle. “When one trumpet is blown,” it is said, “the princes and captains of Israel will be gathered to you” (Num. 10:4). Since, I believe, even those who are most perfect in spiritual condition need exhortation and stimulation, although not to the same extent as the majority of others need: that is why it is difficult for all others to be summoned by two trumpets, but the elect are summoned by one. This is because for a wise man a little is enough so that he, taking this as a reason for further action, applies the rest according to the saying: “Give instruction to a wise man, and he will be even wiser; teach a truthful man, and he will increase knowledge” (Prov. 9:9). Then God commanded to observe four differences in signs (Num. 10:5-6), so that according to them the regiments located to the east and west, north and south. This, I think, means for us the four books of the Gospels, through which the whole world is led to the knowledge of doctrine and morality.
However, if upon further reflection it were possible to say something different, then we would not hesitate at all, considering the acquisition of useful things more valuable than sleep and burden. So we will find in this four different types of our preaching, with the help of which the whole world can lead a most excellent and truly glorious life. One and the very first type is the one through which we usually call to the knowledge of the truth and the perception of the light of the Divine those who serve the creature instead of the Creator (Rom. 1:25) and who, out of ignorance, say to the tree: “You are my father,” and to the stone: “You begat me,” as the prophet said (Jer. 2:27). The remaining three types of preaching fairly apply to those who have already believed. And the Savior taught about three different types of life and behavior when he said in a parable that seeds thrown on good soil produced fruit, “one a hundredfold, and another sixty, and another thirty” (Matthew 13:8). Therefore, for each of them there is a word especially appropriate for it.
For we would do wrong if we imprudently thought by the same preaching to benefit both those who, having been legally married, divided their affections between God and the world, and those who chose the most excellent and ascetic life, or befitting the priesthood: but first we will say: “Are you united to your wife? don't look for a divorce. Are you left without a wife? do not seek a wife” (1 Cor. 7:27) or anything else that is appropriate for those who are married to think and do; for ascetics and those skilled in patience: “put to death your members on the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil lust” (Col. 3:5), and also: “the present temporary sufferings are worth nothing in comparison with the glory that will be revealed in us” (Rom. 8:18). For those called to the priesthood: “the lips of the priest should keep knowledge, and the law should be sought from his mouth” (Mal. 2:7), as well as what the wise Paul instills in Timothy in his Epistles to him. Do these passages of Scripture depart from what is proper and lead to what is unjust?
K. Notice also that God commands the use of trumpets only by those who have received the lot of the priesthood, giving, as I think, only to teachers of the nations and those initiated into the priesthood a word that is secretly instructive and incites the desire for virtue. That’s why, I think, He says to Moses: “Make yourself two trumpets” (Num. 10:2), and, confirming this matter as if with the seal of the law, he adds: “The sons of Aaron, the priests, must sound with trumpets: this will be an eternal decree for you throughout your generations” (Num. 10:8).
P. So, we will take the types of signs in the meaning of various kinds of instructions befitting one or another kind of commendably living, and the raising and stopping of the Israelites along with the cloud - in the meaning of spiritually following Christ and resting with Him.
K. You say rightly; and in this opinion the word of the prophet will convince us, which reads like this: and now Israel, “what does the Lord require of you: to act justly, to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God” (Mic. 6:8.)?
P. That “to walk with the Lord your God” is a wonderful thing and worthy of everyone and enriches with glory for courage, can this not be clear to anyone? But I would like you to explain to me what it means: “ready to be”?
K. Why not? This means: “to strive with all readiness to think and act pleasing to God, when it is so convenient for us, and nothing interferes with this or distracts the unskilled mind (Rom. 1:28); This, I think, is what the words mean: “I am ready to walk with God.”
P. Who in general will we consider to be those who want to follow God, but are not yet ready for this task with all their souls, but fall due to powerlessness and refuse what requires effort?
K. For those who are distinguished by slowness and barely reach the desire to think what is pleasing to God, who have not attached all their thoughts to the life befitting the saints, who devote only a small part of their inherent diligence and zeal to the love of God, but have decided to mercilessly and openly waste the rest on the amusements of this life, on useless labors and heavy worries - for such the sons of Reuben and Gad, about whom in the book, serve The following is written in Numbers: “The children of Reuben and the children of Gad had very many flocks; and they saw that the land of Jazer and the land of Gilead was a suitable place for flocks; And the children of Gad and the children of Reuben came and spoke to Moses and Eleazar the priest and the princes of the congregation, saying, Ataroth, and Dibon, and Jazer, and Nimra, and Heshbon, and Eleale, and Sebam, and Nebo, and Beon, the land which the LORD smote before the congregation of Israel is a land fit for flocks, and thy servants have flocks. And they said: If we have found favor in your eyes, give this land to your servants for a possession; don't take us across the Jordan.
And Moses said to the children of Gad and the children of Reuben, “Your brothers will go to war, but will you remain here?” Why do you turn away the hearts of the children of Israel from going to the land that the Lord is giving them?” (Numbers 32:1-7.) Then, adding to what was said the reproach to their fathers for disobedience and pointing out the punishment that befell them for this, for “they died in the wilderness,” as it is said about them (Joshua 5:4), without seeing, so to speak, the land of promise, he adds: “And behold, instead of your fathers you have arisen, you generation of sinners, to increase the fury of the wrath of the Lord. on Israel. If you turn away from Him, He will leave it again in the wilderness, and you will destroy all this people.
And they came to him and said: We will build here sheepfolds for our flocks and cities for our children; We ourselves will be the first to arm ourselves and go before the children of Israel until we bring them to their places; and let our children remain in fortified cities, for safety from the inhabitants of the earth; We will not return to our houses until the children of Israel have entered into each one his inheritance; for we will not take inheritance with them on the other side of the Jordan and further, if the inheritance goes to us on this side of the Jordan, to the east (Num. 32, 14-19). You see from here that for the sake of pastures and stables for livestock, because of the love for their wives and children, these people did not want to cross the Jordan at all, but decided to completely abandon war and battles and did not want to participate with others in glory and hope for future benefits: it seemed to them that it was best and most desirable to stay, without, so to speak, washing their feet in the waters of the Jordan.
When Moses began to reproach them and instill in them how terrible it is to ignore the wrath of God, only then did they barely promise to cross the Jordan with others and take part in the labors of war and battles, but not in order to participate with others in the division of the land on the other side of the Jordan, since they already had or held a plot on this side. Some people turn out to be like this in their way of life: being overwhelmed by worries about real life and, as if giving all their hearts to thoughts about earthly things, they barely devote the least care to the necessary things, and do not care about what concerns God; “Many are called,” it is said, “but few are chosen” (Matthew 20:16). Considered to be among those called only by faith, but not yet among the chosen due to their complacency in pleasure, slow and very indecisive even regarding the very grace of holy baptism, they are afraid to accept labor for the glory of God and their own good, as befits saints, and, together with the sincere of God, to be persecuted, even if a favorable time presents itself.
Only when the Divine law begins to reproach them or the wrath of God threatens them, they go, and then hesitantly, to saving baptism and, together with the elect, take part in labors, fasting with them, only more moderately, or even compete with them when the churches are attacked, however, they have not yet reached the conviction to despise worldly things, but return to earthly pleasures and enjoyments, as if to their own and assigned destiny. That is why Christ said to lovers of righteousness and those who were most zealous about piety: “Take heed to yourselves, lest your hearts be weighed down with gluttony and drunkenness and the cares of this life” (Luke 21:34). Don't you recognize this matter as dangerous?
P. I admit; How could it be otherwise?
K. Now direct the discerning eye of your mind into the depth of what is written, and you will be very surprised at the beauty of the image.
K. Those who showed indifference to the most excellent because of pastures for livestock, because of children and wives, stables and buildings were Reuben and Gad.
K. This one was the firstborn son of Jacob, and this one was born of the slave Zilpah.
J. So, the first-born by faith and those called, who received from God, as far as possible for them, by grace, the chosen lot, did not turn out to be lovers of freedom, due to the predominant inclination towards the shameful in them. “The church of the firstborn, who are written in heaven,” we say, are called justified by faith (Heb. 12:23); but the original non-lover of freedom is rather an accomplice and like-minded person of those who betray themselves to the shame of slavery.
P. You said it perfectly.
K. But since my word is already approaching the shore and, so to speak, throwing the ropes, it is decent to say and remind once again that we must be courageous in the pursuit of what serves the good, and recognize labors as a feat in virtue, and believe that God alone saves and grants the strength to overcome those who rebel against us, even if they are superior to us in strength. And that we use not useless efforts, enduring labor for the sake of virtue, Moses will teach us this, saying in Deuteronomy: “And remember all the way that the Lord your God led you in the wilderness for these forty years, to humble you, to test you and to find out what is in your heart, whether you will keep His commandments or not.” those who see very well the hand of the one who protects them.
And in another place he writes like this: “If you say in your heart: ‘These nations are more numerous than I; how can I drive them out? Do not be afraid of them, remember what the Lord your God did to Pharaoh and all Egypt, those great trials that your eyes saw, the signs, the wonders, and the strong hand and the high arm with which the Lord your God brought you out; The Lord your God will do the same to all the nations whom you fear” (Deut. 7:17-19).
Book 6. About the fact that we must be committed to God, one by nature, and love Him with all our souls and with all our hearts
Kirill. It seems that we have said enough about courage, conceivable in Christ, and spiritual strength, Palladius; and it is also necessary, I think, to examine how these qualities can manifest themselves in us.
Palladium. You speak well.
K. So, turning our mental gaze around us and directing it to a thorough review of what concerns us, let us look carefully at which path we follow, we will be bright and accept, as if a crown, the verdict that we acted quite praiseworthy. Don't you think that I reasoned correctly in undertaking research on this subject?
P. Without a doubt, I myself would say that it is necessary, first of all, to be stimulated through the calling to courage and to desire that through which one can become a bright and direct path to achieve an immaculate life.
K. Let's talk. The support of the whole house is the foundation, and the beginning of the ship is the keel, and for those who decide to do the right thing, the foundation and first support is the knowledge of the truth, the true teaching of faith in the one by nature and true God. For “If you do not believe, it is because you are not proven,” says the Holy Scripture (Is. 7:9). Those who do not understand anything necessary cannot succeed without knowing how to do the right thing. Do you not agree that in order to acquire praise, we need to examine everything that we must do, if we intend to do correctly what needs to be done?
K: So, faith is the nourisher of understanding; and understanding constitutes for us the touchstone of what we should do. Therefore, when the God of all, as a mentor and wise ruler over the children of Israel, established the law given through Moses, then, as it were, a foundation and an unshakable beginning, He first of all laid the knowledge of the one and true Divinity: because He did not recognize it as possible for them to achieve an impeccable and pure life, to be in tune with the law, an adviser to wonderful deeds, and to follow the commandments, if they did not accept into their minds, as if a fence, faith in God and would not In this way, they courageously resist the lusts that dispose them to negligence. So, it was very necessary for the ancients to put aside in advance, as it were, some kind of mental weakness, the error of polytheism, and properly establish themselves in faith in the one by nature and true God. Therefore, first of all, the law dawned upon them: “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery; Let you have no other gods before Me.
You shall not make for yourself an idol or any image of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth below, or that is in the water under the earth; do not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generation of those who hate Me, and showing mercy to a thousand generations of those who love Me and keep My commandments” (Ex. 20:2-6). For truly it was necessary that those who otherwise would not have accepted the commandments should be terrified with cruel threats; Therefore, God calls Himself a jealous person and transfers the sins of the fathers onto their children if they want to live like them and compete with the stumbling blocks of their ancestors. We do not say that the sins of the fathers fall on those who have committed no crime at all, when God has clearly declared: “The fathers should not be punished with death for the children, and the children should not be punished with death for the fathers; everyone must be punished with death for his crime” (Deut. 24:16). But if children follow the morals of their fathers and compete with the wickedness of their ancestors, then, of course, sin extends to them.
And even if it happened that God, Who is above all, according to His love for mankind, freed the first from punishment, yet He then directs His wrath on the second or third, justly inflicted and deserved before by the wicked generation. So, He aroused fear, calling Himself a jealous God; but in another way He confirmed them in faith, promising to show “mercy to thousands of those who love” Him. To this He added another close and related commandment: “You shall not take,” He says, “the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not leave without punishment the one who takes His name in vain” (Ex. 20:6–7). Some did this by assigning the name of God to wood and stones and ignorantly transferring the name, which is above every name, to a work of art and labor of human hands. God spoke about them in the voice of Isaiah: “The carpenter [having chosen a tree], draws a line along it, makes an outline on it with a sharp-pointed tool, then trims it with a chisel and rounds it, and makes out of it the image of a handsome man to put in the house.
He cuts down cedars for himself, takes pine and oak, which he chooses from among the trees in the forest, plants ash, and the rain brings it back. And this serves as fuel for a person, and he uses part of this to keep him warm, and makes a fire, and bakes bread. And from the same he makes a god, and worships him, makes an idol, and prostrates himself before him” (Is. 44: 13-15). And after other sayings: know that “their heart is ashes, and they are deceived” (Is. 44:20). They take the name of the Lord in vain. But I think that those who have already become outside the snare of the devil and have come to know the true God should not be inclined to empty thoughts and recklessly honor the base, carried away by the recognition of other gods, or think that there are any gods other than the One and True. For even if some are called gods and lords “in heaven or on earth, for there are many gods and many lords, but we have one God the Father, from whom are all things, and we for Him, and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we through Him” (1 Cor. 8:5-6), and one Holy Spirit, in whom are all things, and we in Him.
We will not reduce the nature of the Divinity in the Jewish way into only God the Father, but, as it were, we will expand it into the Holy and Consubstantial Trinity; at the same time, distinguishing him by the properties of persons and by the characteristics of hypostases, we will again reduce him into one God due to the identity of the being, and we will serve Him, worship Him, calling on the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. For it is said: “You shall have no other gods before Me” (Ex. 20:3). And again: “Worship the Lord your God and serve Him alone” (Matthew 4:10; sn. Deut. 6:13). since there is one God the Father, and one Lord the Son, and one emanating Holy Spirit, we will not deprive either God of true dominion, or the Lord’s true and natural deity. For without a doubt, after the deity there follows by nature dominion, and with true dominion the glory of the deity.
P. You said very correctly and very wisely.
K. So, Palladius, we will know the one God and will not at all equate anyone with Him, removing as far as possible from our souls the wicked and criminal double-mindedness, as in truth full of arrogance and self-will, so that the sacred word does not proclaim to us: “How long will you limp on both knees?” If to Baal, then to Baal, and if to God, then to God (1 Kings 18:21). We need to appear the same, and not different-minded and hesitant and completely ready to move on to what we should not; and I would call limping on both legs and hesitation the most ungodly thing. Likewise, the ancient law punishes the fickle with death, for it says: “Whoever sacrifices to the gods except the Lord alone, let him be destroyed” (Ex. 22:20). Therefore, to rebel against the Divine glory and to try to reward what is due to it, and only to it alone, to whomever one pleases, and to gods that do not exist by nature, is the most shameful of ailments, even more so - a crime and guilt of extreme wickedness.
So, a truly pure and God-loving person must avoid such things and not only cleanse his heart, but even, so to speak, never allow the name “idol” to enter his tongue. For it is written: “Do not mention the names of other gods; let it not be heard from your mouth” (Ex. 23:13). because what is shameful to know is not harmless to talk about. Those who decide to honor purity in the faith in every possible way should remember Blessed Paul, who writes: “It is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the world to come, and have fallen away, to renew them again to repentance” (Heb. 6:4-6). For having once been brought to the perception of heavenly and Divine grace through holy baptism, having accepted the true and life-giving word about the Resurrection and the Kingdom of Christ, if they decide to return to the past and undergo the same illness, they will not be renewed to cleansing through a second baptism. For “their unbelief will not abolish the faith of God,” as the divine Paul says (Rom. 3:3).
And due to the fact that some, going back, neglected Divine grace, we will not accuse it of inconstancy: on the contrary, the Judge will punish all people who did not shy away from falling into such great wickedness that they trampled on the Son of God, considered the blood of the Testament to be ordinary blood and offended the Spirit of grace, in which they were sanctified and became partakers of the Divine nature (Hebrews 10:29). Just as a warrior who threw down his shield and fled from the battlefield should not be honored a second time with armor, but should be punished and punished for cowardice, in the same way, I think, those who offend sacred and wondrous grace should not be honored a second time with the gift of the Holy Spirit, after rejecting the first, but should be punished. That one day the enlightened should achieve such a way of thinking and such firmness of judgment in order to know the one God by nature, abhor those who introduce anything other than this, and very willingly attack idols, destroy churches and consider Hellenic shrines as nothing, the ancient word will teach us this.
This is what is written in the book of Numbers: “And the Lord spoke to Moses on the plains of Moab by the Jordan, opposite Jericho, saying: Speak to the children of Israel and say to them: when you cross the Jordan into the land of Canaan, then drive out all the inhabitants of the land from you and destroy all their images, and destroy all their molten idols and destroy all their high places” (Num. 33, 50-52). Do you understand that those who crossed the Jordan had to destroy the altars and sacred groves and immediately destroy the idols and churches themselves, since giving mercy to such bad things would be a clear sign that they were not sufficiently established and did not devote an immaculate heart to God, while He clearly speaks about the godless and evil: “then do not worship their gods, and do not serve them, and do not imitate their deeds, but break them in pieces and destroy their pillars: serve the Lord your God, and He will bless your bread... and your water; and I will turn away diseases from you. There will be no premature births or barren people in your land; I will make the number of your days complete” (Ex. 23:24–26).
So, it is clear that for people who have firmly established themselves and, with a sound mind, devote themselves to the God of all, who have also taken care to provide obvious proof of this, namely the destruction of altars, churches and idols of mentally damaged people, such a course of action will be the culprit of Divine gifts.
K. If, he says, you destroy what is made with hands and serve God, hating their customs, then “I will bless your bread, and your wine, and your water.” The word is mysterious and deep: it means that for those who are faithful to God, the communion of Christ’s Mysteries and the grace bestowed by holy baptism will serve as a spiritual blessing, and for those who are double-minded and prone to apostasy - into anger and condemnation. Is it really unimportant to accept a spiritual blessing? This, I think, is what the wise Paul said: “Whoever eats and drinks the Body and Blood of Christ unworthily eats and drinks condemnation for himself, without considering the Body of the Lord. Let a man examine himself, and in this way let him eat of this bread and drink of this cup” (1 Cor. 11:29, 28). So, for those who truly love God, the communion of the Holy Mysteries will be, it is said, a blessing; and they will be freed from weakness, that is, from the tendency to suffer from injustice and weakness. “He will not be childless, it is said, among them, below the barrens”; for every God-loving and reverend soul is very childbearing and abounds in holy fruits, that is, the glory of virtue.
K. Not allowing one to have a soft heart, (God) skillfully leads to the determination to maintain steadfastness in faith and steadfastness in piety: sometimes, by decent considerations, teaching the best, He commands to neglect, or better yet, completely turn away from sacrifice or worship of idols, as causing destruction, showing that this kind of disease is filled with extreme guilt and even the greatest wickedness; sometimes, having placed the fear of punishment upon us, as if it were a mentor and an excellent guardian, he in every possible way turns us to what He pleases. This is what blessed Moses says in Deuteronomy: “These are the decrees and laws that you must strive to observe in the land that the Lord, the God of your fathers, is giving you as a possession, all the days that you live in that land. Destroy all the places where the nations that you will conquer served their gods, on the high mountains and on the hills, and under every branching tree; and destroy their altars, and break down their pillars, and burn their groves with fire, and break in pieces the images of their gods, and destroy their name from that place” (Deut. 12:1-3).
Hellenic sages and chosen ones, especially poets, call nymphs or demons some kind of Oriads and Amadryads. And there are those who, intending to honor their gods in exalted places, erected altars on the mountains, began to take care of the sacrifice of oxen, and, having established statues and images of demons around the more beautiful trees, were engaged in the slaughter of sheep. But it was necessary that those who submitted to the true and by nature God, fearing nothing, should destroy these idols of the erring and deviate as far as possible from their customs.
Therefore it is also said: “When the Lord your God destroys from before you the nations to whom you are going to take them for possession, and you, having taken them, will dwell in their land; Then beware that you do not fall into the snare by following them, after they are destroyed from before you, and do not seek their gods, saying: “As these nations served their gods, so will I also do.” Do not do this to the Lord your God, for everything that the Lord abhors, that He hates, they do to their gods: they burn their sons and daughters in the fire to their gods” (Deut. 12:29-31). Correctly, the Legislator completely prohibits the imitation of those who are mistaken and strictly commands to move away from the merciless slaughter of children; and he denounces the bloodthirsty and falsely named gods as destroyers and destroyers of humanity, grossly neglecting, at their own will, even the natural laws of love. “He created everything for existence, and everything in the world is salvific and... there is no kingdom of hell on earth. ...through the envy of the devil death entered the world” (Wis. 1:14, 2:24).
And while the Divine will overthrows death and destroys corruption and hates the non-existence of existing things; “created everything for being,” as it is written: on the contrary, those who are caught in the network of error by the selfishness of demons bring to Satan, as it were, sweets and the best and most fragrant incense, the destruction of what was created for life and the death of what was created “for being.” So, He wanted to show in the most beautiful way that the deeds of them (the pagans) are filled with extreme guilt, that their nature is insulted and the laws of well-desired love for children are trampled upon; Thus He strongly attracted those ministers who have a noble mind and a hatred of evil to honor and diligently accept what He wants and says. Such a law was made in ancient times to overthrow their wickedness. But in addition, He determines death for those who want to convince someone who has established himself and has lovingly accepted the knowledge of the truth.
For He also said this: “If a prophet or a dreamer arises among you and presents you with a sign or a miracle, and the sign or miracle about which he spoke to you comes true, and moreover says: “Let us follow other gods, whom you do not know, and let us serve them,” then do not listen to the words of this prophet or this dreamer; For by this the Lord your God tempts you, to find out whether you love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul; Follow the Lord your God and fear Him, keep His commandments and listen to His voice, and serve Him, and cleave to Him; and that prophet or that dreamer must be put to death because he persuaded you to depart from the Lord your God” (Deut. 13:1-5). What a holy and fitting law to God! If the murderers of the body must certainly die according to the laws, how can a person who leads the soul into destructive delusion and plunges into the ditch of destruction not suffer the same in justice, which, according to the voice of the Savior Himself, is better than the body (Matthew 10:28)?
So, God recognized it as fair that the liar and deceiver should be punished with death; but He determines the same punishment for those who listen to such people with a comfortable and frivolous disposition of spirit. When it was easy, having sobered up the mind, to find refuge in the truth, why, he says, did he voluntarily flee to untruth? “If there be found among you in any of your dwellings which the Lord your God is giving you, man or woman, who does evil in the sight of the Lord your God, transgressing His covenant, and goes and serves other gods, and worships them, or the sun, or the moon, or all the host of heaven, which I have not commanded, and it will be announced to you, and you will hear, then you shall seek well; and if this is the exact truth, if this abomination has been done in Israel, then bring out that man or woman who did this evil to your gates and stone them to death.
According to two witnesses, or three witnesses, a person condemned to death must die: he should not be put to death according to the words of one witness; the hand of the witnesses must be on him first of all to kill him, then the hand of the whole people; and so destroy evil from among you” (Deut. 17:2-7).
When God is offended in His reverence, then it is unsafe and even very harmful to be merciful - this is not the time to indulge in weak-hearted, mutual goodwill. This, I think, is what the Lord said: “Whoever loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me” (Matthew 10:37). Let then the law of sympathy disappear and the power of natural love and everything that relates to love of mankind be removed, so that, so to speak, through pious cruelty, honor may be rendered to God. Wouldn't you call it a pious thing to mercilessly punish those who commit unpardonable apostasy, as if they offend the glory that is highest above all and do not refuse to carelessly dishonor Him, Whom it would be better to please with efforts to be firm?
P. Pious; How could it be otherwise?
J. Let me also remind you of what He said to the ancients: “What iniquity your fathers found in Me, that they departed from Me and followed vanity and became futile” (Jer. 2:5.) And as if amazed at the extreme ignorance of the children of Israel, He says: “Marvel at this, O heavens, and tremble and be horrified, says the Lord. For My people have committed two evils: They have abandoned Me, the fountain of living waters, and have hewed out for themselves broken cisterns that cannot hold water” (Jer. 2:12-13). I consider, and not without reason, those devoid of all prudence who, moving away from serving God, serve creatures other than the Creator and Creator, or, falling into an even more shameful error, worship the works of their own hands, whereas it would be easy, if they wanted to think correctly, from the creation of the world to see the beauty of the most high and ineffable nature and from the harmony of the existing existence to come to the idea of The official, the Leader and the Creator of this universe.
But some of the ancients, despising such a worthy and wondrous way of thinking, exchanged gold for copper, in the words of the Hellenic poets, because, having abandoned the worship of God by nature, they childishly turned to useless idolatry, bringing shame and laughter onto their own heads and calling upon themselves the deprivation of heavenly help. So God said: “As a thief is disgraced when he is caught, so the house of Israel has disgraced itself: they, their kings, their princes, and their priests, and their prophets, saying to the tree, “You are my father,” and to the stone, “You begat me.” for they turned their backs to Me, and not their faces; and in the time of their calamity they will say: “Arise and save us!” Where are your gods, whom you have made for yourself? -let them stand up if they can save you during your time of distress; for as many cities as you have, so many gods do you have, O Judas. Why should you compete with Me? “You have all...sinned against Me, says the Lord” (Jer. 2:26-29).
P. This is truly a terrible thing, my friend.
K. But there are also some of those among us, not yet very established, who have a false and feigned love for Christ and, having put on, as if in sheep’s clothing, the appearance of lovers of God, they turn out to be ferocious and unclean beasts, crafty and deserters, so that at home and at night, that is, secretly, they indulge in demonic service, in all likelihood thinking that it is possible to escape from Himself God and deceive the mind of the ineffable nature. It can be proven - and without difficulty - that a person who thinks this way has a lower way of thinking than what was characteristic of the madness of the Hellenes. For it seemed right to the Hellenic sages that the created and originated sun, the great luminary, created by God for that very purpose (to shine), watches everything and hears everything; because they thought that what is recognized as God must also possess the virtues of the Divine nature; The dignity of the highest nature is to know and see everything. This is their opinion; and God of old proclaimed to us: “Am I God only near, says the Lord, and not God far away?
Can a person hide in a secret place where I cannot see him? (Jer.23, 23-24.) For nothing can hide from Him who is truly God by nature. May blessed David also teach us, saying: “Beware, you foolish people! When will you be smart, ignoramuses? Will not he who fills the ear hear?” (Ps.93:8-9.) And I think, out of foolishness, some said: “The Lord will not see, and the God of Jacob will not know” (Ps.93:7). Is it not completely stupid to say that the Giver of knowledge does not know, and to think that the One who gives the sense of hearing to beings created by Him does not hear?
K: So, one must worship only the one Lord God, according to the Scriptures, and no one else but Him. For it is written: “Be blameless before the Lord your God” (Deut. 18:13). Spiritual perfection is confirmation in faith, integrity in service and the impeccable beauty of love for God.
K: So, Palladius, are we really going to deliver from reproach and the stigma of those who, although they have decided not to worship other gods or creatures besides the Creator, but, I don’t know how, trust the false prophecies of idolaters? Is it safe for the true believers to declare them free from the charge of apostasy?
K. Stargazing and fortune-telling, false prophecies and demonic seduction would, I think, befit only those who, with the most unreasonable readiness, allow inglorious and damned idolatry into their souls.
P. You said it correctly, because the Divine word commands us to abhor the abomination contained in this. It is there that it is written: “When you enter the land that the Lord your God is giving you, then do not learn to do the abominations that these nations have done: you shall not have anyone who leads his son or daughter through the fire, a soothsayer, a soothsayer, a sorcerer, a sorcerer, a charmer, a conjurer of spirits, a magician, or a questioner of the dead; for anyone who does this is an abomination to the Lord” (Deut. 18:9-12). And after a few words he says again: “Be blameless before the Lord your God; For these nations, whom you are driving out, listen to fortunetellers and soothsayers, but the Lord your God has not given you that. The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet from among you, from among your brothers, like me; listen to Him, just as you asked the Lord your God at Horeb on the day of the meeting” (Deut. 18:13-16).
K: Okay, my friend. So, we will not follow the interpreters of omens and questioners of the dead, nor will we accept the flight of birds as true, whether they fly to the right or to the left, to the west or to the east; because this is natural to extreme ignorance. On the contrary, recognizing Christ as the leader of all, who for our sake became like us, and as a prophet, we will accept from Him the knowledge of what is necessary, we will be with Him continuously, driving away and rejecting the lies of demons. For just as the revival and creation of everything is natural and properly belongs to God, so, I think, is the knowledge of everything. It is exclusively characteristic of His nature to clearly know the future and to have within Himself, as it were, a collected knowledge of everything. Doesn't what has been said about this seem wise and true to you?
K: So, we will sin against Him and bring an accusation to the highest glory if we believe that it is inherent in vile and unclean spirits that He is adorned and is very glorious. After this, those who think so foolishly can assume that Satan is able to both give life and be a creator, if we attribute to him and consider as inherent in his nature the best of all and belonging to the actual nature of God; the own and best good of the highest nature is knowledge of the future. Isn't what I say true?
P. And very much. For in the voice of Isaiah it is said to some who render to creation what belongs to God: “Remember this and show yourselves men; take this, O apostates, to heart; remember the former things from the beginning of the age, for I am God, and there is no other God, and there is none like Me. I have declared from the beginning what will happen in the end, and from ancient times what has not yet happened, I say: My counsel will take place, and whatever I please, I will do” (Is. 46: 8-10). So, as if indicating that there is no other by nature and truly God besides Him, he set for the listeners what He can proclaim last before it came true.
K: Okay, Palladium. But I would like us, carefully reviewing the truth, to consider the following: if we are fully among those who want to live correctly and according to the Gospel, then how will we then follow the deceptions of false prophecies? And listening to them, as if any of their words were true, will we not consider the words of the Savior to be false? For He said to the arrogant and proud Jews: “Your father is the devil; and you want to do the lusts of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning and did not stand in the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he tells a lie, he speaks his own way, for he is a liar and the father of lies” (John 8:44). How will a liar tell the truth? And how can one who does not stand firm in the truth not say erroneous things everywhere and in everything? So, isn’t it clear, Palladius, that by attributing truth to the speeches of demons, we will accuse Christ of lying and say that the truth speaks a lie?
K. Moreover, I would add to what has been said, we are taught by Christ not to accept the speech of unclean spirits, even if they ever wanted to offer a truth that is uncommon among them and indecent for them.
K. Don’t you hear the holy Evangelists who wrote that the demons approached Christ, shrilly and loudly shouting: “Leave me alone!” What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? You have come to destroy us! I know You who You are, the Holy One of God” (Mark 1:24). He “forbade them,” it is said, “to say that they knew that He was the Christ” (Luke 4:41). Why, however, someone would rightly ask, did Christ forbid them when they proclaimed the truth? – What was done was useful for us. For through this we learn that we should not attach too much attention to their words, even if they wanted to proclaim the very truth and say what is obviously true: because, from time to time weaving lies into the truth, they harm the listeners, in no other way, I think, than the way we see in people who, by adding honey, take away the sensation of bitterness and by adding sweetness want to remove an unpleasant taste.
P. So, without a doubt, it is dangerous to listen to the seductions of soothsayers.
K. God punishes such a thing with death and places it among the extreme evils. He said this in the book of Leviticus: “And if any soul turns to those who call the dead and to magicians to walk after them as a harlot, then I will set My face against that soul and will cut it off from among its people. Sanctify yourselves and be holy, for I am the Lord your God [holy]” (Lev. 20:6–7). And a little further: “Whether a man or a woman, if they call forth the dead or practice magic, they shall be put to death: they shall be stoned; their blood shall be on them” (Lev. 20:27). Firstly, He forbids following false fortune-telling by the stars or by the corpses of the dead, saying that this matter is very far from the lifestyle befitting saints and is completely unseemly for those who devote themselves to God; and secondly, he defines death for the fortune tellers themselves, saying that they are guilty, and not allowing us to show mercy to people who have reached such worthlessness that they have become a snare of death, a trap for innocent souls, a door to destruction, the bottom of hell (Proverbs 9:18); and what other evil have they not become?
But, I think, it would be wise and correct to think that God did not establish such a bitter punishment that surpasses any misfortune for those who can know and communicate the future to others and have something true to say about it. For it is not the word of truth that is punished, but false speech is cursed; but whoever is caught committing this, and, moreover, as if from God, will slander the ineffable nature itself and, attributing to the truth a lie, as if befitting it, having suffered a punishment equal to guilt, he will rush to destruction. The Word (of God) does not condemn those who from God (receive the gift of prediction): let it not be! -and those who pretend to be from God: so their prediction is not free from lies. And since they, having not accepted the truth, say whatever they please and what seems to them, then as a result of this they sin.
P. So, by this sign we can recognize whether God is preaching or they are speaking from themselves?
K. And very much so. For the Divine Law will immediately convince us of this. God said this in Deuteronomy: if someone says “in your heart: ‘How do we know a word that the Lord has not spoken?’ If a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, but the word does not come to pass and is not fulfilled, then it was not the Lord who spoke this word, but the prophet who spoke this in his boldness, do not be afraid of him” (Deut. 18:21-22). Do you hear him saying that the failure of what is predicted will be clear proof that it was not prophesied by God, because truth loves truth? He says something similar in the voice of Jeremiah: “Am I God only near, says the Lord, and not God far away? Can a person hide in a secret place where I cannot see him? says the Lord. Do I not fill the heavens and the earth? says the Lord. I have heard what the prophets say, prophesying lies in My name” (Jer. 23:23-25). Then, in between, offering a difficult accusation against those who despise the Divine laws, he presents the truth with a clear demonstration of what is from God and what is not.
For He also said: “A prophet who has seen a dream, let him tell it as a dream; but he who has My word, let him speak My word faithfully” (Jer. 23:28). Thus, if anything turned out to be contrary to the truth, it would immediately show that the author of the prediction is false and speaks “from his heart, and not from the mouth of the Lord,” as it is written (Jer. 23:16).
P. Do you want us to examine some of the necessary things, or, omitting this, let us go where your speech leads us?
K. But we, Palladius, value a lot what is necessary for good, so I would rightly consider it a guilt not to speak freely about what seems necessary; So, tell me, without any delay.
P. If some do not speak from the mouth of the Lord, but spew out, as you say, the word from their hearts, then how did that ventriloquist wife bring to Saul the holy, deceased Samuel, who told him the outcome of the future? Some people think that it happened this way and not otherwise.
K. Do you yourself think that this was not so, and do you reason about this more correctly, or do you frivolously assert that the soul of the righteous man was actually subjected to violence and came at the call of a woman?
P. I could not say this with certainty; but I think that research will reveal the truth.
K. You said it well. So, first of all, it must be carefully examined for now whether those who do this work miracles through God and complete such works, or through evil spirits.
P. Who would reach such an absurdity of thought as to think that questioners of the dead, ventriloquists and exorcists work miracles through God? Let me remind you of the law that defines extreme punishment for anyone who decides to do this. After this, how is it not senseless to think that someone condemned to death is not displeasing to God? After all, He will not fight against His own laws.
K. You are an excellent reasoner. Moreover, in this case, the souls of the saints, freed from their bodies, we will have to consider contemptible and imputed to nothing, reaching such a disastrous state that they submit to evil and unclean spirits, which easily force them to involuntarily follow wherever they (the spirits) wish. Meanwhile, the wise John, who compiled the book of Revelation for us, which was approved by the decision of the Fathers, clearly states that he saw the souls of the saints under the most divine altar (Apoc. 6:9); if they (evil spirits) draw the souls (of saints) from their highest abodes, mercilessly take them away from the most sacred places - and no one interferes - then heaven is accessible to all demons, and, apparently, the gates of paradise open before them; The flaming weapon seems to retreat before them, and not only before them themselves, during their entry and exit, but even if they wanted to boldly bring out someone from those inside (paradise). Then, doesn’t this mean mocking the hope in Christ and presenting the most miserable life of Wonderful men?
K: Yes, that's obvious. How was it better for the wondrous Paul to “be separated and be with Christ” (Phil. 1:23)? If it is true that we, having withdrawn from earthly things and united with Christ, are subject to opposing spirits, then “faith is in vain,” according to what is written (Rom. 4:14), and everyone, I think, will agree that being in the body is incomparably better than being with Christ and that this latter is more difficult to endure: because, already spending real life, we are not subject to the desires of the devil, even more so, we step “on snakes and scorpions and all the power of the enemy,” according to the word of the Savior (Luke 10:19). And then, having united with Christ, will we really be in a worse position? How can His words remain true: “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them; and they follow Me. And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who gave them to Me, is greater than all; and no one can snatch them out of the hand of My Father” (John 10:27–29)?
The wise Peter must have also deceived the champions of piety in Christ, when he wrote: “Let those who suffer from others according to the will of God surrender their souls to Him as a faithful Creator” (1 Pet. 4:19). If Satan abuses the soul handed over to God, leading and carrying it wherever he wishes, then how can the protector of the saints, who has taken everyone’s spirit as a pledge, be recognized as faithful? So, it would be absurd and terrible nonsense to think that the soul of the prophet, as a result of the empty spell of the vile woman, was actually removed from its appointed places.
P. So how to explain the event in question? Such a shameful assumption, I think, should not, so to speak, even be accepted as a thought.
J. Having presented the very words of Holy Scripture, we will then make clear the meaning contained in them, constantly maintaining the proper view throughout. It is said this way: “And Samuel died, and all Israel mourned for him and buried him in Ramah, in his city. Saul drove the magicians and fortune-tellers out of the country. And the Philistines gathered together and went and pitched in Sonam; Saul also gathered together all the people of Israel, and they pitched on Gilboa. And Saul saw the camp of the Philistines and was afraid, and his heart trembled greatly. And Saul inquired of the Lord; but the Lord did not answer him either in a dream, or through the Urim, or through the prophets. Then Saul said to his servants, Find me a sorceress, and I will go to her and ask her. And his servants answered him: There is a sorceress woman here in Endor. And Saul took off his clothes and put on others, and he and two men went with him, and they came to the woman by night. And Saul said to her: I beg you, tell me a spell and show me about whom I will tell you.
But the woman answered him: you know what Saul did, how he drove the wizards and fortune-tellers out of the country; Why are you laying a net for my soul to destroy me? And Saul swore to her by the Lord, saying, As the Lord lives! There will be no trouble for you for this matter. Then the woman asked: whom should I bring out for you? And he answered: Bring out Samuel to me. And the woman saw Samuel and cried out loudly; and the woman turned to Saul, saying, Why have you deceived me? You are Saul. And the king said to her: Do not be afraid;... what do you see? And the woman answered: I see, as it were, a god emerging from the earth. What kind does he look like? - Saul asked her. She said: an elderly man comes out of the ground, dressed in long clothes. Then Saul knew that it was Samuel, and he fell face down to the ground and worshiped. And Samuel said to Saul, Why do you trouble me to come out? And Saul answered: It is very hard for me; The Philistines are fighting against me, but God has retreated from me and no longer answers me either through the prophets or in dreams; ...that's why I called you to teach me what to do.
And Samuel said: Why do you ask me, when the Lord has departed from you and become your enemy? The Lord will do what he spoke through me; The Lord will take the kingdom out of your hands and give it to your neighbor, David. Because you did not listen to the voice of the Lord and did not fulfill the fury of His anger against Amalek, the Lord is doing this to you today. And the Lord will deliver Israel along with you into the hands of the Philistines” (1 Samuel 28:3-19). So, can you then doubt that Saul became weakened, convicted by his own opinion? For when he was afraid of being powerless to fight the army gathered against him, he considered it necessary to find out the future from God; when God remained silent and did not reveal anything, he turns to insulting the One who chose to remain silent: he goes to the questioner of the dead - I mean healers who consider themselves knowledgeable in the future - and then says: “Bring up Samuel” - not because a spell and magical art can summon the soul of a saint, but because fortunetellers always use such words.
And I heard that when they attract demons with some secret words and perform spells over water, they see ghosts and shadows and, as if in a mirror, the figures of certain people, since perhaps demons skillfully produce images of people about whom they are said to be summoned. And indeed, at first that woman said: “I see ... God ascending from the earth” (1 Samuel 28:13), and then: “and the woman saw,” it is said, “Samuel” (1 Samuel 28:12). There is nothing difficult in the fact that the same shadow and ghost appeared, similar to the image of blessed Samuel, produced by a demonic action. And if anyone thought that the soul of the prophet was truly summoned, then he should recognize as true those words of the woman that she says that she saw gods emerging from the earth, and should not attribute falsity to the rites of fortune-telling, but think that in fact there are some gods of this category emerging from the earth, whereas by nature there is only one God.
P. You said it right. However, I think someone will say: however, the sorceress told the truth when Saul was curious about the future. Meanwhile, we spent a lot of reasoning on proving that unclean spirits have no truth.
K. Indeed, no. For something inconsistent and unrelated is light and darkness, Christ and Belial (2 Cor. 6:14-15). Of course, He sometimes reveals the future to those who irritate and are accustomed to grieving God, and through those from whom this would least be expected, and, probably, the holy Angels inform the human mind that if those who decided to be curious would learn anything, they would be extremely exhausted and tormented by foreknowledge itself, seeing as if some firstfruits of wrath and judgment threatening them. Holy prophets often tend to communicate not only sorrowful things, from which a person, saddened, would cry, but also what serves some to complacency and prosperity; and to the wicked and lawless lovers of fortune-telling, God reveals their future misfortunes.
P. But how and with what can this be proven?
K. Holy Scripture. For what happened to the ancients was ordained as an image and method of secret teaching for us. Don’t you know that Balak, the son of Zippor, king of the Moabites and Midianites, fearful of the insurmountable and indestructible multitude of the Israelites and confident of his very imminent destruction along with other nations, bribed Balaam, saying: “Come, curse for me this people” of Israel? (Num. 22:6.) When the ambassadors arrived, he said to them: “Spend the night here, and I will give you an answer, as the Lord tells me” (Num. 22:8). Seeking empty and demonic dreams and probably expecting random phenomena from spells and witchcraft, he says that “the Lord will speak” to him. For he imagined that God would hear him. But even if the Holy Scripture uses the usual words for sorcerers, however, thinking correctly, we cannot think that the true God himself, as if out of love, put the truth into the souls of the wicked and talked with a nasty man, a sorcerer and an idolater.
However, it is said: “And God came to Balaam and said: What kind of people are these with you?” (Num. 22, 9.) When Balaam announced the reason for their arrival, “God said to Balaam: do not go with them, do not curse this people, for they are blessed” (Num. 22, 12). It is clear that the blessed Angel, on behalf of God, turns away the deceiver and idle talker of the sorcerer from the intention of cursing the people blessed by God and opposing the highest definitions of the invention of human malice, not because the curse would have the power to cause harm, but so that those who madly surrendered to such hope would be clearly and visually assured that Israel will not ever be captured by the Moabites or Midianites, when God protects and overcomes and with His mercies protects the people devoted to Him and blessed. This is what the divine Angel said and commanded to do.
When the soothsayer was seduced by promises of gifts to go, assuming that he might actually have power, then the blessed Angel allowed him to go, but in the middle of the way he appeared with a lightning sword, clearly teaching that Balaam is at war with both God and the Angels if he wants to curse the blessed. When he arrived to the king of Midian, he set up altars and ordered bulls to be sacrificed, but immediately became a prophet, not as he was before, that is, false, but by Divine and ineffable power, beyond his expectations, he turned in the opposite direction. For he did not curse, but rather blessed Israel, and plunged Balak into bitter sorrow. It is written like this: “Balaam said to God: Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab, sent [them] to me [to say]: And God said to Balaam: Do not go with them, do not curse this people, for they are blessed. And Balaam arose in the morning and said to the princes of Balak: go to your land, for the Lord does not want to allow me to go with you” (Num. 22, 10, 12-13).
False prophets usually use deceptive prophecies and pretend to show those who question them that they are telling the truth. But understand that telling the truth is a matter alien to the craft of a spellcaster and a sorcerer; Sometimes, by God's permission, the true was added to their words in order to create fear in the souls of the wicked by predicting the future.
J. That God hates and destroys such spells and idle talk is clear, since He Himself says: “I am the Lord.” And to this also: “Who makes void the signs of false prophets and reveals the madness of magicians, drives away the wise and makes their knowledge foolish, Who confirms the word of His servant and brings to pass the saying of His messengers” (Is. 44, 24-26.)? “Madness” He declares that “the word of His servant”, that is, Christ, is empty and false; and the counsel of His messengers, that is, what the preachers of faith in Him would like to say, He shows all this to those full of truth, confirming with signs and wonders and other actions of the Spirit. He has not yet said anywhere, condemning some for desecrating the law of God: “Stay with your magic and with the multitude. your sorceries, which you have practiced since your youth: perhaps you will help yourself, perhaps you will resist.
You are tired of your many advice; let the watchers of the heavens and the astrologers and the foretellers of the new moons come forward and save you from what is about to happen to you” (Is. 47: 12-13). So, you see how God exposes the laughable and completely useless damned fortune-telling by the stars. And that the truth and unmistakable fulfillment of the words about what is expected in the future befits Him alone, listen to what He says in the voice of Isaiah: “Remember this and show yourselves men; take this, O apostates, to heart; remember the former things from the beginning of the age, for I am God, and there is no other God, and there is none like Me. I have declared from the beginning what will happen in the end, and from ancient times what has not yet happened, I say: My counsel will take place, and whatever I please, I will do” (Is. 46: 8-10). So, we must attribute both clear knowledge and the ability to accurately predict the future to God alone, who is supreme above all.
But, on the other hand, nonsense and old wives' tales, buffoonery and deception turn out to be committed by those who, being corrupted in mind, speak from their hearts, as it is written (1 Tim. 6, 5), and make lies a pretext for collecting money.
P. Truth; because it is so and not otherwise.
K. So, let us refrain from this, and leaving the path of corruption, let us follow the right path, relying on God alone and recognizing the truth behind the words of the saints.
K. What then? Surely, in addition, we will not consider it hateful and the lot of Hellenic atheism to love purification, for example, by fire and water and any other similar methods?
P. Definitely. Therefore, Divine revelation clearly says: “You shall not have anyone who makes his son or daughter go through the fire” (Deut. 18:10).
K. How good it is that the law proclaimed this to us and forbade us to do it! I think that this matter is full of recklessness and does not have the best and most reasonable basis. For how can the nature of fire benefit us? Or how can torches quickly passed around deliver a sinner? The impurity of copper or any other similar substance is destroyed by the power of fire; but how will it destroy the impurity of the mind and soul? Isn't this funny and isn't this an invention of empty fiction?
K. With great pleasure I would say to those chosen ones from the Hellenes who were the inventors of these shameful institutions and passed them on to others: what do you mean, noble and wise men, when you torture this Titius, whom you consider born from the earth, in hell, assigning kites to him, tormenting his liver, because, surprised at the beauty of a woman, he was incensed with lust? Why do you also say that Tantalus is threatened by a stone, and tell the young men fables that he bears this punishment for the unbridled tongue? Why, having tied Ixion to a wheel that has been spinning for a long time and incessantly, say that he is suffering this punishment for a deception that your gods did not like, and free yourself and others, although possessed by the most terrible and nasty vices, from fire and from the branches of the laurel or olive tree, as you please, and grant ablution from crimes to even the most criminal people? Tell me, why do you impose cruel and endless punishment on Tityus and those named now, perhaps for lack of fire?
And the well-known, according to your stories, the thief of fire, who passed it on to people, I’m talking about Prometheus, if only he existed, possessed the use of fire and, moreover, before others; but your fables also imagine him bound by indestructible bonds, and they say that kites with curved claws, these terrible and wild punishers, flew to him, as to Titius. Come on, give purification through fire not only to them, but also to those who raged in lust for your daughters or wives or strangers, doing what they should not; They should also be freed from guilt through fire, and at the same time avoid judgments for crimes.
While against others judgments and sentences are immediately set in motion, and the power of the laws, which hates crimes, you consider yourselves, recklessly leading a most shameful and disgusting life, to be free from all defilement, seduced by empty and childish amusements, and for this purpose, accepting into service the vilest of people, who, having rejected, along with their outward appearance, the speech proper to a man, descend to customs and lifestyle, to the body. and the thoughts of women. After this, how will such a person be cleansed? In this mood, you will do something similar to what would happen if someone decided to perfume himself with fragrant ointments, but, having smeared himself with the most unclean dirt, then began to think about what he did, and what was very good, that came to his mind.
P. You speak well; and I agree with you who speak the truth.
K. I’m not talking about their madness in this regard, I’ll keep silent about the performers of purification for now, but I’ll go back to the matter itself; and I will also say that anyone can convict idolaters of the fact that they spend their lives in the most insane and ignorant way, do not understand the method of purification and do not know exactly what defilement and uncleanness really consist of. Adultery and even more wild passions: sodomy and murder, slander and envy, false prophecies and deceit, deception and false oaths - these are filth and impurities that defile the soul and body and are with difficulty washed off and overthrown. Neither fire nor springs of water can cleanse them. Not knowing that with those vices they defile the soul and make the mind full of impurity, they meanwhile move away from dead bodies and abhor the decomposed corpse, not respecting the laws of nature. And even the food that they need to take on, they neglect, in their opinion, as if it were reasonable; and if it were necessary to accidentally and involuntarily touch them, they immediately, recoil, resort to purification through fire and water, as if, if only they abstained from them, they would be holy and pure.
So they were overcome by this opinion and went out of their minds, and about them it can be said very appropriately: “Woe to you, unbridled and ignorant, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel” (Matthew 23:23-24). Considering nothing that really defiles, they are overly afraid of that from which no one suffers any harm, so that if one of them approached a grave monument and entered the tomb of the dead, he, having taken off his clothes, shaved his head, cutting off the very hair, as if subjected to desecration. That we should move away and alienate ourselves from imitation of this, the Divine law taught us, also saying: “Do not make cuts on your body and do not cut the hair above your eyes after the dead” (Deut. 14: 1). him and Phoebus (φοιβον), that is, pure and undefiled. They also call him the sun. So they said: φοιβάζειν and φοιβάσθαι, as they think and as it is in their laws, means: to cleanse and be purified.
And the Divine command keeps us from such shameful and extremely indecent customs. For one should not consider bodily death to be a desecration for the soul, nor should one think that the very sight of a dead person leaves an unclean imprint on the hearts of spectators; For the same reason, you should not shave your hair, for this matter is completely empty and is characteristic of a rude idea. Therefore, the law says well: “don’t cut yourself,” because this kind of cleansing does not benefit the soul, but rather harms it, taking away the knowledge of the most useful path and detracting from the search for what is useful. Let us pay attention to the following: the laws in force among us come from those who have power on earth, giving everyone, wherever they are, a reward for fulfilling them and prohibiting what they should not do; but no one could escape punishment for crimes if the forgiving kindness of the king had not been bestowed upon him. Likewise, one who did not fulfill the Divine laws would not have become pure if he had not been enriched by this good deed by Divine will.
Therefore, if we have transgressed the laws of fire or water and the account for sin applies to them, then let the water wash away the guilt, let the fire destroy the uncleanness, and let them, with their power, absolve the guilt to whomever they want. If the one who calls out to God is true: “To You alone have I sinned and to You have I created evil” (Ps. 50:6), “for there is one... lawgiver and judge” (James 4:12), then why, having abandoned the Lord, to Whom belongs the right of punishment and forgiveness, do they fall into unreasonable thoughts, attributing to fire and water the power to free them from imputations of guilt? Away with such recklessness! Come, man, to the one God by nature and listen to Him who directly says: “I myself blot out your transgressions for my own sake and will not remember your sins” (Is. 43:25). This is true cleansing! This is spiritual lordship! For we are cleansed by faith in Christ, having acquired remission of sin, sanctified by the “wash of regeneration” (Titus 3:5) and enriched by Divine grace, the grace of the Divine Spirit, which, like fire, destroys the filth that, like dust, has invaded our thoughts.
Therefore, the inspired Scripture rightly says that we are baptized “with the Holy Spirit and fire” (Matthew 3:11).
P. Thus, we will also consider error on this score to be part of idolatry?
K. Surely so. For this is a matter of complete godlessness. Along with it, the opinion can rightly be placed and included in it that human affairs are controlled by the wave of some beings and that over what depends on us, it is not we ourselves who have power, but those whom the inventors of such incredible teachings wanted to invent. So, having placed, I don’t know how, Fate, Happiness and Birth as if to steer the rudder in the ship of life, they say that none of us is the manager or master of our actions, but is led, as if by the bonds of necessity, to whatever those who rule over us want. What could ever be more unreasonable than this? And how could Satan inflict greater offense on the human race if not by inducing them to think and reason this way? How, then, can a person wish good things and go towards them of his own free will?
And even if he gave himself up to the most shameful deeds and turned his thoughts to what he should not, how could he admit himself guilty, and, depressed by sorrows, change his intention, deciding to think and do the best? For just as those crossing the sea and deciding to cross it absolutely need to be led by the winds blowing from the stern of the ship and submit to their power wherever they direct it, so we also need to yield wherever chance and the inevitable, in their opinion, winds of Fate want to take us. Don't you admit that what is said is true?
K: And if so, then it is completely unreasonable to crown the good and honest with praise and honor, while considering the evil and intemperate as vile and contemptible.
P. How do you assert this?
K: And because, Palladius, that, in their opinion, birth and chance rule over everything and lead the most unfortunate of all that is on earth, the human race, against its will, to one or the other, that is, to good or evil. We have nothing voluntary. For what is capable and able to set something in motion is not the cause of motion for what is moved by it?
K. Now, by the same considerations, turn to human affairs and weigh what concerns us, and you will see very clearly how unhappy we would be if we followed and were directed here or there not according to our own free movements, but were under the authority and, so to speak, bore the yoke of others who have the power to direct and conduct our affairs as they wished. In this case, even if we think appropriately, we will not attribute anything that has been done to ourselves, but, on the contrary, we will place the blame for everything on those who rule the helm of everything according to their own will. Thus, just as the righteous will be excluded from all praise, so will the unrighteous from punishment and due punishment.
K. Therefore, the inventors of these teachings are in vain surprised at the Athenian Solon, Dragon and Lycurgus, as the introducers of excellent rules and the inventors of excellent laws for the Hellenes. For what is the use of this if we have nothing of our own, but on the contrary, everything we have depends on others? Those who do not know them will be in an equal or at least similar position to those who know the laws, if those who wish are unable to do freely what they have decided to do. I even admit that the drafters of laws are the most unjust people, although they have gained for themselves a great reputation for justice. For they legislated, I don’t know on what basis, that the careless should be punished and subjected to cruel punishments for breaking the law, and at the same time, as if to young men, they passed on to them the rules and most praiseworthy lessons of behavior, whether because it depends on us to choose an honest kind of life, or I don’t know, on the basis of some other considerations.
In this case, I think someone could say: it’s good that you, Solon, legislated for the people of your time, but in any case, you should have convinced Fate to allow those for whom the law was assigned to think and do what they wanted; and you legislated without convincing; however, perhaps you yourself laughed at this fable (about fate) and, knowing that we ourselves are the managers of our actions, eliminated unjust and blind chance from participating in human affairs. Or didn’t you think that the best citizen should be considered a pious person and a guardian of the laws, who has achieved the highest glory in good behavior, but on the contrary, worthless and among the most disgraceful is the one who says to the laws that advise you to follow the right path: farewell?
P. You said it perfectly and in the best possible way.
K. Well, my friend, don’t we call the instructions, suggestions and stimulation to virtue that parents give to children, and teachers to students, useless, if we are forced to take a path against our will and follow the path of life involuntarily?
K. And if someone, irritated against his own children or against someone else’s wrongdoers, subjected them to fair punishment, would you yourself praise him or would you consider him to have acted unfairly because he allows the perpetrators of all our evils to remain, I don’t know why, unpunished, and subjects those who are brought to this involuntarily and out of necessity to punishment?
P. You say rightly: your speech has a lot of persuasiveness.
K. And that their opinion is full of extreme wickedness, you will learn from the following: taking away from God, as if from the helmsman and ruler of the universe, His inherent glory and even reaching such insolence that they dare to completely alienate His own dignity from Him, they, by their own decision, transfer power over our actions to anyone who simply comes to their mind, although they see that all creation is led to its goals by movements that are not devoid of control. In fact, what happens in creation that happens out of order? What existing thing does not observe its order and does not just proclaim with a voice the Author of order, does not cry out that it is subject to laws and is governed by the beck of one who has the power to rule, that is, God? Therefore, the divine Paul says: “For His invisible things, His eternal power and Godhead, have been visible from the creation of the world through the consideration of creatures, so that they are invisible.
But how, having come to know God, they did not glorify Him as God and did not give thanks, but became futile in their speculations, and their foolish hearts were darkened; calling themselves wise, they became fools” (Rom. 1:20-22). And how can one not say: “they have gone mad” about those who have decided for themselves and advise others to think something completely opposite to justice? But, perhaps, someone will say: why bother with such pitiful reasoning when your poets themselves do not like this fable? For it seemed to them right to make the order of our actions dependent not on anyone else but on ourselves. So Homer said in his poems that your most perfect and supreme Zeus addressed the other gods with the following speech about the adultery of Aegisthus and the punishment for it.
“It’s strange how mortal people blame the gods for everything! Evil is from us, they say; but don’t they themselves often “bring destruction upon themselves, in spite of fate, through madness” (Odyssey, 1, 32-34) Why, he says, do some blame the gods as if evil comes from them, and do not, on the contrary, complain about their own sinfulness, which plunges them into misfortune - and, moreover, in addition to fate, that is, in addition to Fate or the will of Fate? So, if someone decides to live correctly and conduct the most well-intentioned and decent activities in life, he will follow the right path and avoid dangers, and the fruit of his right and unwavering intention will be that he will not fall under the power of evil.
And this is the true word; because it depends on ourselves to turn our gaze to one or the other, that is, to the good or the opposite of it; and therefore those who consider that which is wonderful in nature to be important, and the path that leads to righteousness, will receive the benefits of virtue; those who deviate in the opposite direction and prefer untruth to the best, as corrupting their own lives, will be caught and exposed like suicides and criminal destroyers of their own lives. And that it is up to us to turn our attention to this or that, as I just said, and that, chasing pleasures, we go astray in search of useful things, this can be clear from what their own poet, namely Euripides, proclaims. He brings onto the stage a woman suffering from unbridled voluptuousness, and then, I don’t know how, he presented her reasoning and saying this:
“The Wives of Trizen, who live in this extreme threshold of the country of Pelops! Once at night I pondered for a long time why the lives of mortals were spoiled. And, it seems to me, they do evil not out of the nature of their will, for there are many who are well-minded, but this is how we should think about it: we understand and know what is useful, but we avoid labor, some out of laziness, others due to a preference for this or that pleasure over the beautiful. There are many pleasures in life: prolonged chatter and idleness, pleasant evil.” Do you understand that even in the opinion of distant antiquity, it is not Chance, not Birth, not Fate that should be blamed, as if forcibly deviating us from the rightness we have learned and from what we have learned to be useful? For it is said that “the life of mortals is spoiled not by the nature of the will,” that is, not because they have a will that is evil by nature, but because they do not want to work to achieve what is useful. And what is the excuse for this?
Either laziness, as it is said, shackled them to inaction, or some of the pleasures of life, it is said further, that rose up and opposed the useful, diverted them from the search for what was necessary and distracted the mind in view of the easier path to carelessness. We could, without any difficulty, add to this countless testimonies from their writers. But who will doubt that what is pleasant for listeners is what is in moderation? Therefore, let's remove everything unnecessary in speech.
P. You said it right. But if you want, as they say, leave it. Now think about what should be said in defense if someone asked: what reasonable basis can be presented for the inequality of promotion between us and demotion not according to merit. For anyone can see an evil person prospering and getting rich, and often, on the contrary, an honest person and worthy of the highest praise - in a position opposite to this.
K. This matter, Palladius, is truly incomprehensible and inaccessible, and the desire to explain it I would consider exceeding and exceeding the measure of the powers of mankind. It is necessary to leave everything to the courts of God, and if we want to think correctly, then, having ascribed to the highest and purest mind alone, and to him alone, the knowledge of economy, we will head towards what is in our hands, and even this “we obtain with difficulty,” according to the words of Scripture (Wisdom 9:16). But since, I think, we should, as far as possible, defend this position with arguments of reason, then, perhaps, let’s get down to it. A little higher, we exposed the empty opinion of the atheists, using not conclusions that are not related to the controversial issue, but from necessary considerations showing that the helm of human thoughts is not controlled by Birth and the harsh and inevitable yoke of Fate is not imposed on us, but that the will of everyone is the ruler of those chosen to perform actions and the choice to do what is appropriate: good or evil depends on us.
If I could list the different ways of prosperity in accordance with what is accepted as good in the Holy Scriptures, then such benefits would not be those that this unclean and earthly flesh enjoys, but those through which the soul, the higher body, could become a participant in eternal life. This, I think, is the essence: care for virtue and purity in faith and deeds. And if those who want to live chastely do not succeed in this, whether some are of good character or of bad character, then let the accusers come into the middle. If, despite the fact that it depends on choice to freely direct one’s activities, whoever wants to do what, and for everyone there is an opportunity to be spiritually happy and, on an equal basis with others, to become a participant in the highest glory, and meanwhile some suffer from greed, having advantages in wealth or worldly fame, then this should not lead us to any godless and contrary to true knowledge opinions, for example. to think that the yoke of Fate and Chance is imposed on our affairs.
But let anyone blame, if anyone pleases, the covetousness of the rich, who made the good common to all their own, if they did not have in mind a good reason for acquiring it. It is better to let them investigate the will of the Creator; for He, desiring that what belongs to us be distributed and observed in equal order, commands the rich to sell the collected wealth and distribute it for the needs of the poor, and does not allow the love of glory and preference. And that God distributes everything equally among those living on earth is not difficult to see from the very structure of our body. For nature knows neither the poor, nor the rich, nor the ignoble, nor the famous, nor the noble, nor the outcast, nor the adorned with glory in this life; but it manifests itself in everyone equally without partiality and endows everyone with the same members of the body, bringing them into the appropriate form and beauty. And there is one path to birth for everyone, just as there is one path to leaving life; does not free one from the bonds, but seems to keep the other in them, but everything created leads to one harsh and inevitable end.
So, tell me, isn’t it still clear, even more so - Isn’t it obvious to everyone that the intention of the Divine will is that those on earth should live in equal conditions? Listen, if you will, to what He says through one of the prophets: “Have we not all one Father? Didn't God alone create us? Why do we act treacherously against each other...?” (Mal. 2 10.) So, if some, having a free desire to do what they decided to do (for the Creator honored nature with freedom), violate the will of the Creator, then this is not at all relevant, since some despise our laws. But no one, I think, if only he has the intelligence, would blame the legislators for this, but would rather blame, and quite rightly, those who decided to despise the necessary. Therefore, when some, having committed an offense, say: this is probably how Chance wills it, and: such was the intention of Fate in relation to me, then on our part it will be said to them: what kind of chatter? Why do you blame something that doesn’t exist without admitting your own frivolity?
But let the Divine Scripture itself proclaim the truth to those who did not want to follow the right path: “The stupidity of a man perverts his path, but his heart is indignant at the Lord” (Proverbs 19:3). So, those who truly sinned against the true opinion were those who appointed Birth, Fate and flexible Chance as stewards of our affairs, instead of attributing the management of affairs to God; since Christ says: “Are not two small birds sold for an assarium? And not one of them will fall to the earth without the will of your Father who is in heaven, “but you and the hairs of your head are all numbered; do not be afraid: you are better than many small birds” (Matthew 10:29-31). But although the Creator provides for those who live on earth, he nevertheless allows everyone to do what he pleases and to follow the path in which he wishes. When the earthly race, as if by some disease, was overcome by a wrong direction, then He immediately gave it the law to help, according to what is written (Gal. 3:19; Rom. 3:20).
So, it is dangerous for anyone who has accepted faith in Christ and abandoned its ancient delusion, being carried away by old women’s fables, bowing to what it should not, and moving away from sound opinion, thinking that everything in general, including man, is controlled by completely non-existent Chance and Fate.
P. Very dangerous. For such a one will certainly arouse the wrath of the Judge against himself.
K: And in that case, wouldn’t you consider it a most shameful thing and as close as possible to the same kind of error to observe days and hours, and times, and years, as well as the increase and damage of the lunar circle?
P. Even very much. And the divine Paul very clearly puts this matter to blame for the saved from the pagans when he says: “But then, not knowing God, you served gods, which in essence are not gods. Now, having come to know God, or, better yet, having received knowledge from God, why do you return again to the weak and poor material principles and want to enslave yourself to them again? You observe days, months, times and years. I fear for you, lest I labor with you in vain” (Gal. 4:8-11).
J. So, the observation of hours and days, I would add, and times, is completely indecent for those who have received at least some knowledge of the one and by nature God, and especially for those who are known by Him through faith and called into spiritual intimacy with Him by grace: for the one who, having abandoned his boasting in Christ, decided to do so and has no longer kept his mind as a lover of freedom, returns to the former, but, on the contrary, foolishly goes under the yoke ancient error, appropriating to the elements of the world the honor that God should have, and crowning with the highest praises that which itself was called into existence by the wave of the Creator. The Apostle calls the elements of the world times and months and their measurements, made through hours and days, as if they were the basic elements of everything that exists.
For God subordinated time, which is continuous and has an ever-flowing forward movement, to the measures and numbers of times, hours and days, as if to some kind of interruptions and returns back, because it was necessary that for someone who has a non-initial appearance to be, until he reaches the end of his life, time should be the same, that is, beginning and ending and imparting to that which does not always exist, the nature characteristic of it. Therefore, if through times, hours and days nothing else is introduced to what exists on earth except only rotation and precise measurement, then why do some invent such fables that are ridiculous to even think about? Why are some of the hours called beneficent, while others are not so, they are observed in the most careful way, attributing to them the ability to bring well-being and the opposite to it for those whom they would probably want or need for this to happen? So, isn’t all this an empty invention and terrible damage to the mind, some kind of devilish trap, villainously cunningly arranged?
P. I agree; Yes, this is self-evident.
K. As we said earlier that these people convinced us to attribute our own actions to fate and chance and to extraneous influences, representing our efforts in vain and turning us away from caring for ourselves: so now, fabricating for us the same delusion, they say that those living on earth are subject, as it were, to the yoke of necessity, to the influence of days and hours, which has an inevitable outcome; but what is especially strange (for such tales are only suitable for old women), seeing that this nonsense is followed by countless failures, they do not give experience the opportunity to bring out the deception, but, accusing hours and days of bad quality, applying the same judgment to the defects of the lunar circle, they are ready to say anything.
So, if someone decided to count and name at the same hour and day some who are in prosperity, while others are beset by extreme misfortunes (although by nature evil for everyone would always be such as it was born), - if, therefore, there is an hour and dawn harmful to those living on earth, why in this case does not harm come from them to everyone equally, but some are in the most desirable state, while others perish and dejected by misfortunes to the extreme, becoming a parable in life and the subject of a tragic scene? However, those who want to know with all accuracy what is most useful and work on it can easily see that on the same day, and perhaps even the same hour, one is caught in adultery or murder and is subjected to cruel punishments from the judges, while another, on the contrary, receives praise for prudence, decency and extreme honesty.
But neither day nor hour would prevent a depraved person from being prudent, nor would an honest and decent person be driven to obscenity and unbridled pleasures; on the contrary, the will freely directing one or the other and its unfettered aspiration leads one to one state, the other to another. So, it depends on us, and not on the natural properties of time, to be in a good or bad mood.
P. So; it seems because the reasoning is correct.
K. Most of all, they fear the fifth and eighth days and they are blamed for their sins, but no sane person can hide that they are consumed by empty and superstitious thoughts; and the unfortunate ones do not blush, foolishly adding to them (days and hours) the existence of some Erinyes, the appearance of demons more fierce than others, punishments and punishments, and something else. If the circle of the moon, which was full before, begins to go towards damage (for in this order, by the will of the wise organizer, it rotates, decreasing and increasing over the course of a month), then they stop all work and postpone setting off, thinking that what concerns us will certainly suffer damage along with this planet, and that with its turn towards damage, human affairs also come into decline. And if anything needs to be said in mockery of such unreason, it is that these people harbor the fear inherent in shellfish and the simplest vegetables.
For perhaps such bodies, and even the largest and most excellent ones, should by nature feel sympathy (with the lunar circulations); in what way this happens, the Creator knows about it; because research in such subjects is dangerous and lack of curiosity is not useful: but as for the human spirit, such a property (sympathy with the rotations of the moon) is far removed from it. Even if this planet is subject to damage, the prudent and decent person will still be the same, and neither his mind will tend to damage along with the brilliance of the moon, nor will the nature of his actions change for the worse or for the better, as if forced by the force of a celestial body. Therefore, those who perform the most beautiful actions are always accompanied by the acquisition of every good, and those who do evil are always accompanied by what is most suitable for them. I am surprised that when the moon wanes and the month comes to an end, then the profits of moneylenders and very money-loving people increase and the wallets of those who give money in interest become tighter, while other things, I don’t know why, are depleted along with the planet and diminished.
Wouldn't you say that there is a lot of funny and unreasonable things in all this?
K. To contrast long arguments with assumptions so absurd would, I think, be in vain, because they themselves suffer from ugliness, even if no one talks about it. Let us now move on to something else.
K. It seems to me that Satan abhors the fifth and eighth days and the return of the moon from full light, or the time of approach, that is, the fourteenth day (of the moon), for the following reason (although he, being very insidious and skillful in deception, associates other pretexts with them): he probably cannot bear even to think of those times or days in which tyranny over us escaped him, when the Only Begotten shone upon us in human form and in a form similar to ours.
K: Isn’t it considered with us, Palladius, that the time of the coming of our Savior is fifth?
P. I understand what you are talking about from the Gospel parable (Matthew 20:1-6). For Christ said that he who hired laborers in the vineyard went out about the first hour, and the third, and the sixth, and the ninth, and finally the eleventh, that is, at the last time, at which He appeared and shone to us.
K. What you said was very reasonable and very correct. So what? Do we not affirm that on the fifth day after Saturday He was betrayed and, as it were, laid the foundation for the whole economy through which we are all saved, when for our sake He who became man endured the saving cross for us?
K. And he abolished death and came to life again, having plundered hell, was it not on the eighth day, that is, “on the first day of the week”? (Matthew 28:1; Mark 16:2.)
K. Likewise, the ancient law established circumcision in the flesh - as a certain prefiguration of circumcision in spirit and truth (Rom. 2:29; Col. 2:11-12) - to be performed on the eighth day (Gen. 21:4). The most excellent circumcision of old, that is, circumcision in the spirit, is the communion of the Holy Spirit and the original grace, which Christ again renewed for us when, having risen from the dead, he said: “Receive the Holy Spirit” (John 20:22). Blessed Paul also said somewhere that “Our Passover, Christ, was sacrificed for us” (1 Cor. 5:7). And the day of this saving and much-desired slaughter is the fourteenth according to the lunar course. So the law clearly foreshadowed the time of the slaughter of our Savior, which, we say, He endured for the life of the world. For on the tenth (day) of the first month, as it is said, “let them take for themselves... one lamb according to families, one lamb per family; ... and let it be kept with you until the fourteenth day of this month: then let the whole congregation of the congregation of Israel slaughter it in the evening” (Ex. 12:3-6).
Do you hear that the sacrifice taken from the tenth day was preserved by the ancients until the fourteenth, so that you understand the fifth time, in which he who became man suffered death for us, when the destruction of the moon, which was set “to rule the night,” had already begun? (Gen. 1:16.) And this matter has a mysterious meaning and, it seems, subtly hints at the reverse course of the power of the devil and his gradual descent into powerlessness and complete weakness. He has, as it were, the moon in his image: for he also rules over the night, that is, over those who are in darkness and are still asleep and do not have the light of knowledge of God; and that God-inspired Scripture usually likens a flock of erring people to the night, listen to what the Lord of all says to the Jews when Jerusalem returned to idolatry: “I have made the night like your mother: the people have become like My people, even though they have no skill” (Hos. 4:5-6). Is it not clear to you that at night he calls those who have no knowledge of the true and natural Divinity? Therefore, the enemy of all hated the times and days in which he died, but we are saved.
And whoever hates them will receive part of it and his lot, that is, ongoing punishment.
P. Thus, we will place this too in the category of truly wicked and God-hating idolatry, just like the empty fictions about the so-called Birth.
K. Know that this is exactly as the study of the case itself has shown. Moreover, one should be very wary of attachment to useless observations of the flight of birds, whisperings and spells: since some of the Hellenes fell into such frivolity that they began to think that knowledge of the circumstances relating to us is contained even in birds flying through the air. Therefore, they explore the flights to the east and west to the right and to the left, and if a crow appears somewhere, then, with their ears open, they listen attentively, as if something very true, and return with joy; and these pitiful people are not at all ashamed, assimilating to the birds the power of such an important divination. At the same time, they also invent such a solid basis, as they themselves think, that the gods give revelation through them (birds).
We do not call the fallen angels gods, through whom such good and venerable prophets and experts of the future are provided for you, like the croaking crow and the swift-winged hawk, and the dark yellow doves, according to the Hellenes, and other kinds of birds - prophets worthy of those who inspire them with the twittering intended for you. Happy and worthy of competition are you who have received such interpreters of the will of the gods! Apparently, you forgot, although you are surprised at the opinions of your poets, that they too thought this matter was funny, that they also considered it absurd and useless. For Homer says: “my friend, leave the birds alone, whether they fly to the right towards the east and the sun, or to the left, towards the dark west” (Iliad, 12:239–240).
Euripides also clearly and graphically defines the futility of observing the flight of birds. He says that Theseus was inflamed with anger at his son Hippolytus and even tried to expel him from his fatherland. And when this one said:
“Are you, without taking into account either the oath, or the faith, or the sayings of the soothsayers, expelling me from the fatherland without trial?”
“This record, which has no sign of divination, probably accuses you; to the birds flying overhead, I wish to say: farewell” (The entire quote is borrowed from Euripides: “Hippolytus the Crowned”). Let the voice of God be worthy of attention and faith superior to what is written in the record, because it is not alien to us to speak a lie, while it is characteristic of God not to sin in anything and the truth is most dear to Him. But Theseus knew without a doubt that the birds flying overhead meant absolutely nothing. So, we should not attribute knowledge of the future to demons; on the contrary, let us provide this knowledge to God as belonging to Him primarily. Fortune telling by birds will then be a deception, and faith in them will be an obvious exposure of the instability of reason. And the law itself says somewhere: “Do not cast a spell” (Lev. 19:26), knowing that this is a vile thing and most hateful to God, who rules over everything.
P. And it also seems to me that this is so.
K. And then spells and whispering, this secretive and decent activity for old women, can also be recognized as a part and type of magic. In this sense, the divine Moses explained to us the highest laws, constantly comparing these errors and putting the spell as if in brotherhood and kinship with poisoning, saying: let there not be among you “a soothsayer, a fortune-teller, a sorcerer, a sorcerer, a charmer, a conjurer of spirits, a magician and one inquiring of the dead” (Deut. 18, 10-11). And although the spell is very vile and bad, some, I don’t know why, revere it, saying that those who practice such activities, when performing spells over the sick, pronounce the name of the Lord of Hosts, and by this they try to assert that this activity is not reprehensible. With such an empty and weak consideration, they are apparently carried away into error and darkness of mind; This is what is most painful in this matter.
For with the words: Lord of hosts, we appeal to the God of all, intending to glorify Him, and we do not allow this name to be appropriated by anything else that exists, because one and only one is the Lord of hosts. They frivolously give such a supernatural and glorious name or glorification to whomever they want among the demons who amuse themselves with them, and they give to the performers of their imaginary miracles the glory befitting the only God, deceiving and being deceived and, in retribution for assistance in whatever they please, paying with the excessiveness of such terrible wickedness. For the army of demons is always God-fighting and very glory-loving. Therefore, we should not be carried away by their insidious advice, but move away from them as far as possible and not listen to crafty doctors or miracle workers, demons, who demand from us some sort of reward for the amusement they bring us with absurd speeches.
But you, if you have an illness in any part of the body and truly believe that the words: Lord of Hosts and similar names, which the Divine Scripture assigns to God by nature, will be healing for you from illness, then, praying for yourself, proclaim these words, and you will do better than they, giving glory to God, and not to unclean spirits. Let me also remind you of the Divine Scripture, which says: “If any of you is sick, let him call the elders of the Church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will heal the sick person, and the Lord will raise him up; and if he has committed sins, they will be forgiven him” (James 5:14–15).
P. So, fortune telling by birds, as well as a spell, will be placed, if you wish, along with what is condemned by the law and what is considered by God the most shameful and vile thing.
K. And very much so. I would add to this that we can insult God in other ways, that he who decides to take a false oath and utter some kind of slander or something inappropriate about the highest glory that surpasses all is guilty and responsible for wickedness against Him. The first (a false oath) exposes the offender to extreme wrath and intolerable punishment, since the sickle, as it is written, destroys the home of the one who takes a false oath and shakes it to its foundations. “The thief,” it is said, “will enter into the house of the thief, and into the house of him who swears falsely by My name, and will abide in his house, and destroy it, and his trees, and his stones” (Zechariah 5:4). And the second (blasphemy) entails death and punishment that exceeds all evil. Therefore, one must swear “not to lie,” but it is better not to swear at all; for this is what the Savior taught us. saying: “Let your word be: yes, yes; no, no; and anything beyond this is from the evil one” (Matthew 5:33, 37); because there is no need for an oath for people who are recognized as honest and have made virtue as their companion;
And if anything was said by them, it would immediately earn the trust of the listeners. Therefore, let our life enjoy a good reputation, and then, as I think, the need for an oath will completely cease. If the need ever arises, since sometimes some people despise the honor due to saints, then let God be the witness of the oath and let no other name be brought in. So some, carelessly succumbing to unbridled frivolity, indifferently use the words: I swear by heaven, or justice, I swear by Adrastia (goddess of vengeance), I swear by the light, I swear by the lamp. Adding to this other things that they please, they perhaps believe that they are acting piously when they set aside the Divine name and adorn with the glory befitting God that which is called into being by His wave. As we will see, the Israelis suffered from this kind of delusion from time to time.
Everyone knows that they erected a church to God in Jerusalem, but, thinking a lot about this and being sure that they had won praise for their piety and achieved the highest glory, they turned out to carelessly neglect what was commanded to them by the wise Moses. But that this work (building a church) does not serve them to glorify and that God is not satisfied with buildings made of stones, He teaches this, saying: “Heaven is My throne, and the earth is My footstool; where will you build a house for me, and where is my resting place? ... saith the Lord” (Is.66:1,2). God fills everything; He rests in heaven, but also extends to earth; because the Divinity is not subject to quantity, but is far from the bodily image, and from the limitation of place, and from quantitative representation.
The Jews, having heard how He once said: “Heaven is my throne, and earth is the footstool of my feet,” and having come to wrong thoughts, they made heaven a witness to the oath, calling it the Divine throne, in the same way the earth, as lying under the feet of God, as well as Jerusalem; for, they said, this is the city of God ruling over everything; meanwhile, the ancient saints used when swearing the words “as the Lord lives” (for example, Judges 8:19; Ruth. 3:13; 1 Sam. 14:45, etc.) But the Savior exposed this very unreasonable reasoning of the Jews, saying that one should not swear by “neither by heaven, because it is the throne of God; nor by the earth, because it is His footstool; nor by Jerusalem, because it is the city of the great King” ( Matthew 5:34-35). Thus, what they spoke in idle talk, the Savior proclaimed for their benefit, denouncing this completely invented and I don’t know where this piety of theirs came from. So, let this error also be removed. For when using an oath, we are taught never to mention anything else, but for the sake of lasting and reliable fidelity, use the words: “yes, yes, and no, no.”
And the law says: if what was given to someone for safekeeping perishes, and the giver demands assurance of this, then “let there be an oath of God between both” (Ex. 22:10-11). And “People swear by the highest” (Heb. 6:16), as the wise Paul told us. Reasoning correctly, we call a greater person not that which surpasses us in size or intelligence and wisdom and glory, but that which is such in essence.
P. I don’t understand what you’re saying.
K. Meanwhile, Palladium, what has been said, it seems to me, is clear and obvious. Do we not affirm that many things created, and, among other things, the heavens, are incomparably more excellent in size than human bodies?
K. Are not the Angels superior to (man) in intelligence and wisdom and subtlety of bodies?
P. Superior, but also honorable.
K: In terms of lordship and glory, of course, in relation to the body, isn’t the nature of the sun incomparably better?
K: So, there is no doubt that each of the named creatures rightly has an advantage over us in that in which it is natural for him to be superior to us. But is this really why we will begin to make them witnesses to the oath, bypassing, as unnecessary, the invocation of God?
K: So, therefore, a greater man should be called a being, superior in nature and with all its being different from created things, that is, God.
K. Therefore, for those who decide to lead a perfect life, let the words “yes” and “no” replace the use and force of an oath and let them receive the proper firmness: then trust will follow them. And if someone did not respect the words: “yes” and “no,” then when using an oath one should already turn to a being greater than us and even all creation. – What can we say now about slander (blasphemy), what does it consist of and to what misfortune does it lead to those who use it? For him, the ancient law imposed the punishment of bitter death, and Christ Himself condemned inevitable and endless suffering: for “if anyone speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him; “But if anyone speaks against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven him, either in this age or in the next” (Matthew 12:32), says Christ, calling the Spirit the higher nature of the body, that is, God, against whom he who dares to direct an unbridled tongue will reap the fruits of his intemperance in the word. For “The lips of a fool lead to strife,” as it is written, “but his impudent lips invite death” (Proverbs 18:6).
Therefore, the divine Psalmist says: “Put a guard, O Lord, on my lips, and guard the doors of my lips; do not let my heart turn aside to evil words” (Ps. 140: 3-4). These words apparently imply the most impious censure of God, the ineffable and pure nature.
P. So, without a doubt, those who try to follow the right path blamelessly and do not allow themselves to offend God must be firm.
K: I think so. For to those who approach God with a heart that is not healthy, but with an indecisive and damaged heart, which is inclined to suffer from impotence and inconstancy, the prophet says: “How long will you limp on both knees?” If to Baal, then to Baal, and if to God, then to God (1 Kings 18:21). And not to be completely sound in faith and (at the same time) not to want to remain in error, this means limping on both legs and in both cases is contrary to sincerity. The reason for such a fragile and easily changing will is, in my opinion, that some have an imaginary and not a true love for God, that they hypocritically want to be Christians, they do not do it with all their hearts, not being convinced by respect for the truth and not honoring what is right, but they approach the faith either in pursuit of their own pleasure, or wanting, as it were, to bewitch themselves from the fear of danger and the cruel pressure of adversity and to have many others who have decided labor together with them and take upon themselves their concerns.
But extreme sorrow will befall such people and their lot will be among the most outcast; they will turn out to be the least honored of all, the most despised and hardly reaching the point of being worthy of life when God begins to test what is hidden in us; such were some of the Gibeonites. They once arrived to Joshua (Joshua) and begged very much to join them with the people of God; but they resorted not without insidious intent, for a reason and not without calculations for profit - as if out of love for God, but in fact with pretense and deceit. At first they hid, but when they were caught in an unworthy act and turned out to be criminals and cunning, they were placed in the very last, becoming woodcutters and water-carriers for the entire community of Israel (Joshua 9:17-27). So, you see what pretense and reluctance to honor spiritual communion with the saints with a sound mind leads to.
And indeed, some sometimes deceive, not saying Christ the omniscient, but those who serve as His image, that is, the leaders of the nations, just as the Gibeonites, no doubt, then deceived Jesus (Joshua), who served as the image and destiny of Christ; they approach under the guise of deceit, with hidden plans and the cunning of the mind covering up with pretense; and having been exposed, because it is impossible to hide, they will barely escape, receiving the final fate befitting slaves. For deception is the fruit of an unfree disposition of spirit. We, whose goal is to think sensibly about what concerns God, and who do not care about the rest, will be committed to our Master and the God of all, from a pure heart, with right thought, with complete love, alien to the disease of double-mindedness, a love that completely distances itself from Hellenic customs and thoughts and is alienated as far as possible and decisively from what is condemned by the law. In this way we will be “perfect ... before the Lord God,” as it is written (Deut.
18:13), and are bright and glorified along with other saints in Christ, through whom and with whom be glory to the Father with the Holy Spirit forever and ever. Amen.
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