Огласительное поучение одиннадцатое

[To those preparing in Jerusalem for enlightenment, spoken without preparation, in the words: The only begotten Son of God, who was born of the Father before all ages, the true God, in whom all things were. And also to the words from the Epistle to the Hebrews: God, who spoke of old to the fathers in the prophets at many times and in various ways, has in these last days spoken to us in the Son, and so on. (Heb.1:1-2).] 1. That we have hope in Jesus Christ is as sufficiently stated as possible in the teaching given to you yesterday. But one must not simply believe in Jesus Christ and must not venerate Him on an equal basis with any of the multitude of those who are called Christs in an improper sense; they were representative Christs, and this is the true Christ, not from among men who entered into the priesthood by succession, but always having the dignity of the priesthood given from the Father. That is why faith, warning us not to seek the true Christ among the simple anointed, adds: one, declaring in the Creed that we believe in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Only Begotten Son of God. 2. Now, when you hear the Son, do not understand the Son as adopted, but natural, the Only Begotten Son, who has no other brother. He is called the only begotten because by Divine dignity and birth from the Father he has no brother, and we call Him the Son of God not on our own, but because the Father Himself called Jesus Christ the Son of God. The name that is given from the Father to the children is true. 3. Our Lord Jesus Christ became man, but was not known by many. And when, wanting to reveal the unknowable, in a meeting of disciples he asked: Who do people say that I, the Son of Man, am? (Matthew 16:13) (he asked this not out of vanity, but with the intention of showing them the truth, so that, living together with God, the Only Begotten of God, they would not think of Him as a mere man) - and when the disciples answered Him: some for Elijah, and others for Jeremiah (Matthew 16:14), - He said to them: these who do not know Me are forgiven, but to you, apostles, who in my name cleanse lepers, cast out demons, raise the dead, it is impossible not to know the One by whose power you work miracles. When everyone was silent (for this teaching was above human understanding), then Peter, the leader among the apostles and the supreme preacher in the church, not following fictions and human conclusions, but having been enlightened in mind by the Father God Himself, said to Him: You are the Christ, and not just that, but the Son of the Living God (Matthew 16:16). And these words were followed by the title blessed. Truly they were beyond human understanding and captured the truth of what the Father had revealed to them. For the Savior said: Blessed are you, Simon, son of Jonah, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven (Matthew 16:17). So, he who recognizes our Lord Jesus Christ as the Son of God has a share in bliss, but he who does not recognize Him as the Son of God is an unhappy and poor person. 4. Again, when you hear that Christ is the Son of God, do not take this in an improper sense, but believe that He is truly the Son, the natural Son, without beginning, not passed from slavery into the inheritance of adoption, but the Son pre-eternally begotten by an inexplicable and incomprehensible birth. Also, when you hear that He is the firstborn, do not think that He is so in human terms. For the firstborn of men also have other brothers, as the Scripture says: Israel is my firstborn (Ex. 4:22). But both the firstborn Reuben and Israel were deprived of primacy. For he ascended to his father’s bed, and Israel, having driven the Son of the Father out of the vineyard, crucified Him. Scripture also says to others: You are the sons of the Lord your God (Deut. 14:1); also: I said: you are gods, and you are all sons of the Most High (Ps. 81:6), I only said, and did not give birth. Through this word of God they received adoption, which they did not have. But Christ was not anything else before and became another at birth, but from the beginning was born a Son, the Son of the Father, like in everything to him who begat Him; born as life from life, light from light, truth from truth, wisdom from wisdom, King from King, God from God. 5. So, when you hear the words of the Gospel: Genealogy of Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham (Matthew 1:1), understand here birth according to the flesh. For He became the Son of David at the end of the ages, and He is the Son of God before all ages, without beginning. In the first case, He received what He did not have, but here what He has, He always has, having been born of the Father. He has two fathers: David according to the flesh and God the Father according to the Divinity. But the birth from David is subject to both research and genealogical calculation in time, and the birth according to the Divine is not subject to time, place, or genealogical calculation. For who will explain His generation (Is. 53:8); God the Spirit, as Spirit, as incorporeal, gave birth spiritually by an unsearchable and incomprehensible birth. The Son Himself speaks of the Father: The Lord said to Me: You are My Son; Today I have given birth to You (Ps. 2:7), now here is not something recent, but eternal, timeless, now - before all ages: from the womb before the morning star, Your birth was like dew (Ps. 109: 3). 6. Therefore, believe in Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God, the only begotten Son, according to the word of the Gospel: God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, so that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life (John 3:16); and in another place: He who believes in Him is not condemned... but has passed from death to life (John 3:18; 5:24), and he who does not believe in the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him (John 3:36), for he did not believe in the only begotten Son of God, of whom John testified: we have seen His glory, the glory as the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth (cf. John 1:14). The demons, trembling before Him, said: leave, what do You have to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth... Holy of God, Son of the Most High God? (cf. Luke 4:34). 7. So, He is the Son of God by nature, not by adoption, born of the Father. Everyone who loves the One who begot, loves the One who is born of Him (1 John 5:1), and whoever rejects the Begotten causes offense to the One who gives birth. When you hear about God giving birth, do not fall into carnal thoughts, do not understand perishable birth, lest you become ungodly. God is Spirit, and spiritual birth. Bodies are born from bodies, and for the birth of a body a certain continuation of time is required. On the contrary, the birth of the Son from the Father is without the mediation of time. Moreover, what is born there is born imperfect, but the Son of God was born perfect. For as He is now, such He is from the beginning, having been born without beginning. When we are born, we move from a state of infantile unreason to a state of reason. Your birth, man, is imperfect. Your growth happens gradually. But don’t think about this birth and don’t blame the One who gave birth for weakness. For if He gave birth to an imperfect one and in time the One who was already Born received perfection, then, thinking so, you accuse the One who gave birth of weakness. If the Begotten received something over time, then, of course, in your opinion, the Begotten did not give it to Him at first. 8. So, do not consider this birth to be human, do not consider it the same as Abraham gave birth to Isaac. Abraham gave birth to Isaac, but he did not give birth to the one whom he wanted to give birth to, but to whom another gave him. But when God the Father gives birth, there is no place for either ignorance or thinking. To say that He did not know Him who was born of Himself is the greatest impiety; to also say that He, after reflection in time, finally became the Father, is the same impiety. For God was not without a Son before and did not become a Father later in time, but always has a Son, having begotten Him not in the same way as people give birth to people, but in the way that He Himself alone knew, having begotten Him before all ages, having begotten the true God. 9 . The Father, the true God, begot also a Son like Himself, the true God, not as teachers beget disciples, not as Paul says to some: I have begotten you in Christ Jesus by the gospel (1 Cor. 4:15). Here the one who was not a son of Paul by nature became a son through teaching from him, and there the natural Son, the true Son, not as you, who are preparing for enlightenment, are now becoming sons of God. And you, too, are made sons of God, but by adoption through grace, as it is written: And to those who received Him, to those who believe in His name, He gave the power to become children of God, who were born neither of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of a man, but of God (John 1:12-13). Although we are born by water and the Spirit, this is not how Christ was born from the Father, who at the time of His Baptism said in a loud voice: This is My Son (Matthew 3:17). He did not say: now he has become My Son, but: This is My Son, to show that even before the action of Baptism He was the Son. 10. The Father did not give birth to the Son in the same way as the mind in a person gives birth to the word. For the mind remains unchanged in us, but the spoken word, scattering in the air, is lost. But we know that the born Christ is the Word not spoken, but the Word constantly abiding and living, not spoken by the mouth, but eternally, in an ineffable way, as a Person born of the Father. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God (John 1:1). The Word, sitting at the right hand, understanding the will of the Father and acting in everything according to His command; The Word descended and ascended, for the Word spoken orally neither descends nor ascends; The Word that speaks and says: I speak what I have seen with My Father (John 8:38); The Word is powerful and reigns over all, for the Father gave all things to the Son (John 13:3). 11. The Father gave birth to the Son, not in the way that any of the people would think, but in the way that He Himself alone knows. How He gave birth to Him, I promise to say about this, but that He gave birth to Him differently, I confirm this again. Yes, not only we alone do not know the birth of the Son from the Father, but also all created nature. Talk to the earth, and he will instruct you (Job 12:8). And if you begin to examine everything on earth, then nothing will be able to tell about it. For the earth cannot speak about the being who created and formed it. And not only the earth, but also the sun does not know this. For the sun, having been created on the fourth day, does not know what happened three days before it, and without knowing what happened three days before it, it will not be able to tell about the essence of the Creator Himself. Heaven itself will not explain this. For heaven too, by the wave of the Father through Christ, will disappear like smoke (Is. 51:6). And the heavens will not tell the heavens, and the waters that are above the heavens (Ps. 149:4) will not tell it. So, why should you be embarrassed, man, if you do not know what heaven does not know! Yes, not only the heavens do not know this birth, but also the entire angelic nature. For if anyone, if only it were possible, ascended to the first heaven and examined the state of the Angels there, approached them and asked how God gave birth to His Son, I think they would say: there are greater ones above us, ask them. Ascend now to the second and third heaven, reach, if you can, to the Thrones and Dominions, Principalities and Powers. If you even reached them, which is impossible, then they too will deny and will not tell you, because they do not know. 12. I have always been amazed at the curiosity of those daring people who, through imaginary piety, fall into wickedness. For not knowing either the Thrones, or the Dominions, or the Principalities and Powers created by Christ, they dare to be curious about their Creator. Tell me in advance, you bold one, what is the difference between Thrones and Dominions? And then be curious about Christ. Tell me what is the Beginning, Power, Strength, Angel? And then be curious about their Creator. For all things came into being through Him (John 1:3). But you do not want or cannot question Thrones and Dominions. Who else knows the depths of God (1 Cor. 2:10) except the Holy Spirit alone, who spoke the Divine Scripture? But the Holy Spirit Himself did not explain in Scripture the birth of the Son from the Father. So, why are you curious about what the Holy Spirit did not say in Scripture? Without knowing what is written, you are curious about what is not written. In the Divine Scripture there are many subjects for research, and we do not understand what is written. Why should we be curious about what is not written? It is enough for us to know that God begat only one Son. 13. Do not be ashamed to admit your ignorance, for you do not know what the Angels do not know. One who gave birth knows the one who is born, and one who is born from him knows the one who gave birth. The One who gave birth knows Whom He gave birth to, and the Holy Spirit of God testifies in Scripture that the One who is Born is God without beginning. Which man knows what is in a man except the human spirit that lives in him? Likewise, no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God (1 Cor. 2:11). Just as the Father has life in Himself, so He gave to the Son to have life in Himself (John 5:26). Let everyone honor the Son as they honor the Father (John 5:23), for just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so the Son also gives life to whomever He will (John 5:21). Neither He Who Begat has lost anything, nor He Who Begot has any defect (I know that I have told you about this many times, but I have said this many times for your own confirmation), nor He Who Begat has a Father, nor He Who Begot has a brother, nor He Who Begat has changed into a Son, nor He Who Begot has become a Father. From one Father alone was born the Only Begotten Son, neither two unbegotten, nor two only begotten. One is the unbegotten Father (the unbegotten is He who does not have a Father), and one is the Son, eternally begotten of the Father, not born in time, but born before the ages, not gradually increased, but begotten by what He now is. 14. So, we believe in the Only Begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father, the true God. For the true God does not give birth to a false one, as has already been said. Moreover, He did not give birth to Him after preliminary deliberation, but He gave birth to Him eternally, He gave birth to Him incomparably sooner than the way words and thoughts are born among us. For when we utter words in time, we use time for this, but birth, accomplished by the power of God, has no time. God, as has already been said many times, did not bring His Son from non-existence into being, did not accept into adoption a person who was not the Son; but, being the eternal Father, he eternally and ineffably begat only one Son, who has no brother. Not two beginnings, but one Beginning, the Father is the head of the Son. For the Father begat the true God, who is called Immanuel. And Emmanuel means: God is with us (Matthew 1:23). 15. And if you want to know that He who was born of the Father and then became man is God, then listen to the words of the prophet: This is our God, and no one else can compare with Him. He found all the ways of wisdom and gave it to His servant Jacob and His beloved Israel. After that He appeared on earth and spoke among people (Bar.3:36-38). Do you see that God became man after the legislation of Moses? Accept also another testimony about the Divinity of Christ, recently read: Your throne, O God, endures forever (Ps. 44:7). And lest, because of His appearance in the flesh here, anyone should think that He received the property of Godhead over time, it is clearly said: You loved righteousness... therefore, O God, Your God has anointed You with the oil of joy more than Your fellows (Heb. 1:9). Do you see that Christ God is anointed by God the Father? 16. Do you want to know the third testimony about the Divinity of Christ? Listen to the words of Isaiah: the labors of the Egyptians and the trade of the Ethiopians (Is. 45:14), and then: they will follow you, they will come in chains and throw themselves down before you, and they will beg you, saying: you have only God, and there is no other God. Truly You are the hidden God, the God of Israel, the Savior (Is. 45:14–15). Do you see that God the Son has God the Father in Himself, when he says almost the same thing that he said in the Gospel: I am in the Father and the Father in Me (John 14:10)? He did not say: I am the Father, but: I am in the Father and the Father is in Me. And in another place, he did not say: I and the Father are one; but: I and the Father are one (John 10:30), so that we do not separate One from the Other or confuse them through the Son-Fatherland. They are One in dignity of Divinity, since God gave birth to God; are One in royal power, for the Father does not reign over some, but over others the Son (like Absalom, who rebelled against his father), but over whom the Father reigns, over the same the Son reigns; they are One, since there is no disagreement or distance between them, for there is no other will of the Father, but another of the Son; they are One, since there are not other creatures of Christ and others of the Father, for the creation of all is one, the creation of the Father through the Son: for He [said, and they became,] commanded, and they were created (Ps. 149:5), says the psalmist. The one who speaks speaks to the one who hears, and the one who commands commands those who are with Him. 17. So, the Son is true God, having the Father in Himself, not changing into the Father. For it was not the Father who became man, but the Son. Let us explain the truth more freely. It was not the Father who suffered for us, but the Father who sent Him who suffered for us. Let us not say that He never existed and was not the Son; Let us also not allow the Son-Fatherland, but let us follow the royal path, not deviating either to the left or to the right. Let us not call the Son Father, thinking to honor Him with this; Let us also not honor the Son as one of any of the creatures, thinking by this to honor the Father. We must worship the one Father through the one Son and not separate worship. Let one Son be preached before the ages, sitting at the right hand of the Father, not in time, after suffering as he was perfected, having received this graying, but having it from eternity. 18. He who saw the Son saw the Father (John 14:9), for the Son is in all respects like Him who begat, being born life from life, light from light, power from power, God from God. The Divine properties in the Son are not at all different. Therefore, he who is worthy to see the Divinity of the Son enjoys the sight of Him who gave birth. These are not my words, but the words of the Only Begotten Son: I have been with you so long, and you do not know Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father (John 14:9). In short, we should neither separate them nor mix them up. Do not say that the Son was ever alienated from the Father, and do not listen to those who say about the Father that He is at one time the Father and at another the Son. Such a teaching is an alien, ungodly teaching and is not the teaching of the Church. The Father who begat the Son remained the Father and did not change. He gave birth to wisdom, but He Himself was not left without wisdom; gave birth to strength, but did not become weak; gave birth to God, but He Himself did not lose the Divinity and did not lose anything, did not diminish, did not change, and likewise the Begotten One does not have any shortcoming. The One who gave Birth is perfect, the Begotten is perfect. God who gave birth, God and the Begotten. He is the God of all, however, He considers the Father to be His God. For I was not ashamed to say: I ascend to My Father and your Father, and My God and your God (John 20:17). 19. But lest you think that He is in one sense the Father of the Son and of creatures, Christ made a division here. He did not say: I ascend to our Father, so that there should be no communion between creatures and the Only Begotten, but he said: to My Father and your Father; another - to My Father by nature; other - yours, by adoption; and again: to My God and your God; another is Mine, since I am the true and Only Begotten Son; something else is yours, since you are creatures. So, the Son of God is the true God, ineffably begotten before the ages. I tell you the same thing over and over again to impress it on your mind. Believe that God has a Son, but don’t be curious about how He has a Son. For you cannot comprehend this through research. Do not rise too high, lest you fall. What is commanded to you, meditate on it (Sir.3:22). Tell me first who is the One who gave birth, and then find out what He gave birth to. If you cannot imagine the nature of the One who gave birth, then do not be curious about the properties of the One who was born. 20. For piety it is enough for you to know, as I said, that God has only one Son, one naturally begotten, who did not begin to exist when he was born in Bethlehem, but before all ages. Listen to the words of Micah the prophet: and you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, are you small among the thousands of Judah? from you will come to me one who is to be ruler in Israel and whose origin was from the beginning, from the days of eternity (Mic. 5:2). Do not look at Him as now born in Bethlehem, but worship Him as one born before eternity from the Father. Do not listen if anyone says that the beginning of the Son is temporary, but know that His beginning is timeless - the Father. The beginning of the Son is timeless, incomprehensible, the beginningless Father, the Source of the river of righteousness, the Father of the Only Begotten, who begat Him as He Himself alone knew. If you want to know that our Lord Jesus Christ is the eternal King, listen again to His own words: Abraham your father rejoiced to see My day; and he saw and rejoiced (John 8:56). Then, when the Jews received these words with grief, He, to their great chagrin, said: before Abraham was, I am (John 8:58). In another place, turning to the Father, He says: And now glorify Me, O Father, with You, with the glory that I had with You before the world was (John 17:5). He clearly said that “before the world was, I had glory with You.” Also, when he says: because you loved Me before the foundation of the world (John 17:24), he clearly says: “I have eternal glory with You.” 21. So, we believe in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Only Begotten Son of God, born of the Father, true God before all ages; By Him all things were created... whether thrones, dominions, principalities, or powers ( Col. 1:16 ); everything came into being through Him (John 1:3), and there is nothing created that was taken from His power. Let all heresy that introduces different creators and peacemakers be silenced. Let the tongue that blasphemes Christ, the Son of God, be silenced. Let those who say that the sun is Christ be silent, for He is the Creator of the sun, and not the visible sun. Let those remain silent who, wishing to admire the dignity of the Only Begotten, say that the world is the creation of Angels. For everything... visible and invisible: whether thrones or dominions (Col. 1:16), or whatever it is called, was all Christ. He reigns over everything created by Him, He reigns, not by snatching other people’s acquisitions, but He reigns over His own creations, as the Evangelist John said: All things came into being through Him, and without Him nothing began to be (John 1:3). All things were created by Him, just as the Father created through the Son. 22. I would like to give you an example of what has been said, but I know that it will be weak. For what of visible things can serve as an example for explaining the Divine and invisible power? However, from the weak, for the weak, let me tell you a weak example. As if some king, having a king’s son, wanting to build a city, entrusted his son with the construction of the city to his co-king, and he, having received the plan, brought to an end what was outlined in his mind; so, when the Father wanted to create everything, the Son, at the behest of the Father, arranged everything, so that by this wave the power of the Father is completely preserved, and the Son together has power over His own creatures, and just as the Father is not removed from dominion over His creatures, so the Son reigns over creatures not created by anyone else, but by Himself. For it was not the Angels, as I said, who created the world, but the Only Begotten Son, begotten before all ages, as it is said: All things were created by Him, not excluding one of His creatures. And this that I have said by the grace of Christ is enough for now. 23. Turning again to the Creed, let us now finish our word. Christ created everything - Angels, Archangels, Dominions, and Thrones - not because the Father could not Himself create creatures, but because He wanted the Son to reign over what He created, Himself showing Him the example of creation. For the Only Begotten, giving honor to His Father, says: The Son can do nothing of Himself, unless He sees the Father doing: for whatever He does, that the Son also does (John 5:19), also: My Father works hitherto, and I work (John 5:17), so that there is nothing contrary in the works done. And all that is mine is yours, and yours is mine (John 17:10), says the Lord in the Gospel, which can be seen most clearly from the Old and New Testaments. For the One who said: Let us make man in Our image and likeness (Gen. 1:26), without a doubt, was arguing with anyone who was with Him. But the psalmist said much more clearly: He [said, and they became,] commanded, and they were created (Ps. 149:5). The Father commanded and spoke, and the Son, at His behest, did everything. What Job also said mysteriously: He alone spreads out the heavens and walks on the heights of the sea (Job. 9:8), showing through this to those who understand that He who walked on the sea during His sojourn on earth was before that the Creator of heaven. And in another place the Lord says: Or did You, O earth, create the living creatures from the earth, and planted these creatures on the earth? ( Job 38:14 ); then: Have the gates of death opened for you, and have you seen the enemy of the shadow of death? (Job.38:17), showing by this that the same One who descended into hell out of love for mankind, in the beginning created man from clay. 24. So, Christ is the Only Begotten Son of God and the Creator of the world. He was in the world, and the world came into being through Him (John 1:10); and: He came to His own (John 1:11), as the Gospel teaches us. Christ is not only the visible, but also the invisible, the Creator, by the wave of the Father. By Him was created everything that is in heaven and that is on earth, visible and invisible: whether thrones, dominions, principalities, or powers - all things were created by Him and for Him; and He is before all things, and in Him all things consist ( Col. 1:16–17 ). If you were to talk about the centuries themselves, then the Creator of those too, by the will of the Father, is Jesus Christ. For in these last days he spoke to us through the Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom also he made the worlds (Heb. 1:2). May there be glory, honor, power to Him, with the Father and the Holy Spirit, now and always and unto ages of ages. Amen. You might be interested in: