Featured Creations

Contents Dogmatic works Homily 27. Against the Eunomians and on theology, the first, or preliminary Homo 28. On theology, the second Homo 29. On theology, third, on God the Son, the first Homo 30. On theology, fourth, on God the Son, the second Homo 31. On theology, fifth, on the Holy Spirit Homo 38. On the Epiphany, or on the Nativity of the Savior Homo 44. On New Week, for spring and in memory of the martyr Mamant Word 45. For Holy Pascha Word 16. In memory of the holy Maccabean martyrs Words of an autobiographical, historical and moral-practical nature Word 14. About love for the poor Word 37. On the Gospel words: When Jesus finished these words... (Matthew 19: 1-12) Word 36. About himself and to those who said that the saint Gregory desires the throne of Constantinople Word 21. Praise to Athanasius the Great, Archbishop of Alexandria Poems Life Song of exhortation About the soul Thoughts written in quatrains With the blessing of His Holiness Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus' Alexy The reader is presented with selected works of St. Gregory the Theologian (c. 329–389), who was among the greatest theologians of the 4th century, the so-called Great Cappadocians. The theological works of Saint Gregory to this day stand at the center of the theological thought of the Orthodox Church. The collection contains essays designed to reflect various aspects of the saint's literary talent: words on great church holidays, about theology, about himself, and some of his poetic works. In preparing this collection, minor corrections were made to certain parts of the translation, after checking them with the Greek text. The great father and teacher of the Church, Saint Gregory the Theologian, was born around 329 in Cappadocia, near the city of Nazianza. The father of the future saint, also named Gregory, came from a Christian family, but in adulthood he joined the sect of “illuminated theists” who worshiped God in the form of light and fire. The teachings of this sect were a mixture of Jewish and Persian beliefs. The wife of Gregory the Elder, Saint Nonna, was a zealous Christian. She convinced her husband to leave his delusion and enter the bosom of the Holy Church. Under the influence of his wife, the father of the future saint left the sect and was baptized in 325. He first became a presbyter and later a bishop of the city of Nazianza. Saint Gregory the Theologian was the first-born of his parents. He was born after many years of their childless life. Saint Nonna put all her strength into giving Gregory a truly Christian upbringing. His father strove to give him the best theological education possible. The future saint began his studies in his native Nazianza, then continued it in the schools of Caesarea Cappadocia, Caesarea Palestine, Alexandria, and finally completed his education in Athens. Gregory lived in the ancient capital of Greek learning for about 10 years. During this time, he thoroughly studied ancient literature and philosophy, and perfectly mastered the art of oratory. While still in Caesarea in Cappadocia, Gregory met another luminary of the Church - Saint Basil the Great. Their friendship strengthened while studying together in Athens and lasted throughout their lives. Having completed his studies, Saint Gregory returned to his native Nazians around 357, hoping to spend a solitary life here in contemplation. However, his outstanding talents could not go unnoticed. The inhabitants of Nazianz persistently invited him to become a presbyter. Despite the fact that Gregory refused, in 359, on one of the major holidays, probably the Nativity of Christ, his father, against his will, ordained him to the priesthood. Confused by this, Gregory fled from Nazianza to Pontus, to the monastery of his friend Basil. Only at the insistent request of his father did he return to his place of service. At that time the Church was troubled by the Arian heresy. And the father of Saint Gregory, who had no theological education, together with the majority of the bishops, signed the definitions of faith of the Arian Council of 360. This caused serious unrest in Nazianza. Returning from his solitude, Gregory managed to confirm his father in orthodoxy and reconcile him with his flock. From that time on, Gregory became his father's closest assistant in church administration and in economic affairs. Meanwhile, Saint Basil was forced to leave his hermit life. He went to Caesarea in Cappadocia, where he was ordained a presbyter and became an assistant to the Bishop of Caesarea, Eusebius Pamphilus, who, although inclined towards Arianism, did not directly deviate from Orthodoxy. After the death of Eusebius in 370, Saint Basil was elected to the See of Caesarea and consecrated by the Council of Orthodox Bishops. The father of Gregory the Theologian also took an active part in his election. Having become a bishop, Vasily considered his main task to establish Orthodoxy in Cappadocia. His main opponent was Bishop Anthimus of Tyana, who sought to seize as many cities and villages as possible from the Caesarea diocese in order to establish Arianism in them. In this situation, Saint Basil decided to establish a new episcopal see in the small city of Sasima, located on the border between the Caesarea and Tyana dioceses. Wanting to place here an experienced and firm person in Orthodoxy, Vasily began to invite his friend Gregory to serve in Sashima. The latter stubbornly refused. Then Saint Basil went to Nazianza and here, together with the elderly father of Saint Gregory, he convinced his friend to accept the episcopal rank. So Saint Gregory became a bishop. When Anthimus of Tian learned about the installation of an independent bishop in Sasima, he decided not to allow Saint Gregory to the place of his episcopal service. For this purpose, Anfim brought an army to Sasima. Having learned about this, Saint Gregory did not go to Sashima, but withdrew into the desert, wanting to live in silence. This time he was forced to leave solitude by the old age and infirmity of his parents. Returning to his elderly father in Nazians, Gregory again began to help him in matters of church administration. At the turn of 373–374, the father of Saint Gregory departed to the Lord. Soon after this, his mother, Saint Nonna, also died. Remaining the temporary deputy of his deceased father, Gregory invited bishops to Nazianza to elect a new bishop to the dowager see. He himself left his hometown and retired to Seleucia to the monastery of St. Thekla. Here the saint spent several years in prayerful solitude - from the end of 375 to the beginning of 379. In the 70s of the 4th century, the Christian world remained divided into two parts - Orthodox and Arian. The first included the regions: Egypt, Palestine, Macedonia, Achaia, Dacia; to the second - Syria, Thrace, Asia, Pontus. Constantinople was also engulfed in the Arian heresy. With the conviction of Saint Basil the Great, the Council of Orthodox Bishops decided to send Saint Gregory to Constantinople to fight the heretics. However, even before Gregory left his solitude, Saint Basil died (in 379). Having honored his friend with a funeral oration, Saint Gregory set off for Constantinople. From this time on, Saint Gregory became the main defender of Orthodoxy in the East. In the spring of 379, when he arrived in Constantinople, all the churches here were in the hands of heretics. Saint Gregory settled in the house of his relatives. One of the halls of this house was turned into a church in the name of the Resurrection (in Greek - Anastasia). In this dedication of the church, the saint expressed his desire to see the resurrection of the true faith in the capital of the Eastern Empire. It was in this small church that Saint Gregory began his ministry. His preaching attracted more and more people to the side of Orthodoxy every day. For his services, Saint Gregory already received the name “Theologian” from the Church. However, it was not only glory that the saint gained in the capital of the Eastern Empire. Here he had to endure many sorrows. In Constantinople, a certain Maximus, a former Greek philosopher who belonged to the Cynic school, became close to him. Appearing to Gregory, he renounced Hellenic wickedness and accepted holy baptism. The saint sheltered Maxim in his house, classifying him as a member of the church clergy. But Maxim decided to take the throne of Constantinople himself. Having obtained a large sum of money by deception, he sent it to Patriarch Peter of Alexandria with a request to send bishops to install him (Maximus) in the See of Constantinople. This request was fulfilled. Several Egyptian bishops arrived in Constantinople and secretly installed Maximus as bishop at night. But the people were outraged by this lawlessness and did not accept the self-proclaimed bishop. Then Maxim went to the Emperor Theodosius the Great, who was with his troops in Thessalonica, seeking from him confirmation of his authority. But the emperor drove Maxim away with threats. After this, Maxim went to Alexandria, where he tried to overthrow Patriarch Peter from the throne, but he failed to carry out this intention. As a result, Maxim was expelled from Alexandria in disgrace. On November 24, 380, Emperor Theodosius entered Constantinople and issued a decree by which the Orthodox faith was made the faith of the entire empire. All the capital's churches that were in the hands of the Arians were transferred to the Orthodox. The Arian bishop Demophilus was forced to renounce the see of Constantinople, and the capital throne, at the request of the emperor and the demand of the people, was transferred to Saint Gregory. In May 381, by the will of Emperor Theodosius, the Second Ecumenical Council was convened in Constantinople. One hundred and fifty bishops arrived at the Council. They elected Saint Meletius of Antioch as their chairman. The Fathers of the Council confirmed the legality of the appointment of Saint Gregory to the Patriarchal throne of Constantinople. During the work of the Council, Saint Meletios fell ill and departed to the Lord. Then Saint Gregory was elected chairman of the Council. After this, the Egyptian and Macedonian bishops, who arrived in the capital after the start of the conciliar meetings, began to challenge Gregory’s right to occupy the capital’s throne. Not wanting to be a cause of discord, the saint first left the Council, and then renounced the see of Constantinople. In June 381 he retired to his native Nazians. Here he learned that the diocese, which his father ruled, was in the hands of the Apollinarians. The desire to suppress heresy forced Saint Gregory to take upon himself the burden of church government. The saint ruled the diocese until 383, when, on his instructions, Eulalis was elected bishop of Nazianza. After this, Saint Gregory retired from church administration, devoting the rest of his life to complete solitude and literary works. The saint died in 389. He bequeathed all his property to the Nazianza diocese to help the poor. Saint Gregory was buried in Nazianza. During his lifetime, the saint himself composed several epitaphs for his tomb. Here is one of them: firstly, God gave me to the praying bright mother; secondly, he accepted it from his mother as a gift pleasing to Him; thirdly, he saved me while I was dying with the Most Pure Table; fourthly, the Word gave me a double-edged word; fifthly, Virginity greeted me in friendly dreams; sixthly, I made unanimous sacrifices with Vasily; seventhly, the Giver of Life snatched me from the depths of the abyss; eighth, He cleansed my hands with diseases; ninthly, I returned, O King, to the youngest Rome the Trinity; tenthly, was, struck with stones or friends. In 950, during the reign of Emperor Constantine the Porphyrogenitus, the venerable relics of Saint Gregory were transferred from Nazianza to Constantinople. Here the relics were divided. One part of them rested in the Church of St. Anastasia, the other was in the Church of the Holy Apostles near the relics of St. John Chrysostom. During the era of the Crusades, the relics of St. Gregory were transferred to Rome, but part of them still remained in Constantinople; in 1654, the venerable head of the saint, together with the Blachernae Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos, was transferred from Constantinople as a gift to the Moscow Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich. Part of the relics of St. Gregory, which ended up in Rome, rested in the convent of St. Mary on the Campus Martius. Pope Gregory XIII (1572–1585), completing the construction of the Vatican's Basilica of St. Peter, asked the nuns of this monastery to transfer the relics of St. Gregory to the new papal cathedral. On June 11, 1580, the relics were solemnly transferred to St. Peter's Basilica. Here they were placed in a copper ark and sealed with the personal seals of Pope Gregory XIII. The Ark was placed in a wooden box, covered with precious fabric, and placed under the altar of the Gregorian Chapel of the Vatican Council, where it is kept to this day. On August 19, 2004, the ark containing the relics of St. Gregory was opened for the first time since 1580. A significant part of the relics was separated and on November 27, 2004 donated to Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople. The Orthodox Church celebrates the memory of St. Gregory on January 25 and January 30 (in the Cathedral of the Three Hierarchs). Saint Gregory the Theologian left behind a very significant creative legacy, which is usually divided into three groups: words, letters and poems. A total of 45 words spoken by Saint Gregory have been preserved. They can be divided into dogmatic, festive, laudatory, funerary, protective and accusatory. From the dogmatic point of view, five words about theology have the greatest significance, in which the Orthodox teaching about the Holy Trinity is revealed. Words for the holidays - Christmas, Epiphany, Easter, Pentecost and others - represent an example of deep understanding of the essence of the main Christian holidays. The paramount importance of the works of St. Gregory is evidenced by the fact that the canons for Christmas, Epiphany, Easter and Pentecost, written by St. John of Damascus and to this day performed in our churches, are largely quotations from the festive words of St. Gregory. And the church charter prescribes reading his words in churches on the days of the corresponding holidays. The words of praise, funeral, accusatory and defensive contain a lot of valuable historical information about the contemporaries of Saint Gregory - his father and mother, Saints Basil the Great, Athanasius of Alexandria, Gregory of Nyssa. There is a lot of autobiographical material in these words. And the accusatory words against Julian the Apostate also provide us with information about church life during the reign of this emperor. From the epistolary heritage of St. Gregory, 249 letters have reached us. Most of them relate to the last years of the saint’s life. Some letters have important dogmatic significance. These are the letters to Presbyter Kledonius and Patriarch Nektarios, containing criticism of the teachings of Apollinaris (the letters of Gregory the Theologian were published by the Sretensky Monastery publishing house in the series “Letters on Spiritual Life” in 2005). A very significant part of St. Gregory's heritage consists of poems and verses. About four hundred of them have survived. The poetic works of the saint are usually divided into three groups: dogmatic, moral and historical. The last group contains a lot of interesting autobiographical material. The collection of works of St. Gregory offered to the attention of readers is intended to reflect various aspects of his literary talent. From dogmatic writings, here are five words about theology, for which the saint received the title of Theologian. Among the words for the holidays - words for the Nativity of Christ, Easter, New Sunday, as well as a word in memory of the holy martyrs of the Maccabees. The last work is a sample sermon for the days of remembrance of saints. From works of an autobiographical nature, the collection includes the word “About himself and to those who said that Gregory desires the throne of Constantinople.” This short essay is clear evidence of how the saint himself viewed his episcopal ministry. In the eulogy in honor of St. Athanasius of Alexandria, the reader will find a historical portrait of one of the greatest fathers and teachers of the Church, who was a contemporary of St. Gregory. This work also contains interesting information about church life in the 4th century. The word “On Love for the Poor” is a profound exposition of the doctrine of Christian charity, and in the conversation on the words “When Jesus finished these words” (Matthew 19:1) the Christian doctrine of marriage is set forth. The last essay is also interesting from the point of view of form. Unlike most of St. Gregory's sermons, it is a discourse (homily) devoted to the interpretation of the Gospel passage verse by verse. All texts of the words of St. Gregory are presented in a translation made at the Moscow Theological Academy in the 40s of the 19th century and published in the series “Works of the Holy Fathers in Russian Translation” (TSO) in the period from 1843 to 1848. The translation was carried out by the editorial committee, in which, in the words of I. Korsunsky, “the largest share of participation” was taken by Professor Archpriest Pyotr Delitsyn. The translations were submitted for approval to St. Philaret (Drozdov), Metropolitan of Moscow, and only after his approval were sent to print. This translation has become a classic and has therefore been reprinted several times. A reprint of it was published at the end of the 20th century (in two volumes, Trinity Lavra of St. Sergius, 1994). However, due to the fact that this translation was made more than a century and a half ago, it contains many passages that are difficult for the modern reader to understand. Therefore, in preparing this collection, minor corrections were made to some places in the translation after checking them with the Greek text. In the Russian translation of the works of St. Gregory, published in TSO, all quotations from the Holy Scriptures were given from the Slavic Bible. In this edition, all quotations from the New Testament are given according to the Russian Synodal translation. Quotations from the Old Testament, if their meaning coincides in the Russian and Slavic Bibles, are also given according to the Synodal translation. In cases where the Slavic and Russian texts differ significantly from each other, either the Slavic text was preserved, or after checking it with the Greek original, a Russian translation was performed. So in those cases when the reader does not find an exact correspondence to the given biblical quotation in the Synodal Russian translation, he should turn to the Slavic Bible. It should also be noted that in the Words of St. Gregory, biblical texts are sometimes given not verbatim, but with some peculiarities (words may be in a different case, a different number, there may be inserted words, etc.) This may also be the reason for the difference between the quote in the text of this edition and the original biblical text. A special feature of the collection is the section containing selected poems by St. Gregory the Theologian. The fact is that, although the poetic heritage of the saint was fully translated into Russian in the century before last, these translations were prosaic. Poetic translations of his poems remain rare to this day. We present to our readers poetic translations of two poems made in the 19th century, as well as several new translations made at the beginning of the 21st century. We hope that they will help the reader to more adequately imagine the greatness of St. Gregory’s poetic talent. At the end of this short preface, I would like to place the prayer with which Saint Cyril, Equal to the Apostles, addressed St. Gregory the Theologian when he began to study the works of the great universal teacher: “O Saint of God, Gregory the Theologian! You were a man in body, but an Angel appeared in life, for your lips, like the lips of the Seraphim, glorified God with praises and enlightened the universe with your Orthodox teaching. I pray you, accept me, who comes to you with faith and love, and be my teacher and enlightener.” Homily 27. Against the Eunomians 1 and the first or preliminary theology A word to those who are cunning in words and I will begin from Scripture: behold, you are proud (Jer. 50:31), that is, on learning and thought! For there are, indeed, there are people whose ears, and tongue, and even, as I see, their hands itch at our speeches, who delight in worthless idle talk and the contradictions of false knowledge and debates of words that lead to nothing useful (1 Tim. 6:4-20). For Paul, the preacher and introducer of the shortened word (Rom. 9:28), teacher and disciple of fishermen, so calls everything superfluous and refined in the word. It would be good if those we are talking about were also somewhat skilled in active philosophy, just as their tongue is resourceful and capable of finding noble and choice words. Then, little and probably less than now, they would go into absurd and strange wisdom and play with words (about a funny thing, and I’ll put it funny) like checkers. But leaving all the paths of piety, they have one thing in mind - to ask or solve some question and are like spectacular fighters, representing not the fight that leads to victory according to the laws of warfare, but the one that attracts the eyes of those who do not know the matter and receives their approval. And it is necessary that every square be resounding with their speeches, so that at every feast they become bored with idle talk and tastelessness, so that every holiday becomes unfestive and full of despondency, and with every lament they seek consolation in a greater evil - in the proposal of questions, so that in every woman's chamber - this refuge of innocence - the calm is disturbed and the color of modesty is stolen by haste in words! And if it has already come to this, if evil has become uncontrollable and unbearable, there is even a danger that our great sacrament 2 will be turned into a low craft, then let these spies show so much patience so that when our fatherly heart becomes agitated and our feelings are tormented, as the divine Jeremiah says (Jer. 4:19), they will accept this word about them without bitterness and, at least a few, if only they can, holding their tongues, incline your ears to us. And without a doubt, you will not suffer any damage. Or I will speak into the ears of those who hear, and then the word will bear some fruit, precisely that which you use the word, because although he who sows the word sows in the heart of everyone, yet only one good and fruitful heart bears fruit. Or leave me, laughing at this word, finding in it a new subject for objections and slander against me, which will give you even greater pleasure. Don’t be surprised if I say a word and it is not according to your law and is strange for you, who too bravely and courageously (I’m afraid to offend by saying: ignorant and impudent) claim about themselves that they know everything and are able to teach everything. Not everyone can philosophize about God—yes! not everyone. This is not acquired cheaply and not by crawling on the ground! I’ll add one more thing: you can’t always philosophize, not in front of everyone and not touching on everything, but you must know: when, in front of whom and how much. Not everyone can philosophize about God, because [only] people who have tested themselves are capable of this, who have spent their lives in contemplation, and first of all have purified, [or] at least purified, both soul and body. For the unclean, it may be unsafe to touch the pure, as for weak eyesight it is unsafe to touch a ray of sunshine. When is it possible? When we are free from external mud 3 and rebellion, when what is sovereign in us (mind - translator's note) does not merge with worthless and wandering images, like the beauty of writing mixed with bad writing, or like the incense of the world mixed with dirt. For we really need to stop to know God (Ps. 45:11), and when we choose the time, judge the correctness of theology (Ps. 75:3). In front of whom is it possible? To those who deal with this carefully, and not along with other things, they talk about it with pleasure and after horse races, shows and songs, after satisfying the belly and what is worse than the belly, for for the latter it is part of the fun to argue about such subjects and distinguish themselves by the subtlety of their objections. What should one philosophize about and to what extent? About what is available to us and to the extent to which the state and ability of understanding extend in the listener. Otherwise, just as sounds or foods that exceed the limit harm some the hearing, others the body, or, if you like, how heavy loads are beyond the strength of those who lift them, and heavy rains are harmful to the earth; so the listeners will lose their former strength if, I say, they are burdened and suppressed with the burden of difficult teachings. And I’m not saying that we shouldn’t always remember God (let people not attack us for this, ready and quick). Remembering God is more necessary than breathing; and, so to speak, one should not do anything else besides this. And I am one of those who approve of the word, which commands us to study day and night (Ps. 1:2), to speak in the evening and in the morning and at noon (Ps. 54:18), and to bless the Lord at all times (Ps. 34:2). And if it is necessary to add what Moses said, then when lying down, and when getting up, and when walking the road (Deut. 6:7), and when doing other things, one must remember God and with this memory raise oneself to purity. Thus, I forbid not remembering God, but to constantly theologize, I even forbid not to theologize, as if it were not a pious act, but timelessness, and not teaching doctrine, but not observing the measure. Honey, despite the fact that it is honey, if taken in excess and to the point of satiety, produces vomiting. And the time of every thing, as I reason with Solomon (Eccl. 3:1). Even the beautiful is not beautiful if it is produced out of order, as, for example, flowers in winter are completely indecent, a man’s outfit on a woman and a woman’s on a man, geometry during crying and tears at a feast. Are we really going to value time at nothing only where it is most necessary to respect timing? No, friends and brothers (I still call you brothers, although you are not behaving like brothers)! Let us not reason like this; we will not run further than the goal, like hot and uncontrollable horses, throwing off the rider - reason and rejecting the good rein - reverence, but we will begin to philosophize without going beyond the limits assigned to a Christian, we will not move to Egypt, we will not allow ourselves to be drawn to the Assyrians, we will not sing the song of the Lord in a foreign land (Ps. 137:4), i.e. so that everyone can hear, both strangers and ours, and enemy and friend, both well-intentioned and malicious, who watches us too carefully and would like every spark of evil in us to turn into a flame, he himself secretly kindles it, fans it, lifts it with his breath to the sky, above the Babylonian flame that burns everything around it. Since they do not find reinforcement for themselves in their own teachings, they look for it in what is weak among us. And therefore, like flies on wounds, they attack our (what should we call it?) failures or mistakes. But let us no longer remain ignorant of ourselves and disrespect decency in such matters. On the contrary, if it is impossible to eradicate hostility, at least let us agree to speak mysteriously about the mysterious and sacredly about the holy. We will not expose to those who have defiled ears what we should not divulge to everyone. Let us not allow that, in comparison with us, those who worship demons, the servants of shameful fables and things, turn out to be worthy of greater respect, because they too would rather shed their blood than reveal their teaching to the uninitiated. Let us know that there is a certain decency in clothing, food, laughter and gait, as well as in speech and silence; especially since we, in addition to other names and powers, honor the Word in God. Let the competitions themselves be subject to laws. About the birth of God, about creation, about God from non-existent 4, about cutting, dividing and resolving, why listen to someone who listens to it with hostility? Why do we make accusers judges? Are we giving the sword into the hands of our enemies? How and with what concepts do you think the one who approves of adultery and child molestation, who worships the passions and cannot imagine anything higher than the physical, who yesterday and during the day created gods for himself, gods distinguished by the most shameful deeds, will accept the word about this? Is it not with the concepts (to which he is accustomed) rude, shameful, ignorant? And your theology will not make him a champion of his own gods and passions? If we ourselves use such sayings for evil, then it is even more difficult to convince our opponents to be wise as we should be. If we ourselves are inventive for evil (Rom. 1:30), then how can they not touch what is really in us? These are the consequences of our internecine warfare! This is the benefit of those who strive for the word more than is pleasing to the Word, and from those who suffer the same fate as those devoid of intelligence, who set fire to their own house, or torment children, or drive away their parents, considering them strangers! But having separated from the foreign word and sent a numerous legion into the herd of pigs, going into the depths, let us turn to ourselves (which is the second subject of our word) and, like a statue, we will carve the theologian in all his beauty. First of all, let’s think about what this zeal for the word and this disease of the tongue mean? What is this new disease? What kind of gluttony? Why, having tied our hands, have we armed our tongues? We praise neither hospitable love, nor brotherly love, nor conjugal love, nor chastity; We are not surprised at the feeding of the poor, nor at the singing of psalms, nor at the all-night vigil, nor at the tears; We do not exhaust our bodies with fasting, we do not move towards God with prayer, we do not subordinate (as those who correctly reason about their structure) the worse to the better, that is, the flesh to the spirit; We do not turn life into thoughts of death; Remembering the nobleness of the mountains, we do not retain dominion over the passions; We do not tame within ourselves neither the rage that makes us arrogant and brutal, nor the humiliating arrogance, nor reckless grief, nor unbridled voluptuousness, nor lascivious laughter, nor the insolent gaze, nor the insatiable hearing, nor immoderate talkativeness, nor the wrong way of thinking, nor everything that the evil one takes from us, who, as the Scripture says, brings death through us. [our] windows (Jer. 9:21), that is, through the senses. With us it's the other way around. Just as kings grant mercy after a victory, so we give freedom to the passions of others, if only they indulge us and rush against God more impudently or wickedly, and for unkindness we repay with a bad reward, for wickedness with self-will. But I will ask you little, co-questioner and prophetic man, but you answer Me, says He Who spoke through the storm and clouds to Job (Job.38:1-3). What do you hear, does God have many mansions or one? – Without a doubt, you agree that there are many, and not one? Should they all be filled? Or will some be filled and others not, but remain empty and cooked in vain? – Of course everything, because with God nothing is in vain. - But can you say what you understand by such a monastery: is there peace and glory prepared for the blessed there, or something else? - Not something else, but this. But having agreed on this, let us consider the following. Is there anything, as I believe, that would provide us with these abodes; or is there nothing like that? - There is definitely something. What is it? – There are different kinds of life and elections and they lead to one or another monastery according to the measure of faith, which is why we call them paths. – And should it go along all the paths or some of them? – If possible, let one go with all of them. And if not, then as many ways as possible. If even that is not possible, then by some. But if this is also impossible, then it will be respected, as it seems to me at least, when someone goes alone first. You understand this correctly. Therefore, what do you think the word means when you hear that there is only one path, and that it is narrow? There is one path regarding virtue, because it is one, although it is divided into many types. It is narrow because of labor and because it is impassable for many, namely for a great number of opponents, for all who follow the path of vice. That's what I think. - But if this is true, then why, best of all, as if having convicted our teaching of some kind of poverty, have you abandoned all other paths, and strive and hasten on this one path, on the path, as it seems to you, of reason and speculation, and as I say - idle talk and dreaminess? Let Paul enlighten you, who, after enumerating the gifts, strongly reproaches you for this, saying: Are all apostles? Are all prophets? And so on (1 Cor. 12:29). Let us suppose that you are tall, higher than the highest, and, if you like, higher than the clouds; Let us suppose that you are a spectator of the invisible, a listener of the ineffable, raptured like Elijah, worthy of theophany like Moses, heavenly like Paul. Why then do you make others, no more than in one day, saints, make them theologians and, as it were, breathe learning into them and make up many a host of unlearned scribes? Why do you entangle in a web those who are most weak, as if this were a wise and great thing? Why do you stir up hornets against faith? Why do you create rivals against us, just like ancient mythology created giants? Why, how many frivolous men are there among those unworthy of the name of husband, having gathered them all like rubbish into one pit and made them even more effeminate with your flattery, have you built a new workshop and, not without reason, are you benefiting from their folly? Do you object to this too? Don't you have anything else to do? Should your tongue necessarily dominate? You cannot stop the diseases of birth and not give birth with a word? But there are many other abundant items for you. Turn this disease to their advantage. Smite the Pythagorean silence, the Orpheus beans and this inflated saying of modern times: “I said it myself!” . Amaze Plato's ideas, the migrations and cycles of our souls, the recollection and not at all beautiful love for the soul for the sake of a beautiful body; strike at Epicurus' atheism, its atoms and pleasure alien to philosophy; strike at Aristotle’s little-encompassing providence, the independence of things consisting only in artificiality, mortal judgments about the soul and the human view of the highest teachings; strike at the arrogance of the Stoics, the gluttony and buffoonery of the Cynics. Smite the emptiness and fullness, and those nonsense that are about gods or sacrifices, about idols and demons, beneficial and maleficent, which are divulged about places of divination, about the evocation of gods and souls, about the power of the stars. And if you do not deign to say a word about this, since it is unimportant and has been repeatedly refuted, you want to take up your subject and in it you are looking for food for curiosity, then here too I will show you broad paths. Speculate about the world or worlds, about matter, about the soul, about rational - good and evil natures, about the resurrection, judgment, retribution, Christ's suffering. Regarding this, it is not useless to succeed in your research, and it is not dangerous not to succeed. Now we will talk a little about God, but soon, perhaps more completely, about Christ Himself, our Lord, to whom be glory forever. Amen. Homily 28. Second theology In the previous word, we cleared up the concept of a theologian, explaining what he should be like, before whom, when and how much to philosophize. Namely, he should be as pure as possible, so that the light is acceptable as light, to philosophize before zealous people, so that the word, falling on barren ground, does not remain fruitless - to philosophize when there is silence within us and are not spinning around external objects, so that our breathing does not stop, like those who are sobbing - moreover, to philosophize as much as we ourselves comprehend and can be comprehended. After such explanations of this, when we plowed up new fields of God for ourselves, so as not to sow among the thorns (Jer. 4:3), and leveled the face of the earth, having formed ourselves and formed others according to the model of Scripture, we will now proceed to the presentation of theology. Let us leave the control of the word to the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, about whom we have the word - the Father, let him be well pleased with him, the Son, let him cooperate with him, the Spirit, let him breathe him; It’s better to say, let there be a single illumination of the one Divinity on it, connectively divided and divisively combined, which is beyond understanding! But now, when I willingly ascend the mountain, or, more correctly, I desire and at the same time am afraid (I wish out of hope, I am afraid out of weakness) to step inside the cloud and talk with God (for God commands this) - now, which of you is Aaron, come up with me and stand close, but be content with the fact that he needs to stay outside the cloud; and if Nadab, or Abihu, or one of the elders, go up also, but stand from afar, according to the dignity of your purification; whoever belongs to the people and among those unworthy of such heights and contemplation, if he is unclean, do not approach at all (because this is not safe), but if he is cleansed for a while, stay below and listen to one voice and trumpet, that is, naked expressions of piety, look at the smoking and lightning mountain as a threat and at the same time a miracle for those unable to ascend; but whoever is an evil and indomitable beast, is not at all capable of containing within himself what is proposed in speculation and theology, do not hide in the forest with that evil intent, so that, accidentally attacking, you will catch some dogma or some word and tear apart sound teaching with your blasphemies, but stand even further, retreat from the mountain, otherwise he will be stoned and crushed ( Heb.12:20), the evildoer will die an evil death (Matthew 21:41), because true and solid teachings are stones for the beastly; will perish, although he is a leopard, who will die with his spots (Jer. 13:23); or a lion, hungry for prey and roaring (Ps. 21:14), who seeks either our souls or our expressions in order to turn them into food for himself; or a pig that tramples the beautiful and shining beads of truth (Matt. 7:6), or an Arabian and other breed of wolf, even wolves are faster in their false thinking (Hab. 1:8); or a fox, that is, a cunning and unfaithful soul, which, depending on time and necessity, takes on different forms, feeds on dead and stinking bodies, also small grapes (because it cannot get large ones); or other animal prohibited by law, unclean for food or consumption! For the word, having withdrawn from such, wants to be inscribed on tablets of hard and stone, and, moreover, on both sides of the tablets, because of the open and hidden meaning in the law: the open, which is needed for many and those who remain below, and the hidden, which is intelligible to the few and those who reach out to grief. But what happened to me, friends, witnesses of the mystery and lovers of truth like me? I walked in order to comprehend God; With this thought, having renounced matter and the material, immersed as much as I could in myself, I ascended the mountain. But when I stretched out my gaze, I barely saw the back of God (Ex. 33:22–23) and then covered with the Stone (1 Cor. 10:4), that is, the Word made flesh for us. And having looked a little, I contemplate not the first and pure nature, cognizable by Himself, that is, by the Trinity Itself; I contemplate not what is behind the first veil and is covered by the Cherubim, but one extreme and extending to us. And this, as far as I know, is that greatness, or, as the divine David calls it, that splendor (Ps. 8:2), which is visible in creatures created and governed by God. For all this is the back of God, which after God gives us knowledge of Him, just as the reflection and image of the sun in the waters shows the sun to weak eyes that cannot look at it, because the vividness of the light amazes the senses. So you too, theologize, although you will be Moses and God to Pharaoh, although you will ascend with Paul to the third heaven and hear unspeakable words (2 Cor. 12:4), although you will become higher than them, having been awarded the angelic or archangelic face and rank! For everything that is heavenly, and other things beyond heaven, although in comparison with us is much higher in nature and closer to God, is nevertheless further removed from God and from His perfect comprehension than how much higher it is than our complex, low and low-gravitating composition. So, again we must go back to the beginning. “It is difficult to understand God, but it is impossible to express it” - this is how one of the Hellenic theologians philosophized, 5 and, I think, not without a cunning thought, so that he would be considered to have comprehended him, he said: “difficult” and, in order to avoid accusation, called it ineffable. But as I reason, it is impossible to say, and even more impossible to understand. For what is comprehended by the mind, perhaps a word will explain to someone who has not completely damaged hearing and a dull mind, if not quite sufficiently, then at least weakly. But not only people who are numb and bowed to the ground, but even very exalted and God-loving people, as well as every born nature, for which this darkness - this coarse flesh, serves as an obstacle to understanding the truth, have absolutely no strength or means to grasp such a great object in thought. I don’t know if this is possible for higher and spiritual natures, which, being closer to God and illuminated with complete light, perhaps see Him, if not completely, then more perfectly and definitely than us, and, moreover, according to their rank, some are greater and less than others. But I won’t expand on this further. As for us, not only the peace of God surpasses all mind and understanding (Phil. 4:7), not only cannot our eyes see, nor our ears hear, nor our thoughts imagine what has been prepared according to the promises for the righteous (1 Cor. 2:9; Is. 64:4), but even accurate knowledge of creation is hardly possible for us. For here too you have only shadows, as he assures you when he said: I will see the heavens - the work of Your hands, the moon and the stars (Ps. 8:4), and the constant law in them, for he speaks not as one who sees now, but as one who hopes to someday see. But in comparison with creatures, much more inconceivable and incomprehensible to the mind is the nature that is higher than them and from which they originated. What I call incomprehensible is not that God exists, but that He is. For our preaching is not in vain, our faith is not in vain, and this is not what we teach. Do not turn our sincerity into a reason for godlessness and slander, do not exalt yourself over us, who confess to ignorance! There is a very big difference between being sure of the existence of something and knowing what it is. There is God - the creative and meaningful cause of everything; in this our teachers are both vision 6 and natural law: vision turned to the visible, which is beautifully established and completes its path, or, I will say this, motionlessly moves and rushes; natural law, from the visible and well-ordered [world] making inferences about its First Cause. For how could the universe be formed and stand if it were not for God who brought about and contained everything? Whoever sees a beautifully finished harp, its excellent structure and arrangement, or hears the harp itself being played, imagines nothing else other than the one who made the harp or who plays it, and goes back to him in thought, although perhaps he does not know him personally. Likewise, the creative power that moves and preserves what has been created is clear to us, although it is not comprehended by thought. And he is extremely foolish who, following natural instructions, does not ascend to this knowledge by himself. However, God is not yet what we imagined under the concept of God, or with what we depicted Him, or with what our word described Him. And if anyone has ever embraced Him with his mind to any extent, then how will this prove it? Who has reached the final limit of wisdom? Who has ever been rewarded with so many gifts? Who has so opened the mouth of understanding and attracted the Spirit (Ps. 119:131) that, with the assistance of this Spirit, who penetrates and knows everything, even the depths of God (1 Cor. 2:10), he comprehended God and no longer needs to stretch further, because he has the last of what he desires, to which all life and all the thoughts of a high mind strive? But what concept of God will you form, who places himself above all philosophers and theologians and boasts beyond measure, if you entrust yourself to every path of speculation? Where will your inquisitive mind lead you? Would you call the Divine a body? But how can you call it infinite, without limits or outlines, intangible, invisible? Are bodies already like this? How arbitrary! The nature of bodies is not like that. Or is the Divinity a body and at the same time not infinite, not limitless, etc., so that It has no advantages over us in anything? What a rude concept! How can the Deity be venerable if It has an outline? Or how will It avoid not being composed of the elements, again decomposing into them and not being destroyed at all? For complexity is the beginning of struggle, struggle is the beginning of division; division means destruction, and destruction is completely alien to God and the first nature. So there is no division in Him, otherwise there would be destruction; there is no struggle, otherwise there would be division; there is no difficulty, otherwise there would be a struggle. Therefore, the Divine is not a body, otherwise there would be complexity in Him. The word stops here, ascending from the last to the first. Moreover, God’s property is to permeate everything and fill everything, according to what was said: Do I not fill the heavens and the earth, says the Lord (Jer. 23:24), and also: The Spirit of the Lord fills the universe (Wis. 1:7), - how can it be preserved if God limits something else to Himself, and limits Himself to others? Or He will penetrate a world filled with nothing, and everything among us will be destroyed to the reproach of God, Who will become a body and lose everything He has created; or He will be a body among other bodies, which is impossible; or will rise both in conjugation and in opposition to bodies; or it will mix with them like a liquid, and will divide some and divide others, which is more absurd and meaningless than Epicurus’s atoms; and thus our doctrine of the corporeality of God will disintegrate and will have neither density nor coherence. If we say that God is an immaterial body, and moreover, as some people think, a fifth and rotating body (let an immaterial and a fifth, and if you wish, even an incorporeal body be admitted; since their words are carried and composed arbitrarily, but this is not what I am arguing about now), then to what kind of movable and portable will this body belong? I do not say how offensive it is to assume that the Creator with the created and the Wearer with the worn move in the same way, if only they assume this. But what motivates Him again? How does everything move? What sets things in motion and what makes everything move? And then, what motivates this very thing? - and so on ad infinitum. Moreover, how can He not need to be contained in a place, if only there is something portable? But if they say that God is some other body besides the fifth, although, for example, an angelic one, then how do they know that Angels are bodily, what kind of bodies they have, and the higher the Angel will be God, Whom the Angel serves? And if the body is higher than the angelic, then again an innumerable swarm of bodies will be introduced and such a depth of idle talk that it will be impossible to stop anywhere. From this it is clear that God is not a body. Yes, none of the inspired men said or allowed this; such a teaching is not of our yard. Therefore, we can only assume that God is not corporeal. But if it is not corporeal, then it does not depict and does not embrace the essence, just as the words do not embrace the essence: unborn, beginningless, unchangeable, incorruptible - and what else is said about God and about the things that belong to God. For in Him, the Existing One, does nature and independence express that He has no beginning, does not change, is not limited? On the contrary, whoever truly has the mind of God and has perfected himself in speculation has yet to continue his speculation and research and comprehend all of existence. When depicting and explaining one or another of the objects of your reasoning, it is not enough to say: this is the body or this is the one born; on the contrary, if you want to completely and satisfactorily define the conceivable, then you must name the subject of these predicates (for this corporeal and born and perishable is either a man, or an ox, or a horse). So here too, the one who explores the nature of Being will not stop by saying what He is not, but, on the contrary, to what He is not, he will add what He is (especially since it is easier to grasp one thing with the mind than to deny everything one by one); add, so that through the exclusion of what is not, and through the position of what is, the conceivable becomes intelligible. And whoever, having said what not to eat, remains silent about what is, acts almost the same as if asked: what is two times five? answer: it will not amount to two, or three, or four, or five, or twenty, or thirty, in short, not one of the numbers contained in ten or in tens, and yet not to say: this will amount to ten, that is, the questioner’s thoughts cannot stop at what he is looking for. For, as everyone clearly sees, it is much easier and more likely to explain about an object what it is not by means of what it is, than by excluding what it is not, to show what it is. Since our Divinity is not physical, let us continue our research a little. Does God exist anywhere or anywhere? If nowhere, then someone too inquisitive will ask: how can it exist? For just as that which does not exist is nowhere, so perhaps that which is nowhere does not exist at all. And if God is somewhere, then because He already exists, without a doubt He is either in the world or above the world. But if in the world, then either in something or everywhere. And if in anything, it will be limited to something small. If everywhere, then more than by something, but also by many other things, that is, as containing content, so that the whole of God will be limited by the whole world and not a single place in Him will remain free from limitation. Such are the difficulties if God is in the world! And another question: where was He before the world came into existence? And this will also complicate things a lot. If God is above the world, then is there really nothing that separates Him from the world? Where is this something higher than the world? How to imagine the exceeding and the exceeded, if there is no limit that would separate and delimit both? Or must there necessarily be an environment to which the world and that which is above the world would be limited? What else is this but the place we have been avoiding? I am not even saying that the Divinity will necessarily be limited if It is to be comprehended by thought. For the concept is also a type of limitation. Why did I talk about this, perhaps more than the people need to hear, and adhering to the now established way of speech, in which the noble and simple are rejected, and the complicated and mysterious are introduced, so that the tree can be recognized by its fruits, that is, by the darkness of expressions - the darkness that inspires such teachings? Not with the intention of conveying the idea that I am speaking something extraordinary and full of wisdom, tying knots and explaining the hidden things that constituted the great miracle in Daniel (Dan. 5:12), but wishing to explain the very thing that my word was intended to say at the very beginning. What exactly? The fact that the Divine is incomprehensible to human thought and we cannot imagine Him in its entirety. And It remains incomprehensible not because of envy. For envy is far from God’s nature, impassive, the only good and sovereign, especially envy of a creature, which is more precious to God than others, because for the Word what is preferable to rational beings? Moreover, our creation itself is the height of goodness. And also the reason for this is not the own honor and glory of the One who is satiated (Is. 1:11), as if incomprehensibility could give Him venerability and greatness. For to pave one’s way to primacy by preventing others from achieving it is characteristic of the sophist alone, but it is alien not only to God, but also to any man of any good morals. But if there are other reasons for this, then perhaps those closest to God know them, contemplating and delving with their minds into His unsearchable destinies, if only there are people who have succeeded to such an extent in virtue and, as has been said, enter into the exploration of the abyss (Job 38:16). How much can we comprehend, who measure what is inconceivable in small measures? This is necessary, perhaps, so that the convenience of acquisition does not make it convenient to lose what has been acquired. For usually, as something acquired with difficulty, we most likely despise it, if at the very opportunity we can acquire it again. Therefore, those who have intelligence consider the very difficulty of receiving a benefit to be a benefit. Perhaps this is also necessary so that we do not suffer the same fate as the fallen angel, so that, having accepted the whole light into ourselves, we do not harden our necks before the Lord Almighty (Job 15:25) and do not fall from exaltation in the most pitiful fall. Or maybe it is also necessary so that those who have purified themselves here and patiently waited for the fulfillment of their desires will also have something left there as a reward for their hard work and a bright life. That is why this bodily darkness stands between us and God, like the cloud between the Egyptians and the Jews from ancient times. For this means, perhaps, that darkness has made His veil (Ps. 17:12), that is, our [bodily] coarseness, through which only a few and a few can see. But whoever is concerned about this, let him be wise, let him rise to the heights of reflection. And we, the prisoners of the earth, as the divine Jeremiah says (Lamentations 3:34), we, covered with this coarse flesh, know that just as it is impossible to overtake your shadow, no matter how much you hurry, because it rises up as much as it is captured, or as vision cannot get close to visible objects without the mediation of light and air, or as creatures swimming in water cannot live outside the water, so those in the body have no the ability to be in communication with the intuited without the mediation of anything corporeal. For something will always surpass ours, no matter how much the mind intensifies to cleave to what is familiar and invisible, detaching itself as much as possible from the visible and secluding itself into itself. And we will see this from the following. Spirit, fire, light, love, wisdom, mind, word and the like - aren't they names? So what? Do you imagine either spirit without movement and expansion, or fire not in matter, without upward movement, without its characteristic color and shape, or light not mixed with air, separately from what, as it were, gives birth to it, that is, what shines? How do you imagine the mind? Abiding in something else? And thoughts that are at rest or appear, in your opinion, are they not movement? Can you imagine any word other than the one that is silent in us or that is poured out (I hesitate to say, disappearing)? And wisdom, in your concept, what is it besides the skill of reasoning about Divine or human objects? And also truth and love - aren’t they praiseworthy dispositions that oppose - one to untruth, and the other to hatred, and just as they themselves become more intense and weaker, arise and cease, so they make and change us alike, producing in us the same thing as colors in bodies? Or is it necessary to consider the Divinity, as much as possible, in Itself, stepping away from these images and collecting from them some single idea? But what kind of mental structure is this that is assembled from these images and is not what they are? Or how will a single entity, uncomplicated and indescribable by nature, contain all these images, and each one is perfect? It is so difficult for our mind to get out of the circle of physicality, as long as it, in its weakness, considers what exceeds its strength! Since every rational nature, although it strives for God and the First Cause, nevertheless cannot comprehend it, according to what I have explained; then, exhausted from desire, being, as it were, in the throes of death and not enduring these torments, she sets off on a new voyage in order to either turn her gaze to the visible and from this make something into a god (according to a bad calculation, however, for what is the visible higher and more godlike than the seer, and, moreover, to such an extent that the seer worships, and the visible receives worship?), or from the beauty and beautification of the visible God, use your sight as a guide to the invisible, but in the splendor of the visible do not lose sight of God. Because of this, some began to worship the sun, some the moon, some the many stars, some the sky itself, along with the luminaries, which were given to rule the world both in the quality and quantity of movement; and some to the elements: earth, water, air, fire, since they are necessary for everything and without them human life cannot last; others - whatever they encountered in a series of visible things, recognizing as God everything that seemed beautiful to them. Some began to worship even picturesque images and statues, first of relatives - and these were people who indulged in grief and sensuality without measure and wanted to honor the dead with monuments, and then strangers - and this was done by the descendants of the first, distant from them by time, they did it because they did not know the first nature, and the honoring that came to them according to legend became, as it were, legal and necessary when the custom approved by time turned into law. But I think that others, wanting to please the rulers, glorify strength, express surprise at the beauty, over time they made the one they revered into a god, and to help the seduction they added some fable. Those of them who were more devoted to passions recognized passions as gods, or as gods they began to honor anger, murder, lust, drunkenness, and I don’t know, maybe something else close to this, because in this they found (of course, unkind and unfair) justification for their own sins. And some gods were left on earth, others (which is prudent) were hidden underground, and others (ridiculous distribution!) were elevated to heaven. Then, submitting to self-will and the whims of a wandering imagination, they named each fiction the name of some god or demon and, erecting idols that attracted them to themselves with their great value, legitimized them to be honored with blood and fat, and some even with the most vile deeds and extravagances and murder. For such honors were fitting for such gods! They even dishonored themselves by giving God's glory to sea monsters, four-legged creatures, reptiles, to what is most vile and ridiculous in these species, so that it is difficult to determine whether those who worshiped were worthy of greater contempt or what they worshiped. But it is more likely that the servants of such gods are more despicable, and even more so in the highest degree because, being by nature rational and having received God's grace, they preferred the worst to the best. And this is one of the tricks of the evil one, who turned good itself into evil, as there are many other examples of his evilness. In order to attract people under his power, he took advantage of their misdirected desire to find God and, deceiving them in what they wanted, leading them like a blind man seeking his own path, scattered them along different rapids and cast them into one abyss of death and destruction. This was the case with them, but our leader is reason. And since we, although we also seek God, do not allow anything to happen without a leader and ruler, then the mind, having examined what is visible, having surveyed everything that has been from the beginning, does not stop there. For there is no reason to assign dominion to that which, according to the evidence of the senses, enjoys equal honor. And therefore, through the visible, he leads to that which is higher than the visible and what gives existence to the visible. For by what were the heavenly and earthly things, which are in the air and under the water, brought into the structure, or better yet, what is more primary than this - heaven, earth, air and water nature? Who mixed and separated it? Who holds in mutual communication, affinity and agreement (I praise the one who said this, although he is not ours)? Who set it in motion and leads it in a continuous and unhindered flow? Isn’t it the Artist of everything, isn’t it the One who put the law into everything, according to which everything moves and is governed? Who is the artist of this? Isn’t it the One who created and brought into being? For such power should not be attributed to chance. Let us assume that being is a matter of chance; from whom is order? If you like, we will give in to chance, but who observes and preserves those laws according to which everything happened initially? Is it someone else or a different case? Of course it’s different, not a case. Who is this other than God? Thus, from the visible, the God-given and innate reason of all raised us to God - this original law in us and given to everyone! Let's repeat what was said at the beginning. No one has ever found God, as He is by nature and essence, and, of course, never will. And if he ever finds it, then let those who want to look for it and think about it. It will find, as I reason, when this god-like and divine, that is, our mind and our word, unites with what is akin to itself, when the image ascends to the Prototype, to Which it now strives. And this, as I think, is expressed in that very wise teaching, by which we know at one time insofar as we ourselves are known (1 Cor. 13:12). And what reaches us in this life is a thin stream and, as it were, a small reflection of the great light. Therefore, if someone has come to know God and it is testified that he has known, then this knowledge is attributed to him in the sense that, in comparison with another who is not so much enlightened, he turned out to be a partaker of a greater light. And such excellence was recognized as perfect, not as really perfect, but as measured by the strength of his neighbor, so Enoch began to call on the Lord (Gen. 4:26), and his merit was trust, and trust not in knowledge, but in calling. Enoch was taken [by God] (Gen. 5:24), but whether he comprehended the nature of God or will still comprehend it is unknown. And in Noah, who was entrusted with the whole world, or the seeds of the world, to save from the waters with a small tree that avoided drowning, one advantage was pleasing to God (Gen. 6:9). And the great patriarch Abraham, although he was justified by faith and made an extraordinary sacrifice - the image of the great Sacrifice, nevertheless saw God not as God, but nourished him as a man and is praised as having honored how much he comprehended. Jacob saw in a dream a high staircase and the ascent of Angels, he mysteriously anoints a pillar (perhaps signifying the Stone anointed on us), gives the place, in honor of the One who appeared on it, the name: the house of God (Gen. 28:17), fights with God as with a person (is this a real struggle between God and a person or does it mean, perhaps, equating human virtue with God), wears on his body signs of struggle, showing that created nature yielded victory, and as a reward for piety receives a change in name - from Jacob it was renamed Israel (a truly great and glorious name!); but neither he nor anyone else from the twelve tribes of which he was the father, even if he stood higher than Jacob himself, has so far boasted that he has fully embraced the nature of God or the image of God. And Elijah was not a strong wind, not a fire, not an earthquake, as we know from history (1 Kings 19:12), but a slight coolness was a sign of God’s presence, and only presence, not nature. Which Elijah? Whom the fiery chariot lifts to heaven, thereby signifying something superhuman in the righteous man. Isn't it surprising to you - first the judge Manoah, and then the disciple Peter? But one cannot stand the sight of God who appeared to him and says: we perished, wife, because we saw God (Judges 13:22), which shows that man cannot accommodate not only the nature of God, but even the appearance [of Him], and Peter did not allow the appeared Christ into the ship and sent him away (Luke 5:3-8), although he was more zealous than others in the knowledge of Christ, for which he was called blessed and awarded the most important assignments ( Matthew 16:16–19). What shall we say about Isaiah, about Ezekiel, the viewer of the greatest mysteries, and about the other prophets? One of them saw the Lord of hosts sitting on the Throne of Glory, surrounded, glorified and covered by six-winged Seraphim, saw how he himself was cleansed with coal and prepared for prophecy (Is. 6: 1–7). Another describes the chariot of God - the Cherubim, and above them the throne, and above the throne the firmament, and in the firmament of Him who appeared, as well as some voices, movements and actions (Ezek. 1:22-27), and I cannot say whether this was a daytime phenomenon, which only saints can contemplate, or a nighttime undeceitful vision, or a representation of the sovereign in us, by which the future is embraced, like the present, or another an inexplicable form of prophecy - this is known only to the God of prophets and communicants of similar inspirations. At least neither those about whom we have a word, nor anyone else after them were, according to Scripture, in the council and essence of the Lord (Jer. 23:18); no one has seen or known the nature of God. If Paul could express what the third heaven and the procession to it consisted of (or a gradual ascent, or an instantaneous rapture), then perhaps we would learn a little more about God (if only this was the mystery of Paul's rapture). But since this was inexpressible, we too will honor silence, having listened to Paul himself, who says: we know in part and we prophesy in part (1 Cor. 13:9). So in like manner is he confessed who is not ignorant of knowledge (2 Cor. 11:6), who threatens to present proof that Christ speaks in him (2 Cor. 13:3), so is the great champion and teacher of truth confessed. Therefore, he places all further knowledge, as extending no further than small similarities of truth, above mirrors and allegories (1 Cor. 13:12). And if I were not afraid of giving others the idea that I was engaging in such research to the point of excess and unnecessarily, I would say that about this very thing, and nothing else, it can be said: you now cannot contain (John 16:12), which the Word itself made it clear that over time we will be able to accommodate and understand this. And this same thing John, the Forerunner of the Word, the great voice of truth, recognized as impossible for the world itself to contain (John 21:25). So, every truth and every word is unclear and dark for us. It is as if we are building huge buildings with a small tool, when with human wisdom we catch a vision of what exists, when we approach mental objects with our feelings or not without feelings that make us whirl and wander, and we cannot, touching inviolable objects with our inviolable mind, come at least a little closer to the truth and imprint its pure ideas in our minds. And the word about God, the more perfect it is, the more incomprehensible it is, leading to a greater number of objections and the most difficult decisions. For every obstacle, even the least important one, stops and impedes the course of the mind and does not allow it to strive forward, just as the reins suddenly restrain rushing horses and with their sudden shock they turn aside. So Solomon, who was filled with wisdom more than anyone else, both those who lived before him and those contemporary to him, received as a gift from God a breadth of heart and a fullness of contemplation richer than sand (1 Kings 4:29), the more he plunges into the depths, the more dizzy he feels and considers it almost the end of wisdom to find how far she has moved away from him (Eccl. 7:24). And Paul, it is true, attempts to explore, not to say the nature of God (he knows that this is completely impossible), but only the destinies of God, but since he finds no end and rest in the ascent, since the curiosity of the mind does not clearly reach its final limit, but always remains for it something not yet explored, then (wonderful thing! oh, if only it were the same with me!) concludes his speech with amazement, calls everything like the riches of God and depth (Rom. 11:33) and confesses the incomprehensibility of God’s destinies, expressing himself almost in the same way as David, when he then calls the destinies of God a great abyss (Ps. 35:7), in which it is impossible to get a basis either by measure or by feeling, then he says that the mind is amazed at him, and from its composition, and be established more than the extent of its strength and its volume (Ps. 139:6). Leaving everything else behind, David argues, I will turn to myself and consider human nature and human composition in general. What is this confusion in us? What kind of movement? How is the immortal connected to the mortal? How am I poured down and raised up in grief? How does the soul turn within me, give life and itself participate in suffering? How is thought both enclosed within limits and indefinable, and abides within us, and bypasses everything in the speed of its striving and flow? How is it communicated and transmitted with the word, penetrates through the air, enters with the objects themselves? How is one connected to feeling and detached from feelings? And even before this, how is our initial creation and composition, and our final form and perfection, produced in the workshop of nature? What is this desire and distribution of food in us? Who, without forcing us, led us to the first sources and means of life? How does the body feed on food, and the soul on words? What is the attraction of nature, what is the mutual inclination between parents and children that binds them with love? How are species [of animals] constant and do not agree on distinctive features? With so many of them, how are the features of the indivisible elusive? How is one and the same living being both mortal and immortal—mortal because its own life ceases—and immortal because it gives birth to other living beings? One goes away, another comes, as in a flowing river that does not stand still and is always full. We can still think a lot about the members and parts of the body, about their mutual harmony, while they, according to the law and proportionality of nature, in accordance with needs and for beauty, some are close, others are distant from each other, some protrude, others are distant, some are connected, others are divided, some embrace others, others embrace themselves; a lot about sounds and hearing, about how sounds are transferred from sonorous instruments and the ear receives them and enters into mutual communication with them due to stress and impressions in the intervening air; there is a lot about vision, which communicates in an inexplicable way with visible objects, comes into motion with one wave of the will and at the same time with it - in which respect it is likened to thought, because with the same speed both thought converges with the object of thought, and gaze with the object of vision; a lot about other feelings that serve as some kind of receivers of the external, inconceivable to the mind; a lot about calm during sleep, about dreams, about memory and memories, about reason, irritability and desire, in short, about everything that inhabits this small world - man. Do you want, I will list for you the differences between other animals in relation to us and to each other, that is, each nature, way of birth and upbringing, location, morals and, as it were, the laws of society. Why do some live in herds, others alone? some are herbivores, others are carnivores; some are fierce, others are meek; some are attached to a person and feed around him, others are indomitable and love freedom; some seem to be close to rationality and are capable of learning, others are completely unreasonable and cannot be taught; some have more senses, others less; some are motionless, others move from one place to another, and others are very fast; some are distinguished by size and beauty or one thing, while others are either very small, or very ugly, or both; some are strong, others are weak; some are vindictive, others are suspicious and insidious, others are careless; some are hardworking and homely, others are completely inactive and careless? And besides this, why some crawl on the ground, others walk in an upright position; some love land, others land and water; some are clean, others are unkempt; some live in pairs, others do not; some are chaste, others lustful; some are prolific, others are not fertile; some are long-lasting, others are short-lived? I would run out of words if I described everything in detail. Consider the nature of those floating in the water, who glide and seem to fly through the damp elements, breathe their own air, and in our air are exposed to the same danger as we are in the water; consider their morals, passions, births, size, beauty, attachment to place, wanderings, gatherings and separations, properties that are almost close to the properties of earthly animals, and some even have common ones, and properties that are opposite both in genera and indivisible. Consider also the flocks of non-singing and songbirds, the diversity in their appearance and color. What is the cause of sweet singing in songbirds and who does it cause? Who gave the grasshopper a cicada on his chest? Who gives the birds these songs and chirps on the tree branches, when, excited by the midday sun, they fill the sounds of the forest and accompany the traveler with the singing? Who weaves a song to a swan when it spreads its wings through the air and draws out a measured verse with them, as if playing a pipe? I won’t talk about forced sounds and the ways in which art is clever in imitating reality. Why does the peacock, the arrogant Indian bird, love decoration and honor so much that, having noticed a suitable one, or, as they say, with the intention of pleasing the female sex (since he feels his beauty), with a majestic gait, stretching his neck and spreading his feathers glittering with gold and studded with stars in a circle, he exposes his beauty to lovers? Divine Scripture praises the wisdom of women in textiles, saying: who gave women the wisdom of weaving or the art of embroidering patterns ( Job 38:36 )? But this is natural for a rational animal, which abounds in wisdom and reaches even to the heavenly. Marvel at the natural intelligence of the dumb and, if you can, provide your own explanations for this. How are birds’ nests (whether they be stones, wood or roofs) arranged safely and beautifully together, with all the amenities for the chicks? Where do bees and spiders get so much hard work and art? In some, the honeycomb is composed of hexagonal cups facing one another and reinforced with partitions, which intersect at right angles in every two cups. And all this is done with such skill by bees in dark hives, when their buildings are invisible. And spiders, from thin and almost airy threads stretched in different directions, and from substances invisible to the eye, weave intricately woven fabrics that would serve them as an honest home and catch the weak for food. Did any Euclid produce anything similar, philosophizing about non-existent lines and working on proofs? In which Palamis will you find such movements and formations of troops, although they, as they say, were adopted from cranes, which fly in formation and diversify their flight? Did Phidias, Zeuxis, Polygnotos, Parrhasia, Aglaophones, who knew how to paint and sculpt beauty perfectly, produce anything similar? Is the Knossos choir of dancers, which Daedalus so beautifully crafted as a gift to the bride, comparable, or the Cretan difficult and, speaking in verse, unraveling labyrinth, which, by the trick of art, repeatedly returns to its original track? I am silent about the treasuries and treasure-keepers of the ants, about the supply of food in accordance with the time, and about what else is known to be told about their travels, leaders and the strict order of affairs. And if the reasons for this are accessible to you and you have learned how much intelligence there is in this, then consider the differences between plants, to the artificiality noticeable in the leaves, which is why they together are most pleasing to the eye and most beneficial for the fruit. Consider the variety and richness of the fruits themselves, especially the predominant beauty of the most necessary ones. Consider the powers of roots, juices, flowers, smells, not only the most pleasant, but also healthy, the attractiveness and quality of paints. Consider also the preciousness and clarity of the stones. Nature, as if at a general feast, offered you everything, both what you need and what serves your pleasure, so that, among other things, you would come to know God from the benefits themselves and from your needs, acquire more information about yourself. After this, go through the latitude and longitude of the mother earth common to all, go around the sea bays connected to each other and to the land, the beauty of forests, rivers, abundant and inexhaustible springs of not only cold and drinkable waters flowing over the earth, but also those that make their way underground through some clefts, whether because a strong wind drives and pushes them away, or because a strong struggle heats up and resistance, they break through little by little [to the surface of the earth] wherever they can, and for our use in many places they provide warm baths of various properties - this is free and natural healing. Tell me how and where this comes from? What does this great and artless fabric mean? Everything here is no less praiseworthy, whether we consider them in mutual relation or separately. Why does the earth stand firmly and steadfastly? What keeps it going? What support does she have? For reason does not find anything to base this on, other than God’s will. Why is it that the earth is sometimes raised to the tops of mountains, sometimes besieged in the plains, and, moreover, so diversely, often and gradually changes its positions and satisfies our needs all the more richly and captivates us with its diversity? And whether it is separated for human habitations or uninhabited, because it is cut by mountain ridges or otherwise cut off and set aside for another purpose, everywhere it serves as the clearest proof of the omnipotence of God! And in the sea, if the size did not surprise me, I would begin to marvel at the meekness, how it is not bound by anything, and stands within its own boundaries. And if it did not surprise me with its meekness, I would begin to marvel at its size. Since it surprises both, I will praise the power that is visible in both. What brought the water into it? What connected them? Why does the sea rise and stand in its place, as if ashamed of the adjacent land? Why does it take all the rivers into itself and not arrive? Is it because of its excess size or, I don’t know what else to say for this reason? Why is sand the limit for such a huge element? What can natural scientists say to this, wise in empty things, who really measure the sea with a small cup, that is, a great subject - with their concepts? Wouldn’t it be better for me to briefly discuss this from Scripture, since this is both more convincing and more accurate than long reasoning? He drew a line over the surface of the water (Job 26:10). Here are the bonds for the wet nature! But don’t you marvel, aren’t you amazed at the thought, looking at how it carries the earthly swimmer on a small tree and with the wind, so that for his needs and communication both land and sea are connected, so that what is distant from each other by nature over large spaces flocks into one for man? And what are the original sources? Search, man, if you can explore and find something! Who dug rivers in the plains and mountains? Who gave them unimpeded flow? What a miracle of opposites - the sea does not overflow and the rivers do not stop! What's nutritious in the waters? Why is there this difference that some plants are irrigated from above, while others receive water through their roots? - May I also enjoy a few words, discussing the joys sent by God! Now, leaving the earth and earthly things so that my words can flow in order, soar on the wings of thought into the air; from there I will lead you to the heavenly, to heaven itself, above heaven, and so on. True, the word does not dare to stretch high; but it will stretch, however, not beyond what is permitted. He who poured out the air is an abundant and unfading wealth, which is used not according to merits and occasions, which is not held back by limits, is distributed not according to age, like manna is not received beyond need, this is his honor, that air is given to everyone in equal measure - this chariot of feathered creatures, this seat of the winds; the air that dissolves the seasons, animates animals, or better yet, preserves the soul in the body; air, in which there are bodies and with which the word, in which there is light and what is illuminated, and also the vision that flows through it? Consider also what is beyond the air. For I will not agree to give the air such an area as is attributed to it. Where are the wind storage facilities? Where are the treasures of snow? Who, according to Scripture, gives birth to drops of dew? From whose belly does ice come (Job 38:28–29)? Who puts water in the clouds (Job 26:8)? Who stopped part of it on the clouds (isn’t it wonderful to see a flowing substance held by a word!) and pours out the other on the face of the earth and sows it in due time and in due measure, without leaving the entire moist essence free and uncontrollable (the former cleansing under Noah was sufficient, and the Most Undead does not forget His covenant) and without holding it back completely (so that we again do not need Elijah, who ends the drought)? It is said: if the heaven is shut, who will open it (Job 12:14), and if he opens the windows of heaven (Mal.3:10), who will keep it? Who will endure the immensity of both, if the One who sends the rain does not distribute everything according to His measures and weights? What wise teaching about lightning and thunder will you offer me, who thunders from the earth, although you do not shine with even small sparks of truth? Can you name the reason for this by any vapors coming out of the earth and producing clouds, or some kind of condensation of air, or compression and collision of rare clouds, so that compression produces lightning, and dissolution produces thunder? Or can you name some wind that is compressed and then cannot find an outlet, which, being compressed, flashes with lightning and, breaking out, makes thunder? But if you have passed through the air and everything in the air with your mind, then touch with me the sky and the heavenly. But here let faith guide us more than reason, if only you understood your weakness when you looked at what is closest to you and learned a way to find out what is above reason, and not remain completely earthly and devoted to the earthly, not knowing even this very thing - your ignorance? Who rounded the sky and arranged the stars? It’s better to say what the sky and stars themselves are? Can you say this, a pompous man who does not know what is under his feet, who cannot measure himself, but are curious about what is above your nature and would like to embrace the immeasurable? Let us suppose that you have comprehended circles, gyrations, approaching and moving away, the rise of stars and the sun, some parts and their divisions, and everything for which you extol your wonderful science, but this is not yet a comprehension of what exists, but only observation of some movement, confirmed by a long-term exercise, leading to the unity of observation of many, and then coming up with a law and exalted in the name of science; Thus, the modifications of the Moon have become known to many, and visual perception is accepted as the beginning of knowledge! But if you are very knowledgeable about this and want to be rightfully amazed at you, tell me, what is the reason for such a structure and movement? Why is the Sun placed as a sign of the entire Universe and before everyone’s gaze, as the leader of a choir, eclipsing the other stars with its lightness more than they are eclipsed by some of them themselves, the proof of which is that, although the stars themselves shine, the Sun surpasses them in light, and the stars are not visible, as soon as they rise with the Sun? It is beautiful, like a bridegroom, fast and great, like a giant (I cannot borrow praise for it from any other scripture except mine) (Ps. 18:6); Such is its power that from edge to edge it embraces everything with its warmth, and nothing can help but feel it; on the contrary, everything is filled with it, and vision with light, and bodily nature with warmth, while it warms, but does not burn, due to its gentle dissolution and harmonious movement, it is open to everyone and equally embraces everyone. But have you thought about this idea? The sun in the sensory is the same as God in the mental, said one of our people. It enlightens the eye, as God does the mind, and is most beautiful in the visible, as God is in the intuited. But what initially set the Sun in motion? How does it constantly move and rotate - unchangeable in its law, in the true sense motionless, tireless, life-giving and, as the poets rightly sing, viviparous, never stopping either its movement or its benefits? How does it create day on earth and night under the earth? Or I don’t know how to put it, looking at the sun. What does this increase and decrease of days and nights mean, this (to use a somewhat strange expression) equality in inequality? How does the sun produce and separate the seasons, which decorously approach and recede and, as if in a round dance, first converge and then diverge with each other, converging according to the law of love, diverging according to the law of decorum, even gradually merging with each other and imperceptibly approaching, like the approaching days and nights, so as not to produce a mournful feeling with their suddenness? But let's leave the Sun. Have you learned the nature and modifications of the Moon, the measure of its light and path? And how does the Sun rule over the day, and she rules over the night? One gives courage to beasts, the other restores man to work, which is when it is most useful, sometimes rising, sometimes falling? Have you understood the connection of the Pleiades and the fence of Orion (Job 38:31), as one who counts the multitude of stars and names them all (Ps. 147:4), as one who knows the difference of each star and the order of its movement, so that I could believe you when you determine our destiny by the stars and arm the creation against the Creator? What shall we say? Should we stop the word here – on matter and the visible? Or since the tabernacle of Moses is called in the Word the image of the whole world, that is, the totality of the visible and invisible (Heb. 9:24), then, having penetrated behind the first veil and ascended above the sensory, we can penetrate into the holy - into the mental and heavenly nature? But even though it is incorporeal, we cannot see it in an incorporeal way, which is why it is called fire and spirit, or is actually what it is. For it is said that He creates blazing fire with His angels and His servants (Ps. 103:4), does “to create” here mean nothing more than to preserve in subjection to the law by which they were created; This nature is called spirit and fire, partly as mental, and partly as purifying, because the First Essence also accepts the same names. However, let it not be physical for us, or as close to it as possible. See how we are spinning around in the word and cannot proceed further! Shall we strive to the extent that we know that there are some Angels, Archangels, Thrones, Dominions, Principalities, Powers, Lordships, Ascensions, intelligent Forces, or Minds, pure and unalloyed natures, inflexible or unyielding to evil, constantly dancing around the first Cause. These natures, as another would sing about them, are either illuminated by the purest illumination from the first Cause, or, according to their nature and rank, they receive another illumination in a different way; they so reflected and imprinted the Good in themselves that they became secondary lights and through the outpouring and distribution of the first Light they can enlighten others; they are servants of God's will, strong, both in their natural and acquired strength, they go around everything, they readily appear to everyone and everywhere, due to their zeal for service and the lightness of their nature. These minds have each accepted one part of the Universe or are assigned to one thing in the world, as the One Who Arranged and Distributed knew it all, and they all lead to one end, at the behest of the Creator of all, they sing of God’s greatness, contemplate the eternal glory, and, moreover, forever, not in order for God to be glorified (there is nothing that could be attached to the Fulfilled One, Who is also the giver of blessings to others) and so that even those who are first in nature according to God do not cease to receive benefits. And if this is sung according to its worth, then thanks be to the Trinity and the One Divinity in Three! And if less than what was desired was [sung], then in this case my word won, for it labored to prove one thing: that the nature of even secondary beings is above the mind, and not just the First and One, let me say for a moment, the Supreme of all. Sermon 29. Third on theology, first on God the Son Another would say the same thing, wanting to stop their readiness for the word, their haste and stumbling from haste in every matter, and even more so in the teaching about God. But imposing a ban is not the main thing - anyone who wants to can do this without difficulty, but what is required of a pious and intelligent person is to replace what is prohibited with his own reasoning. Therefore, in trusting in the Holy Spirit, whom they do not revere and whom we worship as some noble and ripe fruit, I will bring to light my own thoughts about the Divinity, whatever they may be. I was not silent at other times either, but on the contrary, I had the courage and presence of mind for this alone. All the more, I will now dare to stand for the truth, so that by doubting, according to the judgment of God, as it is written, I will not incur displeasure (Hab. 2:4). Since speech is of two kinds - it either confirms one’s own opinion, or refutes an opposing opinion, then I, having first proposed my own teaching, will then try to refute the teaching of my opponents; but in both cases I will maintain the possible brevity, so that everything said can be comfortably grasped at one glance (since they, to the deception of the simplest and most feeble-minded people, composed a word under the name of leadership) and so that long speeches do not scatter the thought, like water that is not locked in a pipe, but flows and spreads across the plain. The three most ancient opinions about God: anarchy 7, plurality and unity of command. The first two were (and let them remain!) a game of the mind of the sons of Hellenism. For lack of command is disorderly, and plurality of command is outrageous; as a result of this it is both beginningless and disorderly. Both lead to one end - to disorder, and disorder - to destruction; because disorder is an exercise in destruction. But we honor unity of command; however, not that unity of command that is determined by the unity of a person (and one, if it is in discord with itself, will constitute a multitude), but that which constitutes the equivalence of unity, the unanimity of the will, the identity of the movement and direction towards the one of Those Who are from the One (which is impossible in a created nature), so that, although They differ in number, they are not divided in power 8. Therefore, the One, which from the beginning moved into duality, stopped at trinity. And this is ours – the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The Father is a parent and producer, giving birth and producing dispassionately, outside of time and incorporeally; Son - born; The spirit is the exhausted, or, I don’t know what someone who distracts from everything visible would call it. For we do not dare to call this an overflow of goodness, as one of the wise Hellenes dared to call it, who, philosophizing about the first and second Causes, clearly expressed himself: “... like a cup overflowing” 9 . We do not dare for fear of introducing involuntary birth and seemingly natural and uncontrollable ejection, which is least consistent with the concepts of the Divine. Therefore, without leaving the limits given to us, we introduce the Unbegotten, Begotten and Coming from the Father, as God the Word Himself says in one place (John 15:26). But when is this birth and procession? - First of all, when. If it is necessary to express it a little more boldly: then, like the Father. But when is Father? - It has never happened that the Father was not there. And also it never happened that there was no Son and there was no Holy Spirit. You will ask me again; and I will answer you again. When was the Son born? – When the Father was not born. When did the Spirit depart? – When the Son did not come forth, but was born outside of time and unspeakable, although we cannot imagine what is above time, even wanting to avoid expressions meaning time, because the words when, before, after, first do not exclude time, no matter how much we strengthen ourselves in this; Shall we take eternity, that is, a continuation that extends along with the eternal, and is not divided into parts and is not measured by any movement or flow of the sun, which is characteristic of time. But if the Son and the Spirit are coeternal with the Father, then why are they not coeternal? Because they are from the Father, although not after the Father. It is true that the beginningless is eternal; but the eternal does not need to be without beginning, as soon as it is raised to the Father, as to the beginning. So, the Son and the Spirit are not without beginning in relation to the Author 10. It is known that the Culprit does not need to be more original than Those for Whom he is the Culprit; because the sun is not more original than light. And together the Son and the Spirit are without beginning, relative to time, although you frighten simple-minded people with this. For they are not under time, from whom time is. How is birth dispassionate? - Such that it is not corporeal. For if bodily birth is passionate, then incorporeal birth is dispassionate. But I also ask you: how is the Son God if He is a creature? For what is created is not God. Not to mention that in creation, if it is taken bodily, there is suffering, such as time, desire, education, care, hope, sorrow, danger, failure, correction; all this and much more, as everyone knows, happens during creation. But I am amazed that you do not dare to come up with any combinations, timing of pregnancy, dangers of premature birth, and even recognize birth as impossible if God gave birth differently, or, having listed the images of birth in birds on land and on water, subordinate the Divine and unspoken birth to any of these [methods of] birth, or, due to your new assumption, completely destroy the Son? And you cannot notice that Whoever according to the flesh has a special way of birth (for where did you find the Virgin Mary according to your principles?), For Him there is a different and spiritual birth. It is better to say that He who does not have the same existence also has a special way of birth. What father didn't start out as a father? - He whose existence did not begin. And whoever began to be, began to be a father. God the Father did not later become the Father because he did not begin to be the Father. He is in the proper sense the Father; because the Son is not together; just as God the Son is in the proper sense the Son, because he is not at the same time the Father. For we have fathers and sons, not in the proper sense, but each is both father and son, and no more father than son, and we come not only from the father, but from the father, who is also a son, and therefore we ourselves are divided, we gradually become people, but what both those who give birth and those who are born would not want, so that we are left with only relationships devoid of reality. But you say: “The words themselves: begat and was born, what else do they introduce if not the beginning of birth?” Well, if we don’t say: born, but born from the beginning, so that it would be more convenient to avoid your subtle objections, in which you always look for time? Are you really going to accuse us of misinterpreting Scripture and the truth? But everyone can see that in sayings expressing time, tenses are often put one instead of another, this is especially common in Divine Scripture, and not only in discussions of past or present time, but also the future. For example, it is said: why are the nations in turmoil (Ps. 2:1), when they have not yet quarreled; and one more thing: they will walk across the river in their feet (Ps. 65:6) when they have already passed. It would take a long time to list all such expressions that have been noticed by hardworking people. This is their objection that we have considered. What's next? Isn't it extremely affectionate and shameless? They say: “Did the Father beget the Son willingly, or reluctantly?” Then, as it seems to them, they tie both cases into a knot, however, not a strong one, but a weak one, and they continue: “If reluctantly, then by force. Who is the forced one, and how is the forced one - God? And if by will, then the Son is the son of will. How is He from the Father?” And instead of the Father, they invent some new mother - desire. It is pleasant to hear one thing from those who reason in this way, namely, that, having abandoned suffering, they resort to the will; but will is no longer suffering. Let us then see how firm their reasoning is. And it’s best to get as close as possible to them in advance. You, who without difficulty say whatever you want, were you born of what kind of father, from a willing one or from an unwilling one? If from someone who does not want to, then he is forced. What violence! And who forced him? It’s true, you can’t say it’s nature; for it is in nature to be chaste. And if from someone who wants it, then in a few syllables your father has disappeared; you have become the son of desire, not of the father. But I turn to God and to the creatures, and I submit your question to the judgment of your wisdom. Did God create the world by choice or force? If it is forced, then here too there is violence and the one acting forcibly. And if by will, then you are deprived of God like other creatures, then most of all you, the inventor of such conclusions, delving into such wisdom, because between the creatures and the Creator the intermediary will becomes a barrier. But I think that there is another who wills and another who wants, another who gives birth and another who is born, another who speaks and another who speaks; if only we are of sober mind. The first is the mover, and the last is a kind of movement. Therefore, what one wanted does not come from wanting, because it does not always follow wanting, and what is born is not from birth, and what is heard is not from pronunciation, but from the one who wants, who gives birth, who speaks. And what is in God is higher than all this. In Him, the desire to give birth is already, perhaps, birth itself, and not anything in between; if only we completely give room to desire, and do not say that birth is higher than desire. Do you want me to make an application to God the Father? – I borrow such insolence from you. Father – a willing or unwilling God? And how to avoid your mutual argument! If he wants, then when did he start wanting? Not before existing. Because there was nothing before. Or in Him one thing willed, and another was determined by desire; and therefore He consists of parts? Wouldn't He, in your opinion, also be the fruit of desire? And if He does not want to, what forced Him to be (God)? And how is He God if He is forced, and forced not to anything else, but to the very thing of being God? You ask: “How was the Son born?” – But how was He created, if, in your opinion, He was created? And here there is a difficulty too. You might say that you were created by will and word. But you haven’t said everything yet, because one thing remains to be said: where do the will and the word have the power of execution, because man does not create like that? How was the Son born? His birth would not be important if it were intelligible to you, who does not know your own birth, or comprehends something in it, but not much, and such that it is a shame to even talk about it, and then considers yourself omniscient. You need to put in a lot of work before you discover the laws of solidification, formation, birth, the union of soul with body, mind with soul, words with mind, movement, growth, transformation of food into flesh, feeling, memory, recollection and other things that you are made of, and also before you find what belongs to both - soul and body, what is divided between them and what they borrow from each other. For in birth the foundations are laid for everything that will be perfected later. Tell me, what are these reasons? But even after this, do not speculate about the birth of God, because it is not safe. For if you know your birth, then it does not follow that you know God’s. And if you don’t know your own, how can you know God’s? For as much as God is incomprehensible in comparison with man, so much more incomprehensible is the birth on high than your birth. If the Son was not born only because it is incomprehensible to you, then by the way you should exclude from the list of beings many things that you do not comprehend, and, moreover, first of all God Himself. For with all your audacity, no matter how bravely you embark on unnecessary research, you will not say what God is. Throw away your currents, separations, dissections and whatever else you imagine about incorporeal nature as a body, and then, perhaps, you will imagine something worthy of God’s birth. How was he born? “I’ll say the same thing again with indignation: let God’s birth be honored with silence!” It is also important for you to know that the Son has been born. How? We will not agree that the Angels, not just you, understand this. Do you want me to explain to you how I was born? - As the Father who begot and the Son who was born know this. And what besides this is covered by a cloud and inaccessible to your myopia. Did the Father beget a Son who existed or one who did not exist? - What idle talk! This question comes to me and to you, who, although they were something like Levi in ​​the loins of Abram (Heb. 7:10), were nevertheless born, and therefore were made up in some way from what is and what is not. The opposite of this must be said about primeval matter, which is clearly created from something that does not exist, although some represent it as not beginning to be. But here the 11th birth merges with being, and it is from the beginning (1 John 1:1). Therefore, where will your abrupt question find a place? Is there anything older than that which was from the beginning, so that we can posit in this eldest the existence or non-existence of the Son? For in both cases it will be destroyed from the beginning; if only, when we ask about the Father: is He one of those who exist or one of those who do not exist? - and you are not in danger of agreeing that either there are two Fathers, one pre-existent and the other existing, or the Father endures one with the Son, that is, Himself from non-existence, due to your childish questions and these buildings made of sand, which cannot stand even in a weak wind. But I accept neither one nor the other 12 and say that the question is absurd, and not the answer is difficult. If, according to the rules of your dialectics, it seems necessary to you in any case to recognize one of the two as true, then give room to my unimportant question: what is time - in time or not in time? If in time, then in what time? What is this time beyond time, and how does it contain time? And if not in time, what kind of excessive wisdom is it to introduce non-temporal time? And in this sentence: “I am now lying” - concede only one thing, that is, admit it either true or false (and we will not concede both together). But this is impossible, because, of all necessity, either the one who lies will tell the truth, or the one who speaks the truth will lie. Is it surprising that just as the opposites converge here, so both positions should be false? And in this way, your wise will turn out to be foolish. But solve me one more mysterious question. Were you with yourself when you were born, are you with yourself now, or were you not then and are you not now? But if you were and are, then who is present and with whom is he present? How did one become one and the other?.. And if you were not and are not, then how do you separate from yourself? And what is the reason for this separation? You will say: it is stupid to inquire about one thing, whether he is with him or not, so you can talk about others, and not about yourself. So know that it is even more stupid to inquire about the One who was born from the beginning, whether He existed or did not exist before birth. Because this is how you can talk about things separated by time! But you say: “The unborn and the begotten are not the same thing. And if so, then the Son is not one with the Father.” Is it necessary to say that according to this reasoning, the Divinity is clearly taken away from the Son or from the Father? For if unbegottenness is the essence of God, then begottenness is no longer the essence; and if the latter is an essence, then the first is not an essence. Who will dispute this? So, new theologian, choose whichever of the two ungodly positions you like, if you have an indispensable thought of ungodliness. Then I will ask: in what sense, taking the unborn and the born, do you call them non-identical? If in the sense of the uncreated and the created, then I agree, for the beginningless and the created are not identical by nature. But if you call the one who gave birth and the one born non-identical, then the situation is unfair, because they are by all necessity identical. The very nature of the parent and his offspring require that the offspring be identical in nature with the one who gave birth. Or another way: in what sense do you take the unborn and the begotten? If you mean unbornness and birth itself, then they are not identical. And if those to whom unbornness and birthfulness belong, then why should they not be identical? Folly and wisdom are not identical with each other, but they exist in one person, and their essence is not divided, but they themselves are divided in the same essence. Do immortality, purity, and immutability already constitute the essence of God? But if so, then in God there are many essences, and not one; or the Divinity is composed of them, because they are not without composition in God, if only they constitute His essence. But this is not called the essence of God, because it also belongs to other beings. The essence of God is that which belongs to God alone and is characteristic of Him. It is true that those who introduce both unborn matter and unborn idea would not agree to attribute unbornness to the one God (and let Manichaean darkness not even approach our thought!); however, let it be the property of God alone. What can you say about Adam? Isn’t he the only one – God’s creation? - Without a doubt, so. But is he the only person? - Not at all. Why? Because creation is not the only way to produce man; and what is born is also a man. Likewise, not only the ungenerate is God, although the ungenerate belongs to the one Father. On the contrary, although you are an excessive lover of the unborn, admit that the Born is God, because It is also from God. Moreover, why do you call the essence of God not the position of what exists, but the negation of what does not exist? For the word: “unborn” only shows that there is no birth in God, and does not explain what He is by nature, does not say what He is without birth. So, what is the essence of God? It is your arrogance to answer this because you are curious about birth. And it is great for us if we recognize this later, when, according to the promise of the Unfalse (Titus 1:2), the darkness and desolation in us will be dispelled. 13 Let those who have purified themselves to such an extent think about this, and hope for this. We dare to say one thing: if it is great for the Father not to come from anyone, then for the Son it is no less important to come from such a Father, because, as having come from the Guilty-Free One, He participates in the glory of the Guilty-Free One, but to this is added birth, which in itself is great and venerable for minds that are not completely groveling on the earth and have become coarse. But they say: “If the Son is identical with the Father in essence, and the Father is ungenerated, then the Son will also be ungenerated.” - This is true if unbornness is the essence of God. Then the Son will be a new mixture - begotten and unbegotten. But if this difference is not in the essence itself, then why do you present your conclusion as unshakable? Are you really your father’s father, so that you, being identical with him in essence, should not lag behind your father in anything? Isn’t it obvious that it is better for us to seek what the essence of God is (if we can find it), leaving personal properties immutable? In this way you can also be convinced that the unborn and God are not identical. If they were identical, then it would follow, since God is the God of some, that ungeneracy should also be the ungeneracy of some, or, since ungeneracy is not the ungeneracy of some, it would follow that God should not be the God of some, because the completely identical is spoken of similarly. But unbornness is not the unbornness of some. Because whose is it? And God is the God of some; because He is the God of all. Therefore, how can God and the unborn be identical? And one more thing: since unbornness and birth are opposite to each other, like possession and deprivation, it will be necessary to introduce essences that are opposite to each other, and no one allows this. Or again: since possession is prior to deprivation, and possession is destroyed by deprivation, then the essence of the Son, as a result of your assumptions, is not only prior to the essence of the Father, but is even destroyed by it. What other compelling argument do they have that perhaps they will resort to at the conclusion of everything? “If God has not ceased to give birth, then birth is imperfect. And when will He stop? And if you stopped, then, without a doubt, you started.” - Again the carnal speak carnal things. And just as I don’t say whether the Son is born eternally or not forever, until I delve more carefully into what was said: He gives birth to Me before all the hills (Prov. 8:25), so I don’t see the necessary consequence in the proof. For if that which has to end, according to them, began, then that which does not have to end, without a doubt, did not begin. But because what will they say about the soul or about the angelic nature? If they started, they will stop. And if they don’t stop, then, as can be seen from their situation, they never started. But they have begun and will not stop. Therefore, their position is unfair that what is about to cease has begun. Our teaching is this: just as for a horse, an ox, a person, and for every thing of the same kind, there is one concept, and what fits this concept is applied to it in the proper sense, and what does not fit is either not applied to it, or is not applied in the proper sense, so there is one God’s essence, one God’s nature, one God’s naming (although the names differ due to certain different mental ideas), and what is called God in the proper sense is really God, and equally, that by nature is God, then he is truly called God; if only the truth lies not in names, but in things. But they, as if fearing that they might move everything against the truth, when they are forced to do so by reason and evidence, confess the Son to be God, but God by name, that is, by participation in one name. When do we object to them: so what? Is the Son really not God in the proper sense, just as the animal in the picture is not really an animal? And how is He God, if not in the proper sense God? - then they answer: what prevents the same ones from being named and each being called in its own sense? At the same time, they present as an example a dog living on land and a sea dog, which bear the same name and are each called a dog in the proper sense. It is true that among the same names there is a certain genus, both something similar to this and something else, if, although it is different in nature, it nevertheless bears the same name and participates equally in it. But there, by subsuming two natures under one name, you do not affirm, O best one, that one is better than the other, that one precedes, and the other is less what it is called. There is nothing associated with them that would make this necessary. The first dog is no more, and the second is no less than the first, is a dog, that is, a sea dog - living on land, and vice versa, living on land - a sea dog (and why, or on what basis would this be?); on the contrary, objects of equal and different importance have a common name. But here, with the concept of God, conjugating venerability and superiority over all essence and nature (which belongs to the one God and constitutes, as it were, the nature of the Divinity), and then, attributing this to the Father and taking it away from the Son (through which you place Him lower and give Him secondary honor and worship), although in words you give Him Godlikeness, in reality you cut off His Divinity and from co-name, which contains equality, with malicious intent you move to co-name, which connects unequal things. And thus, according to your conclusions, the man in the picture and the living man represent the Divinity closer than the dogs presented as an example. Or yield to both both communion in name and equality of natures, although you recognize them as different; Then your dogs, which you invented to explain inequality, will be destroyed. And what is the use of sharing the same name if those you share do not have equal integrity? For not as proof of equality, but as proof of inequality, you resorted to names and dogs. Is it possible to expose more than this both contradiction with oneself and resistance to the Divine? If, to what we have said: “The Father is greater than the Son, as the Cause,” adding the proposition: “but the Cause by nature,” they draw the conclusion: “The Father is greater than the Son by nature,” then I do not know whether they are deceiving themselves more or those to whom they are addressing the word. For it is not unconditional that everything that is said about something must be the predicate and its subject, but it is necessary to distinguish between what is said and what. Otherwise, what prevents me from making the following statement: “The father is greater by nature” and then adding: “what is by nature is not always greater and not always the father,” from drawing the conclusion: “the greater is not always greater, or the father is not always the father.” And if you like, I will reason like this: God is essence, but essence is not always God, from here you can draw the conclusion yourself: God is not always God. But I think that this is a false conclusion, usually called “from the relative to the unconditional” in educational language. For when we give them the concept of the majority of the culprit by nature, they introduce the concept of the majority by nature. Here it is the same as if we said: a famous person is dead, and they would simply conclude: the person is dead. But how can we keep silent about something that deserves to be mentioned no less than the previous one? They say: “Is Father the name of God in essence or in action?” and in both cases they want to tie us up. If we say that the name of God is in essence, then at the same time we admit those who denounce the Son; because the essence of God is one and it, as they say, was already anticipated by the Father. And if it is a name by action, then we obviously recognize the Son as a creation, and not a birth. For where there is an actor, there is certainly a work. “And can what is created be identical with the Creator?” - they will say with surprise. “I myself would greatly respect your division if it were necessary to accept one of the two.” But it will be more just, having avoided both, to make the third position, namely, to tell you, wise ones, that the Father is the name of God, not in essence and not in action, but in the relation that the Father has to the Son or the Son to the Father. For these names, as with us, show closeness and affinity, and there they mean the co-naturalness of the Begotten with the Begotten. But let the word “Father,” to please you, also mean a certain essence, then, according to general concepts and the power of these names, He will introduce the Son with Him, and will not alienate Him. And if you wish, let it be a name according to action, and in this case do not argue with us. We affirm that this very thing, that is, consubstantial, was the action of the Father, or else the concept of such an action would contain absurdity. Do you see that we are avoiding your tricks, no matter how much you want to defeat us? But since we have already learned how irresistible your conclusions and cunning arguments are, let us see what the strength of your evidence from the word of God is if you begin to convince us with them. For we have both come to know and preach the Divinity of the Son, guided by great and lofty words. What kind? Next: God, the Word, in the beginning, with the beginning the beginning (In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God; John 1:1. And: the beginning is with You, Ps. 103:4. And again: Who from the beginning causes birth 14, Is. 41:4). And also the names: Only Begotten Son (the Only Begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He revealed, John 1:18); Way, Truth, Life, Light (I am the way, truth and life, John 14:6; and also: I am the light of the world, John 8:12); Wisdom, Power (Christ is God's power and God's wisdom, 1 Cor. 1:24); Radiance, Image, Seal (This being the radiance of glory, and the image of His hypostasis, Heb. 1:3; and also: the Image of goodness; Wis. 7:26; and also: the Father put His seal on him, God, John 6:27); The Lord, the King, the Jehovah, the Almighty (and the Lord rained down fire from the Lord, Gen. 19:24; and again: the scepter of righteousness, the scepter of Thy kingdom, Ps. 44:7; and again: Who is and was and is to come, the Almighty, Rev. 1:8) are clearly attributed to the Son, as well as others having the same power with these and belonging to the number of those, of which none is acquired and subsequently appropriated to the Son or Spirit, as well as to the Father Himself, because He was not perfected by accretion and did not exist when He was without the Word, did not exist when He was not the Father, did not exist when He was not true, or not wise, or not omnipotent, or devoid of life, or lordship, or goodness. In contrast to these words, list those that your ingratitude seeks out! These are the essence: my God and your God (John 20:17), [the Father] is greater than [me] (John 14:28), created (Proverbs 8:22), created (Acts 2:36), sanctified (John 10:36). And if you like, the following: servant (Is. 49:3), obedient (Phil. 2:8), gave (John 5:22, 10:29), skill (Heb. 5:8), commanded (John 14:31), sent (John 10:36, 17:3), cannot do anything of Himself (John 5:30), or speak (John 12:49), or judge ( John 12:47), or to grant (Matt. 20:23), or to will (Matt. 26:39). And also those in which ignorance (Mark 13:32), obedience (1 Cor. 15:28), prayer (Luke 6:12), questioning (John 11:34), prosperity (Luke 2:52), perfection (Heb. 5:9) are attributed to the Son. Add, if you want, more of these derogatory expressions, for example, sleeps (Matthew 8:24), hungers (Matthew 4:2), is weary (John 4:6), weeps (John 11:35), is in agony (Luke 22:44), takes refuge (John 8:59). Or maybe you will turn even death and the cross into a reproach. For, as I think, you will not touch the resurrection and ascension, because in them there will be something in our favor. But besides this, you can collect a lot if you want to create a God of the same name and cognate, when we have a God who is true and equal in honor to the Father. If we analyze each of these expressions separately, then it will not be difficult to explain them to you in a pious sense, eliminating everything that in the Scriptures serves as a stumbling block for you, if only you really stumble and are not intentionally interpreting crookedly. In general, the more exalted expressions refer to the Divine and to nature, which is higher than suffering and the body, and the more humiliating expressions - to the One Who is Compound, who exhausted Himself for you and became incarnate, and what’s worse, and became human, then exalted, so that you, having destroyed in your dogmas everything carnal and reptiles on the earth, learn to be more elevated and ascend with your mind to the Divine, and not dwell on the visible, ascend to the mental and knew where it was about the nature of God and where about His economy. For it happened when this One, now despised by you, was higher than you. Now he is a Man, but he was not complicated. Although He remained what He was, yet He also perceived what He was not. In the beginning He was without a cause; for what can be the cause of God? But subsequently He began to be for a reason, and the reason was to save you, a scolder who despises the Divine because It took upon Himself your rudeness and through the mind entered into communication with the flesh; and the lower man became God after he united with God and became one with Him, because the best prevailed, so that I too could be God, since He became man. He was born; but he was also born before - born from a wife, but also from a Virgin - born human, born divine; here without a father, but also there without a mother; and all this is a sign of the Divine. He was carrying in the womb, but was recognized by the prophet, who himself was still in the womb, and leaped before the Word, for whom he received being (Luke 1:44). He was wrapped in swaddling clothes, but, having resurrected, He laid aside the grave clothes. He was laid in a manger, but glorified by the Angels, indicated by a star, and honored with worship from the Magi. How do you find stumbling blocks in what is visible, without paying attention to intuition? He fled to Egypt, but also put everything in Egypt to flight. For the Jews it has neither form nor greatness (Is. 53:2), but for David it is more beautiful than the sons of men (Ps. 45:3), but on the mountain it is lightning-fast and more luminous than the sun, which is why it leads secretly to the future. He is baptized as a man; but he resolved sins as God; - baptized not because he himself needed purification, but in order to sanctify the waters. He was tempted as a man, but conquered as God, but commands us to be bold, as He who has overcome the world (John 16:33). He was hungry, but fed thousands, but He Himself is the bread of life and heavenly (John 6:33–35). He was thirsty, but also proclaimed: if anyone thirsts, come to Me and drink, but he also promised that believers would bring forth living waters (John 7:38). He has been weary, but He Himself is the rest of those who labor and are heavy laden (Matthew 11:28). He was burdened with sleep, but He is light on the sea, but He rebukes the winds, but He lifts up drowning Peter. Gives tribute, but from fish, but reigns over those who collect tribute. He is called a Samaritan and has a demon, but He saves one who was coming from Jerusalem and fell among thieves (Luke 10:30), but He is recognized by demons, casts out demons, sends a legion of spirits into the abyss and sees the leader of the demons as lightning fallen (Luke 10:18). They throw stones at Him, but they cannot take Him. He prays, but he also listens to prayers. Cries, but also stops crying. He asks where Lazarus was laid, because there was a man, but he also resurrects Lazarus, because there was God. He is sold, and at the lowest price - for thirty pieces of silver, but he redeems the world, and at a high price - with His own blood. He was led like a sheep to the slaughter (Isaiah 53:7), but He is the Word proclaimed by the voice of one crying in the wilderness (Isaiah 40:3). He was tormented and wounded (Isaiah 53:5), but he heals every disease and every disease (Matthew 4:23). He ascends to the tree and is nailed down; but restores us with the tree of life, but saves the thief crucified with Him, but darkens everything that is visible. They give Him vinegar to drink, He eats gall, but who is He? – He who transformed water into wine, the destroyer of bitter tastes, sweetness and all desire (Song. 5:16). He betrays the soul, but has the power to take it back (John 10:18), but the veil is torn, because what is above is made open, but the stones are crushed, but the dead are raised. He dies, but gives life and destroys death through death. Buried, but rises. He descends to hell, but raises souls from it, but ascends to heaven, but will come to judge the living and the dead and to torture words like yours. If some statements serve as a reason for you to be mistaken, then let others dispel your delusion! We give this answer to those who speak mysteriously - we give it reluctantly (because for the faithful it is unpleasant to talk idle talk and bicker with words - for them even one opponent is enough (1 Tim. 5:14), however, we give it out of necessity, for the attackers (because there are also medicines for diseases), so that they know that they are not wise in everything and are not invincible in their unnecessary and abolishing the Gospel wisdom. For when, having abandoned the faith, we prefer We will destroy the power of the word and the certainty of the Spirit with our questions, and then our word will be defeated by the greatness of objects (this will necessarily follow when the word is driven by a weak weapon - our thought); then what happens? - The weakness of the word seems to us to be the insufficiency of the sacrament itself; and thus, the grace of the word turns into the destruction of the Cross, as Paul argues about this (1 Cor. 1:17). But You, who explains the meanings and resolves the knots (Dan. 5:12), and guides us to understand how to reduce the growths of forcibly invading teachings, changing them the most, make the cunning talkers faithful and now called Christians! This is why we convince you, and we ask about this in the name of Christ: be reconciled to God (2 Cor. 5:20) and do not quench the Spirit (1 Thess. 5:19), but it is better to say, may Christ be reconciled to you, and, although it is late, may the Spirit shine upon you! If you are overly persistent, then at least for ourselves we save the Trinity and are saved by the Trinity, remaining pure and without stumbling (Phil. 1:10) until the perfect manifestation of that which is longed for us in Christ Himself, our Lord, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen. Sermon 30. About theology fourth, about God the Son second I have sufficiently shaken your cunning arguments and webs of conclusions by the power of the Spirit, and also on the objections and contradictions from the Divine Scriptures (by which the blasphemers of the truth, stealing the meaning of what is written, win over many to their side and disturb the path of truth), I have already given a general decision, and the decision, as far as I assure myself, is not unclear for the right-thinking, but namely those sayings of Scripture that are more sublime and God-befitting, I added to the Divinity, and those that are lower and more human-like, I attributed to the new us for the sake of Adam and to God, who became suffering in the fight against sin. But, hastening to say the word, I did not consider each of these expressions separately. Since you, in order not to get carried away by interpretations that have the appearance of probability, require brief solutions to these expressions, then, to facilitate memory, dividing them by numbers, I will bring them under a general overview. The first and especially ready saying for them is the following: The Lord has made me the beginning of His ways for His works (Proverbs 8:22) 15. How to answer this? We will neither blame Solomon, nor reject the former for his last fall, nor interpret that Wisdom is represented here as speaking, that is, that knowledge and that inventive mind by which everything was created. For Scripture often personifies many even soulless things, for example, the sea says this and that (Is. 23:4) and the deep says: it is not in me (Job 28:14); also the heavens are represented as preaching the glory of God (Ps. 19:2) and the sword is commanded to do something (Zech. 13:7), the mountains and hills are asked about the reasons for the jump (Ps. 114:6). But let us not answer in this way, although some before us have presented this as something substantial. On the contrary, let us assume that these are the words of the Savior Himself - true Wisdom. And let's look at them a little more carefully. Which creature does not have a cause? Deity. For no one will tell us the reasons of God; otherwise it would be more original than God Himself. But what is the reason why God accepts humanity for our sake? - So that we can all be saved. For what other reason could there be? So, since here we find both the word: created, and another clear expression: gives birth to me (Proverbs 8:25), then the explanation is simple. What is said with the addition of a reason will be attributed to humanity, and what is said simply, without the addition of a reason, will be attributed to the Divine. But isn’t the word: created said with the addition of a reason? For Solomon says: He made me the beginning of His ways before His creatures (Proverbs 8:22). The works of His hands are truth and judgment (Ps. 110:7), for which He is anointed by the Divine, because this anointing relates to humanity. But the word: gives birth to me is used without adding a reason, otherwise indicate what is added to it. So, who will argue that Wisdom is called a creature by earthly birth and born - by a first and more incomprehensible birth? From this it also happens that the Son is given the title of servant who serves many well (Is. 53:11), and that it is great for Him to be called the servant of God (Is. 49:6). For indeed, for our liberation He served the flesh, birth, our infirmities and everything by which He saved those held under sin. And for the baseness of man, what is higher than to unite with God and through such a union become God and be visited so much by the East from above (Luke 1:78), so that the Holy One to be born is called the Son of the Highest (Luke 1:35), and a name is given to Him that is above every name (and is this other than the same thing as being God?), so that every knee should bow (Phil. 2:9-10). Who emptied Himself for us and united the image of God with the image of a servant, so that the whole house of Israel might know that God had made Him both Lord and Christ (Acts 2:36). For this was both by the action of the Begotten and by the good pleasure of the Parent. And what takes second place between the most important and irresistible sayings for them? - For He must reign until, etc. (1 Cor. 15:25); heaven must receive until the time of the completion of all things (Acts 3:21) and sit on the right hand until the enemies are subdued (Heb. 1:13). What after that? Will he stop reigning? Will it come down from heaven? Who, and for what reason, will put an end to His reign? What a daring interpreter you are and cannot tolerate the king! However, you also know that His Kingdom will have no end (Luke 1:33). But you will fall into error due to ignorance that the word until is not always opposed to the future tense, but on the contrary, meaning time up to a certain limit, it does not exclude what follows after this limit. Otherwise (I’m not talking about anything else) how will you understand the words: I will be with you until the end of the age (Matthew 28:20)? Is it really possible that after this He will not be with us? What kind of reasoning! But you sin not because of this ignorance alone, but also because you do not distinguish between meanings. The Son is called reigning - in one sense as the Almighty and King of those willing and unwilling, and in the other as bringing us to obedience and subordinating to His kingdom those who voluntarily recognize Him as King. And His Kingdom, if we understand it in the first meaning, will have no end, but if we understand it in the second, will there be any end? - The one who will take us, the saved, under His arm (for do those who have submitted still need to be brought to obedience?), and then will rise as the Judge of the earth (Ps. 93:2) and separate the saved from the perishing, then God will stand among the gods of the saved, to judge and determine who is worthy of glory and abode. Add to this the submission with which you submit the Son to the Father! What are you saying? Is not the Son now subdued? But being with God, He must completely submit to God. Or about what thief and adversary of God do you speak? Instead, consider the following. As for me he is called a curse (Gal. 3:13), who looses my curse and sin (2 Cor. 5:21), who takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29), and Adam from the old is made new; so He makes my disobedience, as the Head of the whole body, His disobedience. Therefore, as long as I am disobedient and agitated by my passions and the fact that I renounce God, so long will Christ, solely because of me, be called disobedient. And when everything is submitted to Him (it will submit because it recognizes Him and changes), then He, having brought me saved, fulfilled His submission. For this is precisely, in my opinion, at least in my reasoning, the obedience of Christ consists of - in fulfilling the will of the Father. The Son also submits to the Father, and the Father to the Son, since One acts and the Other favors (as I said before). And thus, the One who conquered represents what was conquered to God, assimilating to Himself our submission. It seems to me that the words have the same meaning: God, my God, listen to Me, why have you forsaken Me (Ps. 21:2)? For He Himself was not abandoned either by the Father, or by His own Divinity, Who (as some think) was afraid of suffering and therefore hid from the sufferer (who forced Him either to be born on earth first, or to ascend to the cross?), but (as I have already said) He represents us in His face. We were previously abandoned and despised, but now we have been accepted and saved by the sufferings of the Impassive. Likewise, He assimilates to Himself both our foolishness and our sinfulness, as can be seen from the continuation of the psalm, because the twenty-first psalm clearly refers to Christ. The same view also includes the fact that He is skilled in obedience, as well as His cry, tears, prayer, hearing and reverence (Heb. 5:7-8) - all this is accomplished and miraculously added on our behalf. He Himself, as the Word, was neither obedient nor disobedient (since both are characteristic of those who are subordinate and inferior, and one is good-natured, and the other is worthy of punishment), but, as the image of a servant (Phil. 2:7), He condescends to fellow slaves and slaves, taking upon Himself someone else’s likeness, representing in Himself all of me and all that is mine, in order to exhaust my worst in Himself, like fire destroys wax, or the sun - the earth's vapor, and so that through union with Him, I can join in what is characteristic of Him. Therefore, by His own example, He raises the price of obedience and tests it in suffering, because disposition alone is not enough, just as it is not enough for us if we do not accompany it with deeds, for deed serves as proof of disposition. But, perhaps, it is no worse to assume that He tests our obedience and measures everything by His sufferings, guided by the art of His love for mankind, in order to learn from our own experience what is possible for us and how much should be exacted from us, and to excuse us if weakness is taken into account during suffering. For if the Light, which because of the veil 16 shines in darkness (John 1:5), that is, in this life, was persecuted by another darkness (I mean the evil one and the tempter), then all the more will the darkness endure this because of its weakness 17 . And is it surprising if, when the Light has completely escaped, we are somewhat overtaken? According to the right reasoning about this, it means more for Him to be persecuted than for us to be overtaken. I will add to what has been said one more place that comes to my mind and obviously leads to the same thought, namely: just as He Himself endured being tempted, He is able to help those who are tempted (Heb. 2:18). God will be all in all (1 Cor. 15:28) at the time of completion (Acts 3:21), that is, not only the Father, who completely allowed the Son into Himself, like a candle that was taken out of a large fire for a while, and then put back into it (the Sabellians will not seduce us with such a saying), but an all-whole God, moreover, when we, who now, by our movements and passions, either do not have God in us at all, or we have little, we will cease to be many, but will become completely God-like, containing within ourselves the whole God and His oneness. This is the perfection we strive for! And Paul himself especially hints at this. For what he says here vaguely about God, he in another place clearly assigns to Christ. In what words? – Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, neither circumcision nor uncircumcision, barbarian and Scythian, slave and free, but Christ is all and in all ( Col. 3:11 ). In the third place put the expression: [the Father] is greater than [me] (John 14:28), and in the fourth: to my God and your God (John 20:17). If it were said: more, but not said: equal (John 5:18-21), then this expression would perhaps have some force among them. When we find both things said clearly, what will these undaunted ones object to? What will they eat? How do you reconcile the incompatible? For it is impossible for one and the same thing, in reasoning about the same thing and in the same relation, to be both greater and equal. Is it not clear that the Father is greater than the Son in guilt 18 and equal in nature? And this is what we profess quite sensibly. Is it possible that someone else, striving even harder for our teaching, will add: that which has existence from such a Cause is no less than the Causeless, for what is from the Beginning is part of the glory of the Beginning, and to this is added birth, which for those who have intelligence is in itself important and venerable. But the idea that the Father is greater than the Son, considered according to humanity, although fair, is nevertheless of little importance. For what wonder if God is greater than man? Let this be our answer to those who shout a lot about the word, but about the word God let us say: the Father is called the God not of the Word, but of the visible (for how can one be the God of Him who is in the proper sense God?), as well as the Father not of the visible, but of the Word. For in Christ there are two natures; and therefore, in relation to both natures, the names God and Father are used partly in the proper sense, partly in the improper sense, and the opposite of how it is said about us; because God is our God in the literal sense, but our Father is not in the literal sense. And it is precisely this, that is, the combination of names, and, moreover, names, of which some are replaced by others due to the combination of natures, that misleads the heretics. And the proof of such a replacement is that when natures differ in concepts, then names also differ. Listen to what Paul says: The God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory (Eph. 1:17). The God of Christ, and the Father of glory, although both are one, not by nature, but by their totality. What could be clearer than this? Fifthly, consider the expressions by which the Son receives life, or judgment (John 5:26-27), or the inheritance of the nations (Ps. 2:8), or power over all flesh, or glory, or disciples (John 17:2, 6, 22), or the like. And this applies to humanity. And if you attribute it to God, there will be no inconsistency, because you ascribe it not as something acquired, but as something that belonged from the beginning, and moreover, by nature, and not by grace. Sixth, put the expression: The Son can do nothing of Himself unless He sees the Father doing (John 5:19). In the discussion, it should be noted that the words can and cannot are used in more than one sense, but have multiple meanings. Something else is called impossible due to lack of strength at a certain time and for a certain action; for example, a child cannot fight, a puppy cannot see or fight with such and such, but over time, perhaps, he will fight, and see, and fight with such and such, although fighting with another will then remain impossible for him. Otherwise, it is impossible in most cases, for example, a city standing on top of a mountain cannot hide (Matthew 5:14). But otherwise he could have taken refuge if he had been blocked by a large mountain. Anything else is impossible due to inconsistency, for example, can the sons of the bridal chamber fast while the groom is in the house (Matthew 9:15; Mark 2:19), or the bodily visible Bridegroom (for in His presence there is a time not of suffering, but of joy), or the intelligible Word (for should those purified by the Word fast bodily?). Anything else is impossible due to lack of will, for example, he could not perform signs there because of the unbelief of those receiving (Matthew 13:58; Mark 6:5–6). Since healing requires both the faith of the healed and the strength of the healer, the lack of one made the other impossible. But I don’t know whether this too should be considered impossible due to inconsistency? For it would be inappropriate to heal those damaged by unbelief. Impossibility due to lack of will is also expressed in the words: the world cannot hate you (John 7:7); and: how can you speak good when you are evil (Matthew 12:34)? For why would this or that be impossible, if not because there is no will for it? And sometimes what is called impossible is something that, although impossible by nature, could nevertheless become possible by the will of God, for example, it is impossible for the same person to be born another time (John 3:4) and a needle that takes a camel into itself is not possible (Matthew 19:24). For what would prevent this from happening if it pleased God? But beyond all these impossibilities, the completely impossible and unrealizable, and it is this that constitutes the subject of this research. Just as we recognize it as impossible for God to be evil or not to exist (this would show powerlessness in God, not strength), or for something that does not exist to exist, or for two and two to be together and four and ten; So it is impossible and incompatible with anything for the Son to do anything that the Father does not do. For all that the Father has belongs to the Son; just as, conversely, what belongs to the Son belongs to the Father. So, nothing is own; because everything is common. And Their very existence is common and equal, although the existence of the Son is from the Father. That is why it is said: I live by the Father (John 6:57) not in the sense that the life and existence of the Son is supported by the Father, but in the sense that the Son exists from the Father pre-time and guiltlessly. What do the words mean: as he sees the Father creating, so he creates? Is it really the same here as we see in those who copy paintings or writings, who can write correctly only by looking at the original and being guided by it? Is it possible for Wisdom to have a need for a Teacher or to do only what it has been taught? How does the Father create or did he create? Did He really create another world before the present one and will create a future one, and the Son, looking at them, created both the present one and the future one? So, according to this reasoning, there are four worlds: two are the creation of the Father, and two are the creation of the Son. What foolishness! But the Son cleanses leprosy, frees from demons and diseases, gives life to the dead, walks on the sea and accomplishes everything else that He created; over whom and when did the Father do this before the Son? Isn’t it obvious that the Father ordains the same things, and the Word brings them to completion, not slavishly and blindly, but with knowledge and authority, 19 or rather, fatherly. This is how I understand the words: what is created by the Father, the Son also creates, not in imitation of what was created, but out of equality of power. And this is signified, perhaps, by the words: to this day both the Father and the Son work (John 5:17), in which, however, not only creation is understood, but also the economy and preservation of what was created, as can be seen from the words: He creates His spirits with His angels and sets the earth on solid foundations (Ps. 103:4-5), while the earth was erected and the Angels were created once; also forms thunder and creates wind (Amos 4:13), while the law for them was given once, but the action continues constantly. Seventhly, consider the expression that the Son came down from heaven not to do His will, but the will of Him who sent (John 6:38). If this were not said by the One Who Descended Himself, then we would answer that these words were spoken on behalf of a person, not the kind we mean in the Savior (His will, as completely deified, is not contrary to God), but similar to us, because the human will does not always follow, but very often contradicts and opposes the will of God. For this is how we understand the words: Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; however, not as I want, but may Your will prevail (Matthew 26:39); and it is incredible that Christ did not know what is possible and what is not, and that he began to oppose one will to another. But since this is the speech of the One who received (which means the word: “descended”), and not of the one who was received, we will give the following answer: this is said not because the Son’s own will is really different from the will of the Father, but because there is no such will, and the meaning contained in the words is this: “Let me not do My will, because I have no will separate from Your will, but there is only a will common to both Me and You. Just as We have one Divinity, so we have one will.” For there are many such expressions that speak generally, not affirmatively, but negatively. For example, for God does not give the Spirit by measure (John 3:34), while neither God gives, nor the Spirit is unmeasurable, because God is not measured by God. And one more thing: not for my sin, not for my crime (Ps. 58:4), whereas we are not talking about actual sin, but about one that does not exist. Also: not for the sake of our righteousness, even as we created (Dan.9:18), that is, because we did not create righteousness. The same thing is revealed from what follows. For what is called the will of the Father? – That everyone who believes in the Son will be saved and will be worthy of the final resurrection (John 6:40). Is it really the will of the Father for this, but not the will of the Son? Or is it not by the will of the Son that they preach the gospel about Him or believe in Him? But who will believe this? Otherwise, the same force has the fact that the word heard from the Son is not the word of the Son, but of the Father (John 14:24). But no matter how I look, I can’t find it, and I don’t think anyone else will find it, no matter how the common property was the property of any one person. If you reason about the will in this way, then your reasoning will be correct and very pious, which I assure you of and which every right-thinking person will confirm. Eighth, they present the sayings: let them know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom You have sent (John 17:3); and: no one is good except God alone (Luke 18:19). But it seems to me that it is quite easy to answer this. For if the words: the only true one are applied to the Father, then what place will you give to the self-existent Truth? And if you understand the words in the same way: to the only wise God (1 Tim. 1:17), who alone has immortality, who dwells in unapproachable light (1 Tim. 6:16); the king of ages, incorruptible, invisible, the only wise God (1 Tim. 1:17); then your Son will perish, condemned to death, or to darkness, or to be neither wise, nor king, nor invisible, nor, most importantly, God at all. And along with everything else, how can we lose His goodness, which primarily belongs to the one God? But I think that the words of the one true God were spoken to distinguish them from non-existent gods, but [only] called gods. For it would not have been added: and Jesus Christ whom you sent, if the expression of the true God was opposed to Christ, and there was no talk about the Divinity in general. The words “no one is good” contain an answer to the questioning lawyer, who recognized the goodness in Christ as in man. He says that good in the highest degree belongs to the one God, although man is called good, for example, a good man brings out good things from a good treasure (Matthew 12:35) and: I will give the kingdom to the one who is better than you (1 Sam. 15:28), God says to Saul, meaning David. Also: O Lord, do good to the good (Ps. 125:4). This also includes places where those of us are praised, to whom the streams of the first Good have reached, although not directly. So, if I convinced you, then good, but if not, what do you say, according to your assumptions, in response to those who claim that in other places of Scripture the Son is called the one God! Where exactly? - in the following words: This is your God, and no one else can compare with Him, and soon after: after He appeared on earth and spoke among people (Bar.3:36-38). That this is said not about the Father, but about the Son, is proved by the last addition. For the Son communicated with us bodily and was with those below. If the thought prevails that this is said not against imaginary gods, but against the Father, then in the reasoning of the Father we will be defeated by the very thing that we tried to oppose to the Son. But what could be more disastrous and harmful than giving up such a victory over oneself? Ninth, they indicate the following expression: always living to make intercession for us (Heb. 7:25). Well? And very mysterious, and very humane! For to intercede here does not mean to seek revenge, as is the custom of many intercessors (which would be in some way humiliating), but to pray for us, as a mediator, just as the Spirit is said to intercede for us (Rom. 8:26), for there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus (1 Tim. 2:5). For He, as a man (because He is still with the body that He has assumed), is now praying for my salvation, until He makes me god by the power of His humanity, although we do not know Him according to the flesh (2 Cor. 5:16) - by this I understand carnal infirmities and everything that is ours, except sin. So we have Jesus as an intercessor (1 John 2:1) not in the sense that He humiliates himself for us before the Father and slavishly falls down (let such a truly slavish and unworthy of the Spirit thought be far from us! It is unusual for both the Father to demand this and the Son to endure this, and it is unfair to think so about God), but in the fact that, having suffered for us as a man, he thereby convinces us to be patient as the Word and Advisor. I understand this under the name of petition 20. Tenthly, they state ignorance, and the fact that no one knows the last day or hour, not the Son himself, only the Father (Mark 13:32). But how can Wisdom, the Creator of ages, the Perfecter and the Renewer, not know any of the things that exist, the One who is the end of all created things, and also knows God, just as the spirit of man knows what is in him (1 Cor. 2:11)? For what is more perfect than such knowledge? And how can the Son, Who knows in detail what will happen before the last hour and, as it were, during the end, not know the end itself? This would be like a riddle and would be equivalent to saying of someone that he knows in detail what is in front of the wall, but does not know the wall itself, or knows well the end of the day, but does not know the beginning of the night, although knowledge of one necessarily entails knowledge of the other. For it is obvious to everyone that the Son knows as God, but ascribes to Himself ignorance as a man, since only the visible can be separated from the intelligible. This idea is also suggested by the fact that the name of the Son is placed here detachedly and without reference, that is, without adding, whose Son He is, so that we understand this ignorance in a sense more consistent with piety and attribute it to humanity, and not to Divinity. So, if this explanation is sufficient, we will stop at it and will not enter into further research, and if not, we will present a second interpretation. Like everything else, so also the keeping of the most important secrets is attributed to the Cause out of respect for the Parent. But it seems to me that he, too, formed a not low concept for himself who, with one of our lovers, would read this passage like this: and the Son knows no other way than the day or the hour, but because the Father knows. For what is the conclusion from this? Since the Father knows, and therefore the Son also knows, it is clear that this is not known and incomprehensible to anyone except the first Cause. It would remain for us to explain those passages in which it is said that the Son is commanded (John 14:31), that the commandments are kept by Him (John 15:10), that the Son always does what pleases the Father (John 8:29), also those in which perfection is attributed to the Son (Heb. 5:9), ascension (Acts 2:33), through suffering the acquisition of the skill of obedience (Heb. 5:8), the high priesthood ( Heb.9:11), offering (Eph.5:2), supplication to Him who is able to save Him from death (Heb.5:7), wrestling, bloody sweat (Luke 22:44), prayer and the like; It would remain, I say, to explain such passages if it were not obvious to everyone that these expressions refer to a nature that is subject to suffering, and not to a nature that is unchangeable and above suffering. And how much has been said about opposite expressions that this can serve as some kind of root and indication for those who have more art to process the subject more perfectly; So, perhaps, it is worth the effort and, in accordance with what has been said so far, not to leave without consideration the names of the Son (which are numerous and taken from various mental ideas about the Son), but to explain the meaning of each and reveal the secret of the names. It should start with the following. The deity is unnamable. Not only reason shows this, but, as far as one can guess, the wisest and most ancient of the Jews. For those who honored the Divinity with special inscriptions and did not tolerate that the name of God and the names of creatures that are lower than God were written in the same letters, so that the Divinity would not even be communicated with them, could they ever decide with a scattering voice to pronounce the name of the indestructible and unique nature? Just as no one has ever inhaled all the air into himself, so neither the mind has completely contained, nor the voice has embraced God’s essence. On the contrary, to the image of God, borrowing some features from what is around God, we form some kind of unclear and weak idea, piecemeal collected from both, and our best Theologian is not the one who found everything (these bonds 21 will not contain everything!), but the one whose idea is more extensive and who has formed in himself a more complete likeness or shade (or whatever you want to call it) of the truth. Therefore, as far as knowledge is available to us, the names Jehovah and God are in some way names of essence, especially the name Jehovah, not only because He who spoke to Moses on the mountain, when asked about the name, what to call Him, He Himself called this name and commanded the people to say: Jehovah has sent me (Ex. 3:14), but also because we find this name most characteristic of God. For the name God (Θεός), which those skilled in rooting derive from flee (θέειν) or burn (αἴθειν), because of the ever-moving and power to destroy evil (which is why God is also called a destroying fire (Deut. 4:24)), is a relative name, and not detached, just like the name Lord, which also belongs to the names of God. For it is said: I am the Lord, this is My name (Is. 42:8); also: The Lord is His name ( Am. 4:13 ). But we are looking for a name that would express the nature of God, or originality, and being, not connected with anything else. And the name Jehovah truly belongs to God proper and entirely to Him alone, and not to anyone before or after Him, because it has not been and will not be limited or suppressed by anything. As for the other names of God, some obviously mean power, others economy, and the last - partly before the incarnation, partly after the incarnation. For example, Almighty and King or glory (Ps. 23:10), or ages (1 Tim. 1:17), or powers, or beloved (Ps. 67:13), or kings (1 Tim. 6:15) and the Lord of hosts, or, which is the same, the Lord of hosts 22 (Is. 3:15), or powers (Am. 6:8), or rulers (1 Tim. 6:15) - they are clearly names of power. And the God of salvation (Ps. 67:21), the God of vengeance (Ps. 94:1), or peace (Rom. 15:33), or righteousness (Ps. 4:2), the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob (Ex. 3:6) and all spiritual Israel who sees God—these are the names of the economy. Since we can be controlled through the fear of punishment, the hope of salvation, as well as glory and through the exercise of virtues, the previous names are borrowed from here, and the name of the God of vengeance instills fear in us, the name of the God of salvation instills in us hope, and the name of the God of virtues instills asceticism, so that whoever succeeds in any of the above, as if carrying God within himself, will all the more hasten towards perfection and rapprochement with God through virtues. Moreover, these names are general names for the Divine; the proper name of the Beginningless One is Father, of the Beginningless Begotten is the Son, and of the unbegotten One Who Came Out or Coming Out is the Holy Spirit. But let us move on to the names of the Son, which we are supposed to talk about in the word. It seems to me that He is called: Son, because he is identical with the Father in essence, and not only identical, but also from the Father. The Only Begotten (John 1:18), because He is not only the One from the One and the only One, but also in a unique way, and not as a body. In a word (John 1:1), because He relates to the Father as a word does to the mind, not only by dispassionate birth, but also by union with the Father and because He expresses Him. But another would say, perhaps, that it relates to the Father as a definition relates to that which is defined, because a definition is also called a word. For it is said that he who knew (this is the meaning of the word saw, John 14:9) knew the Son of the Father, and the Son is an abbreviated and convenient expression of the Father’s nature, since every generation is the silent word of the one who gave birth. But whoever says that the Son is called the Word, as co-inherent in all things, will not err in words. For what is not worth the Word? Wisdom (1 Cor. 1:24), as knowledge of Divine and human affairs. For is it possible for the Creator not to know the laws of what he has created? By force (1 Cor. 1:24), as the Preserver of creatures and the Giver of strength for the continuation of existence. The truth (John 14:6), as one, and not multiple, by nature (for the true is unique, but lies are diverse), as a pure seal and the most undeceitful image of the Father. Image (2 Cor. 4:4), as the Consubstantial One, and because He is from the Father, and not the Father from Him, for the very nature of the image is to be an imitation of the prototype and the one whose image it is called. However, here is a more ordinary image. For there the immovable is the image of the movable, but here the living God is a living Image, having more similarities with Him than Seth with Adam and every generation with the one who gave birth. For such is the nature of simple beings that they cannot be similar in one way and not in another; on the contrary, the whole can be an image of the whole, and moreover, more similar than a cast. Light (John 8:12), as the lordship of souls purified in mind and life. For if ignorance and sin are darkness, then knowledge and Divine life are light. Life (John 14:6), because He is the light, support and fulfillment of every rational nature. For we live and move and exist through Him (Acts 17:28), according to the twofold power of spiritualization - both according to the breath of life, which He breathed into everyone, and according to the Holy Spirit, which He gives to those who receive it and as we open the mouth of understanding. With righteousness (1 Cor. 1:30), because he divides according to dignity, he judges truthfully both those who are under the law and those who are under grace, both soul and body, so that one rules, and the other is under authority, so that the better rules over the worse, and the worse does not rebel against the better. Sanctification (1 Cor. 1:30), like purity, so that the pure can be contained by purity. Atonement (1 Cor. 1:30), as freeing us, held under sin, as giving Himself for us as an atonement, as a cleansing sacrifice for the Universe. By the Resurrection (John 11:25), as He who resettles us from here and brings us to life, those killed by sin. These names also belong in general to the One who is above us and to the One who exists for our sake, but what is actually peculiar to us and which belongs to the humanity perceived by Him are the following: Man (1 Tim. 2:5), so that He who is otherwise inconceivable for the bodily, due to the incomprehensibility of nature, not only becomes contained through the body, but also sanctifies man with Himself, becoming, as it were, leaven for a whole mixture, freeing the whole man from condemnation, uniting with Himself what is condemned, becoming for all that which makes us up, except sin - body, soul, mind - everything into which it has penetrated death. And the common thing from all this is man, who is intelligibly the visible God. The Son of Man (John 3:13) both through Adam and through the Virgin, from whom he was born (from one as from the Forefather, from the other as from the Mother) both according to the law and beyond the laws of birth. Christ, according to Divinity, for the anointing itself sanctifies humanity not by its action, as in other anointed ones, but by the entire presence of the Anointing One. And the consequence of this anointing is that the Anointing One is called man, and what is anointed is made God. The Way (John 14:6), as leading us through Himself. The door (John 10:9) as a guide. The shepherd (John 10:11), as one who dwells in green pastures, who brings up on still waters (Ps. 23:2), who guides from here, who protects from wild beasts, who converts the lost, who seeks out the lost, who binds the broken, who protects the strong (Eze. 34:4) and who gathers into the enclosure there with the broadcasts of pastoral art. A sheep (Isaiah 53:7) is like slaughter. Lamb (1 Peter 1:19), as perfect. Bishop (Heb. 4:14), as granting us access. Melchizedek (Heb. 7:3), as born without a mother according to our higher nature and without a father - according to our nature, as having no genealogy according to the birth above, for it is said: who can explain His generation? (Isa.53:8); as the king of Salem, that is, the world, as the king of righteousness and as the one who accepted tithes from the patriarchs who courageously fought against the evil forces. You have before you the names of the Son. Walk along them; and if they are high, then walk - divinely, and if they are bodily, then - servilely, or better yet, completely divinely, so that you too can become a god, ascending from the earth through Him who Descended for our sake from above. And most of all and above all, observe what is said, and you will not sin in the high and low names. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today bodily, the same spiritually and forever (Heb. 13:8). Amen. Homily 31. About theology fifth, about the Holy Spirit This is the word about the Son and thus escaped those stoning, passing through the midst of them (John 8:59), because the word is not stoned, but, when it wants, it slays the beasts with stones and a sling, that is, teachings that approach the mountain with evil intent! Now they ask: “What can you say about the Holy Spirit? Where do you introduce to us a God who is alien and not known according to Scripture?” And this is said even by those who speak moderately about the Son! For what we see in roads and rivers, which are separated from one another and come together, this also happens here due to an excess of wickedness: those who disagree on one agree on another, which is why it is impossible to know for certain what is accepted by them and what is disputed. It is true that the word about the Spirit is not without difficulty, not only because the opponents, weakened by the words about the Son, fight against the Spirit with even greater fervor (and they certainly need to blaspheme in some way, otherwise life is not life for them), but also because we ourselves, overwhelmed by many questions, are in the same position as people who lose the desire for food, so soon one food aroused in them disgust. Just as every food is equally unpleasant for them, so is every word for us. However, the Spirit will give, and the word will flow, and God will be glorified. But to carefully search and analyze in how many meanings the words Spirit and Holy are taken and used in Divine Scripture, to collect evidence in favor of speculation and to prove that in addition to this, the expression made up of both of my words, namely the Holy Spirit, is taken in a special sense - I leave it to others who have philosophized about this both for themselves and for us, since we also philosophize about this for them. And I will turn to the continuation of the word. Those who are indignant at us for the Holy Spirit, as if we are introducing some alien and inauthentic God, and who firmly stand for the letter, let them know that they are afraid of fear where there is no fear (Ps. 13:5), and let them clearly understand that their attachment to the letter is only a cover for wickedness, as will soon appear when we refute their objections to the best of our ability. And we so boldly believe in the Divinity of the Spirit, Whom we worship, that, referring to the Trinity the same sayings (although this seems somewhat daring to others), we begin theology like this: There was the true Light, which enlightens every person who comes into the world (John 1:9), that is, the Father. There was the true Light, which enlightens every person who comes into the world, that is, the Son. There was the true Light, which enlightens every person coming into the world, that is, another Comforter. Was, and was, and was, but was one. Light, and Light, and Light, but one Light, one God. David also presented the same thing earlier, saying: in Your light we see light (Ps. 35:10). And now we have seen and preach a brief, non-excessive theology of the Trinity, from the Light - the Father, having received the Light - the Son in the Light - the Spirit. Let the plunderer rob, let the destroyer devastate (Is. 21:2), but what we understand is what we preach. If they do not hear us below, we will climb a high mountain and cry out from there. Let us exalt the Spirit, let us not fear. And if we are afraid, then we should remain silent and not preach. If it was when the Father was not, then it was when the Son was not. If it was when the Son was not, then it was when the Holy Spirit was not. If there was One from the beginning, then there were Three. If you depose one, then I dare to say and say: do not claim that you exalt Two. For what is the use of an imperfect Godhead? It is better to say, what kind of Deity is it if It is imperfect? But how can one be perfect if something is missing for perfection? But something is lacking in the Divinity, which does not have a saint. And how can you have this without the Spirit? If there is any other holiness besides the Spirit, then let them say what should be understood by it. And if this is the same, then is it possible not to be her from the beginning? Is it better for God to never be perfect and without the Spirit? If the Spirit is not from the beginning, then He is placed along with me or a little higher than me; because over time we are separated from God. If He puts me on a par with me, then how does He make me a god or how does He connect me with the Divine? But I’d rather talk to you about the Spirit, starting a little higher, for we have already discussed the Trinity. The Sadducees did not even recognize the existence of the Spirit (since they did not recognize either Angels or the resurrection); I don’t know why they despised so many testimonies about the Spirit in the Old Testament. The best and closest Hellenic theologians to us had an idea of ​​the Spirit, as it seems to me, but did not agree on the name and called It the Mind of the World, the External Mind, and the like. As for the sages of our time, some considered Him energy, others creation, others God, and others did not dare to say either one or the other about Him out of respect, as they say, for Scripture, which supposedly did not express anything clearly about this; why do they not honor and deprive the Spirit of honor, remaining towards Him in some kind of average, or rather, very pitiful disposition. Even among those who recognized Him as God, some are pious only in their hearts, while others dare to honor [Him] with their lips. But I have heard about other even wiser measurers of the Divinity, who, although in agreement with us they profess the Three intelligibles, nevertheless divide them so much among themselves that they consider One to be unlimited both in essence and in power, the Other - unlimited in strength, but not in essence, and the Third - limited in both, imitating, in a different form, those who call them Creator, Collaborator and Servant, from the order of names and grace concluding about the gradualness of those named. We will not say a word to those who do not even admit the existence of the Spirit, or to the Hellenic idle talkers, so as not to anoint the words with the oil of sinners, but we will talk with others in the following way. It must be assumed that the Holy Spirit is something either independent or represented in another; and those who are knowledgeable in this call the former essence, the latter - belonging. Therefore, if the Spirit is an accessory, then He will be the energy of God. For what can we call Him then, except energy, and whose energy, except God’s? The same situation is more decent and does not introduce complications. And if He is energy, then, without a doubt, He will be produced, not producing, and will cease along with production. For such is all energy. But how does the Spirit act (1 Cor. 12:11), and speak (Matthew 10:20), and separate (Acts 13:2), and be offended (Eph. 4:30), and become angry (Is. 63:10), and produce all that is characteristic of the mover, and not of the movement? If the Spirit is an essence, and not a part of the essence, then it will be necessary to assume that He is either creation or God, for something in between creation and God - either not involved in either one or the other, or composed of both - will not be invented by those who create the Tragelathi 23. But if it is a creation, then how do we believe in Him? How are we made perfect in Him? For it is not the same thing to believe in something and to believe in something. We believe in the Divine, but we believe in every thing. But if God is not a creation, then He is no longer a work, not a servant, and not at all something bearing low names. Now the word is yours, let your slings throw; let your conclusions intertwine! “Spirit, without a doubt, is either unborn or born. And if unborn, then [it means there are] two beginningless ones. And if begotten, then (again you subdivide) born either from the Father or from the Son. And if from the Father, then two Sons and Brothers (think, if you want, that they are either twins, or one is older and the other is younger, for you are extremely carnal!). And if from the Son, then [would you say] God the grandson appeared to us? But could anything be stranger than this? This is how those who are smart for evil reason (Jer. 4:22), but do not want to write good things. But I, finding division necessary, would accept those named without fear of names. For when the Son is the Son in some higher respect and, besides this name, we cannot signify by any other that which is from God consubstantial with God, then we should not think that it is already necessary to transfer to the Divinity and all the lower names even of our kinship, or perhaps you will assume God the husband on the basis that God is also called the Father, and Divinity, by the force of the name itself, is recognized as something feminine. The Spirit is neither husband nor wife, because it does not give birth. And if you give free rein to your imagination and say from old nonsense and fables that God begot the Son from His will, then we have already introduced God - husband and wife together, like Marcion and Valentine, who invented new Aeons. But since we do not accept your first division, according to which nothing is allowed in between the unborn and the born, then your brothers and grandchildren immediately disappear along with this notorious division and, like a polysyllabic knot whose first loop has been unraveled, they disintegrate on their own and are removed from theology. For tell me where to place the Outgoing One, which in your division turns out to be the middle member and was introduced by the best Theologian - our Savior, unless, following your third testament, you have already excluded from the Gospel this expression: the Holy Spirit, who proceeds from the Father (John 15:26)? Since He comes from the Father, He is not a creature. Since he is not begotten, he is not the Son. Since there is a mean between the Unborn and the Born, then God. Thus, having escaped the snares of your conclusions, He turns out to be God, Who is stronger than your divisions! “Therefore, what is origination?” Explain to me the ungeneracy of the Father, then I too will dare to speak about the birth of the Son and the procession of the Spirit. Then, having penetrated into the mysteries of God, we will both come to amazement - we who cannot see under our feet and count the sand of the seas and the drops of rain and the days of eternity (Sir. 1: 2), let alone delve into the depths of God and judge the nature so unspoken and inexplicable. You say: “What does the Spirit lack in order to be the Son? For if he had lacked nothing, he would have been the Son.” – We are not saying that anything is missing. For in God there is no lack. But the difference (I will say this) in the manifestation or mutual relationship produces a difference in their names. For the Son lacks nothing to be the Father (since Sonship is not a deficiency), but he is not yet, therefore the Father. Otherwise, the Father lacks something to be the Son, because the Father is not the Son. But this does not mean a lack (where does it come from?) and a decrease in essence. This very thing - to be unborn, to be born and to proceed - gives names, the first to the Father, the second to the Son, the third to the Holy Spirit, about whom we have a word, so that the unity of the three Hypostases is preserved in the single nature and dignity of the Divinity. The Son is not the Father, because the Father is one, but the same as the Father. The Spirit is not the Son, although from God, because the Only Begotten is one, but the same as the Son. And the Three are one in Divinity, and the One is three in personal properties, so that there is neither one - in the Sabellian sense, nor three - in the sense of the current evil division. “So what? Is Spirit God? - Without a doubt. “And consubstantial?” - Yes, because God. “Show me,” you continue, “so that from one and the same one there is a son, and the other is not a son, and, moreover, both are of the same essence, then I will admit God and God.” - Indicate the imaginary God and another nature of God, and then I will present to you the Trinity itself with the same names and names. And if there is one God, and the highest Nature is one, then where will I get a likeness for you? Or will you begin to look for it again in the things below and around you? Although it is extremely shameful, and not only shameful, but mostly useless, to take the likeness of things above in what is below, of the immovable in a fluid nature, and, as Isaiah says, to ask the dead about the living (Is. 8:19), however, I will try to please you and from here extract something to help the word. But I’m thinking of keeping silent about something else; although from the history of animals one can imagine a lot (some to us, part to a few) that is known about how skillfully nature arranged the birth of animals, for they say that not only from homogeneous will be born similar ones, and from heterogeneous ones, foreign ones, but also from heterogeneous ones, similar ones, and from homogeneous ones, foreign ones. And if anyone believes the legend, then there is another image of birth, namely: the animal destroys itself and is born from itself. But there are also animals that, through the generosity of nature, are reborn, transforming from one kind and transforming into another. Even from the same thing, something else is not a generation, but another generation, however, both are of the same essence, which in some way comes closer to the real subject. But I, having presented one example that actually concerns us and is known to everyone, will move on to another reasoning. What was Adam? - God's creation. And Eva? - Part of this creation. And Sif? - The product of both. So, don’t you notice that creation, part and generation are identical? - How can you not see? – And are they consubstantial or not? - Why isn’t it like that? – So, it is recognized that things that happened differently can be of the same essence. I say this not so that creation, or separation, or anything else corporeal can be transferred to the Divinity (don’t let another word-wrestler attack me!), but so that all this serves as a kind of image of what is intelligible. But it is impossible for what is taken for comparison to completely correspond to the truth in everything. “And what is this for?” - you ask. - “Not one person was born of one thing, and another of something else.” So what of this? Are not Eve and Seth from the same Adam? - From whom else? – Or are they both the offspring of Adam? - Without a doubt. - What is it? – Eve is a part, and Seth is a generation. - However, both of them are identical to each other, because both are people, which no one will argue about. So, will you stop arguing against the Spirit and asserting that He is certainly either a creation, or is not consubstantial and not God, although in what is akin to man we open the possibility of your opinion? And you, I think, would approve of it if you had not learned to be too stubborn and argue against the evidence. But you say, “Who worshiped the Spirit? Who is from the ancients or from the new? Who prayed to Him? Where is it written that we should worship and pray to Him? Where did you get this from? “I will present you with the most satisfactory reason for this later, when I discuss the unwritten.” And now it will be enough to say one thing: in the Spirit we worship and through Him we pray. For it is said: God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth (John 4:24). And one more thing: for we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings that cannot be expressed (Rom. 8:26). And one more thing: I will begin to pray with the Spirit, and I will also pray with the mind (1 Cor. 14:15), that is, in the mind and in the Spirit. So, worship, or prayer by the Spirit, in my opinion, means nothing more than that the Spirit brings prayer and worship to Himself. Will any of the God-inspired men, who know well that the worship of the One is the worship of the Three, according to the equality of dignity and Divinity in the Three, not approve of this? Nor will I be frightened by the fact that, according to what has been said, all things came into being through the Son (John 1:3), as if under the word all things were included, including the Holy Spirit. For it is not simply said: everything, but: everything that began to be. The Father is not the Son, nor is everything that had no beginning of existence. Therefore, prove that the Spirit had a beginning of existence, and then give Him to the Son and number him among the creatures. Until you prove this, the comprehensiveness of the word will not help wickedness in the least. For if the Spirit had a beginning of being, then, without a doubt, by Christ, I myself will not deny this. And if he did not, then why should He include everything under the word or be through Christ? So, stop honoring the Father badly by rebelling against the Only Begotten (for that is a bad honor when you deprive Him of the Son and instead of the Son you give a most excellent creature), and stop honoring the Son badly by rebelling against the Spirit. The Son is not the creator of the Spirit, as something co-serving with Him, but is glorified with Him as one of equal honor. Do not place alongside yourself any One of the Trinity, so as not to fall away from the Trinity, and do not take away from the One the Divine nature and equal worship, so that with the removal of One of the Three, everything is not taken away, or better yet, so that you do not fall away from everything. It is better to have an insufficient understanding of unity than to indulge in wickedness with all the insolence. Now my word concerns the most important thing. And although I grieve that a question that has long been dead and given way to faith is now being revived, the need lies with us, who have the Word and stand for the Spirit, to resist the clingy hunters of disputes and not to surrender defenselessly into captivity. They say: “If God, God and God; then why not three Gods? And what is glorified by you, is there not many beginnings? -Who says this? Are they those who have achieved perfection in wickedness, or those who occupy second place, that is, those who reason more prudently than others about the Son? Although I have a common word for both; however, there is also something special about the latter, namely the following. What do you say to us, tritheists, who honor the Son, although you have apostatized from the Spirit? Are you not also tritheists? If you renounce the worship of the Only Begotten, then you will clearly take the side of the opponents. And then will it be necessary to show you humanity, as if you were not yet completely dead? And if you honor the Son and are still healthy in this regard, then we ask you, how will you defend your bigtheism if someone were to accuse you? If you have a clever word, answer, show us the way to the answer. The same arguments that you use to repel the accusation of bitheism will be sufficient for us against the accusation of tritheism. And in this way we will gain the upper hand, using you, the accusers, as our defenders. What is nobler than this? What is our common answer, what is the common word for both? We have one God, because there is one Godhead. And those who are from God are raised to the One, although he believes in the Three, because just as One is not more, so the Other is not less is God, and One is not before, and the Other is not after: They are not dissected in the will 24, and are not divided by force, and all that does not take place that only happens in divisible things. On the contrary, to put it briefly, the Divinity in the Divided is indivisible, as in three suns, which are contained one in the other, one dissolution of light. Therefore, when we have in our thoughts the Divinity, the first cause and the unity of command, then what we imagine is one. And when we have in our thoughts those in whom the Divinity is, those who exist from the first Cause, and those who exist from It before time and equally, then the Worshiped Ones are three. They will say: “Well? Isn’t it the same Godhead among the Hellenes, as those of them who were more philosophic than others teach? And we have a whole race - one humanity. However, the pagans, like us people, have many gods, not just one.” – But there, although the community has unity, represented, however, mentally, there are still many indivisibles, and they are divided among themselves by time, passions and strength. For we are not only complex, but also opposite both to each other and to ourselves; not to mention our whole life, we are not even one day exactly the same, but we constantly flow and change both in body and soul. But I don’t know if the Angels and every other heavenly nature other than the Trinity are perhaps the same, although they are simple and, due to their closeness to the Supreme Good, are firmly established in goodness. And as for the gods revered by the Hellenes and, as they themselves call them, demons, we do not need to be their accusers; on the contrary, according to the denunciation of their own theologians, they are devoted to passions, rebellions, filled with evil and vicissitudes, they are in conflict not only with themselves, but also with the first causes, as they call the Oceans, Tethys, Phanets and I don’t know who yet, and finally some kind of child-hater - a god who, out of lust for power and gluttony, devours all others in order to become the father of all people and gods, miserably devoured and vomited. - If, as they themselves say in order to avoid blasphemy, all these are fables and some allegories, what will they say to explain the fact that everything is divided into three parts and each part of beings is ruled by another god, different from the others both in substance and in dignity? But this is not our teaching. This is not the lot of Jacob, says my Theologian (Jer. 51:19). On the contrary, each of Them 25, by the identity of essence and power, has the same unity with the United One as with Itself. This is the concept of this unity, as far as we comprehend it. And if this concept is firm, then thank God for the speculation! And if it’s not hard, we’ll look for something harder. And I don’t know what to call your arguments, with which you are ruining our unity, a joke or something practical? And what is your proof? - You say: “Those of the same essence are counted, but those who are not of the same essence are not counted (by counting you mean a collection into one number), and therefore the inevitable conclusion is that you, on this basis, have three Gods, while we do not have this danger, because we do not call them consubstantial.” - So, in a word, you saved yourself the trouble and won a bad victory. Your action is somewhat similar to when someone, out of fear of death, puts a noose on himself. So as not to bother, standing for unity of command, you renounced the Divinity and handed over to your enemies what they were looking for. But even if it takes a little effort, I will not betray the Venerable One. But here I don’t even see any work. You say: those who are of the same essence are numbered, but those who do not have the same essence are imagined as units. Where did you get this from? Which teachers and storytellers? Don't you know that every number shows the quantity of objects, and not the nature of things? But I am so simple, or rather, so ignorant, that three things, even if they were different in nature, in relation to number I call three. But one, one and one, although they are not conjugated in essence, I call the same number of units, looking not so much at things as at the number of things being counted. Since you adhere excessively to Scripture, although you oppose Scripture, here is evidence for you from here. In Proverbs, three have an orderly gait, a lion, a goat and a rooster, the fourth is a king among his people (Proverbs 30:29-31), not to mention the other four numbers named there, while the things counted are different in nature. And in Moses I find two cherubim, counted separately (Ex. 25:19). How, according to your rule about naming, can we call these three, when they are so dissimilar in nature, and count the latter separately, when they are so homogeneous and close to each other? And if I call God and Mammon, who are so far apart from each other, under one number, two masters (Matthew 6:24), then perhaps you will laugh at such a number even more. But you say: “I call those objects countable and having the same essence, whose names are pronounced accordingly, for example, three people and three Gods, and not three some things, for what kind of correspondence is there?” This means giving a rule about names, and not teaching the truth. Therefore, for me, Peter, Paul and John are not three and not consubstantial, until they are called three Peters, three Pauls and as many Johns. For either what you observed in the discussion of the more generic names, we, following your invention, will demand in the reasoning the more specific names, or by not conceding to us what was conceded to yourself, you will act unfairly. What about John? When in the Council Epistles he says that three bear witness on earth: spirit, water, blood (1 John 5:8), is it really, in your opinion, expressed awkwardly, firstly, because he dared to count things that are not of the same essence, whereas this was assigned by you only to those of the same essence (for who will say that the named things are of the same essence?), and secondly, because he composed the words not accordingly, but on the contrary, putting the word three 26 in the masculine gender, contrary to the rules and regulations, both yours and the grammatical ones, gave three names of the neuter gender? 27 But what is the difference between saying the word three in the masculine gender and then representing one, one and one, or, having said: one, one and one, calling them three not in the masculine, but in the neuter gender - what do you find indecent for the Divinity? What is your cancer - animal cancer, weapon cancer and constellation cancer? 28 What is your dog, the dog that lives on land, the dog of the sea, and the dog of the sky? Don't you think that they can be called three crayfish and dogs? - Without a doubt, so. - Is that why they are consubstantial? Which sane person would say this? Do you see how your proof, taken from calculus, collapsed, and how it was repeatedly refuted? For if those who are of the same essence are not always counted, and those who are not of the same essence can be counted, and names are pronounced about both, then what are the gains of your teaching? But I also take into account the following, and perhaps not without reason. Doesn't one and one add up to two? And don’t two again decompose into one and one? - Obviously so. But if, according to your beginning, the parts that are added are of the same essence, and the parts that are divided are of another essence, then what is the conclusion from this? The fact that the same objects are both consubstantial and non-essential. I also find it funny that you are number one and number less, about which you think so highly, as if the order of those named was in the order of names. For if the latter is true, then in the Divine Scripture the same people, according to the equality of their nature, are considered first and then later; does anything prevent the same person, on the same basis, from being both more honest and a little more honest than himself? I have the same reasoning about the words God and Lord, also about the prepositions: from, through and in, by which you so cleverly distinguish the Divinity, attributing the first preposition to the Father, the second to the Son, the third to the Holy Spirit. But what would you do if each of these prepositions were constantly assigned to one, when you prove with them such inequality in dignity and nature, whereas, as far as those who have practiced this know, all of them are used about everyone? And this is enough for people who are not completely irresponsible. But since, having once rushed into the struggle against the Spirit, it is most difficult for you to retain your desire and, like a timid boar, you want to persist to the end and press on the sword until the wound reaches the inside, then let’s see what else remains to be said to you. Again and more than once you repeat to us: “Not known according to Scripture.” Although it has been proven that the Holy Spirit is not a strangeness and an innovation, but was known and discovered by both the ancients and the new, and has already been proven by many of those who discussed this subject, moreover, by people who studied the Divine Scripture not lightly or superficially, but penetrated through the letter into the inner, were honored to see the hidden beauty and were illuminated by the light of knowledge, however, I will show this as if in passing and, as much as possible, trying not to give away the thought that I am undertaking for extra labor and more generous than proper, when I can build on someone else’s foundation. If, however, the motivation for blasphemy and the reason for excessive talkativeness and wickedness for you is the fact that in Scripture the Spirit is not very clearly called God and is not mentioned as often as first the Father and then the Son, I will cure you of this disease, having spoken with you a little about things named and names, especially taking into account the use of Scripture. Of what is named, there is no other, but it is said in Scripture; the other is there, but not said; but something else is not and is not said, but something else is and is said. Will you ask me for proof of this? - ready to present. According to Scripture, God sleeps (Ps. 43:24), awakens (Dan. 9:14), is angry (Deut. 11:17), walks and has Cherubim as his throne (Is. 37:16). But when did He have weaknesses? And have you heard that God is a body? What is presented here is something that is not there. For, in accordance with our concept, we also called God by names taken from ourselves. When God, for reasons known to Himself, ceases His care and does not seem to care about us, this means that He is sleeping, because our sleep is similar inactivity and carelessness. When, on the contrary, He suddenly begins to do good, it means that He awakens, because awakening is the end of sleep, just as attentive examination is the end of aversion. He punishes; and we made it out of it - he gets angry, because with us punishment comes out of anger. He acts here and there; but in our opinion, He walks, because walking is movement from one thing to another. He rests and, as it were, dwells in the holy Powers; we called this sitting and sitting on the Throne, which is also characteristic of us. And the Divinity rests in nothing so much as in the saints. We call swiftness flying, vision is called the face, giving and receiving are called the hand. And also every other power of God and every other action of God is depicted by us as something taken from the body. And, on the other hand, where did you get the words: the unborn and the beginningless are your strongholds; where do we get the word immortal from? Show them to me literally; otherwise, either we will reject yours, and we will blot out ours, because they are not in Scripture, and then with the destruction of the names you also disappeared from your assumptions, this wall of refuge on which you hoped also perished; or, obviously, that, although this is not said in Scripture, it is nevertheless taken from words that contain the same thing... Which ones exactly? I am the first and I am the last (Is.44:6), before Me there was no God and after Me there will be no (Is.43:10); for Mine is entirely, it has not begun and will not cease. Holding on to this, since there is nothing before God and He has no cause that would precede Him, you called Him beginningless and unborn, and since He will not cease to be, immortal and indestructible. These are the properties of the first two cases. What is missing and not said? The fact that God is angry, that the ball is quadrangular, that the past has come, that man is not complex. For have you known a person who would have reached such a mental disorder that he would dare to think or say something like that? - It remains to show what is and is said - God, man, Angel, judgment, vanity, that is, conclusions similar to yours, perversion of faith, abolition of the sacrament. And when there is such a difference between names and those named, why do you servile so much to the letter and indulge in Jewish wisdom, chasing syllables and abandoning the thing? If you say: twice five and twice seven, and I deduce from what was said: ten and fourteen, or if I replace a rational and mortal animal with the word man, then will you really think that I am talking nonsense? And how can it be if I say it’s yours? For these words belong not so much to me, who utters them, as to you, who makes them utter them. Therefore, just as here I looked not so much at what was said, but at what was understood, so I would not fail to say something else if there was something, although not said or unclearly said, but implied in Scripture, and I would not be afraid of you, who likes to argue about names. This is the answer we will give to people who are half right-minded (and we cannot say this to you either, for you, who deny the names of the Son, no matter how clear or numerous they are, will, of course, not respect the names of the Spirit, even if they showed you the much clearer and more numerous known ones), but now, having raised the word a little higher, I will explain to you, the wise men, the reason for all the obscurity. Over the course of centuries, there were two famous transformations of human life, called two Testaments and, according to the well-known saying of Scripture, upheavals of the earth (Hag.2:7). One led from idols to the law, and the other from the law to the Gospel. I also preach the good news about the third shock - about the movement from here to there, unshakable and unshakable. But the same thing happened to both Testaments. What exactly? They were not introduced suddenly, not on the first occasion. For what? We needed to know that we were not being forced, but persuaded. For what is not arbitrary is also fragile, just as a stream or a plant is not long held by force. Voluntary is both stronger and more reliable. And the first is the business of the one who uses violence, and the last is actually ours. The first is characteristic of violent power, and the latter is characteristic of God's justice. Therefore, God determined that good should not be done to those who are unwilling, but to those who are willing. Therefore, He, as a teacher and a doctor, abolishes some fatherly customs, and allows others, allowing others for our pleasure, just as doctors give the sick medicine, skillfully seasoned with something pleasant, so that it is accepted. For it is not easy to change what has become a custom and has been respected for a long time. What do I mean? The fact that the first Testament, having prohibited idols, allowed sacrifices, and the second, having abolished sacrifices, did not prohibit circumcision. Then those who once agreed to the abolition yielded what was given, some - sacrifices, others - circumcision, and from pagans became Jews and from Jews Christians, being drawn towards the Gospel by gradual changes. Let Paul convince you of this, who, from circumcision and cleansing, achieved what he said: Why do they persecute me, brethren, if I still preach circumcision? (Gal.5:11). This was necessary for house-building, and this for perfection. I want to liken theology to this, only in the opposite sense, for there transformation was achieved through abolition, and here perfection through additions. But the fact is that the Old Testament clearly preached the Father, but not with such clarity the Son; The New One revealed the Son and gave instructions about the Divinity of the Spirit; now the Spirit abides with us, giving us the clearest knowledge of Him. It was not safe to clearly preach the Son before the Divinity of the Father was confessed, and before the Son was recognized (to put it somewhat boldly), to burden us with preaching about the Holy Spirit and expose us to the danger of losing our last strength, as happens to people who are burdened with food taken in excess, or who still have weak eyesight and direct their eyes to the sunlight. It was necessary for the Trinity light to illuminate those who were being enlightened with gradual additions, as David says, ascensions (Ps. 83:6), advancements from glory to glory and successes. For this reason, I think, the Spirit descends on the disciples gradually, commensurate with the strength of those who receive: at the beginning of the Gospel, after the suffering [of Christ], after the ascension, it performs powers through them (Matthew 10:1), then it is given to them through a breath (John 20:22), then it appears in tongues of fire (Acts 2:3). Yes, and Jesus proclaims Him gradually, as you yourself will see if you read carefully. I will pray, he says, that the Father will send you another Comforter (John 14:16-17), so that He will not be considered an adversary to God and speaking from some other authority. Then, although we use the word will send, we add: in my name (John 14:26) and having left the word I will pray, he keeps the word he will send. Then he says: I will send (John 15:26), showing his own dignity. Then he said he will come (John 16:13), showing the power of the Spirit. You see the insights that gradually dawned on us and the order of theology that it is better for us to observe, not suddenly expressing everything and not completely hiding everything, for the former is imprudent, and the latter is godless; and with one you can hit strangers, and with the other you can repel your own. I will add to what has been said something that, although it may have already occurred to others, I still consider it to be the fruit of my own mind. The Savior, even after He preached much to the disciples, had something else that, as He Himself said, the disciples (perhaps for the reasons stated above) could not then comprehend (John 16:12), and which therefore He hid from them. And the Savior also said that we will be taught everything by the descending Spirit (John 16:13). This is where I include the Divinity of the Spirit itself, clearly revealed later, when this knowledge had already become timely and suitable, after the glorification of the Savior, after they began to accept the miracle not with unbelief. And what more than this would either Christ have promised, or the Spirit taught, if it is necessary to recognize both the promised and the preached as great and worthy of God’s greatness? I am so sure of this myself, and I would like everyone with me who is my friend to honor God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, three Persons, one Divinity, indivisible in glory, honor, essence and kingdom, as one of the God-bearing men who lived shortly before us philosophized. Or let him not see, as Scripture says, the dawn (Job 3:9), nor the glory of future illumination, who believes otherwise or, considering the circumstances, is one or the other and does not judge the most important subjects sensibly. If the Spirit is not worthy of worship, then how does He make me god in baptism? And if we worship, then how can we not? And if we are venerable, then why not God? Here one thing is held by another, this is a truly golden and saving chain. From the Spirit we have rebirth, from rebirth we have regeneration, from regeneration we have knowledge of the dignity of Him who recreated. All this could be said about the Spirit on the assumption that He is not attested to by Scripture. But now a swarm of evidence will appear before you, from which anyone who is not too dull-minded and alien to the Spirit will clearly see that the Divinity of the Spirit is very revealed in Scripture. Please note the following. Christ is born - the Spirit precedes (Luke 1:35). Christ receives baptism - the Spirit bears witness (John 1:33–34). Christ is tempted - the Spirit leads Him [into the wilderness] (Matthew 4:1). Christ accomplishes the powers - the Spirit accompanies. Christ ascends - the Spirit succeeds. What great and possible thing can the Spirit not accomplish for God alone? And of the names of God, by what is He not called, except unbegotten and begotten? But these properties had to remain with the Father and the Son, so that there would be no unity in the Divinity, which brings into order both everything else and disorder itself. I am in awe when I imagine in my mind the wealth of names and the fact that those who resist the Spirit are not ashamed of even such a number of names. It is called: the Spirit of God, the Spirit of Christ (Rom.8:9), the Mind of Christ (1 Cor.2:16), the Spirit of the Lord (Is.61:1), the Lord Himself (2 Cor.3:17), the Spirit of adoption (Rom.8:15), truth (John 14:17), freedom (2 Cor.3:17), the Spirit of wisdom, understanding, counsel, strength, knowledge, godliness, fear of God ( Isaiah 11:2–3), because it produces all these things. He fulfills everything with essence, contains everything (Wis. 1:7) - fulfills the world in relation to essence and is inconceivable for the world in relation to power. He is the good Spirit (Ps. 142:10), right (Ps. 50:12), sovereign (Ps. 50:14) - by nature, and not by assimilation, sanctifying, but not sanctified, measuring, but not measured, borrowing, but not borrowing, fulfilling, but not being fulfilled, containing, but not contained, inheriting ( Eph.1:11), glorified (1 Cor.6:19–20), numbered together (Matthew 28:19), threatening (Acts 5:1–10; Matt.12:31–32). He is the finger of God (Luke 11:20), fire (Matthew 3:11; Acts 2:3), like God, and I think to denote consubstantiality. He is the Spirit who created (Job 33:4), who recreates [us] in baptism (Titus 3:5) and resurrection (Rom.8:11), the Spirit who knows all things (1 Cor. 2:11), teaches everything (John 14:26), breathes where he wants and as much as he wants (John 3:8), the instructing Spirit (John 16:13), speaks (Matt. 10:20), sending (Acts 13:4), separating (Acts 13:2), angry (Isaiah 63:10), tempted (Acts 5:9), giver of revelations (1 Cor. 2:10), enlightenment (Heb. 6:4), life (Rom. 8:11), or rather, light itself and life itself. He makes me a church (1 Cor. 6:19), creates me as a god, leads me to perfection, which is why He precedes baptism (Acts 10:44), and is sought after baptism (Acts 19:5–6); He produces everything that God produces. He divides in tongues of fire (Acts 2:3) and divides gifts (1 Cor. 12:11), creates apostles, prophets, evangelists, shepherds, teachers (Eph. 4:11); He is the Spirit of reason, many-parted, clear, bright, undefiled, unforbidden (which is equivalent, perhaps, to the words: wise, varied in actions, making everything clear and bright, free and unchangeable), omnipotent, all-seeing and penetrating all intelligent, pure, subtle spirits (Wisdom 7:22-23), that is, as far as I understand, angelic powers, as well as prophetic and apostolic, at the same time not in one place, but located here and here, which means unlimited. And what would you think? Those who say this and teach this, and in addition call the Spirit another Comforter (John 14:16), as if another God, know that only blasphemy against the Spirit is unforgivable (Matthew 12:31); But Ananias and Sapphira, when they lied to the Holy Spirit, are declared to have lied to God and not to man (Acts 5:4) - do they confess about the Spirit that He is God, or something else? Oh, how rude and far from the Spirit you really are if you doubt this and demand another Teacher! So, these names are very numerous and meaningful (for is it necessary to give you the passages of Scripture literally?); and if in Scripture there are derogatory expressions: given (Acts 8:18), sent (John 14:26), divided (Acts 2:3), giving, gift (Acts 2:38), breath (John 20:22), promise (Acts 2:33), intercession (Rom. 8:26) and others like that, then (not to mention each of these expressions) they must be raised to the first The reason is to see from whom the Spirit is, and not to accept three principles like the polytheists. For it is equally wicked to unite with Savely and to separate from Arius - to unite in relation to the face, to divide in relation to nature. Whatever I considered with myself in my loving mind, whatever I enriched my mind with, wherever I looked for a similarity for this, I did not find anything earthly to which God’s nature could be applied. If some small similarity is found, then much more slips away, leaving me below along with what is chosen for comparison. Following the example of others, I imagined a spring, a spring and a stream and reasoned: are not the Father similar to one, the Son to another, and the Holy Spirit to a third? For the spring, the spring and the stream are inseparable in time and their joint existence is continuous, although it seems that they are separated by three properties. But I was afraid, firstly, so as not to allow some kind of flow in the Divinity that never stops; secondly, so as not to introduce numerical unity through such similarity. For the spring, the spring and the stream are one in relation to number, but they are different only in the image of representation. I again took into consideration the sun, the ray and the light. But here, too, there is a fear that in an uncomplicated nature one may not imagine any complexity noticeable in the sun and in that which is from the sun; secondly, so that, by attributing essence to the Father, one does not deprive other persons of their independence and make them the powers of God, which exist in the Father, but are not independent. Because both the ray and the light are not the sun, but some solar outpourings and essential qualities of the sun. Thirdly, so as not to attribute to God both existence and non-existence (to what conclusion this example can lead), and this is even more absurd than what was said before. I also heard that someone found the desired similarity in the reflection of the sun, which appears on a table and is shaken by the movement of waters, when the beam, collected by the air and then scattered by the reflecting surface, comes into a strange vibration, for due to numerous and frequent movements it runs from place to place, making up not so much one, but many, and not so much many, but one; because due to the speed of rapprochement and divergence, it escapes before his gaze catches it. But, in my opinion, this cannot be accepted either. Firstly, because what sets things in motion is too visible here, but there is nothing more primary than God that would set Him in motion, because He Himself is the cause of everything, and does not have a cause that would be more primary than Him. Secondly, because this similarity also suggests the previous thought about movement, about complexity, about an unstable and unsteady nature, while nothing of the kind should be imagined about the Divine. And in general I find nothing that, when considering what is represented, would stop the thought on the selected similarities, unless someone with due prudence takes one thing from the image and discards everything else. Finally, I concluded that it is best to abandon all images and shadows, as deceptive and far from reaching the truth, to adhere to a more pious way of thinking, focusing on a few sayings, to have the Spirit as a guide, and whatever illumination is received from Him, then, preserving to the end, with Him, as with a sincere accomplice and interlocutor, go through the present century, and, to the best of your ability, convince others to worship the Father, and the Son, and The Holy Spirit - the one Divinity and the one Power. To God be all glory, honor, and power forever and ever. Words for church holidays Word 38. On Epiphany, or on the Nativity of the Savior Christ is born - praise! Christ from heaven - welcome! Christ on earth - ascend! Sing to the Lord, all the earth (Ps. 95:1)! And I will say to both together: let the heavens rejoice, and let the earth rejoice (Ps. 95:11) for the sake of the Heavenly, then the Earthly! Christ in the flesh - rejoice with trembling and joy: with trembling because of sin, with joy because of hope. Christ from the Virgin - preserve chastity, wives, so that you may become mothers of Christ! Who does not worship Jehovah from the beginning? Who does not glorify the Last One? Again the darkness dissipates, again the light appears; again Egypt is punished with darkness, again Israel is illuminated by a pillar. Let those who sit in the darkness of ignorance see the great light of knowledge (Matthew 4:16). The old things have passed away, everything is new (2 Cor. 5:17). The letter yields, the spirit prevails; the shadows pass and truth takes their place. Melchizedek comes, born without a mother is born without a father: the first time without a mother, the second without a father. The laws of nature are being violated, the heavenly world must be filled. Christ commands, let us not resist. Clasp your hands, all nations (Ps. 46:2); For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given; dominion is on His shoulder, for He is lifted up with the cross, and His name will be called the Great Council - the Council of the Father - Angel (Is. 9:6). Let John proclaim: prepare the way of the Lord (Matthew 3:3)! And I will proclaim the power of the day. The ethereal incarnates. The word hardens. The invisible becomes visible, the intangible becomes tangible. Flightless begins. The Son of God becomes the Son of Man; Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever (Heb. 13:8). Let the Jews be tempted, the Greeks laugh, the heretics dull their tongues! Then they will believe when they see Him ascending into heaven; if not then, then certainly when they see Him coming from heaven and sitting down to judge. But this will happen later, and now it is the feast of Epiphany, or Christmas, for this day is called one way or another, and two names are given to one celebration, because God appeared to people through birth. He is God, as the Existing and Ever-Sustaining of the Ever-Sustaining, the Supreme of cause and word (because there is no word that is higher than the Word); and He appears for our sake, having been born subsequently, so that He who bestowed being would also bestow well-being, or better yet, so that we, who fell from good-being through sin, would be returned to it again through incarnation. And from the appearance the name Epiphany, and from birth - Christmas. This is our triumph, this is what we celebrate today - the coming of God to people, so that we may move or (more precisely) return to God, so that, having put off the old man, we will put on the new (Eph. 4:22-24), and just as we died in Adam, so we will live in Christ (1 Cor. 15:22), being born with Christ, crucified, buried and raised together. For it is necessary for me to undergo this saving change, so that, just as the sorrowful may come from the pleasant, so the pleasant will arise again from the sorrowful. And when sin increased, grace began to abound (Rom. 5:20). And if eating was the cause of condemnation, then wasn’t Christ’s suffering even more justified? So, let us celebrate not magnificently, but divinely, not in an earthly way, but in a worldly manner, not our holiday, but the holiday of Him who became ours, or better yet, the holiday of our Master, not the holiday of illness, but the holiday of healing, not the holiday of creation, but the holiday of re-creation. How can this be accomplished? Let us not crown the entrances of houses, unite in choirs, decorate the streets, satiate the eyesight, fill the ears with pipes, undead the sense of smell, defile the taste, delight the sense of touch - these short paths to vice, these gates of sin. Let us not be like women, neither with soft and flowing clothes, whose whole grace is in uselessness, nor with the play of stones, nor with the glitter of gold, nor with the art of tinting, which brings into suspicion natural beauty and is invented to desecrate the image of God. Let us not indulge in feasting and drunkenness, with which, as I know, sensuality and debauchery are associated (Rom. 13:13), for from bad teachers the lessons are bad, or, better said, from bad seeds and fields are bad. Let us not cover high beds with tree branches, arranging luxurious meals to please the belly, let us not highly value the fragrance of wines, cooking seasonings and the value of incense. Let neither the earth nor the sea bring us the gift of expensive dirt - this is how I learned to call luxury items! Let us not try to outdo each other with intemperance (and everything that is unnecessary and beyond need, in my opinion, is intemperance), especially when others, created from the same dust and composition with us, are hungry and in need. On the contrary, let us leave all this to the Hellenes, Hellenic pomp and Hellenic celebrations. They even call those who enjoy fatness gods, and accordingly they serve the deity through gluttony, like crafty inventors, priests and worshipers of crafty demons. But if we who worship the Word should enjoy anything, then let us enjoy the word, and God’s law, and the legends both about other things and about the reasons for the present triumph, so that our enjoyment is actually our own and not alien to the One who created us. Or, if you wish, I, who is now the manager of the feast, will offer a word about this to you, the good partners of the feast, as much as I can, abundantly and generously, so that you know how a stranger can treat natural inhabitants, a villager - city dwellers, not familiar with luxury - luxurious, a poor and homeless person - famous for their abundance. Let me begin with this: let those who wish to enjoy what is offered purify their minds, their ears, and their hearts, because I have a word about God and God, so that they can come out of here having truly enjoyed not something vain. The word itself will be both very full and at the same time very short, so that it will neither upset you with its poverty, nor will it bore you with its excess. God has always been, is and will be, or, better said, always is, for the words was and will mean the divisions of our time and are characteristic of a transitory nature, but the One who exists is always. And He calls Himself by this name when talking with Moses on the mountain, because He concentrates in Himself the entire being, which did not begin and will not cease. Like a certain sea of essence, indefinable and endless, stretching beyond any idea of time and nature, with one mind (and this is very unclear and insufficient, not in reasoning what is in Himself, but in reasoning what is around Him), through sketching out some outlines, He is shaded into one kind of image of reality, escaping before it is caught, and escaping before it is represented by the mind, just as embracing with radiance what is sovereign within us, 30 if it is purified, just as the speed of flying lightning illuminates the gaze with radiance. And this, it seems to me, is in order to attract the comprehensible to Oneself (for the completely incomprehensible is hopeless and inaccessible), and to surprise the incomprehensible, and through surprise to arouse a greater desire, and through the desire to purify, and through purification to make God-like; and when we become like this, we can already talk as with the eternal (he dares to say something bold again) - talk to God, who has entered into unity with the gods and is known by them, perhaps as much as He knows those known by Him (1 Cor. 13:12). So, the Divinity is limitless and difficult to contemplate. And only this one thing is comprehensible in Him - His infinity; although others consider it an attribute of nature to be either completely incomprehensible or completely comprehensible. But let us examine what constitutes the essence of simple nature, because simplicity does not yet constitute its nature, just as in complex beings complexity alone does not constitute the nature. The mind, considering the infinite in two respects - in relation to the beginning and in relation to the end (for the infinite extends beyond the beginning and the end and does not lie between them), when it directs its gaze into the mountain abyss and does not find anything to stop at and where to put a limit to its ideas about God, then the infinite and not amenable to research is called beginningless; and when, rushing into the deep abyss, he experiences the same as before, then he calls Him immortal and incorruptible; when it brings both into unity, then it calls it eternal; for eternity is neither time nor a part of time; because it is immeasurable. But what is time for us, measured by the flow of the sun, is for the eternal eternity, something coextensive with eternal beings and, as it were, some temporary movement and distance. Let our philosophy about God be limited to this now, because there is no time to expand further, and the subject of my word is not theology, but God’s economy. When I name God, I mean the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, both without dividing the Divinity beyond this number of Persons, so as not to introduce a plurality of gods, and without limiting us to a smaller number, so that we are not condemned for the poverty of the Divinity when we fall either into Judaism, defending unity of command, or into paganism, defending plurality. In both cases the evil is equal, although from opposite causes. Such is the Holy of Holies, hidden from the Seraphim themselves and glorified by the three Shrines, which converge into a single Dominion and Divinity, about which someone else spoke beautifully and very highly before us. But since for Goodness it was not enough to exercise only in contemplation of Itself, but it was necessary for the good to spread, to go further and further, so that the number of those benefited would be as large as possible (for this is a property of the highest Goodness), then God invents, firstly, angelic and Heavenly Powers. And the thought became a deed, which was filled with the Word and accomplished by the Spirit. This is how the second lordships arose, the servants of the first lordship, whether by them we mean either intelligent spirits, or a kind of immaterial and incorporeal fire, or some other nature closest to what has been said. I would like to say that they are motionless towards evil and have only movement towards good, as existing around God and directly illuminated by God (for earthly things use secondary illumination), but an angel in his lordship convinces me to recognize and call them not motionless, but difficultly mobile, and for exaltation he became and is called darkness, with the god-apostate forces subordinate to him, which, through their removal from good, became the culprits of evil and us into something else involve. So, for such reasons, God created the intelligent world, as far as I can philosophize about it, weighing the great with a small mind. Since the first creatures were pleasing to Him, He invents another world - material and visible; and this is the harmonious composition of heaven, earth and what is between them, amazing for the beautiful qualities of each thing, and even more worthy of surprise for the harmony and harmony of the whole, in which one thing to another and everything to everything is in a beautiful relationship, serving to the completeness of a single world. And by this, God showed that He is able to create not only a nature akin to Himself, but also a completely alien nature. Akin to the Divine are natures that are intelligent and comprehended by the mind alone, but creations subordinate to the senses are completely alien, and of these latter, creatures that are completely inanimate and motionless are even further removed from the Divine nature. “But what do we care about that?” - perhaps some overly zealous holiday lover will say. Drive your horse to the goal - think wisely about what relates to the holiday and why we have gathered today. “I will do so, although I began somewhat distantly, to which I was forced by diligence and words.” So, mind and feeling, so different from each other, became within their limits and expressed the greatness of the Creative Word, as silent guardians and first preachers of splendor. But there has not yet been a mixture of mind and feeling, a combination of opposites - this experience of the highest Wisdom, this generosity in the formation of nature, and not all the wealth of Goodness has yet been discovered. Having desired to show this too, the Skillful Word creates a living being in which both are brought into unity, that is, the invisible and the visible nature; creates, I say, man, and, taking a body from already created matter, and putting life from Himself (which in the word of God is known under the name of the rational soul and the image of God), creates, as it were, some kind of second world - in a small great one, places on earth another angel, a worshiper made up of different natures, a spectator of the visible creation, a witness of the intelligible creation, a king over what is on earth, subordinate to the heavenly kingdom, earthly and heavenly, temporal and immortal, visible and intelligible, an angel who occupies the middle between greatness and baseness, one and the same is spirit and flesh - spirit for the sake of grace, flesh for the sake of exaltation; spirit to abide and glorify the Benefactor; flesh to suffer and, suffering, to remember and learn how gifted he is with greatness; creates a living being, here prepared and transferred to another world and (which is the end of the mystery) through the desire for God achieving deification. For the moderate light of truth here serves for me to see and bear the light of God, worthy of Him who binds and loosens and will unite again in the most excellent way. Having honored this man with freedom, so that the good belonged no less to the one who chooses than to the one who puts in its seeds, God placed him in paradise (whatever this paradise means) as the creator of immortal plants - perhaps divine thoughts, both simple and more perfect; He placed him naked in simplicity and unartificial life, without any cover or fencing, for this was how the primordial should have been. It also gives a law for the exercise of freedom. The law was a commandment about what plants he should use and what plants he should not touch. And the last was the tree of knowledge, and it was not planted at first with malicious intent, and it was not forbidden out of envy (let the atheists not open their mouths at the same time and let them not imitate the serpent!), on the contrary, it was good for those who use it at the right time (because this tree, in my opinion, was contemplation, which only those who have gained experience can safely approach), but not good for the artless and also for those who are immoderate in their desire, just as perfect food is not useful for the weak and those who require milk. When, because of the envy of the devil and the seduction of the wife, to which she herself was subjected as the weakest and which she carried out as having the art of convincing (oh my weakness! for the weakness of the forefather is also my own), a man forgot the commandment given to him and was overcome by a bitter taste, then through sin he becomes an exile, removed at the same time from the tree of life, and from paradise, and from God; puts on leather vestments (perhaps the coarsest, mortal and warring flesh), for the first time knows his own shame and hides from God. However, even here something is gained, namely death - in the suppression of sin, so that evil does not become immortal. Thus, punishment itself is made by philanthropy. For this, as I am sure, is how God punishes. But in order to prevent many sins, which grew from the root of damage from different causes at different times, man was admonished in many ways before: by word, law, prophets, blessings, threats, punishments, floods, fires, wars, victories, defeats, signs from heaven, signs in the air, on earth, at sea, unexpected revolutions in the fate of people, cities, nations (all this was aimed at making amends for the damage); finally, the strongest medicine became necessary, due to the most severe illnesses: murder, adultery, perjury, masculinity, and this last and first of all evils - idolatry and worship of the creature instead of the Creator. Since all this required the strongest method, the strongest was given. And he was as follows: God’s Word itself, eternal, invisible, incomprehensible, incorporeal, beginning from beginning, light from light. The source of life and immortality, the imprint of primordial Beauty, the imprint unbearable, the immutable image, the definition and word of the Father, comes to His image, bears flesh for the sake of flesh, unites with the rational soul for the sake of my soul, purifying like with like; done by man in everything except sin. Although the Virgin bears in her womb, in Whose soul and body were purified by the Spirit (for it was necessary to honor both birth and chastity), yet the one who came into being is God and with what was received from Him 31 is one of two opposites - flesh and Spirit, of which One deified, and the other was deified. O new mixture! O wonderful dissolution! The Existing One begins to be, the Uncreated is created, the Uncomprehensible is embraced through the rational soul, mediating between the Divine and the gross flesh, the Enriching One is poor - impoverishes to the point of my flesh, so that I may be enriched by His Divinity, the Filled One is emptied - emptied for a short time in His glory, so that I can be a partaker of His fullness. What a wealth of goodness! What is this mystery about me? I received the image of God and did not preserve It; He perceives my flesh in order to save both the image and the flesh to immortalize. He enters into a second communication with us, which is much more unusual than the first, since then he gave us the best, and now he perceives the worst; but this is more divine than the first, this is higher for those who have intelligence! What will slanderers, evil connoisseurs of the Divine, detractors of the praiseworthy, enveloped in darkness in the Light Itself, the ignorant in the Wisdom Itself, those for whom Christ died in vain, ungrateful creatures, creatures of the evil one, tell us about this? Are you blaming God for His good deed? Is it because He is small that He humbled Himself for you? That the Good Shepherd came to the lost sheep, laying down his life for the sheep (John 10:11), came to those mountains and hills on which you offered sacrifices, and that he found the lost one, and took the found one on the same shoulders (Luke 15:4-5), on which he bore the cross, and brought the one taken up again to the life above, and numbered the one brought among those who remain in his rank? That he lit a candle - His flesh, and swept the room - cleansing the world from sin, and found a drachma - the Royal image, littered with passions; after acquiring the drachma, he convenes those who are in love with His Powers, makes those whom He has made witnesses of the mysteries of His economy (Luke 15:8–9) participants in the joy? That the most radiant Light follows the lamp that preceded it, the Word follows the voice, the Bridegroom follows the bride, preparing a special people for the Lord (Titus 2:14) and purifying with water for the Spirit? Are you blaming God for this? For this reason do you consider Him inferior, because He girds Himself with a towel (John 13:4-5), and washes the feet of His disciples, and points out the most perfect path to exaltation - humility? What humbles himself for the sake of a soul that has bowed to the ground, in order to lift up with Himself that which is bowed to the ground by sin? How can you not blame the fact that He eats with publicans and from publicans, that He has publicans as disciples, and He Himself acquires something? What does it gain? Salvation of sinners. Would anyone blame a doctor for bending over to wounds and enduring the stench just to restore health to the sick? Will he also accuse the one who, out of compassion, bent down to the pit in order, according to the law (Ex. 23:2; Luke 14:5), to save the cattle that had fallen into it? It is true that He was sent, but as a man (because He had two natures; so He was tired, and hungry, and thirsty, and was in struggle, and wept - according to the law of bodily nature); and if he was sent as God, what of this? By embassy, ​​understand the favor of the Father, to Whom He refers His deeds, in order to honor the eternal beginning and not seem to be an enemy to God. He is said to be betrayed (Rom. 4:25); but it is also written that He also betrayed Himself (Eph.5:2,25). It is said that He was resurrected by the Father and ascended (Acts 3:15, 1:11), but it is also written that He raised Himself and ascended again into heaven (1 Thess. 4:14; Eph. 4:10), the first by good will, the second by power. But you expose what is derogatory and pass over in silence what is elevating. You argue that He suffered, but do not add that He suffered voluntarily. How much the Word suffers even now! Some honor Him as God and unite, others dishonor Him as flesh and divide. With whom will He be more angry, or, better to say, with whom He will forgive their sin? Is it those who unite, or those who dissect wickedly? For both the first had to be divided, and the last to unite - the first in relation to number, the last in relation to the Divinity. Are you tempted by the flesh? And the Jews were also tempted. Wouldn't you also call Him a Samaritan? I won’t say anything about what comes next. Do you not believe in His Divinity? But the demons also believed in Him, O you, who are more unfaithful than the demons and more ignorant than the Jews! Some recognized the name of the Son as meaning equality, while others recognized God in the exile, for they were convinced of this by what He endured. But you neither accept equality nor confess the Divinity in Him. It would be better for you to be circumcised and become possessed (I’ll say something funny), than to have evil and ungodly thoughts while uncircumcised and in a healthy state. Soon afterwards you will see Jesus cleansing himself in the Jordan - my cleansing, or, better to say, through this cleansing making the waters clean, for He Himself, who took away the sin of the world, had no need for cleansing (John 1:29); you will also see the heavens opening (Mark 1:10); you will see how Jesus receives testimony from the Spirit kindred to Him, and is tempted, and overcomes, and is surrounded by Angels serving Him, and heals every disease and every infirmity (Matthew 4:23), and gives life to the dead (oh that He would also give life to you, who died through evil faith!), and casts out demons, sometimes Himself, sometimes through His disciples, and with a few loaves He feeds thousands, and walks around the world. to the sea, and is betrayed, and crucified, and co-crucified with my sin, brought as a lamb and brought as a priest, as a man is buried and rises as God, and then ascends to heaven and comes with His glory. How many triumphs each mystery of Christ brings me! In all of them, the main thing is one thing - my completion, reconstruction and return to the first Adam! Now show respect to the womb and gallop, if not like John in the womb, then like David at the repose of Kyoto; respect the census according to which you too are inscribed in heaven; worship Christmas, through which you were freed from the bonds of birth; give honor to little Bethlehem, which again led you to paradise; bow before the manger, through which you, who have become dumb, are brought up by the Word. Know (Isaiah commands you) like an ox the Owner and like a donkey the manger of your Master (Is. 1:3). Whether you belong to the number of the pure, and lawful, and chew the cud of the word (Lev. 11:3), and are suitable for sacrifice, or to the number of the still unclean, not used either as food or as a sacrifice, and constitute the property of paganism - go with the star, bring gifts with the wise men: gold, and incense, and myrrh - as to the King, and as to God, and as to one who died for you; glorify with the shepherds, rejoice with the Angels, sing with the Archangels; may there be a general triumph of the Heavenly and Earthly Forces. For I am sure that the Heavenly Powers rejoice and triumph with us today; because they are lovers of mankind and lovers of God, just as David imagines them ascending with Christ after His suffering, meeting and commanding each other to lift up the gates (Ps. 23:7). The only thing you can hate that happened at the Nativity of Christ is Herod’s infanticide, or better yet, show respect in it to the sacrifice of Christ’s peers, which preceded the new slaughter. If Christ flees to Egypt, you too will willingly flee with Him. It is good to flee with Christ when you are persecuted. If He lingers in Egypt, call Him out of Egypt, offering Him good worship there. Walk blamelessly through all the ages and powers of Christ. As a disciple of Christ, cleanse yourself, be circumcised, remove the veil that has been on you since birth, then teach in the church, drive out those who sell holy things. Endure, if necessary, stoning; I know well that you will hide from those throwing stones and walk among them like God, because the word is not stoned. If you are brought to Herod, answer him no more. He will respect your silence more than the long speeches of others. If you are beaten with whips, be harassed and so on, taste the bile for the first taste, drink vinegar, be spat upon, receive blows on the cheek and beatings. Be crowned with thorns - the severity of life according to God, put on a scarlet robe, accept a reed, let those who laugh at the truth bow before you. Finally, willingly be crucified, die and accept burial with Christ, so that with Him you will be resurrected, and glorified, and reigned, seeing God in all His greatness and visible by Him - God in the Trinity, worshiped and glorified, Whom we pray may now, as far as is possible for prisoners of the flesh, be revealed to us in Christ Jesus our Lord. To him be glory forever. Amen. Homily 44. For New Week 32, for spring and in memory of the martyr Mamant Honoring the Day of Renewal is an ancient law established with a good purpose. It is better to say, on the Day of Renewal, to honor new blessings and to honor them not just once, but many times, every time the same day returns with a new turn of the year, so that the given blessing does not fade from memory over time and disappear, lost in the depths of oblivion. The islands are being renewed, as we read in Isaiah, towards God (Is. 41:1) and whatever should be understood by these islands, in my opinion, should be understood by the Churches, recently built from the pagans, arising from bitter unbelief and receiving firmness accessible to God. The copper wall is renewed, in another prophet (Jer. 1:18), that is, as I think, the soul is solid and golden-shaped, newly confirmed in piety. We are commanded to sing a new song to the Lord (Ps. 149:1), whether we were carried away by sin to Babylon, into this evil confusion, and then happily returned to Jerusalem, and just as there, being on a foreign land, we could not sing a divine song, so here we composed a new song, and a new way of life, or we constantly remained and succeeded in goodness and have already accomplished some things, and we are still doing others with the help of the Holy and Renewing One. Spirit. The Tabernacle of Testimony, which God showed, Bezalel completed, and Moses erected, is being renewed, and in a very magnificent manner. The kingdom of David is also renewed, and not just once, but the first time with the anointing, and the second time with the proclamation of David as king. There was a feast of renewal in Jerusalem, and there was winter (John 10:22), that is, the winter of unbelief. And Jesus came - God and the church, the eternal God, the new church, destroyed in one day, restored in three days and abiding forever, so that I may be saved, called back from the ancient fall and become a new creature, recreated as such by love for mankind. The divine David desires a pure heart, created in him, and a right spirit, renewed in his womb, not because he does not have it (who should have it, if not the great David?), but because he recognizes the present as new, constantly attached to the past. But why do I need to talk about more updates? I can explain the real Renewal, which we are now celebrating - moving from death to life. Renewal, renewal is our holiday, brothers; Yes, this is repeated many times for pleasure. And what other update? He who knows, let him teach it, and he who does not know, let him renew his hearing! God is the unapproachable Light. It is continuous, it did not begin, it will not stop; He is unchangeable, ever-radiant and tri-radiant; few (I think, hardly even a few) contemplate Him in all its fullness. The forces surrounding God and the ministering spirits are the second lights, reflections of the first Light. And the light that we have not only began subsequently, but is stopped by the night and itself evenly stops the night. It is entrusted to sight, spread in the air and itself receives what it gives, for it gives sight the opportunity to see and is the first to be seen through sight, while spilled around visible objects imparts visibility to them. God, who wanted to create this world, which consists of the visible and invisible and serves as a great and wondrous preacher of His greatness, this God for eternal beings is Light Himself, and no one else (for is a secondary light needed for those who have the highest Light?). And first of all, He will illuminate the creatures of the earth and those around us with this visible light. For it was fitting for the great Light to begin the creation of the universe by creating light, with which He destroys the darkness and the hitherto discord and disorder. And, as I reason, at first God did not create this organic and solar light, but not contained in the body and in the sun, and then given to the sun to illuminate the entire Universe. When for other creatures He first created substance, and subsequently clothed it in form, giving each creature an arrangement of parts, outline and size; then, in order to make an even greater miracle, he created here the form 33 before the substance (for the form of the sun is light), and then he adds the substance, creating the eye of the day, that is, the sun. Therefore, the first, second, third, and so on until the seventh day, which gives rest from work, are counted among the days, and by these days everything created is divided, brought into order according to ineffable laws, and not instantly produced by the Almighty Word, for Whom to think or speak means to already accomplish a deed. If the last person to appear in the world was a man honored by God’s handiwork and image, then this is not at all surprising, for for him, as for a king, a royal monastery had to be prepared and then the king should be brought into it, accompanied by all creatures. So, if we had remained what we were and kept the commandment, we would have become what we were not, and would have come to the tree of life from the tree of knowledge. What would we become? Immortal and close to God. But since death entered the world through the envy of the evil one (Wis. 2:24) and took possession of man through deception, then God, having become man, suffers like man and becomes poor until the perception of the flesh, so that we may be enriched by His poverty. Hence death, and the grave, and resurrection. Hence the new creation and after the Feast there is a feast 34; and I am again the founder of the celebration, celebrating the renewal of my salvation. “What? - you say. “Wasn’t the day of renewal the first Sunday that followed this sacred and luminous night?” Why do you give this name to this day, O idle lover, who invents many fun things?” “That was the day of salvation, and this is the day of remembrance of salvation.” That day demarcates burial and resurrection, and this one is only the day of a new birth, so that, just as the first creation begins on a weekly day (and this is evident from the fact that the seventh day from it is made Saturday, because it is a day of rest from work), so the second creation begins again on the same day, because it is the first among those following it and the eighth among those preceding it - a high day, a wondrous day, for it leads to a heavenly state. It seems to me that the divine Solomon is also guessing about this day, commanding to give part of the seven, that is, the present life, and the eight (Eccl. 11:2), that is, the future life, both from the local blessings and from the restoration there. But the great David, in honor of the same day, sings his psalms about the eighth (Ps. 6, 11), since on the same day of renewal he sings another psalm (Ps. 29), naming some kind of renovation to the house, and this house is we, who are worthy to be, be called and become the church of God. Here's a word about the Day of Renewal! But be renewed also, and, having put off the old man, live in newness of life (Rom. 6:4), putting a bridle on everything that causes death, training all the members, hating or vomiting all bad food from the tree, and only remembering the ancient things in order to avoid it: Beautiful in appearance and good for food was the fruit that killed me. Let's avoid a blooming appearance, let's look at ourselves. Let not the attraction to beauty overcome you, and let not be carried away by eyelashes (Proverbs 6:25), if possible, even with a cursory glance, remembering Eve, this sweet bait, precious poison. Will a stranger save him whom his own has destroyed? Let not your throat be satisfied, in which everything that is given to it is swallowed up, and what is valuable before it is accepted becomes worthless upon acceptance. Has your sense of smell pampered you? Avoid incense. Has your sense of touch relaxed? Give up everything that is smooth and soft. Convinced by the rumor? Shut the door to all seductive and idle conversation. Open your mouth to the word of God (Proverbs 31:8) so that you can attract the Spirit and not snatch away death. If something forbidden seduces you, remember who you were and what you died from. If you have deviated somewhat from common sense, come into yourself before you go completely mad and are subject to death, from the old become new and celebrate the renewal of the soul. Be angry only at the serpent through whom you fell. Direct all your passionate power towards God, and not towards anything else malicious and deceptive. Let reason rule in everything, and let the best in you not be carried away by the worst. Do not harbor hatred, and without reason, towards your brother, for whom Christ died and, being God and Master, became your brother. Do not envy the prosperous one, who himself aroused envy towards himself, believed that they envy you, and as a result was deposed. Do not despise tears, you who yourself endured what was worthy of many tears and then received mercy. Do not push away from yourself the poor one who is enriched by the Divine; otherwise, at least do not enrich yourself to the detriment of the poor, for this already means a lot given our insatiability. Do not despise the stranger for whom Christ was a stranger (and with Christ we are all strangers and strangers), lest you continue to be removed from paradise. To the one in need of shelter, food and clothing, provide this to him who takes advantage of it, and beyond his need. Don't love wealth if it doesn't help the poor. Farewell is the one who has received forgiveness, mercy is the one who has been pardoned. Acquire philanthropy while you still have time. May your whole life be renewed, may your ways of activity be renewed. Living under the yoke of marriage! Give something to God too, because you are connected. Virgos! Give everything to God because you are free. Do not be predators of slave lust, avoiding freedom by living with your husbands, although they are not your husbands. I cannot bear for you to be continually tormented by voluptuous memories. I hate dating over the air. Strong ones, fear the Strongest; you who sit on high thrones, fear the Most High! Do not be surprised at what is impermanent. Do not despise what is permanent. Don’t squeeze tightly something that, when taken in your hands, blurs. Do not be jealous of what is worthy not of envy, but of hatred. Do not rise high, lest you fall deeper. Do not consider it great for yourself to appear better than the bad, but grieve that the good are superior to you. Do not laugh at the fall of your neighbor; Walk as much as you can, without stumbling, but also give your hand to the one lying on the ground. In sadness, do not lose hope for prosperity, and if things are going well, expect sadness. There are four seasons in one year; one moment produces many revolutions. Let your pleasure be thwarted by care, and your sorrow by the best hope. This is how a person is renewed, this is how the day of renewal is honored, with such pleasure, with such dishes. Let them not, it is said, come before Me empty-handed (Ex. 23:15), but bring with them something good. And now appear new, with different morals, completely changed. The old things have passed away, everything is new (2 Cor. 5:17). By this bring fruit to the holiday, be changed by a good change, and even in this case do not think highly of yourself, but say with David: this is the change of the right hand of the Most High (Ps. 76:11), from Whom is all that prospers in people. The Word of God wants you not to stand in one place, but to be in constant motion, to be in good motion, completely newly created, and if you sin, to turn away from sin, and if you prosper, to strain your strength even more. Yesterday your faith was consistent with the circumstances of the time; now know the faith of God. How long will you be limping on both knees (1 Kings 18:21)? How long will it take you to prepare what you need for the building? Finally get started with the construction itself. Yesterday you considered it an honor to appear, now you consider it a great honor to be that in reality. How long will there be only dreams? Take care of reality someday! Yesterday you were a lover of spectacles; now turn out to be a lover of contemplation. Yesterday you were slanderous and insolent, now say only good things and be meek. Yesterday you indulged in drunkenness, now serve chastity. Today you drink wine, tomorrow you drink water. Today you bask on beds of ivory and anoint yourself with the best ointments (Am. 6:4-6), tomorrow you lie down on the bare ground and stay awake. Instead of laughing, become thoughtful; instead of smart clothes, put on rags; instead of an arrogant and pompous appearance, take on a simple appearance; from a gold-bearer, become a lover of poverty; from an arrogant person, become one who hangs to the ground. If you reason and act in this way, then there will be a new heaven and a new earth for you, who comprehends both the rest and the basis for this. But let’s move on to celebrating for a decent amount of time. For everything is perfectly prepared for celebration and rejoices. Look what is visible! The Queen of the Seasons comes out to meet the Queen of Days and brings from herself as a gift everything that is most beautiful and pleasant. Now the sky is transparent, now the sun is higher and more golden, now the circle of the moon is lighter and the host of stars is purer. Now the waves are coming into reconciliation with the shores, the clouds with the sun, the winds with the air, the earth with the plants, the plants with the eyes. Now the springs flow more transparently, now the rivers flow more abundantly, having been released from the bonds of winter, the meadow is fragrant, the plant is blooming, the grass is mown, and the lambs are jumping in the grain fields. Already the ship is being taken out of the pier with exclamations, mostly pleasing ones, and is taking wing with a sail; The dolphin, with possible pleasure, catching its breath and rising up, plays near the ship and tirelessly accompanies those sailing. Already the farmer is putting a plow into the ground, looking up and calling on the Giver of Fruits for help; He is already leading the ox-ploughman under the yoke, cutting a lush furrow and rejoicing in his hopes. Already those herding sheep and oxen are tuning their pipes, playing a shepherd's song and welcoming spring under the trees and on the cliffs, already the gardener is caring for the trees, the bird-catcher is preparing cages, inspecting the rays, noticing the flight of birds, the fisherman is peering into the depths, clearing the nets and sitting on the stones. Already a hardworking bee, having spread its wings and left the hive, shows its wisdom, flies through the meadows, collects prey from flowers, and another decorates the honeycomb, intertwining hexagonal cups placed one on top of the other and closing them alternately straight, sometimes at an angle, together for beauty and for strength; and another puts honey in these storehouses and cultivates the sweet fruit grown without a plow for the visiting guest. Oh, if only we, Christ the Beekeeper, would do the same, we who have before us such an example of wisdom and hard work! A bird is already making a nest for itself, one flies into it temporarily, another lives in it permanently, and another flies around, echoes the forest and seems to talk to a person. Everything sings to God and glorifies Him with wordless voices. And through me, thanks are given to God for everything. Thus, their song of praise becomes mine, and from them I also take the occasion for hymn. For now every living thing expresses its joy, and with us every feeling enjoys. Now the proud and hot horse, who is tired of standing under the roof, has broken his leash, gallops across the field and shows off by the rivers. What else? Now the martyrs are making a solemn procession in the open air, calling the Christ-loving people to the bright altars and proclaiming their exploits. Among them is my crown bearer (he is mine, although not mine; let envy fall! - I say to those who know), the most famous Mamant, and shepherd and martyr. He first milked the fallow deer, which one after the other hurried to feed the righteous man with extraordinary milk; and now the people of the mother of cities are shepherding and today, among many thousands of people hurrying from everywhere, they celebrate the renewal of spring - both distinguished by the beauty of virtues, and worthy of shepherds and solemn words. I will say even more briefly: now is natural spring, spiritual spring, spring for souls, spring for bodies, visible spring, invisible spring, and oh that we would be worthy of it there, having been wonderfully changed here and renewed into a new life in Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom be all glory and honor and power with the Holy Spirit, to the glory of God the Father. Amen! Word 45. For Holy Easter “I will stand on my watch,” says the wonderful Habakkuk (Hab. 2:1). I will stand with him now, according to the power and contemplation given to me by the Spirit; I will look and find out what will be shown to me and what will be said. I stood and looked: and behold a man ascended on the clouds, a very tall man, and his image was like the image of an Angel (Judges 13:6), and his clothing was like the brilliance of flying lightning. He raised his hand to the east, exclaimed with a loud voice (and his voice was like the voice of a trumpet, and around him was like the host of heaven) and said: “Now is salvation for the world, the visible world and the invisible world! Christ from the dead - rise with Him you too; Christ in His glory - rise also you; Christ from the grave - free yourself from the bonds of sin; The gates of hell are opened, death is destroyed, the old Adam is put aside, the new is made: if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation (2 Cor. 5:17), and be renewed.” Thus he spoke, and others sang the same as before, when Christ appeared to us through his birth: Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men (Luke 2:14). With them, I (oh if only I had a voice worthy of an angel’s song and announcing the ends of the world!) tell you this: Easter! The Lord's Easter! And I will also say in honor of the Trinity: Easter! She is our holiday celebration and celebration of celebrations; so far surpasses all celebrations, not only human and earthly, but even those of Christ and for Christ, as much as the sun surpasses the stars. It was wonderful for us yesterday that everything shone and shone with the light with which we filled both private houses and public places, when people, of almost every kind and every rank, illuminated the night with generous lights, in the image of a great light, the light with which the sky shines from above, illuminating the whole world with its beauties, the premium light that in the Angels, the first bright nature after the First Nature, flows from Him - and Light in The Trinity, by which all light is composed, divided and adorned from the indivisible Light. But the present luminosity is more beautiful and more brilliant, because yesterday’s light was the forerunner of the great and resurrected Light and, as it were, pre-holiday joy, and now we celebrate the resurrection itself, not yet expected, but already accomplished and reconciling the whole world. Therefore, let others bear whatever other fruits they may have, and let everyone offer their own gift to the time - a festive gift, large or small, non-spiritual and pleasing to God, as much as each has the strength to do so. For the Angels, the first beings, spiritual and pure, spectators and witnesses of the heavenly glory, are unlikely to bring a gift commensurate with their dignity, although they are capable of the most perfect hymn. And I will bring the word as a gift, as the best and most precious of all that I have, especially when I sing the Word for its benefit to the rational nature. I'll start with this. For, sacrificing the word about the great Sacrifice and the greatest of days, I cannot help but resort to God and make a beginning for myself in Him. And you, who delight in such objects, so that you can come out of here having truly enjoyed something that is not exhausted, since my word is about God and divine, cleanse your mind, your hearing, and your thought. The word will be the most complete and at the same time the shortest, just as it will not upset you with a lack, so it will not bore you with excess. For lovers of learning and elegance, it might be a good idea to briefly examine the name of Easter itself, for such a digression would not be unworthy of hearing. The great and venerable Passover is called by the Jews faska in their language (where the word means transition) - historically because of the flight and migration from Egypt to Canaanite, and spiritually because of the passage and ascent from the earthly to the heavenly and to the Promised Land. But in many places of Scripture we find that some names are changed from unclear to clear, or from rude to most decent; we see the same thing here. For some, taking this word as the name of saving suffering, then adapting it to the Hellenic language, after changing F to P, and K to X, called this day Easter 36. And the habit of the changed word made it the most commonly used, because it pleased the ears of the people as a more pious expression. The Divine Apostle before us also said that the whole law is a shadow of the future (Col. 2:17) and of what is imagined. And God, who spoke to Moses when he gave laws about this, said: See, do everything according to the pattern shown to you on the mountain (Ex. 25:40), thereby making it clear that what is visible is a certain shade and design of what is invisible. And I am sure that nothing was established in vain, without reason, for a low purpose and unworthy of God's legislation and Mosaic service, although it is difficult for each shadow to invent a special speculation that explains all the details of what was legalized regarding the tabernacle itself, the measures, the substance, the Levites who wore it and served with it, and regarding the sacrifices, purifications and offerings. This is accessible to contemplation only by those who are like Moses in virtue and come closest to him in learning. For even on the mountain itself God appears to people, partly Himself descending from His heights, and partly raising us up from the lowness below, so that the Unattainable One can be comprehended by mortal nature, although in a small measure and as far as it is safe for it. And it is impossible for the heaviness of a mortal body and a prisoner mind to comprehend God except with God’s help. Therefore, even then, not everyone, as we know, is awarded the same rank and place, but one is awarded one, and another another, each, as I think, according to the degree of his purification. And others were completely removed and received permission to hear one voice from above - these are those who in morals were like beasts and were unworthy of the Divine sacraments. However, we, having chosen the middle between those who are completely coarse in mind and those who are too indulged in speculation and wanderings of the mind, so as not to remain completely inactive and motionless, and also not to become inquisitive beyond measure, not to deviate and not to move away from the proposed subject (one would be something Jewish and base, the other would be like the interpretation of dreams, and both are equally reprehensible), we will talk about this as far as possible, without going into extreme absurdities worthy of ridicule. I reason like this. Since we, who at first fell through sin and lust, were involved even in idolatry and lawless bloodshed, had to be raised again and brought to the primitive state, according to the great mercy of God our Father, who did not suffer so that such a work of His hand - man - would remain damaged, how is he restored? And what happens? Strong healing is not approved, as it is incorrect and capable of producing new wounds, due to the swelling hardening over time; A meek and humane method of healing was found for correction, because even a crooked branch cannot withstand sudden bending and the force of a straightening hand and is more likely to break than straighten. A hot and old horse does not tolerate a painful rein without some kind of flattery and affection. Therefore, the law is given to help us, like a wall placed between God and idols, to lead us away from idols and lead us to God. And at first he allows other unimportant things in order to acquire the most important things. He allows sacrifices for now in order to restore in us the knowledge of God. Then, when the time has come, he cancels the sacrifices, wisely changing us through gradual deprivations and leading us, already accustomed to obedience, to the Gospel. So in this case, a written law appeared, gathering us to Christ, and this, in my opinion, is the reason for the sacrifices! But in order for you to know the depth of wisdom and the richness of the unsearchable judgments of God, God did not leave the sacrifices themselves completely unsanctified, imperfect and limited to the shedding of blood, but to the subordinate sacrifices is added a great and relative to the first Nature, so to speak, not slaughtered Sacrifice - the cleansing not of a small part of the Universe and not for a short time, but of the whole world and eternal. For this purpose, a lamb is taken (Ex. 12:5) out of kindness and as a garment of ancient nakedness, for such is the Sacrifice offered for us, which is and is called the garment of incorruptibility. Perfect not only in the Divinity, in comparison with Whom there is nothing more perfect, but also in the received nature, which is anointed by the Divinity, and has become the same with the Anointed One and, I dare say, together with God. The male sex, because it is offered for Adam, or better yet, because it is stronger than the strong one, the first to fall in sin, especially because it does not have anything feminine in itself that is not characteristic of a husband, but on the contrary, by great power, by force it breaks the virgin and maternal bonds and is born from the prophetess of the male sex, as Isaiah preaches (Isaiah 8:3). One-year-old, like the sun of righteousness (Mal. 4:2), or coming out from there, or described as visible and returning to Himself, and as a blessed crown of goodness (Ps. 64:12), everywhere equal and similar to Himself, and beyond this, as that by which the circle of virtues is enlivened, imperceptibly merging and dissolving among themselves according to the law of reciprocity and order. Immaculate and undefiled, because He heals from shame and from shortcomings and defilements caused by damage, for although He took upon Himself our sins and suffered illnesses, He Himself did not undergo anything that required healing. He was tempted in everything like us, except sin (Heb.4:15), because the persecutor of the Light, shining in the darkness, did not comprehend Him (John 1:5). What else? The first month is mentioned, or, better to say, the beginning of months (Ex. 12:2), either because it was like this among the Jews for a long time, or because it became like this later, from that very time, and received the name of the first from the sacrament. On the tenth day of the month (Exodus 12:3) is the most complete of numbers, the first of units, the perfect unit and the parent of perfection. It is observed until the fifth day (Exodus 12:6), perhaps because my sacrifice is a cleansing one for the feelings from which I fall and in which I struggle, since they accept the sting of sin. It is chosen not only from the lamb, but also from the worst nature, from those standing on the left hand, from the goats (Ex. 12:5), because it is slaughtered not only for the righteous, but also for sinners, and for the latter, perhaps all the more so because we need greater love for mankind. It is not at all surprising that a lamb is especially required from each family, and if not, then due to poverty, through a contribution from several houses. For it is best for everyone to be sufficient on his own to acquire perfection and to bring a living, holy sacrifice to the calling God, always and in everything sanctified. If not, then he must attract helpers who are akin to him in virtue and similar in disposition. This, I think, means, in case of need, to include neighbors in the sacrifice. Then the sacred night, the rival of this night - real indivisible life, the night in which the original darkness is destroyed, everything comes into the light, in order and in its form, the former ugliness accepts beauty. Then we run from Egypt, the dark persecutor - sin, we run from Pharaoh, the invisible tormentor and from merciless overseers; By moving to the upper world, we are freed from working with clay and bricks, from the composition of this corruptible and impermanent flesh, most often not controlled by anything except mortal thoughts. Then the lamb is slaughtered and deeds and mind, or strength and activity - these doorposts - are sealed with honest blood (Exod. 12:7) of our doors, I mean movements of thought and opinion, beautifully opened and concluded by speculation, because there is a certain measure for concepts. Then the last and most severe execution for the persecutors, truly worthy of the night: Egypt weeps over the firstborn of its own thoughts and deeds, which is called in Scripture the tribe of the Chaldeans taken away (Is. 48:14) and the Babylonian babies, broken and crushed against the stone (Ps. 137:9). Everywhere the Egyptians are crying and crying, and then their destroyer will retreat from us, honoring the anointing and fearing it. Then the rejection of leaven for seven days (the most mysterious number and closely related to this world), removing a long-standing and outdated error (and not the leaven of bread and life), so as not to have with you on the way the Egyptian dough and the remnants of the Pharisees and godless teachings. The Egyptians will weep, but let us eat the lamb in the evening (Ex. 12:6), because at the end of the ages the suffering of Christ. And Christ, destroying sinful darkness, in the evening introduces his disciples to the sacrament. Not boiled, but baked (Ex. 12:8-9), so that in our word there is nothing rash and watery and easily disintegrating, but so that it is solid and dense, tempted by purifying fire, free from everything rough and superfluous, so that with good coals that ignite and purify our mental ability, He who has come will help us to bring down fire on the earth (Luke 12:49), by which they are destroyed bad skills, and Hastening to kindle it. And what is carnal and nutritious in the word, let it be eaten and consumed with the entrails and secrets of the mind and subjected to spiritual digestion - everything from head to toe, that is, from the first speculations about the Divinity to the last speculations about the Incarnation. But we will not endure anything, we will not leave anything until the morning (Ex. 12:10), because many of our sacraments should not be divulged to strangers, because after this night there is no purification, because it is not commendable to postpone until another time for those who have received the word. Just as it is good and godly that anger should not last the whole day, but should cease before sunset (whether this is understood in real time or mysteriously, for it is not safe for us who are angry to see the Sun of Truth set), so this dish should not be left for the whole night and put off until the next day. And let the bones and inedible things, that is, inaccessible to our understanding, not be broken (Ex. 12:10), through bad division and understanding (I will say for a moment that the bones of Jesus were not broken in the historical sense, although the crucifiers wanted to hasten death because of the Sabbath), and let them not be cast out and plundered, so as not to give the holy things to the dogs - the evil tormenters of the word, and not to throw to the pigs what in the word it is as bright as beads, but let it be burned with fire, with which all the burnt offerings are consumed by the testing and leading Spirit, thinned and preserved, and not perishing and not being scattered across the waters, as Moses did with the head of the calf cast by the Israelites, as a reproach for their hardness of heart. The image of eating should not be ignored, because the law did not keep silent about this, but also hid speculation about this in the letter. Let us consume the sacrifice with zeal, eating it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs (Exodus 12:8), girding our loins and putting on our sandals, and like the elders leaning on their staffs (Exodus 12:11). With diligence, so as not to do what the commandment forbids Lot, let us not look back and [let us not] stop anywhere in this vicinity, let us save ourselves on the mountain, so as not to perish from Sodom and the extraordinary fire (Gen. 19:17), and let us not harden into a pillar of salt from returning to the worst, which is produced by delay. With bitter herbs, because life according to God is bitter and difficult, especially for beginners, and it despises pleasure. For although the new yoke is good and the burden is light, as you hear (Matthew 11:30), it is such because of hope and reward, which is incomparably more generous than what the suffering here would deserve. And without this, who does not recognize that the Gospel is much more difficult and burdensome than legal decrees? The law prohibits the commission of sins, and we are turned to guilt and reasons, almost like actions. The law says: You shall not commit adultery (Matthew 5:27). And don’t have lust, don’t kindle passions with curious and attentive views. The law says: You shall not kill (Matthew 5:21). And you not only do not take revenge for the blow, but even give yourself up to the will of the striker. The latter is so much more wise than the former! The law says: do not break your oath (Matthew 5:33). And don’t swear at all, no less, no more, because an oath gives rise to perjury. The law says: do not add house to house, and field to field (Is. 5:8), oppressing the poor (Ezek. 22:29). And you willingly give back what you have acquired with truth, expose yourself to the poor, so that you can easily take the cross and be rich in the invisible. Let the dumb have untied and ungirdled loins, because they do not have reason that rules over voluptuousness (I am not saying yet that they also know the limit of natural movement). And you, with a belt and chastity, tame lust and this neighing in yourself, as the Divine Scripture says (Jer. 5:8), decrying the vileness of passion, so that you may taste the Passover pure, having mortified your earthly members (Col. 3:5) and imitating the belt of John, the hermit, Forerunner and great preacher of the truth. I also know another belt, namely a military one and signifying courage, according to which some are called good-girders 38 (Joshua 4:13) and single-girders 39 of the Syrians (2 Kings 24:2). God speaks about him when talking with Job: gird up your loins like a man (Job 40:2) and give a courageous answer. And the divine David boasts that God will girdle him with strength (Ps. 17:33), and he represents God Himself as clothed with power and girded (Ps. 92:1), obviously against the wicked, if anyone does not want to understand by this abundance and at the same time, as it were, a limitation of power, in which sense God is clothed with light, like a robe (Ps. 103:2). For who can resist His unlimited power and light? I ask, what do loins and truth have in common? What does St. Paul mean when he says: Stand, having your loins girded with truth (Eph. 6:14)? Is it not that contemplation curbs the power of lust in us and does not allow it to strive to another place? For love for anything alone does not allow one to strive with the same force for other pleasures. Whoever intends to enter a holy land that bears the footprints of God, let him take off his shoes, like Moses on the mountain (Ex. 3:5), so as not to bring in anything dead and constituting a mediastinum between God and people. Also, if any disciple is sent to preach the gospel, he, as a wise man and a stranger to any excess, must not only not have with him copper, a rod and more than one garment, but also be barefoot, so that the beautiful feet of those who bring good news of peace (Is. 52:7) and all other blessings can be seen. But whoever flees from Egypt and from everything Egyptian must wear boots, for safety both from anything else and from scorpions and snakes, of which there are many in Egypt, so as not to suffer harm from those lying in wait for the heel on which we are commanded to tread (Luke 10:19). I think this way about the rod and its hidden meaning. I know the rod used for support, as well as the pastoral and teaching rod, with which the verbal sheep are turned to the path. But now the law commands you to take a rod for support, so that you do not stumble when you hear about the blood, suffering and death of God, and, thinking of becoming God’s defender, do not fall into atheism. On the contrary, boldly and without hesitation eat the Body and drink the Blood if you desire life. Without unbelief, listen to the teaching about the Flesh and without being tempted to listen to the teaching about suffering, stand leaning firmly, unshakably, not wavering in the least before your opponents, not in the least carried away by the teachings of probability, place yourself on high, place your feet in the gates of Jerusalem (Ps. 122:2), establish them on the rock, so that your feet (Ps. 16:5) do not waver as they walk in God. What do you say? It was so pleasing to God that you should come out of Egypt, from the iron furnace (Deut. 4:20), leave the polytheism there, and be led by Moses, the legislator and military leader. I will offer you advice that is inappropriate for me, or better yet, completely decent if you look at it spiritually. Borrow gold and silver vessels from the Egyptians and go with them, stock up on the road with strangers, or better yet, with your own. You must receive wages for slavery and making bricks; manage to somehow demand it, take it from them by deception. Yes! You lived in poverty here, fought with clay - with this burdensome and unclean body, built strange and fragile cities, the memory of which perishes with noise (Ps. 9: 7). What then? Are you really going to leave with nothing, without reward? Will you really leave to the Egyptians and alien powers what they have acquired badly and are squandering even worse? This is not their property, they forcibly appropriated it for themselves, stole it from the One who said: My silver and My gold (Hag. 2:8), I will give it to whomever I want. Yesterday it belonged to them - it was allowed, but now the Lord brings it and gives it to you, who will use it well and savingly. Let us make friends for ourselves with unrighteous wealth; when we become poor, at the time of judgment, let us take back what we have (Luke 16:9). If you are Rachel or Leah, a patriarchal and great soul, steal the idols that you find from your father, not in order to save them, but in order to destroy them. If you are a wise Israeli, take them to the promised land. Let the persecutor mourn over this too, and the outwitted will know that he tyrannized and enslaved those better than him in vain. If you do this, you will come out of Egypt; I know without a doubt that a pillar of fire and cloud will show you the way day and night, the desert will no longer be wild, the sea will be divided, Pharaoh will be mired, the rain will pour down bread, the stone will pour out water, Amalek will be overthrown not only with weapons, but also with the battle-bearing hands of the righteous, depicting both prayer and the invincible sign of the Cross, the river will stop flowing, the sun will become, the moon will slow down on its way, the walls will fall without battering guns, hornets will precede (Deut. 7:20), paving the way for Israel and repelling foreigners; and without delaying words, I will say that everything that is narrated behind this and along with this will be given to you from God. This is the holiday that you celebrate today! Such is the feast that is offered to you on your birthday for the sake of you who was born and on the day of burial for your sake who suffered! This is the mystery of Easter for you! This was prescribed by the law, this was accomplished by Christ - the destroyer of the letter, the perfecter of the spirit, Who, by teaching us to suffer with His sufferings, grants with His glorification the opportunity to be glorified with Him. It remains to explore a question and a dogma that is ignored by many, but for me it is very much in need of investigation. To whom and for what purpose was this blood shed for us shed - the great and glorious blood of God and the Bishop and the Sacrifice? We were in the power of the evil one, sold for sins and bought damage for ourselves through voluptuousness. And if the price of redemption is given to no one other than the one in power, I ask: to whom and for what reason was such a price given? If the evil one, then how offensive it is! The robber receives the price of redemption, receives not only from God, but God Himself, for his torment he takes such an immense payment that it would be fair to spare you for it too! And if to the Father, then, firstly, how? It was not to Him that we were held captive. And secondly, for what reason is the blood of the Only Begotten pleasing to the Father, who did not accept Isaac offered by his father, but replaced the sacrifice by giving a ram instead of the promised sacrifice? Or is it clear from this that the Father accepts not because he demanded or had a need, but because of dispensation and because man needed to be sanctified by the humanity of God, so that He Himself would deliver us, overcoming the tormentor by force, and raise us to Himself through the Son who mediates and organizes everything in honor of the Father, to whom He is submissive in everything? These are the works of Christ, and let anything else be honored with silence. Although the copper serpent is hung against the biting serpents, it is not as an image of Him who suffered for us, but as representing the opposite, and it saves those who look at it not through the confidence that it is alive, but because the one who was deposed (which he deserved) was himself killed and kills with him the forces that were subordinate to him. And what is a fitting epitaph for him from us? Death! where is your sting? hell! where is your victory? (1 Cor. 15:55)? You are deposed by the Cross, slain by the Giver of Life, breathless, dead, motionless, inactive, and although you retain the image of a serpent, you are consigned to shame on high! But let us partake of Easter, now for now in a representative way, although more openly than in the Old Testament. For the legal Passover (I dare say and say) was an even more obscure type of image. And later and soon we will partake more perfectly and purer, when the Word drinks with us this new thing in the Kingdom of the Father (Matthew 26:29), revealing and teaching what has now been revealed to them to some extent, for what is now known is always new. What does this drinking and this eating consist of? “For you it is to learn, and for Him it is to teach and communicate the word to His disciples, for teaching is food for the one who feeds.” But gradually we will also become familiar with the law according to the Gospel, and not according to letters, completely, and not imperfectly, eternally, and not temporarily. Let us make our head not the earthly Jerusalem, but the mountain metropolis - a city now trampled not by armies, but glorified by the Angels. Let us not sacrifice bulls and lambs with horns and hooves (Ps. 69:32), in which there is much that is dead and senseless. But let us offer a sacrifice of praise to God (Ps. 49:14) on a high altar with high faces. Let us pass through the first veil, proceed to the second veil, and look into the Holy of Holies. I will say even more: let us sacrifice ourselves to God, or better yet, let us offer every movement every day. Let us accept everything for the sake of the Word, in suffering we will imitate Passion, we will honor the Blood with our blood, we will willingly ascend to the cross. Nails are coveted, although very painful. For to suffer with Christ and for Christ is more desirable than to enjoy with others. If you are Simon of Cyrene, then take up the cross and follow [the Lord]. If you are crucified with Christ as a thief, then as a prudent man, come to know God. If He is numbered among the evildoers (Mark 15:28) for you and for your sin, then be you a doer of the law for His sake. And the crucified one, bow down to the Crucified One for you, benefit even from your vicious life, buy salvation by death, enter with Jesus into paradise to find out from where you fell, contemplate the beauties there, and leave the one who grumbles with his blasphemies to die outside. If you are Joseph of Arimathea, ask the crucifier for the body; Let the cleansing of the world be your cleansing. If you are Nicodemus, the night worshiper of God, place Him in a coffin with incense. If you are one or the other of Mary, or Salome, or Joan, cry early, try to be the first to see the rolled away stone, and maybe the Angels, and Jesus Himself; say something, listen to voices; and if you hear: do not touch Me (John 20:17), stand at a distance, show respect to the Word, but do not be offended. He knows who will appear before others. Renew the resurrection; Help Eve, who fell first, to be the first to greet Christ and proclaim to the disciples. Be Peter and John, hasten to the tomb, go first quickly, sometimes together (John 20:4), competing with good competition. If they surpass you in speed, then surpass you in diligence, not only by looking into the coffin, but by going inside. If, like Thomas, you are not with the gathered disciples who are Christ, do not be unfaithful after you see. And if you don’t believe it, believe what they say. If you don’t believe them, then believe the wounds from the nails. If he descends into hell, you too descend with Him, learn the mysteries of Christ there, what is the economy and what is the reason for the double indulgence? Does He save everyone without exception by appearing there, or only believers? If he ascends to heaven, then ascend with Him and you, be among the angels accompanying or meeting Him, command the gates to rise (Ps. 23:7), to become higher in order to receive the Exalted One through suffering; perplexed because of the body and the signs of suffering, without which he descended and with which he ascends, and therefore asking: who is this King of glory? - answer: the Lord is strong and strong - strong both in everything that He has always created and is creating, and in the current battle and victory for humanity; and to a double question give a double answer. If they are surprised, saying, as in the dramatic presentation in Isaiah: Who is this that comes from Edom and from the earthly? And why does the Bloodless and Bodiless have scarlet robes, like a winemaker who has worn out a full winepress? (Is.63:1-3) - you point out the beauty of the clothing of the suffering body, adorned by suffering and enlightened by the Divine, who is most gracious and beautiful. But we will either stop fighting with them if they wish, although it is too late, to become more chaste, or we will postpone it until time, if they do not want this, but will remain the same as they are now. We will not be afraid of anything, struggling for the Trinity and with the Trinity. Now we need to briefly present the content of the word. We received being in order to prosper, and we prospered after we received being. We were entrusted with paradise to enjoy, we were given a commandment so that, by preserving it, we would earn glory - given not because God did not know the future, but because He decreed the law of freedom. We are deceived because we aroused envy; we are fallen because we transgressed the law; They fasted because they did not keep the fast, being defeated by the tree of knowledge, for this commandment was ancient and contemporary to us, serving as a kind of nurturer for the soul and a curb in pleasure, and we are rightly subordinated to it, so that by observing it we can regain for ourselves what we have lost through non-observance. We needed God incarnate and killed, so that we could come to life. We died with Him in order to be cleansed, we were resurrected with Him, because we died with Him; They were glorified with Him because they were raised with Him. There were many miracles at that time: God being crucified, the sun darkening and flaring up again (for it was necessary that even creatures should have compassion for the Creator), a curtain torn, blood and water pouring out from a rib (one because He was a man, the other because He was higher than a man), the earth shaking, stones falling apart for the sake of the Stone; the dead who have risen to ensure that there will be a final and general resurrection, miracles during burial, which will anyone sing worthily? But none of them compares to the miracle of my salvation. A few drops of blood recreate the whole world and for all people become the same as leaven for milk, collecting and uniting us together. But a great and holy Easter and the cleansing of the whole world! – I will talk to you as if you were something animate. The Word of God, and light, and life, and wisdom, and power! - All your names make me happy. The generation, origin and imprint of the great Mind! The intelligible Word and the intelligible Man, who upholds all things by the word of His power (Heb. 1:3)! Accept now this word, not the first, but perhaps my last fruit bearing; a word of gratitude and prayer at the same time, so that I would not endure other sorrows than the necessary and sacred ones in which my life passed. Stop either the tormenting power of the body over me (for you see, Lord, how great and burdensome it is), or Your sentence, if we are deposed from You. If, however, I am resolved as I wish and will be accepted under the heavenly roof, then perhaps there too I will lay what is pleasing on Thy holy altar, O Father, and Holy Word, and Holy Soul. For all glory, honor and power are due to you forever. Amen. Sermon 16. In memory of the holy Maccabee martyrs What can we say about the Maccabees? The real meeting is for them. And although not many honor them, because they did not labor after Christ, yet they are worthy to be honored by everyone, because they endured [suffering] for the laws of their fathers. Having become martyrs before Christ's suffering, what would they not have done if they had been persecuted after Christ and become imitators of His death for us? And without such an example, having shown so much valor, would they not have turned out to be even more courageous if they had suffered, looking at the example of Christ? But there is also a mysterious and hidden teaching (very plausible for me and for every God-loving soul), according to which of those who achieved perfection before the Coming of Christ, none achieved this without faith in Christ. For the Word, although it was clearly revealed later, at a certain time, was nevertheless known to pure minds before, as many glorified before Christ show. Why shouldn’t the Maccabees be humiliated because they suffered before the Cross. But since they suffered according to the law of the cross, they are worthy of praise, and should be honored with a word, honored not so that their own glory will increase (will a word add glory to those whose deeds are glorious?), but so that those who praise them will be glorified and those who hear them will be jealous of their virtues, in the memory of them finding for themselves an incentive to equal exploits. Who and where were the Maccabees, whose leadership and instruction, using at first, achieved such valor and glory that they are honored by these annual celebrations and meetings, and that for them in the soul of each there is a glory that is higher than visible glorification - all this will be shown for curious and hardworking people by the book written about the Maccabees 40, which, philosophizing that reason is the autocrat over the passions and the master of inclinations to both, then there are virtues and vices; as proof of this, among numerous other evidences, the exploits of the Maccabees are cited. But for me it will be enough to say the following. Here Eleazar is the first of those who suffered before Christ (like Stephen is the first of those who suffered after Christ), a priest and an elder, gray-haired, gray-haired and wise, who first offered sacrifices and prayers for the people, and now offers himself to God as the most perfect sacrifice, for the purification of the entire people. A blessed beginning of a feat! Together, loud and silent edification! But he also brings seven young men - the fruit of his own instructions, a living sacrifice, holy, pleasing to God (Rom. 12:1), a sacrifice that is more glorious and purer than any legal ritual. For to impute the valor of sons to the father is the most lawful and just thing. There are sons there, courageous and great in spirit, noble branches of a noble mother, zealous ascetics for the truth, worthy of the times not of Antiochus, true disciples of the Mosaic Law, strict guardians of fatherly morals, constituting one of the numbers respected by the Jews - a number distinguished by the sacrament of seven days of rest, they breathe one thing, they mean one thing, they know one way of life - to die for God! They are as much brothers in soul as in flesh, jealous of each other in the desire for death (a wondrous sight!); like treasures, they anticipate one another’s torments, they stand firmly for the mentor, that is, for the law, they are not so much afraid of the torments prepared for them as they desire those they have not yet seen; They are afraid of only one thing - lest the tormentor stop torturing, lest one of them remain uncrowned, be involuntarily separated from his brothers, and become a bad winner, unfortunately avoiding suffering. There, the mother is cheerful and courageous, at the same time child-loving and God-loving, suffering in her mother’s heart torments that are incredible by nature. She does not regret her suffering sons, but is tormented by the fear that her sons will not suffer; she does not grieve so much for those who have departed as she wishes for those who remained to join them; she has more concern for the latter than for those who have passed away; because some still have a doubtful struggle ahead, while others have been rendered safe by death; some she has already entrusted to God, others she is still worried about how God will accept them. What a courageous soul in a female body! What wonderful and generous zeal! Truly - Abraham's sacrifice and, if it is not bold to say, even greater than Abraham's! Abraham willingly brings one son, truly his only son, born according to the promise - the son for whom the promise was given and (more importantly) who is appointed to be the firstfruits and root not only of the clan, but also of similar sacrifices, she sanctified to God a whole nation of sons; She surpassed both mothers and priests in the number of victims ready for the slaughter of burnt offerings, smart sacred offerings, hastening to the altar. She pointed to the chest, reminded about nutrition, was evidenced by gray hair, used old age in intercession for her petitions, not in order to save children from death, but to encourage them to suffer, because she considered the danger for them not death, but the delay of death. Nothing shook her, nothing made her relax, nothing deprived her of joy: neither prepared wooden racks, nor placed wheels, nor blocks, nor scaffolding, nor the sharpness of iron claws, nor sophisticated swords, nor boiling cauldrons, nor a lit fire, nor a formidable tormentor, nor a crowd of people, nor the surrounding military guard, nor upcoming fellow tribesmen, nor the destruction of parts [of the body], nor torment flesh, nor streams of flowing blood, nor ruined youth, nor real horrors, nor expected suffering. And what is most difficult for others in such cases, that is, the duration of the disaster, was easiest for her. She enjoyed the spectacle, no matter how long the suffering lasted, not only from the variety of tortures used (which all affected her less than one torture would have on another), but also from the fact that the persecutor experienced all kinds of speech - he scolded, he threatened, he caressed. For what means did he resort to to achieve what he wanted? But the responses of the young men to the tormentor, in my opinion, show so much wisdom and courage that just as the valor of others taken together is small in comparison with their patience, so patience itself is small in comparison with their prudent speeches. And they were the only ones who had the ability to suffer so much and with such wisdom to respond to the threats of the tormentor, to everything with which they were frightened and which in no way overcame either the courageous sons or the even more courageous mother. She, having become higher than everyone else and uniting the strength of spirit with motherly love, offers herself as a wonderful funeral gift to the children and herself will follow those who have departed before her. And how? She voluntarily goes to suffer, not even allowing an unclean body to touch her pure and courageous flesh. And what funeral words she pronounces! Beautiful, even the most beautiful of the beautiful, were the sons’ responses to the tormentor. For weren’t those words beautiful, armed with which they overthrew the tormentor? But even more beautiful are the mother’s speeches, first exhorting, and then funeral. So, what did the sons say? Now it is very timely to renew this in your memory, so that you have from these times an example of both asceticism and martyrdom. Each of the brothers said something different, as they armed him with the word of the persecutor, a turn of suffering and spiritual jealousy. But if all their speeches are brought into one, then they said this: “Antiochus and all of you who are coming here! We have one king - God, from whom we received our being and to whom we will return; one legislator is Moses, whom (we swear by the disasters that he endured for his virtue, and by his many miracles) we will not betray and will not dishonor, even if threatened by another Antiochus, who is fiercer than you. For us, the only safe refuge is to keep the commandments and not break the law, which protects us as truth. We have one glory - for the glory of our law to despise all glory; one wealth is the benefits that we hope to receive. But there is nothing terrible for us, except for one thing - to fear something more than God. With such thoughts and with such weapons we go to battle; These are the kind of young men you deal with. Although we desire this world, and our native land, and friends, and relatives, and peers, and this great and glorious church, and paternal holidays, and the Sacraments, and everything in which we place our advantage over other peoples, we do not desire more than God and suffering for a good deed. No, don't even think about it! For for us there is another world, which is higher and more permanent than the visible. Our fatherland is the heavenly Jerusalem, which no Antiochus would dare to keep under siege and would not hope to take, it is so strong and invincible! Our kinship is God's inspiration and all those born of valor. Our friends are prophets and patriarchs who serve as models of piety for us. Our peers are all now in poverty and contemporary with us in patience. And our church is a magnificent sky, and our celebration is the standing of the Angels. We have one great, even greatest, and for many hidden sacrament - God, Who is the goal of the local sacraments. So, do not deceive us anymore with promises of things of little importance and worthless. What is dishonest will not give us honor; harmful things will not enrich us; We will not dare to make such a pitiful purchase. Stop your threats; otherwise we ourselves will begin to threaten you in order to expose your powerlessness and show what kind of executions we have prepared for you. For we also have fire with which we torment the persecutors. Don't you think that you are fighting with peoples, cities and the most effeminate kings, some of whom will gain the upper hand, while others, perhaps, will remain defeated, because for them there is no such danger? You are rebelling against God’s law, against the well-written tablets, against our paternal decrees, which have gained importance both due to their high significance and due to their longevity, you are rebelling against seven brothers who live as if by one soul and will disgrace you with seven victorious monuments. It is not important to defeat them; but it is a great shame to be defeated by them! We are the descendants and disciples of those who were led [through the desert] by a pillar of fire and cloud, for whom the sea parted, the river became, the sun stood still, the rain was bread, the raising of hands put thousands of enemies to flight, overthrowing them with prayer, before whom animals were tamed, unto whom fire did not touch, whose courage kings marveled and yielded. Let’s say something that you yourself know: we are disciples of Eleazar, whose courage you have experienced. First the father accomplished his feat, now the children join the fight; The priest has already left, and the victims will follow him. You are intimidating to many, but we are ready for even more. And what will you do to us with your threats, proud man? What harm will you do to us? No one is stronger than someone who is ready to endure all suffering. Why are people delaying? Why don't they get down to business? Why wait for a merciful command? Where are the swords? Where are the shackles? Let them make more fire, release the strongest animals, prepare the most excellent instruments of torment, so that everything will be royal and costly! I am the firstborn; Sacrifice me first. I'm the last of the brothers, it's better to change the order. No, let one of the middle ones become the first victim, so that we can all be honored equally. But you are forgiving and expect us to change our thoughts. Again, and more than once, we repeat the same word to you: we will not taste unclean things, we will not express our consent; You will sooner respect our decrees than we submit to yours; in short, either invent new executions, or make sure that we despise the ones you have prepared for us.” This is what the brothers said to the tormentor; and how they convinced each other! and what a spectacle they were - truly beautiful and sacred! For God-loving souls it is more pleasant than anything that can be seen or heard. I myself, at the mere memory, am filled with pleasure, mentally contemplate the ascetics before me and enjoy the story of them. They hugged and kissed each other; A holiday began for them, as if after they had already accomplished their feats. “Come on, brothers,” they cried, “let’s go, let’s hasten to the torment while the tormentor still burns with anger at us, so that we do not lose salvation if he relents. The feast is ready; Let's not deprive ourselves of it. It is wonderful to see brothers who live together (Ps. 132:1), have fun together and serve as each other’s shield, but it is even more beautiful if they suffer together in poverty for virtue. If it were possible to fight for paternal decrees with arms in hand, even in this case death would be commendable. But since this is not what circumstances require, we will sacrifice [our] bodies ourselves. Why not sacrifice them? If we don’t die now, will we never die? Will we never give nature its due? It is better to turn into a gift what must be given up out of necessity: we will outwit death; Let us turn what is common to all into our own property and buy life at the price of death. Let not one of us be cheerful and timid. Let the tormentor, having stumbled over us, despair of others. Let him himself determine the order of who will suffer after whom; even if someone includes a number of persecuted people, this will not make a difference in the fervor of our zeal. Let the first of those who suffered be a path for others, and the last one a seal of achievement. Let us put everything on our hearts with equal firmness, so that the whole house can buy us crowns, so that the persecutor does not have a single share in us and cannot, in the boiling of anger, boast of victory over everyone, having defeated one. Let us prove that we are brothers to each other not only by birth, but also in death itself; let us all suffer as one, and let each of us suffer equally with everyone else. Accept us, Eleazar, follow us, mother; bury your dead magnificently, O Jerusalem, if only there is anything left for the coffin; tell future generations about us and show your admirers the sacred burial place of the uterine ones.” This is how they spoke and acted, this is how they encouraged each other according to their seniority, just as a boar sharpens one tooth with another. They all maintained the same zeal, to the pleasure and surprise of their fellow tribesmen, to the fear and horror of their enemies. And although the enemies boldly took up arms against an entire people, they were so humiliated by the unanimity of the seven brothers struggling for piety that they lost the pleasant hope of defeating the others. And the courageous and truly worthy mother of such valiant sons, this great and high-spirited student of the law, moved by two strong movements of her heart, felt in herself a mixture of both joy and fear: joy because of the courage of her sons and everything visible to her, fear because of the unknown of the future and because of excessive torment. And like a bird that sees a snake crawling towards the chicks or someone else who is plotting evil against them, she flew around, beat her wings, begged, shared the suffering of the children. And what she didn’t say, what she didn’t do to inspire them to victory! Either she stole drops of blood, then she picked up the severed parts of members, then she reverently fell to the remains; She collected the members of one son, gave the other to the tormentors, and prepared the third for heroic deeds. She exclaimed to everyone: “Wonderful, children! Wonderful, my valiant ascetics, almost ethereal in the flesh, defenders of the law of my gray hair and the holy city that raised you and raised you to such a height of valor! A little more and we won! The torturers are tired - that’s all I’m afraid of. A little more, and I will be the most blessed of mothers, and you will be the most blessed of youths! But do you feel sorry to be separated from your mother? I'm not leaving you; I promise you this. I am not a hater of my children.” When she saw that everyone had ended their lives and by their death had freed her from worries, then with a bright gaze she raised her head and, like an Olympic winner with a cheerful spirit, raising her hands, loudly and solemnly said: “Thank you, Holy Father! Thank you, our mentor is the law! Thank you, our father and champion of your children, Eleazar! Thank you that the fruit of my illnesses was accepted and I became a mother, the most sacred of mothers! I have nothing left for the world; everything is given to God - all my treasure, all the hopes of my old age. What a great honor for me! How wonderfully provided for my old age! Now I am rewarded for your upbringing, children, - I saw how you struggled for virtue, I was honored to see you all crowned; I even look at your torturers as benefactors; I am ready to testify my gratitude to the tormentor for this order, according to which I am the last one preserved for suffering, so that, having first exposed those born to me to public view and having accomplished a martyrdom in each of them, after making all the sacrifices, I can pass from here in complete safety. And I will not tear my hair, tear my clothes, torment my flesh with my nails, I will not provoke tears, call those who cry, be locked in dark solitude so that the very air mourns with me, I will not wait for comforters and offer the bread of sorrow. All this is appropriate for cowardly mothers, who are mothers only according to the flesh, whose children die without leaving a kind word behind them. And you, my dear children, did not die, but were offered as a gift to God; they were not separated from me forever, but only moved for a while; not scattered, but gathered together; It wasn’t a beast that kidnapped you, it wasn’t a wave that swallowed you up, it wasn’t a robber that destroyed you, it wasn’t a disease that crushed you, it wasn’t a war that destroyed you, and it wasn’t any other disaster that befell you that was more or less important to ordinary people. I would cry, even cry bitterly, if something like that happened to you. Then I would prove my love for children with my tears, as I prove now by not shedding tears. That's not enough. Then I would really begin to mourn you, when, to your own detriment, you were saved from torment, when the tormentors would triumph over you and defeat at least one of you, as the persecutors themselves have now been defeated by you. And what has happened now is praise, joy, glory, rejoicing and joy for those who remain. But I too am sacrificed after you. And I will be compared with Phinehas, glorified with Anna. Even more so, because Phinehas alone was jealous, and you appeared as numerous punishers of fornicators, striking down not carnal but spiritual fornication; and Anna dedicated to God one, God-given, and, moreover, recently born son, and I consecrated seven who matured and, moreover, sacrificed themselves voluntarily. May Jeremiah complete my funeral oration, not mourning, but praising the venerable death! You were purer than snow, whiter than milk, and your host became better than coral - born and offered as a gift to God (Lam. 4:7)! What else? Join me with the children, torturer, if mercy can be expected from enemies. Join me too - such a struggle will be more glorious for you. Oh, how I wish I could endure all the torments that they endured, so that my blood could mingle with theirs and my old flesh with theirs! For children, I love the very instruments of their suffering. But if this does not happen, at least let my ashes unite with theirs and let one coffin receive us! Do not envy the equal death of those who are equal in virtue. Goodbye mothers, goodbye children! And mothers raise those born to you this way, and raise children this way! We have given you an excellent example of how to fight the good fight.” So she said and kissed her sons. But how? – you ask. - Like going to the wedding bed on the fire to which she was condemned. She did not wait for anyone to lift her up, she did not allow an unclean body to touch her pure and courageous flesh. Thus Eleazar enjoyed the priesthood; So he himself was initiated and initiated others into the heavenly mysteries: not with external sprinklings, but with his own blood he sanctified Israel and made the last day of life a holiday of initiation into the sacrament! So the sons enjoyed their youth, not servile to voluptuousness, but, having mastered the passions, cleansed the body and surrendered to a passionless life! So the mother enjoyed having many children, was so adorned by her children during their lifetime, and rested together with those who had departed! She presented those born for the world to God, by the number of their exploits she again calculated her birth illnesses and learned the seniority of the children from the order in which they died; because everyone struggled, from the first to the last, and as wave follows wave, so one after another they showed valor, and one more willingly than the other went to suffer, already strengthened by the example of the victims before him. And so the tormentor was glad that she was not the mother of more children; otherwise he would have remained even more disgraced and defeated. And then only for the first time did he learn that not everything can be overcome with weapons, when he met unarmed young men who, armed only with piety, were ready to endure everything with greater zeal than with which he himself was prepared to subject them to suffering. Such a sacrifice was more prudent and more majestic than Jephthah’s, because here neither the ardor of the vow, nor the desire for an unexpected victory made the offering, as there, necessary; on the contrary, it was a completely voluntary sacrifice, and the reward for it was only hoped-for benefits. Such a feat is no lower than the exploits of Daniel, who was given over to be devoured by lions and defeated the beasts by raising his hands; he is not inferior to the courage of the youths in Assyria, whom the Angel sprinkled with flame when they did not agree to break the father’s law and did not touch unclean and unsanctified foods. And in terms of zeal, it is no less important than those sacrifices that were subsequently made for Christ. For those who suffered for Christ, as I said at the beginning of the word, had the blood of Christ before their eyes, and their leader in their exploits was God Himself, who brought such a great and wonderful gift for us; and the Maccabees did not have many or similar examples of valor before them. All Judea marveled at their patience; she rejoiced and triumphed, as if she herself had been crowned then, because she too was faced with a feat, even the greatest of the feats that Jerusalem had ever faced - either to see on that day the trampling of the paternal law, or to become glorified. The fate of the entire Jewish family depended on the feat of the Maccabees and was, as it were, at the edge of a sword. Antiochus himself was amazed; so his threats turned into surprise, because even enemies can be surprised at great feats when the anger passes and the deed justifies itself. Therefore, he withdrew without success and, repenting much, praised his father Seleucus for his respect for the Jewish people and for his generosity to the church, so much he reproached Simon, who prompted the war, recognizing him as the culprit of inhumanity and dishonor. Let us imitate the Maccabees, priests, mothers, and children; priests - in honor of Eleazar, the spiritual father, who set an excellent example in both word and deed; mothers - in honor of the courageous mother, may they turn out to be truly loving of children and may they present their children to Christ, so that the marriage itself is sanctified by such a sacrifice; Let children honor the holy youths and let them devote the time of their youth not to shameful passions, but to the struggle against passions, to courageous struggle with our daily Antiochus, who fights through all our members and persecutes us in many different ways. For I wish that there would be ascetics for every time and occasion, from every race and age, subject to both obvious attacks and secret slander of enemies. I wish that they would use the ancient instructions, but also use the new ones and, like bees from everywhere, collect the most useful things into a single sweet honeycomb, so that both through the Old and through the New Testament God might be glorified in us, glorified in the Son and in the Spirit, knowing His own and known by His own, confessed and confessed, glorified and glorified in Christ Himself, to whom be glory forever. Amen. Words of an autobiographical, historical and moral-practical nature Word 14. About love for the poor 41 Brothers and partners in poverty (for we are all poor and need the grace of God, although one seems superior to the other when we measure people with small measures)! Accept the word of love for the poor, not with the poor, but with a generous disposition of spirit, so that you may inherit the riches of the Kingdom. And pray together, so that I too can offer you a rich word, can feed your souls with it and share spiritual bread (Is. 58:7) with the hungry, or, like ancient Moses, bringing food down from heaven like rain (Exod. 16:4) and giving the bread of angels (Ps. 77:25), or feeding many thousands with a few loaves in the desert, as after Jesus - the true bread (John 6:32 ) and the culprit of 42 true life. It is not easy to find the most excellent of the virtues and give it primacy and advantage, just as in a multi-colored and fragrant meadow it is not immediately possible to choose the most beautiful and fragrant of flowers, when one or the other attracts the sense of smell and the eye and forces itself to be picked before everyone else. In my understanding, various virtues can be compared and considered like this. Beautiful are faith, hope and love, these three (1 Cor. 13:13). The witness of faith is Abraham, justified by faith; hope - Enos, who first began to call on the Lord (Gen. 4:26), and all the righteous who, inspired by hope, endured disasters. The witness of love is the divine apostle, who dared to pronounce judgment on himself for the salvation of Israel (Rom. 9:4), and God Himself, Who is called love (1 John 4:16). Wonderful is the favor shown to travelers. The witness of this is among the righteous - Lot the Sodomite, but not a Sodomite in his morals (2 Pet. 2:8), and among sinners - Rahab the harlot, but not a harlot in the disposition of his heart, who received praise and salvation for his hospitality (Heb. 11:31). Brotherly love is wonderful: the witness is Jesus, who was not ashamed not only to be called our brother (Heb. 2:11), but also to suffer for us. Love for mankind is wonderful: the witness is He, Jesus, who not only created man for good works (Eph. 2:10) and combined His image with the flesh, showing the way to all that is best and leading us - strangers - to heavenly blessings, but He Himself became Man for our sake. Long-suffering is wonderful: Jesus Himself is again a witness to this, Who not only did not want to call legions of Angels against the tormentors who rose up against Him, not only reproached Peter for drawing the knife, but also healed the wounded ear (Matthew 26:52-53; Luke 22:51). This was later demonstrated by Stephen, a disciple of Christ, who prayed for those who stoned him. Meekness is wonderful: the witnesses are Moses and David, for this they are praised most of all (Num. 12:3; 2 Samuel 16:11-12; Ps. 132:1), and their Teacher Himself, who does not contradict, does not cry, does not let out a voice in the streets (Matt. 12:19) and does not resist those who lead Him. Jealousy is beautiful: witnesses of this are Phinehas, who with one blow of his spear pierced the Midianite woman along with the Israeli, in order to save the children of Israel from the reproach, and for his zeal received a glorious name for himself; and after him - those who said: I was jealous for the Lord (1 Kings 19:10), jealous for you with the jealousy of God (2 Cor.11:2); Zeal for Your house consumes me (Ps. 68:10), and they not only said this, but also felt it strongly. Abstinence is wonderful: David will convince you of this, who never ceases to keep himself strict (1 Cor. 9:27) and by the example of the Israelites he frightens people who trust in themselves and give free rein to their bodies (1 Cor. 10: 5-8), and Jesus Himself, who, being tempted, fasts and defeats the tempter ( Luke 4: 2-13). Prayer and vigil are wonderful: God Himself will convince you of this, Who before suffering spends the night without sleep in prayer (Matthew 26:39, 42, 44). Purity and virginity are beautiful: Paul will convince you of this, who prescribed laws for this and sets a fair price for married and single life (1 Cor. 7:7-11, 25-40), and Jesus Himself, born of a virgin, in order to honor both birth and give preference to virginity. Abstinence is excellent: David will convince you of this, who, having taken possession of the well of Bethlehem, did not drink the water, but only poured it out in honor of the Lord, not wanting to quench the thirst of others with his blood (1 Chronicles 11:18-19). Desert living and silence are wonderful: this is shown to me by Elijah’s Carmel, the desert of John, the mountain of Jesus, to which the Lord often went to converse with Himself in silence (Matthew 14:23; Luke 6:12, 9:28, 22:39). Moderation is wonderful: Elijah, who lives with a widow, John, who covers himself with camel's hair, and Peter, who eats vegetables worth no more than an asses, teach me this. Humility is wonderful: its examples are numerous, but the best example of all is the Savior and Master of all, Who not only humbled Himself to the form of a servant (Phil. 2:7), not only exposed His face to the shame of being spat upon (Is. 50:6) and was numbered among the evildoers (Is. 53:12). He cleanses the whole world from sin, but also washes the feet of the disciples in the form of a slave. Non-covetousness and contempt for wealth are beautiful: Zacchaeus and Christ Himself testify to this; Zacchaeus - when, having accepted Christ to himself, he offered almost all his property as a gift; Christ - when he pointed out to the rich young man this virtue as the limit of perfection (Matthew 19:21). In short: beautiful is contemplation, beautiful is activity; the first - because it ascends above the earthly, enters the Holy of Holies and raises our mind to that which is akin to it; the other - because, accepting Christ to herself and serving Him, she proves her love by deeds. Each of these virtues is especially the path to salvation and undoubtedly leads to one of the eternal and blissful abodes. For just as there are different kinds of life, so God has many mansions (John 14:2), and they are divided and assigned to each according to his dignity. Therefore, let one perform this virtue, another another, another many, and someone, if possible, all; only let everyone walk unceasingly, strive forward and follow unswervingly in the footsteps of that good guide, who directly directs his path and leads him along the narrow path, through the narrow gate (Matthew 7:14), to the breadth of heavenly bliss. But if, according to the teaching of Paul and Christ Himself, the first and most important commandment should be to honor love, as the essence of the law and the prophets (Matt. 22:37-40; 1 Cor. 13:13), then the most excellent part of it should be, as I find, love for the poor, pity and compassion for those who are of the same kind with us. For no service is so pleasing to God as mercy (because it is most akin to God, ahead of Whom mercy and truth walk (Ps. 89:15) and to Whom mercy must be offered as a gift (James 2:13) before judgment), and the righteous Giver, who puts mercy on the scales and measures (Ps. 59:17), does not reward like that for anything. With his love for humanity, as for his love for mankind. So, in accordance with the commandment, which commands us to rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep (Rom. 12:15), we must open the womb of mercy to all the poor and suffering, for whatever reason they suffer; We must, as people, bring tribute to charity to people, no matter what their need forces them to seek help - whether widowhood, or orphanhood, or expulsion from the fatherland, or the cruelty of rulers, or the insolence of those in power, or the inhumanity of tax collectors, or the murderous hand of robbers, or the greed of thieves, or the inventory of property, or shipwreck. For they all have the same right to regret and look at our hands in the same way as we look at the hands of God when we ask for something. However, even of these, those who, being in a better condition, fall into misfortune are more worthy of pity than those who have already become accustomed to a disastrous fate. And we must be especially compassionate towards those infected with leprosy, who, according to the terrible sentence pronounced on some people in the Holy Scriptures, are eaten away even to the flesh, bones and marrow (Job 33:21) and who have been betrayed by this much-troubled, humiliated and treacherous body. I don’t understand how I united with him and how, being the image of God, I mixed with the dirt! This body, when it feels good, starts a war; and when I fight against him, he plunges me into sorrow. I love him as a colleague; I turn away from him as from an enemy; I run from him as from a bond, and I honor him as an heir. Do I dare to tire him out? But then I will have no one to use as a collaborator in good deeds; but I know why I was brought into being, I know that I must ascend to God through deeds. Will I spare him as an employee? But then I don’t know how to avoid his rebellious attacks, and I’m afraid that I might fall away from God, weighed down by the chains that drag me to the earth or hold me on it. This is a gentle enemy and a treacherous friend! Wonderful connection and split! What I fear, I hold on to, and what I love, I fear. Before I even have time to enter the battle, I make peace; and before I have time to make peace, I start arguing again. What kind of wisdom is this being revealed to me and what a great mystery! Was it not for this reason that God brought us into this struggle and warfare with the body, so that we, being part of the Divinity 44 and having come from above, would not become arrogant and exalted in our dignity and would not neglect the Creator, but would always turn our gaze to Him and so that the weakness associated with us would keep our dignity within limits? So that we know that together we are both very great and very low, earthly and heavenly, temporary and immortal, heirs of light and heirs of fire or darkness - depending on which side we bow ourselves to. This is how our composition is structured, and this, as far as I can see, is so that the dust of the earth would humble us if we decided to exalt ourselves in the image of God. But let anyone who wants to reason wisely about this. I won’t refuse to think about it together with him at a more convenient opportunity. And now I must talk about what sympathy for my own flesh and my own weakness prompts me to do when looking at the suffering of others; I must tell you, brothers, that we are obliged to take care of the body, this relative and co-servant of the soul (for although I blamed him as an enemy for what I suffer from him, I also love him as a friend, for the sake of Him who united me with him), and, moreover, to take care of the body of our neighbors no less than each of us about our own, whether we ourselves remain healthy or are exhausted by the same illness. For we are all one in the Lord (Gal. 3:28), whether one is rich or poor, whether one is slave or free, whether one is healthy or sick in body; everyone has one head - Christ, from Him are all things (Eph. 4:15-16), and what members are one for another is the same and each of us is for each other and all things are for all (1 Cor. 12:12-27). Therefore, there is no need to neglect and leave without care those who previously fell under the common weakness of all; on the contrary, we should not so much rejoice at the prosperous state of our body as weep over the bodily suffering of our brothers; We must consider humanity towards them to be the only guarantee of our safety, physical and mental. They must be looked at this way: others are pitiful only because of their poverty, from which, perhaps, either time, or work, or a friend, or a relative, or a change of circumstances will free them; and poverty oppresses these unfortunates no less than those, or even more, since they, having lost their bodily members, are also deprived of the means to work and help themselves in their needs, and, moreover, they are always more afraid of the intensification of the disease than they hope for recovery, so that hope, this is the only treatment for the unfortunate, almost leaves them without help. But to their poverty they also add another evil - illness, a most terrible and painful evil, which most likely hits the tongue of uneducated people when they curse someone. A third evil is connected with this: many do not want to approach them, do not want to look at them, run away from them, abhor them as if they were something disgusting; and this evil, to see themselves hated simply because they have been exposed to misfortune, is worse for them than the illness itself. I cannot look at their suffering without tears, and at the mere memory of others, I become indignant in spirit. Have the same feelings, so that you can get rid of tears with tears. And I have no doubt that this is truly felt by those present here who love Christ and love the poor and have the mercy that is characteristic of God and given to them by God. You yourself are witnesses of their suffering. Before your eyes is an amazing and deplorable sight, which hardly anyone will believe except eyewitnesses: people are the living dead, the limbs of most of their bodily members have rotted away; people who can hardly be known who they were before and where they came from, or, better, the unfortunate remains of people who once lived, who, in order to make themselves known, say about their fathers, mothers, brothers and places of residence: “I am the son of such and such a father, my mother is such and such, my name is such and such, and you were once my friend and acquaintance.” They say this because they no longer have the same appearance by which they could be recognized. These are deprived people who have no property, no kinship, no friends, not even a body; people who are alone from everyone else and regret themselves and hate themselves together; who do not know what to cry about anymore - about those parts of the body that are no longer there, or about those that remain, about those that were prematurely destroyed by the disease, or about those that are still being saved for the sacrifice of the disease; for those died miserably, and these survived for greater misfortune; those decayed before the grave, and there is no one to put these in the grave. Because even the kindest and most kind-hearted person can be extremely insensitive to the misfortunes of these sufferers. Here only we forget that we ourselves are flesh and are clothed with a lowly body (Phil. 3:21); and there is so little zeal in us towards these relatives of ours that we even consider it necessary for the safety of our body to move away from them! Another approaches a stale and, perhaps, already stinking corpse, carries the stinking bodies of dumb animals and, wallowing in the mud, does not disdain this, but we run away from these unfortunates as much as we can and - what inhumanity! – we are almost indignant at the fact that we breathe the same air as them. Who is more tender than a father? Who is more compassionate than a mother? But for these outcasts the parental heart is also locked. And the father of his own son, whom he gave birth to, whom he raised, in whom alone he hoped to have the eye of his life, for whom he prayed so much and so often to God, although he mourns this very son, he drives him away from himself - he mourns from the heart, he drives him involuntarily. And the mother, remembering the pangs of birth, with a breaking heart, lets out the most pitiful cries and sobs out loud to everyone over the living, as over the dead, saying: “The unfortunate child of the ill-fated mother, taken from me by a cruel illness, a child worthy of pity, my dear child, whom I cannot even recognize, my child, whom I raised for the cliffs, mountains and deserts! Your life will be with the beasts, the mountain stone will be your shelter, and only the most pious of people will turn their eyes to you. Why,” she cries, like Job (Job.3:1–12), in this painful voice, “why were you formed in your mother’s womb? Why, having come out of the womb, did not die at the same moment, so that death would be combined with birth? Why didn't you die prematurely, before you tasted the evils of life? Why did they take you on their knees, and why did you need to suckle at the breast when a bitter life awaited you, a life worse than death?” Saying this, she sheds springs of tears and would like, unfortunate one, to embrace her brainchild, but she is afraid of its flesh as an enemy! And among the people everywhere there is murmur and persecution - not against the evildoers, but against the unfortunate. Another lives with a murderer, shares not only his home but also his meals with an adulterer, accepts a blasphemer as his cohabitant, maintains friendship with his ill-wishers, and turns away from sufferers who have not upset him in any way as if they were criminals. Thus, vice is given priority over disease! We respect inhumanity as a noble cause, and we despise compassion as something shameful. They are driven out of cities, driven out of houses, from squares, from roads, from meetings, from national festivals, feasts, and - oh, bitter fate! – they are driven away from the water itself. For them, the springs that feed all others do not flow; they even consider it incredible that rivers cannot become infected from them. And what’s strangest of all is that we drive away those who are unclean, those who are not causing us any loss, we force to return to us again, because we do not give them either housing, nor the necessary food, nor medicine for wounds, nor clothing with which we could cover, to the best of our ability, their illness. That is why they wander day and night - impoverished, naked, homeless, showing a body stricken with illness, retelling their old life, calling on the Creator with a cry, helping each other by using members that the other does not have, composing plaintive songs to beg for a piece of bread, or the slightest part of something boiled, or some torn rags to cover themselves from shame, or to relieve the pain of wound And in their eyes it is not he who is philanthropic who sufficiently gives them what they need, but everyone who does not send them away with severity. Many of them, overcoming shame, do not run away from solemn meetings; driven by extreme need, they invade here, into these national and sacred assemblies 45, which we have established for the healing of souls and where we gather either to remember some sacrament, or to glorify the witnesses of the truth, so that, while honoring their exploits, we learn to imitate their piety. And although they are ashamed, as unfortunate people and as people, of the human face and would rather hide in the mountains, cliffs, forests, or, finally, in the night and darkness, they are nevertheless squeezed into the middle of the people - a pitiful burden and worthy of tears! - which, however, can be sent to us not without a purpose, and precisely for the purpose of reminding us of our weakness and convincing us not to cling to anything real and visible as to something permanent. Some of them come, wanting to hear the human voice; others to look at people; others, in order to collect at least meager alms from the luxurious rich to support life; everything - to reveal your grief and thereby alleviate yourself somewhat. Who will not be crushed, listening to their groans, merging into one plaintive song? Which ear can bear these sounds? What eye can calmly look at this spectacle? Here are some of them lying one next to the other - not for joy, gathered by illness into one community, where everyone bears the traces of some special disaster, and all these disasters add up to one common grief, so that everyone, through his efforts, aggravates the suffering of others and everyone is pitiful in their illnesses, and even more pitiful in their compassion for each other. They are surrounded by a crowd of spectators, even condolences, but only for a short time. And there others drag along at human feet; they are haunted by the heat of the sun, and dust, and sometimes severe frosts, rains and storms; they would be trampled under foot, if even touching them were not considered vile. They respond to the sacred chants inside the church with groans and cries of petition, and the mysterious prayers are echoed by bitter sobs. But why should I describe all their misfortunes before people gathered for celebration? If I had accurately depicted this whole sad picture, then perhaps I would have aroused crying and sobbing, and the celebration would have turned into lamentation. The only reason I am talking about this is that I still cannot convince you that sometimes sadness is preferable to joy, and despondency is more useful than celebration, and praiseworthy tears are better than unkind laughter. Such is, and even more sad than as I imagined, the position of our brothers in God (even if you did not want to hear it), brothers who received the same nature as us, from the same clay from which we were originally created; connected, like us, by veins and bones and, like everyone else, clothed with skin and flesh (as the divine Job says in one place - (Job. 33: 6-11), philosophizing amid suffering and laughing at the visible part of our being), or, better, if we must mention the most important thing - who, just like us, are gifted with the image of God and preserve it, perhaps better than us, although they have decayed in body - into one clothed with Christ (Gal.3:27) according to the inner man; we received the same deposit of the Spirit for preservation (Gal.3:22); participate in the same laws, words of God, covenants, meetings, Sacraments, hopes with us; for whom Christ equally died (Rom. 14:15), taking upon Himself the sin of the whole world (John 1:29); who are heirs of heavenly life, although very much alienated from earthly life; who are buried with Christ and are raised with Him (Col. 2:12), suffer with Him, in order to be glorified with Him (Rom. 8:17). What are we? We, who have inherited this great and new name, to be called according to Christ a holy nation, a royal priesthood, people adopted by God and chosen (1 Pet. 2:9), zealots of good and saving works (Titus 2:14), disciples of the meek and philanthropic Christ, who bore our infirmities, humbled Himself to our poverty, for the sake of us who became poor ( 2 Cor.8:9), who descended into this flesh and earthly church and endured sorrows and illnesses for us, so that we might be enriched by the inheritance of the Divine? What about us, who have such a high example of benevolence and compassion? How will we think about them and what will we do? Shall we despise them? Shall we run past? Shall we leave them as dead men, as vile monsters, as the most evil beasts and reptiles? No, brothers! This is not what the good Shepherd (John 10:11) teaches us—His sheep—Christ, who turns the lost, seeks the lost and strengthens the weak (Ezek.34:16); Otherwise, human nature, which has implanted in us the law of compassion, instills in us, and through the feeling of weakness, common to us all, learns piety and love of mankind. Will they really languish in the open air, and we will begin to live in magnificent houses, colored with all kinds of stones, glittering with gold and silver, where patterned mosaics and various paintings seduce and attract the eye? Moreover, will we live in some and build others? And for whom? Perhaps not for our heirs, but for strangers and strangers, and, moreover, perhaps for people who not only do not love you, but, worst of all, are filled with hostility towards us and envy. They will be shaking from the cold in shabby and torn rags, and maybe they won’t even have those yet, and we will pamper ourselves, covering ourselves with soft and fluffy clothes, airy fabrics made of fine linen and silk, and while with some clothes we will not so much decorate ourselves as disfigure ourselves (for I consider everything unnecessary and dandy to be disgraceful), other outfits - useless and insane care, prey to moths and all-consuming time, will lie in our pantries. They will be in need - oh my destructive luxury! O their misery! – will also need the necessary food; they will be exhausted, hungry and lying at our gates, not even having enough strength in their body to ask; having no voice to weep; hands to stretch them out to bring us into pity; legs to approach the rich; not having enough breath to moan a plaintive song with great effort, considering the loss of vision, this most serious evil, to be very light, and also thanks for the fact that they do not see their ulcers. This is their condition! And we, luxuriously dressed, will recline with importance on high and lush couches, covered with expensive carpets, which others do not dare to touch - being offended by this, if only we hear their pleading voice? We need our floor to be sprinkled with fragrant flowers as often as possible, or even constantly, and the table to be sprinkled with the most expensive and fragrant myrrh to further irritate our desperation; it is necessary that the young servants stand before us - alone in a beautiful order and order, with their hair flowing like women's, skillfully trimmed so that not a single hair is visible on their faces - in such decoration that even the most whimsical eyes would not require; others with glasses in their hands, barely touching them with their fingertips and bringing them up as deftly and carefully as possible; others, holding fans over our heads, would produce an artificial breeze and with this wind, blown by their hands, would cool the heat of our fattened body. It is necessary, in addition, that all the elements - air, earth, and water - provide us with these gifts in abundance and our table is fully laden and laden with meat dishes and other cunning inventions of cooks and bakers; so that they all vied with each other to try to please our greedy and ungrateful belly more - this heavy burden, the author of evils, this never insatiable and most unfaithful beast, which, together with the dishes it consumes, will soon need to decay (1 Cor. 6:13). It means a lot to them to quench their thirst with water; and with us the wine foams in the cups: drink until you are drunk, even to the point of insensibility, if anyone is intemperate! Yes, we will send back one of the wines, we will praise another for its smell and color, we will begin to talk about the third with importance, and it will be a disaster if, in addition to our own, we do not have some foreign wine, like a foreign conqueror! For we must certainly lead a life of luxury and exceeding our needs, or at least be famous for such a life; as if we were ashamed if they did not consider us vicious people and slaves of the womb and that which is even worse than the womb. What is this, friends and brothers? Why do we carry illness within ourselves, a mental illness that is much more painful than a physical one? For that one, as we know, does not come according to our will, but this one comes from our free choice; that one ends with this life, and this one passes with us into another life, into which we pass from here; This one is pitied by at least sane people, but this one is hated. Why are we not in a hurry, while there is still time, to help our relatives by nature? Why, being ourselves flesh, do we not cover up the ugliness of the flesh? Why do we indulge in bliss when we see the misfortunes of our brothers? God forbid that I should live richly when they are in need, or enjoy health when I do not help heal their wounds, or have sufficient food, clothing, or restful shelter, if I do not share bread with them, do not provide them, if possible, with clothing and rest under my roof! For we must either leave everything for Christ, so that, having taken up the cross, we truly follow Him (Matt. 16:24) and, having become light, unbound by anything and not drawn down by anything, fly on wings to the heavenly world and, exalted in humility, enriched by poverty, acquire Christ as a replacement for everything (Phil. 3:8), or share our property with Christ, so that the very possession of property sanctified through the fact that we will possess it as we should, and the poor will be partakers in it. If I sow for myself alone; then I will say again in the words of Job: let me sow and others eat; Let thistle grow instead of wheat, and cockle instead of barley (Job 31:8, 40); let the burning wind kill and the whirlwind scatter my crops, so that all my labors remain in vain. If I begin to build granaries, collecting treasures from and for mammon, then let them take my soul that very night (Luke 12:18–20) to demand an account of the evil acquisition of wealth. Will we finally not come to our senses, will we not reject hard-heartedness or - which I would like not to talk about - low stinginess, will we not think about the fate of man? Shall we not turn the misfortunes of others for our own benefit? For in human affairs, according to the natural order, there is nothing solid, even, supported by its own forces and remaining in the same position; our fate revolves like a wheel at different times and often in one day, and sometimes in one hour, undergoing various changes, so that one can rather rely on the constancy of the winds, which never stop, or the traces of a ship sailing on the sea, or on deceptive dreams at night that bring momentary pleasure, or on the firmness of those marks that children make in the sand when playing, than on human well-being. So, those are prudent who, not believing in present blessings, store up treasures for themselves in the future and, seeing the impermanence and changeability of human well-being, love charity, which will never change (1 Cor. 13:8). But, without a doubt, they receive at least one of three retributions: either that they are never exposed to disasters, because God often consoles the pious with earthly blessings, calling them with His goodness to compassion; or the fact that even in the midst of disasters they have boldness towards God (1 John 3:21), for they suffer not for a vicious life, but according to a special arrangement of Providence; or, finally, that they can rightfully demand from prosperous people the same compassion that they themselves showed to those in need during their happiness. Let not, it is said, the wise man boast in his wisdom, neither the rich man in his wealth, nor the mighty man in his strength (Jer. 9:23), even if someone has reached the highest degree - either wisdom, or wealth, or strength. And to these words of Scripture I will add something that is consistent with them: let not the glorious one boast in his glory, nor the healthy one in his health, nor the handsome one in his beauty, nor the youthful one in his youth - in short - let him not boast in anything like what is glorified here, let him who is proud of this not boast. The one who boasts only boasts about one thing - namely, to understand and diligently seek God (Jer. 9:24), to have compassion for those who suffer and to prepare for himself something good for the age to come. For the blessings here flow quickly, are given for an hour and, like pebbles in a game, are thrown from place to place and passed on to one or the other; Nothing here can be called yours; everything will either be taken away by time, or envy will transfer it into the wrong hands. On the contrary, spiritual blessings are constant and durable, they will never depart or retreat from us, they will never deceive the hopes of the one who believed them. But this very thing, that none of the local blessings remains faithful to people and is fragile, it seems to me beautifully, like everything else, arranged by a prudent Artist - the Word and Wisdom, surpassing all understanding (1 Cor. 1:24; Phil. 4:7); This very fact that visible goods are subjected to and expose us to one or another vicissitudes, sometimes ascending upward, sometimes falling down and whirling around as if in a whirlwind, and before we take possession of them, they run away and move away from us and thus play with us, deceive us - isn’t it aimed at ensuring that we, having seen their inconstancy and changeability, would rather rush to the haven of the future life? In fact, what would happen to us if our earthly happiness were constant, when even with its impermanence we are so attached to it? When his deceptive pleasantness and charm holds us, like slaves, in such bonds that we cannot imagine anything better and higher than the present, and this is when we hear and believe that we are created in the image of God, who, being in heaven, draws us to Himself (Col. 1:15; John 3:13, 12:32). Who is wise to know this (Hosea 14:10)? Who dares to run away from things that run away? Who will cleave to the eternal one? Who will learn to think about the present as transitory, and about the hoped-for as permanently present? Who wants to separate the truly existing from the apparent and strive for the former, and despise the latter? Who wants to distinguish picture 46 from the truth, a distant hut from a city on high (2 Pet. 1:13; Heb. 13:14), a lodging for the night from a permanent dwelling, darkness from light, a deep swamp (Ps. 68:3) from the holy land, flesh from the spirit, God from the ruler of the world, the shadow of death from eternal life? Who wants to buy the future with the present, the imperishable with perishable wealth, the invisible with visible? Truly blessed is he who, discerning this and cutting with a sword the words separating the best from the worst, believes, as the divine David said in one place, to ascend in his heart (Ps. 83:6), and fleeing as much as he has, from this vale of weeping, seeks the highest (Col. 3:1), and crucifying the world with Christ, with Christ and rises (Gal. 6:14; Col. 3:1), with Christ and ascends to the inheritance of a life that no longer changes, no longer deceives, where there is no longer a serpent that bites in the way, that bites in the heel and that is bruised in the head (Gen. 49:17, 3:15). And the same David, like some loud preacher, beautifully announces us with a lofty and nationwide sermon, in which he calls us heavy-hearted and lovers of lies and teaches us not to cling too closely to what is visible and not to rely all earthly well-being solely in the abundance of wheat and wine (Ps. 4: 3-8) - these quickly smoldering acquisitions. And blessed Amos 47, perhaps, had the same thing in mind and also armed himself against earthly and imaginary blessings when he said: Draw near to the eternal mountains: get up and leave, for this country is not a place of peace (Mic. 2:9-10). And this, even in the expressions themselves, is almost completely similar to the command of our Lord and Savior. Which one exactly? “Get up, let’s get out of here,” He said (John 14:31), not only urging the disciples of that time to move from a certain place to another, as anyone might think, but also all His disciples, at all times with this appeal attracting from earth to heaven and from earthly goods to heavenly ones. So, let us follow the Word, seek heavenly peace, reject earthly abundance; let us use only what is good in him; Let us redeem our souls with alms (Dan. 4:24), give from our possessions to the poor, in order to acquire heavenly riches. Give part also to the soul, not all to one flesh; give some to God, not all to the world alone. Take at least something from the womb and dedicate it to the spirit. Steal something from the fire and place it away from the consuming flame. Snatch something from the cruel tormentor and entrust it to the Lord. Give us part of the seven, that is, this life, and the eight (Eccl. 11:2), that is, the life into which we will move from here. Give a little to the One from Whom you received incomparably more. Give everything to Him who gave you everything. You will never be more generous than God, even if you sacrificed everything you have, even if you gave yourself along with your property, for in order to give oneself to God, a person receives from Him. No matter how much you pay Him, even more will remain on you, and you will not give anything of your own, since everything is from God. And just as it is impossible to get ahead of your shadow, which moves forward as much as we move forward, always preceding us at an equal distance; just as the body cannot grow higher than the head, which always rises above it, so it is impossible for us to surpass God with our gifts. For we give nothing that does not belong to Him or that is outside the circle of His generosity. Think about where you have being, breathing and understanding itself? From somewhere, the greatest advantage is that you know God and hope to receive the Kingdom of Heaven, dignity equal to the angels, the contemplation of glory, which now is only in mirrors and allegories (1 Cor. 13:12), and then will be most perfect and pure - you hope to become a son of God (Matthew 5:9), an heir to Christ (Rom. 8:17) and, I will say a bold word, even God himself ( John 10:34–35)? Where do you get all this from and from whom? Or, if we turn to less important and visible gifts, who gave you to see the beauty of the sky, the course of the sun, the circle of the moon, the multitude of stars and in all this, as in the sounds of the lyre, always the same harmony and order; the continuity of parts of the year, the change of times, the circulation of years, the proportionality of day and night, the products of the earth 48, the flow of air, the latitude of the agitated and then calmly standing sea, the depth of rivers, the tendencies of the winds? Who gave you rain, agriculture, food, arts, housing, laws, civil order, a serene life and close ties with your family? Where does it come from that some animals became tame and obedient to you, while others were given to you as food? Who made you lord and king over all creatures on earth? Who, I will say briefly, without counting everything in detail, gave you everything that a person surpasses them? Isn’t it the One who most of all and instead of everything now demands from you love for mankind? Will we not be ashamed if, having received so many benefits from God and hoping to receive so many, we do not bring Him this one gift - love for mankind? He distinguished us from animals and honored us alone on earth with the gift of reason; Are we really going to turn ourselves into animals? Has luxury really corrupted us so much, so deprived us of our minds, or... (but I don’t know how to express this anymore) that we, having an extra piece and something else equally unimportant, and even then, perhaps having made a living by untruth, will think that we are by nature better than these unfortunates? Do we really imagine that we are too high in comparison with them, that we are higher than people, like the ancient giants, who, according to myths, formed a special race, different from other mortals, or like Nevrod and the sons of Anak (Num. 13:34), who once oppressed Israel, or like those giants, because of whose atrocities the flood was brought down to cleanse the earth? If God and the Master is not ashamed to be called our father, then will we renounce our kinship with those like us? No, friends and brothers! Let us not be unrighteous stewards of what has been entrusted to us, lest we hear the formidable words of Peter: “Be ashamed, you who hold back what belongs to you, imitate the goodness of God that is equal to all, and then there will not be a single poor person.”49 Let us not torment ourselves by collecting and preserving treasures, while others are languishing in poverty, lest the divine Amos, who cries out to us with cruel reproaches and threats, strike us: Do you hear now those who say: When will the new moon pass so that we can sell grain, and the Sabbath so that we can open the barns? ( Amos 8:5 ). And then, in the words that follow, he threatens with the wrath of God people who have a small measure and a great measure. May blessed Micah not reprove us, who, reproaching the Jews for the fact that they laze on beds of ivory, anoint themselves with the most expensive aromas, fatten their bodies, eating the tender flesh of bulls from the herds and goats from the flocks, accompanying the sounds of organs with applause, and then, even more strongly condemning the fact that they consider these pleasures constant and lasting, condemns luxury (since resentment is born from satiety) and adds a new one to this condemnation of immoderate pleasures, imputing, perhaps, an even greater guilt in the fact that the sensualists, indulging in pleasures, do not show any compassion to Joseph in his misfortune (Am. 6: 4-6). May this condemnation not befall us! Let us not allow ourselves to become so lost in pleasure as to neglect the love of God, Who is irritated by this, although not suddenly, not immediately after the crime, brings His wrath upon sinners. Let us follow the highest and first law of God Himself, Who sends rain on the righteous and sinners and commands the sun to rise equally on everyone (Matthew 5:45), Who, without any hesitation, provided land, springs, rivers, and forests to everyone who lives on dry land, to birds - air, to those living in the waters - water, Who gave to all people in abundance the first needs of life, which are not subject to authority or law. are limited, nor are they blocked by the borders of states, but are offered to everyone in a rich measure and yet do not become scarce at all. God has endowed all people so generously, of course, in order to show by the equal distribution of His gifts both the equal dignity of our nature and the richness of His goodness. And people, having buried gold, silver, expensive and unnecessary clothes, semi-precious stones and other similar treasures in the ground - these are evidences of enmity, civil strife and ancient violence of the invaders of the supreme power - then, crazy, they raise their eyebrows and by nature refuse mercy to their needy relatives, not wanting to help them with their needs even with their surplus. What ignorance! What stupidity! Not to mention anything else: at least they would have imagined that poverty and wealth - free, in the ordinary sense understood, state and slavery - and other similar names later appeared in the human race and how some ailments invaded along with untruth, which invented them. At first, as the Scripture says, it was not so (Matthew 19:8). But He who created man first made him free, limiting him to only one law of commandment; made him rich among the sweets of paradise, and at the same time deigned to bestow these advantages on the entire human race in one first seed. Then freedom and wealth consisted solely in keeping the commandment; and true poverty and slavery are its crime. But from the time that envy and strife appeared, from the time when the insidious dominion of the serpent began, constantly and imperceptibly attracting us to evil with the delicious bait of pleasure and arming daring people against the weak, - from that time on, kinship between people was dissolved, their alienation from each other was expressed in various names of titles, and covetousness, calling on the law to the aid of its power, forced us to forget about nobility human nature. You look at the initial equality of rights, and not at the subsequent division, not at the law of the ruler, but at the law of the Creator. Help nature as much as you can, almost primitive freedom, respect yourself, cover up the dishonor inflicted on your family: provide assistance in illness, support in need. Are you healthy and rich? This is how you comfort the sick and the poor. Have you experienced a fall? So pick up the fallen and broken. Are you happy? So encourage the discouraged. Are you happy? So ease the fate of those depressed by misfortune. Give something to God in gratitude for the fact that you are not among those who need benefits, but among those who can provide benefits, that you are not looking into the hands of others, but others into yours. Enrich yourself not only with property, but also with piety, not only with gold, but also with virtue, or, better yet, with virtue alone. Earn preference over your neighbor by being more charitable than him. Be a god for the unfortunate, imitating the mercy of God. For nothing makes a person more like God than charity, although God does incomparably more beneficence, and man less and in accordance with his own strength. God created man and again raises him from corruption; and at least don’t despise the fallen. God showed man the greatest mercy when he gave him, among other things, the law, the prophets, and even before that the natural law - unwritten, this tester of our deeds, when he rebuked, admonished, guided people and, finally, gave himself up as a sacrifice for atonement for the life of the world (Matt. 20:28; John 6:51); when he gave us apostles, evangelists, teachers, shepherds, healings, miracles, restoration to life, destruction of death, a sign of victory over him who had overcome us, the covenant of shadow and the covenant of truth, various gifts of the Holy Spirit and the sacrament of a new salvation. And you, if you can provide the highest benefits that benefit the soul (since God will endow you with this wealth, if you so desire), do not refuse to serve someone in need, or, better yet, provide such benefits first of all and most of all to the one who asks you, without even waiting for his request; every day, showing mercy and lending (Ps. 37:26) the word and unforgivingly collecting the debt with interest, that is, with an increase in edification for those who used it - the interest that is always added to the accepted word by the one who little by little increases the seeds of piety in himself. If you cannot serve your neighbor with this, then provide him with at least smaller benefits that take second place and do not exceed your strength. Help him, bring food, give him rags, bring medicine, bandage his wounds, ask about his plight, talk about patience; dare, come. You will not humiliate yourself with this; the disease will not stick to you, although people who are too pampered, seduced by empty prejudices, think so, or, better said, although they try with this pretext to justify either their cowardice or their aversion from piety, resorting to timidity, as if to something important and wise. Regarding this, both common sense reasoning and doctors, their servants living in the same house as the sick, can reassure you, not one of whom has ever been in danger by communicating with them. But even if such a message aroused fear and doubt, you, servant of Christ, lover of God and lover of mankind, do not be overcome by base cowardice! Dare by faith, conquer fear with compassion, effeminacy with the fear of God, carnal calculations with piety. Do not despise your brother, do not run past him, do not disdain him as uncleanness, as an infection, as something disgusting and rejected! It is part of your body, although it has been twisted by misfortune. The beggar gives himself to you (Ps. 9:35), as to God Himself, although you pass by him too arrogantly (maybe even with these words I will bring you to shame). You are offered an opportunity to prove your philanthropy, although the enemy turns you away from your own happiness. Every navigator is close to shipwreck, and the closer he is, the more courage he sails. Likewise, anyone surrounded by a body is close to bodily troubles, and the closer the more fearlessly he walks with his forehead raised, despite those lying in front of him. While you are sailing in a favorable wind, give your hand to the shipwrecked; While you are enjoying health and wealth, help the suffering. Do not wait to learn from your own experience what a great evil is inhumanity, and what a great good is a heart open to those in need. Do not want to live to see God lift up His hand (Ps. 73:3) against those who lift up their necks and despise the needy. Learn from other people's troubles. Give at least a little to the poor: even that will not be a small thing for the one who needs everything, and for God Himself, if the alms are within your power. Instead of a great gift, bring zeal. Have nothing? Comfort with a tear. Great medicine for the ill-fated when someone regrets him from the bottom of his heart; misfortune is greatly alleviated by sincere condolences. You, a man, should not consider a person worse than an animal, which the law commands you to pick up when it falls into a ditch, or bring it to its owner when it gets lost (Ex. 23:4-5; Deut. 22:4). Is there not another, mysterious and deepest meaning hidden in this command, just like in many sayings of the law, distinguished by their depth and ambiguity - it is not for me to penetrate into this, but for the all-searching and all-knowing Spirit. I, as far as I understand this and as far as it relates to my word, will say that the law here has the goal of leading us from mercy towards unimportant creatures to the most perfect and most important mercy. In fact, if we are obliged to be merciful to the dumb, then how great should be our love for those who are of the same kind and dignity as us? This is what reason, the law, and the most just of people teach us, who believe that it is better to do good than to receive benefits, and that mercy is more valuable than self-interest. What can we say about our sages? I’m not talking about the pagans who, inventing gods - protectors of passions, give the greatest honors to Kerdoy 50, and, what’s even worse, make it a law (as we see among some nations) to sacrifice people to some of the demons, so that inhumanity is part of their worship of God, and with such sacrifices they both enjoy themselves and think to please their gods - evil priests and secret servants of the evil! But here is what is especially worthy of mourning: there are also among our brothers people who are so far from condolences and helping the suffering that they are not even ashamed to cruelly reproach them, attack them, come up with empty and insignificant speculations, like those who speak from the earth (Is. 29:4), speak into the wind, and not for ears led by good sense and accustomed to the truths of the Divine. They dare to judge like this: “God sent them misfortune, and us happiness. And who am I to dare to violate God’s decree and show myself more merciful than God? Let them languish, suffer, suffer! God wants it that way.” Only in this case do they show themselves to be worshipers of God, where they need to save their money and be brave over the unfortunate! But in fact, they do not think that their well-being comes from God, as is clearly evident from their words. For will he who acknowledges God as the giver of all that he owns, think like them about the poor? He who really has something from God uses his property in accordance with the will of God. On the other hand, it is still unknown that God Himself always sends suffering to the poor, because bodily matter, which is constantly in some kind of flow, can itself be the cause of disorders. And why does anyone know that one is punished for a vicious life, while another is exalted as worthy of praise? Or maybe vice versa - this one rises precisely because he is thin; and he is subjected to temptation for his virtue; this one rises higher in order to fall harder, he is allowed to reveal in advance, like a certain disease, all his depravity, so that the punishment that befalls him will be all the more just; and he is oppressed beyond expectation, so that, having been tempted like gold in a crucible (Wis. 3:6), he may be cleansed from the slightest admixture of evil that still remains in him (for no one, by natural birth, is completely pure from filth, as we hear from Scripture (Job 14:4)) and appear even more worthy, since I also find this secret in the Divine Scripture ( Wisdom 3:5) It would take a long time to list all the words of the Spirit related to this. And who can count the sand of the sea, and the drops of rain, and the depth of the deep (Sir. 1:2-3)? Likewise, who can explore in everything the depth of the wisdom of God, with which He created everything and governs everything as He wants and as He knows? It is enough for us, following the example of the divine apostle, to be amazed only at it and to honor in silence its incomprehensible and difficult-to-understand depth. O the depth of the wealth and wisdom and knowledge of God! How incomprehensible are His destinies and unsearchable His ways (Rom. 11:33). And who understands the mind of the Lord? (Isa.40:13). Or who will reach the limits of His wisdom, as Job says (Job.11:7). Who is wise to understand this (Hos. 14:10), and who will dare to measure that which is beyond all measure by comprehensible considerations? So, let someone be bold and daring to do this, or better yet, no one. I dare not attribute either punishment in life here to vice, or a calm state to virtue. True, such retribution also happens here, and, of course, for some useful purposes, so that, on the one hand, the misfortunes of evil people stop the pursuit of vice, and on the other, the prosperity of the good ones eases the path of virtue, but this does not always happen and not completely. Full reward belongs to the only future life, where some will receive rewards for virtue, and others - punishments for vice. For, it is said, these will rise in the resurrection of life, and these in the resurrection of condemnation (John 5:29). But for real life there is a different law, a different knowledge. However, in this life everything is directed towards the future. And what seems uneven to us is, without a doubt, smoothed out by God. Likewise, in the body there are parts that are convex and sunken, large and small, and on the earth there are high and low places, but all of this, in mutual relationship, forms and presents to our eyes a beautiful whole. Likewise, with an artist, at first, a discordant and uneven substance is then very skillfully crafted, when some work is built from it, after which we, having seen this work in its perfect beauty, understand and recognize the artist’s art. So let us not honor God as such an imperfect artist as we are; Let us not find disorder in the management of the world just because we do not know the method of government. But we, if we need to imagine the state of our spirit in a similar way, we are a little different from the people who suffer from nausea and dizziness on the ship, who, spinning themselves, think that everything is spinning. These are exactly the ones we are talking about. They do not want God to be wiser than them when they are dizzy with bewilderment about some incident. Instead of either working hard to find the reason for it, in the hope that perhaps the truth will be revealed through hardworking search, or consulting about this with people who are wiser and more spiritual than them (since wisdom is one of the gifts), and not everyone has such knowledge (1 Cor. 8:7), or by purity of life to grasp knowledge and seek wisdom from true Wisdom; they - what ignorance! - they grab onto what is closest to their hands, slander that everything in the world happens without a reason, only because they themselves do not see it, and, thus, from their ignorance they become wise men or from excessive, so to speak, wisdom they become devoid of wisdom and unreasonable. That is why some have introduced happiness and spontaneity 51 - such a fiction that is truly only cobbled together at random and as it happens. Others have come up with some kind of unreasonable and inevitable power of the stars, which, by their own will, weave, or, better to say, are involuntarily forced to weave our destiny; They came up with the combinations and oppositions of some wandering and non-wandering celestial bodies and a movement dominating the whole world. Others, since they could not comprehend and know Providence itself, brought into the poor human race their dreams, whatever they imagined, and divided it into various opinions and names 52. There were also those who represented Providence as too poor, 53 and, having extended His control only to what was above us, did not dare to bring Him down to us, who most need Him, as if fearing that the Benefactor would not be shown to be too good, when there would be too many creatures benefiting from His benefits, or so as not to tire God with many benefits. But let’s leave these madmen, as I already said, to themselves; since even before us the word of God well reflected them with this sentence: their foolish heart became futile; calling themselves wise, they became mad and changed the glory of the incorruptible God (Rom. 1:21–23), distorting the all-encompassing Providence with some myths and shadows. But we, if only as rational beings and servants of the Word we listen to reason, we should neither invent such monstrous opinions ourselves, nor accept people who think so, no matter how cunning their tongue may be in composing absurd speculations and teachings and no matter how seductive the news of their inventions may be. On the contrary, we must believe that there is God the Creator and Creator of all beings, for how could the Universe exist if someone did not realize it and bring it into order? We must believe that there is a Providence that contains everything and connects everything in the world, for for those creatures for which a Creator is necessary, a Provider is also necessary, otherwise the world, carried by chance, like a ship in a whirlwind, should, due to the disordered movements of matter, instantly collapse, crumble and return to the original chaos and disorder. We must also believe that our Creator, or Creator (it makes no difference whether you call Him by one name or another), cares in a special way about our fate, although our life is spent among various oppositions, the reasons for which, perhaps, remain unknown, so that we, comprehending them all, are all the more amazed at the sublime Mind above everything. For what we easily understand, we easily neglect; but, on the contrary, what is higher than us, the more difficult it is to understand, the more it excites surprise in us; and everything that runs away from our desire thereby ignites the strongest love for itself. Therefore, let us neither value health too highly, nor despise illness too much, let us not cleave to quickly flowing wealth (Ps. 61:11) and more appropriately apply our heart to this flow, spending on it, so to speak, something from the essence of our soul. Let us not rebel against poverty as a lot deserving of contempt, curse and hatred. Let us learn better to despise insanely consumed health, the fruit of which is sin, and to respect piously endured illness, honoring those who have gained victory through suffering; who knows if there is some Job lurking among the sick, who is incomparably more worthy of honor than the healthy, although he scrapes off pus from himself and languishes day and night in the open air, suffering from ulcers, and from his wife, and from friends. Let us learn to sweep away unrighteous wealth, for which the rich man righteously suffers in the flames, asking for a small drop of water to cool off (Luke 16:24); and together to please the grateful and wise poverty with which Lazarus is saved and richly rewarded with repose in the bosom of Abraham. Thus, it seems that we need philanthropy and mercy towards the poor in order to stop the mouths of those who think wrongly about it and not to give in to their vain wisdom, which we have now considered, that is, not to turn cruelty into law to the detriment of ourselves. But most of all let us honor here the commandment and admonitions of the word of God. What is this commandment? See how God-inspired men constantly inspire her and how close she is to their hearts. They do not proclaim it in such a way that they say something about the poor once or twice and then retreat; it is not that some mention mercy and others do not, or that some talk about it more and others less, as if it were not an important and extremely necessary subject. No, all of them and each one in particular, considering this commandment to be the main one or one of the main ones, zealously encourage us to fulfill it, sometimes with admonitions, sometimes with threats, sometimes with reproaches, and sometimes with praises of the merciful, and all this in order to strengthen its effect in our hearts by constant reminders of this commandment. It is said: for the sake of the suffering of the poor and the groaning of the poor, now I will rise, says the Lord (Ps. 11:6). Who will not fear the rising Lord? And in another place: Arise, O Lord my God, lift up Your hand, do not forget the oppressed (Ps. 9:33). Let us reject through prayer such an exaltation of the hand of God and do not want to see it raised against the rebellious or, what is even more painful, directed at the hard-hearted. And one more thing: does not forget the cry of the oppressed; The poor will not be forgotten forever (Ps. 9:13,19); His eyes look upon the poor (Ps. 10:4), and such looking is better and more excellent than the approach of the leaders. His eyelids test the sons of men, which is already, as it were, a lower and secondary supervision. But perhaps someone will say that this is talking about the poor and wretched, unjustly oppressed. I don't argue; but this very thing should motivate you to love humanity. If the Lord cares so much for the poor when they are offended, then, of course, He will reward you even more for them when they receive benefits from you. If he who despises the beggar irritates the One who created him (Prov. 17:5), then he who cares about creation honors the Creator. Again, when you hear the words: rich and poor meet each other: the Lord created both (Proverbs 22:2), then do not think that the Lord created one poor and the other rich so that you could attack the beggar even more, for it is not known whether such a division came from God. These words of Scripture show only that both the poor and the rich were created equally by God, although their external fate is not the same. Let this move you to compassion and brotherly love, and if, when you look at your wealth, you become proud, then let the thought of a common Creator humble you and lead you into the limits of modesty. What else? He who does good to the poor lends to the Lord (Proverbs 19:17). Who would not want to have such a Debtor, Who will repay the debt in due time with interest? And again: through mercy and righteousness sin is cleansed (Proverbs 16:6). So, let us cleanse ourselves with mercy, wipe off our spiritual impurities and filthiness with this beautiful grain, and let us become white, some like wool, others like snow (Isa. 1:18), according to the measure of our mercy! I'll say something even more amazing. If you have no fracture, no ulcer, no inflamed wound (Isa. 1:6), no spiritual leprosy, or tangible sign, or shine (Lev. 13:2), which only partially purifies the law and which Christ alone can heal, then nevertheless show respect to Him who endured wounds and illnesses for us. You will honor Him when you appear merciful and loving to the members of the [body] of Christ. If the robber and tormentor of our souls, either on your way from Jerusalem to Jericho, or in some other place, attacked you, unarmed and unprepared for defense, perhaps so wounded you that you should say: my wounds stink and fester, because of my madness (Ps. 37:6); if you are in such a state that you are neither looking for healing nor know the means for your healing - ah! This is already a truly great wound and an extreme disaster. But when you have not yet completely given in to despair and have not become completely incurable, resort to the Doctor, beg Him, heal wounds with wounds, attract like with like, or, better said, heal greater illnesses with lesser means. And He will say to your soul: I am your salvation (Ps. 34:3); He will say: your faith has saved you (Luke 7:50), you have recovered (John 5:14) and will comfort you with all the sweetness of the words of love for mankind, if only he sees that you are also loving towards those who suffer. Blessed, He says, are the merciful, for they will receive mercy (Matthew 5:7); You see that among the beatitudes, mercy occupies not the last place. Also: blessed is he who thinks about the needy and needy (Ps. 40:1); a good person shows mercy and lends (Ps. 111:5); Every day he shows mercy and lends (Ps. 36:26). Let us delight in bliss, let us earn the name of thinkers, let us become good; Let the night itself not interrupt the works of mercy. Do not say: go and come again, and in the morning I will give it to you (Proverbs 3:28). Do not allow the slightest gap between good intention and good deed. There is one thing that cannot be deferred—philanthropy. Share your bread with the hungry and bring the wandering poor into your home (Is. 58:7), and do all this with a welcoming attitude. Do good, it is said, with cordiality (Rom. 12:8); Thus, your readiness will increase the price of your good deed. For what is done out of sorrow or out of necessity [is] unpleasant and ugly; When providing benefits, one should rejoice and not grieve. When you remove from yourself the yoke and the beating of hands, that is, stinginess, tests and doubts and the word of murmuring, what will happen then? What a wonderful and great reward! What and how rich a reward! Then your light will rise in the darkness, and your healing will quickly shine forth (Is. 58:8-9). Who wouldn’t wish for light and healing? But with the same reverence I look at the casket of Christ 54, which encourages us to feed the poor, and at the agreement of Paul and Peter that, having shared the preaching of the Gospel among themselves, they cared for the poor with common strength, and at the limit and law of perfection indicated to the young man: give your possessions to the poor (Matthew 19:21). Don't you think that love for humanity is not a necessity for you, but a matter of arbitrariness, not a law, but advice? I myself would very much like to think so, but I am frightened by the left side and the goats and reproaches that they will hear from the One who placed them on the left. They will be condemned not for robbery, not for sacrilege, not for adultery or other sins prohibited by law, but for not serving Christ on behalf of the poor. So, if you, slaves and brothers and joint heirs of Christ, have any obedience to me, then while there is still time, let us visit Christ, serve Christ, feed Christ, clothe Christ, accept Christ, honor Christ - not only with a meal, like some; not with fragrant oils, like Mary; not only by grave, like Joseph of Arimathea; not with substances needed for burial, like Nicodemus, who only half showed his love for Christ; not with gold, frankincense and myrrh; as before - the Magi, but since the Lord of all wants mercy, and not sacrifice (Matt. 9:13) and mercy is worth more than thousands of fat lambs (Dan. 3:40), then we will bring this mercy to Him in the person of the poor and those now lying on the earth, so that when we leave here, they will receive us into the eternal abodes (Luke 16:9), in Christ Himself, our Lord, To whom be glory forever. Amen. Word 37. On the Gospel words: When Jesus finished these words... (Matthew 19:1–12) Jesus, having first chosen the fishermen, then Himself casts the nets and changes places one after another. For what? Not only in order to win more lovers of God by His coming, but, as I think, also in order to sanctify a larger number of places. He is made for the Jews by the Jews, in order to win the Jews, for those under the law, to redeem those under the law, for the weak, to the weak, in order to save the weak. He is made all things to all men, in order to win all. But what do I say: to everyone for everyone? What Paul did not want to say about himself, I find, was borne by the Savior. For He not only becomes a Jew, not only takes upon Himself all sorts of indecent and humiliating names for Him, but, what is most indecent of all, is even called sin (2 Cor. 5:21) and an oath (Gal. 3:13). Although this is not what He really is, He is nevertheless called. For how can the One who frees us from sin be sin? How can we swear to the One who redeems us from the curse of the law? But He is called this way in order to show His humility to this extent, and thereby teach us humility, which leads to heights. So, He becomes, as I said, a fisherman, condescends to everyone, casts nets, endures everything, just to bring out from the depths a fish, that is, a person swimming in the fickle and salty waves of life. For this reason, now he finished these words, left Galilee and came to the borders of Judea, on the Trans-Jordan side (Matthew 19:1). He comes to Galilee - and this is for good, so that the people sitting in darkness may see a great light (Matthew 4:16). He moves to Judea to be convinced to rebel from the letter and follow the spirit. Now he teaches on the mountain, now he talks on the plains, now he goes into the ship, now he rebukes the storms, sometimes he tastes sleep in order to bless his sleep, sometimes he labors in order to sanctify his work, sometimes he cries in order to make his tears praiseworthy. Moves from place to place, Uncontainable by any place, Flightless, Incorporeal, Incomprehensible, Which is one and the same and was, and begins to be, was above time and comes, obeying time, was invisible and becomes visible. In the beginning was, with God was and was God; the third was, confirmed by the number itself, He who was, exhausted, and what was not, he took on, not making two through this, but deigning from two to become One, because God is both, both received and accepted, two natures flocked together, but not two Sons (let this co-dissolution not be dishonored by a false interpretation!). He is so great! But what about me? Again I descend to human expressions. For how can something simple be called such? And not great in quantity? But forgive the word - a small instrument; I'm talking about the Highest! The Great and Long-suffering One, an indescribable and incorporeal Nature, will also tolerate what we say about Him as a body and use sayings that are far from corresponding to the truth. For if He took on flesh, He does not disdain such words. Many people followed Him, and He healed them there (Matthew 19:2), where there was a vast desert. If He had remained at His height, if He had not descended into weakness, if He had remained Who He was, keeping Himself unapproachable and incomprehensible, then perhaps few would have followed Him, even, I don’t know, if only a few would have followed, perhaps only Moses, and he so much so that he could barely see the back of God. For although Moses dissolved the cloud when he was out of bodily heaviness and brought the senses into inactivity, could he see the subtlety and incorporeality of God (or, I don’t know how another would call it) while still being a body and penetrating with sensual eyes? But since God is exhausted for our sake 55 and descends (by exhaustion 56 I understand exhaustion as a weakening and diminishment of glory), and through this he becomes comprehensible. Excuse me for stopping again and falling into human weakness, being filled with anger and sorrow for my Christ (you also share my feelings!), when I see that they are dishonoring my Christ for the very thing for which justice demanded that He be honored most. Tell me: is He material because He humbled Himself for your sake? Is it because He is a creature that he cares about the creature? Is it because it is under time that it visits those under time? However, He endures everything, endures everything. And what's surprising? He suffered beatings, suffered spitting, and tasted bile for my taste. He still endures stoning not only from those who slander, but even from us who consider ourselves pious. For, when discussing the incorporeal, to use names characteristic of the corporeal means, perhaps, the same as slandering, the same as stoning, but, I repeat, may an excuse be given for our weakness! We do not arbitrarily throw stones, but because we cannot express ourselves otherwise, we use the words we have. You are called the Word and above the word, You are above the light and are called Light, you are called Fire not because you are subject to feelings, but because you purify light and worthless matter! You are called a sword because you cut off the bad from the good; with a shovel, because you clear the threshing floor and, discarding everything that is empty and light, you put the full weight into the barns above, with an ax, because after long-suffering you cut down the barren fig tree, because you destroy the very roots of evil, with a door because of the introduction; the way, because we walk straight; a lamb, because You are the sacrifice; High Priest, because you sacrifice the body; Son, because You are from the Father! Again I set in motion slanderous tongues; again some are raging against Christ, or, better said, against me, who is honored to be a preacher of the Word; I become, like John, a voice crying in the wilderness - in a desert that was once waterless, but is now very populous. However, as I said (I return to my word), many people followed Him, because He condescends to our weaknesses. What then? It is said: the Pharisees came to Him and, tempting Him, said to Him: Is it permissible for a man to divorce his wife for any reason? (Matthew 19:3). Again the Pharisees tempt, again those who read the Law do not understand the law, again the interpreters of the Law need new teachers! The Sadducees were not enough tempting about the resurrection, the lawyers were asking about perfection, the Herodians were asking about kinson 57 and others were asking about power: someone also asks the Untempted about marriage, asks the One who Himself is the Creator of marriage. Who from the first Cause created this entire human race. He answered and said to them, Have you not read that He who created in the beginning made them male and female? (Matthew 19:4). He knew which questions to solve and which ones to stop the mouths of those asking. When they ask Him: By what authority are You doing this? (Luke 20:2), then, due to the extreme ignorance of those who asked, He Himself asks: Was John’s baptism from heaven, or from men? (Luke 20:4). And the mutual impossibility of giving an answer binds the questioners. Therefore, we, imitating Christ, can sometimes stop the mouths of curious interrogators and resolve their inappropriate questions with questions that are even more inappropriate. For we ourselves are wise in empty things (if we can sometimes boast of the deeds of foolishness). But when Christ sees that the question requires reasoning, then the questioners are honored with wise answers. He says: the question you proposed shows your respect for chastity and requires a lenient answer. As for chastity, as I see, many have the wrong concept, and their law is not equal and correct. For why did the law curb the female sex, but give freedom to the male sex, and a wife who plots against her husband’s bed commits adultery and is subject to strict prosecution for this by the laws, but a husband who commits adultery with his wife is not subject to responsibility? I do not accept such legislation, I do not approve of the custom. Husbands were legislators, and therefore the law was turned against wives, and therefore children were given under the authority of their fathers, and the weaker sex was left in disdain. On the contrary, God did not establish this, but: honor your father and your mother (Exodus 20:12) - this is the first commandment, combined with promises: it will be good for you, and whoever curses his father or his mother must be put to death (Exodus 21:17). You see, he honored the good and punished the evil. Also: the father’s blessing establishes the children’s homes, but the mother’s oath destroys them to the ground (Sir.3:9). You see, the legislation is the same. One Creator of husband and wife, one flesh: they are both one image; there is one law for them, one death, one resurrection, we are born equally from husband and wife, children are obliged to repay one debt to their parents. How come you demand chastity, but don’t observe it yourself? Are you demanding what you didn’t give? Why, being yourself flesh of the same dignity, do you establish an unequal law? If you pay attention to the worst, then the wife sinned, Adam also sinned, the serpent deceived both, one turned out to be weaker and the other stronger. But consider the best. Both are saved by Christ through suffering. He became flesh for the man, but also for the wife. He died for his husband, and his wife is saved by death. Christ is called from the seed of David (which, perhaps, you think, is how a husband is honored), but he is also born from a Virgin - this is already an honor for wives! And the two, it is said, will be one flesh (Matthew 19:5), and let the one flesh have the same honor. Paul instills chastity by example. What example and how? This mystery is great; I speak in relation to Christ and to the Church (Eph. 5:32). It is good for a wife to honor Christ in the person of her husband, and it is good for a husband not to dishonor the Church in the person of his wife. Let the wife, he says, fear her husband, because she also fears Christ, but let the husband also love his wife, because Christ also loves the Church. Let us delve into these words with great care. Churning milk produces oil (Prov. 30:33), examine, and perhaps you will find something more nutritious in them. It seems to me that here the word of God does not approve of bigamy, for if there are two Christs, then there are two husbands, two and wives, and if there is one Christ, one head of the Church, then there is one flesh, and let all other flesh be rejected. And if it keeps you from a second marriage, then what about the third? The first is law, the second is leniency, the third is lawlessness. And whoever transgresses this limit is like a pig and has few examples of such shame. Although the law gives divorce for any fault, Christ does not give divorce for any fault, but allows only separation from the adulteress; nevertheless, he commands that everything else be endured wisely and excommunicates the adulteress because she is damaging the race. Regarding everything else, let us be patient and wise, or, better said, be patient and wise, you who have taken upon yourself the yoke of marriage. You see that the wife has embellished or touched up, erase it; or her language is very impudent - chastity; or indecent laughter, make it modest; or you notice excess in spending and drinking - limit it; or untimely exits from the house - put a barrier; or a distracted gaze - correct, but do not cut off, do not hastily separate from yourself, for it is not known who is in danger, the excommunicator or the excommunicated. The source of water, it is said, may it be yours, and may no one else’s share it with you; Let the lot of your graces and the tree of love speak to you (Prov. 5:17-19). So, do not be a strange river and do not try to please others more than your wife. And if you strive for another place, then you make shamelessness a law for your member. This is what the Savior teaches. What about the Pharisees? The word seems cruel to them, since everything good was not liked and is not liked by both the then and present Pharisees. For what makes a Pharisee is not only one’s origin, but also one’s way of life, so I consider anyone who by his will puts himself on a par with them to be an Assyrian and an Egyptian. What about the Pharisees? They say: If such is a man’s duty to his wife, then it is better not to marry (Matthew 19:10). Now do you just find out, Pharisee, that it’s better not to get married? And before, I didn’t know when I saw widowhood, and orphanhood, and untimely death, and applause followed by crying, and coffins near the bridal chambers, and infertility, and misfortunes from children, and failed births, and children losing their mother at birth, and finally, everything that happens with this, both funny and sad, because we can say both here. It is better to marry, and I agree to this, for the marriage will be honorable and the bed undefiled (Heb. 13:4), but it is better for those who are in moderation, and not for the insatiable, not for those who want to show more respect to the flesh than it should. When marriage is actually marriage and a conjugal union and the desire to leave behind children, then marriage is good, because it increases the number of those who please God. But when he inflames the coarse flesh, surrounds it with thorns and becomes, as it were, a path to vice, then I will say: it is better not to marry. Marriage is a good thing, but I cannot say that it is higher than chastity. For integrity would not be recognized as something high if it were not from the best to the best. Let those who bear the bonds of marriage not be upset by this! We must obey God rather than men (Acts 5:29). On the contrary, virgins and wives, unite together, become one in the Lord and serve as an adornment to each other! There would be no celibates if there were no marriage, for where would a virgin come into the world? Marriage would not be honest if it did not bring forth virgins to God and life. Honor 58 your mother, from whom you come; honor also you 59 who came from your mother and mother, although she is not a mother, but the bride of Christ. Visible beauty is not hidden, but invisible beauty is visible to God, all the glory of the king’s daughter is within; her clothes are embroidered with gold (Ps. 44:14), that is, both by deeds and by contemplation. And let the one who enters into marriage belong to Christ, and let the virgin be entirely Christ’s! Let one not cleave completely to the world, let the other not be at all from the world! What belongs to the married woman in part belongs to the virgin entirely. You have chosen the angelic life, you have entered the rank of the celibate; do not fall into the carnal, do not fall into the material, do not be united with matter, while you lead a celibate life. A prodigal gaze will not protect chastity; the prodigal tongue enters into fellowship with the evil one; legs walking disorderly expose illness or are set in motion by illness. Let the thought also be virgin, let it not spin, let it not wander, let it not carry within itself images of what is evil (such an image is already part of fornication), let it not create hated idols in the soul! He said to them: Not everyone can receive this word, but to those who have it it is given (Matthew 19:11). Do you see the height of this virtue? It turns out to be barely usable. And is it not above the flesh that he who is born of the flesh should not be born into the flesh? Isn’t it an angelic property for a soul connected with the flesh to live not according to the flesh and to be above nature itself? The flesh connected her with the world, and her mind raised her to God; the flesh was burdened, but the mind was inspired; the flesh imprisoned him, but love loosed them. Strive with all your soul, virgin, for God! I give the same law to both men and women. Do not imagine as good everything that seems good for many - neither clan, nor wealth, nor throne, nor dominion, nor beauty, delivered in the beauty of appearance and harmony of members - this play of time and disease! If you have exhausted all the power of love before God, if you do not have two objects of love, that is, the fleeting and the permanent, the visible and the invisible; then were you so wounded by the chosen arrow and did you know the beauty of the Bridegroom that you could say in the words of the wedding description and the wedding song: You are sweetness, and all desire (Song. 5:16)? You see the imprisoned streams in lead pipes, how they, when strongly constrained and directed towards one place, so often deviate from the natural properties of water that, constantly pressed from behind, they rush upward: so you, if you concentrate love and are completely united with Christ, you will strive upward, and not fall down and not overflow. You will remain entirely Christ's until you finally see Christ Himself, your bridegroom. Keep yourself unapproachable in word, and in deed, and in life, and in thoughts, and in the movements of the heart, for the evil one tortures you from everywhere and is always looking out for where to overthrow you, where to wound you, if he finds something unprotected and open to attack. The more purity he sees in you, the more he becomes more desecrated, because stains are more visible on clean clothes. Let not the eye attract attention, laughter attract laughter, short walks attract nocturnal gatherings, and the night attract destruction! For what is gradually taken away and stolen, although in the present it produces imperceptible damage, nevertheless later completely destroys the thing. Not everyone, he says, can receive this word, but to whom it is given. When you hear: to whom it is given, do not fall into heresy because of this, do not introduce different natures: earthly, spiritual and average, for some hold false opinions and think that some by nature are destined for complete destruction, and others for salvation, while others are placed in such a state that their own arbitrariness leads them to bad or to good. And I agree that one, in comparison with another, has more or less ability; but ability alone is not enough for perfection, and the mind must arouse the ability for nature to come into action, just as a pyrite stone, if struck with iron, itself becomes iron. When you hear: to whom it is given, then add: given to those who are called and those who have a disposition for it, for when we also hear: not from him who wills, and not from him who runs, but from God who has mercy (Rom. 9:16), I advise you to mean the same. Since there are people who think so highly of their merits that they attribute everything to themselves, and not to the One who created and made them wise, not to the Giver of goods, the word of God teaches such that God’s help is needed in order to wish good, especially since the very choice of what is due is something Divine, a gift of God’s love for mankind. For it is necessary that the matter of salvation depend both on us and on God. Therefore it is said: not from the one who wills, that is, not from the one who wills, not from the one who strives only, but also from God who has mercy. Then, since the will itself is from God, the apostle rightly attributed everything to God. Whether you walk or work, you always need the One who gives the crown. If the Lord does not build the house, those who build it labor in vain; If the Lord does not protect the city, its watchman watches in vain (Ps. 127:1). I know, he says, that running does not depend on the lungs, war does not depend on the strong, victory does not depend on warriors, and the pier is not in the power of skilled swimmers, but it is up to God to arrange the victory and bring the boat to the pier. And perhaps what is said and implied elsewhere and what came to my mind on the occasion of what was said, needs to be added here in order to share my wealth with you. The mother of the sons of Zebedee asked, suffering from love of children and not knowing the extent of what she was asking for, but she was excused by the excess of love and goodwill that she should have for children, because there is nothing more compassionate than a mother; and I say this to make it an obligation to honor mothers, - so, the mother of the sons of Zebedee asked Jesus, so that one could sit on His right hand, and the other on His left. What about the Savior? First he asks whether they can drink the cup that He Himself has to drink? And when they said that they could, and the Savior did not contradict this (for he knew that the same cup would lead them, or, better said, would lead them to perfection), then what does he say? They will drink the cup, but to be given to sit at My right hand and on My left does not depend on Me, He says (Matthew 20:23), but to whom it is given. So, neither the sovereign mind, nor work, nor words, nor wisdom, nor fasting, nor vigil, nor reclining on the bare ground, nor flowing streams of tears mean anything? Does all this mean nothing? But by some pre-election, Jeremiah is sanctified, and others are separated in the womb? I’m afraid that an absurd thought might be added to this, as if the soul had another life, and then was united with this body, and for the life there, some receive the gift of prophecy here, while others, who lived badly there, are condemned. But since it is extremely absurd to allow this and is inconsistent with the teachings of the Church (although others are amused by such teachings, it is not safe for us to amuse ourselves with such talk), then in this place add to the words to whom it is given: that is, to those who are worthy, and in order to become worthy, they not only received from the Father, but also gave to themselves. For there are eunuchs who were born from their mother’s womb, etc. (Matthew 19:12). I really wish I could say something strong about the eunuchs. Don’t think highly of yourself, eunuchs by nature! It may be that you are involuntarily chaste, because your chastity has not been subjected to temptation and has not been proven by experience. What is done good by natural inclination does not deserve approval, but what is done by free will is commendable. What honor is there to the fire that it burns? Burning is its natural property. Or the water that flows down? This property was given to her from the Creator. What honor is it to the snow that it is cold? The sun that shines? It shines involuntarily. Show me you mean well. And you will show this if, being carnal, you become spiritual, if, drawn down by the weight of the flesh, you become inspired by the mind, if you, born low, turn out to be heavenly; if you are bound by the flesh, you will appear above the flesh. So, since it is not commendable to understand this about one bodily thing, I demand something else from the eunuchs. Do not commit adultery in relation to the Divine! Those united to Christ, do not dishonor Christ! Brought to perfection by the Spirit, do not make the Spirit equal to yourself! If I were still pleasing people, says Paul, I would not be a servant of Christ (Gal. 1:10), if I served the creature, I would not be called a Christian. For why is the name Christian important? Is it not because Christ is God (unless I accept this name not out of passion, as a person attached to Christ by earthly love)? Although I venerate Peter, I am not called a Petrian, I also venerate Paul, but I have never yet been called a Paulian. I do not agree to borrow a name from man, being created from God. Thus, if you are called a Christian because you recognize Christ as God, then call yourself and be a Christian in both name and deed. But if you are called in the name of Christ because you love Christ, then you attribute to Him no more than if you had adopted to Him one of the other names that are given to people according to their occupation or trade. See these horse racing enthusiasts: they get their name from the color and the side they stand on. But you know these names even without my reminder. If in the same sense you are called a Christian, then your name is very unimportant, even if you are proud of it. And if you are called in the sense that you confess Christ as God, then prove your confession by deeds. If God is a creature, then you still serve the creature, and not the Creator. If the Holy Spirit is a creature, then you were baptized in vain, and although in two parts you are healthy (it would be better to say, in both parts you are not healthy), yet in one you are in extreme danger. Imagine that the Trinity is one pearl, having the same appearance and equal brilliance everywhere; if any one part of this pearl is damaged, then all the pleasantness of the stone will be lost. When you dishonor the Son in order to honor the Father, the Father does not accept your honoring. The Father will not be glorified by the dishonor of the Son. If a wise son makes his father happy (Prov. 10:1), then how much more will the honor of the son be an honor for the father? And if you accept this: do not seek glory in the dishonor of the father (Sir. 3:10), then equally the father will not be glorified by the dishonor of his son. If you dishonor the Holy Spirit, then the Son also does not accept your honor, for although the Spirit is not like the Son from the Father, yet from the same Father. Either give honor to the whole, or dishonor the whole, in order to at least show a mind that agrees with itself. I don’t accept your half-hearted piety, I want you to be completely pious (and how I still wish this! Forgive the movement of my heart - I’m also sick for those who hate!). You were my member, and although you are now cut off, perhaps you will be a member again, which is why I speak condescendingly. This is what is for the eunuchs: to maintain chastity in the consideration of the Divine; for fornication and adultery are called not only sin in the judgment of the body, but also every sin, especially lawlessness in the judgment of the Divine. You might ask, how can we prove this? It is said: they committed fornication with their actions (Ps. 105:39). Here you also see the shameless act of fornication. It is also said: and she committed adultery with a tree (Jer. 3:9). You see that there is also adultery in relation to the worship of God. So, while maintaining bodily chastity, do not commit mental fornication. Do not force us to conclude that you involuntarily observe carnal chastity, because you are not chaste in that in which you have the opportunity to be a fornicator. Why have you committed your wickedness? Why do you all strive for evil so much that one and the same thing has become called either eunuch or wicked? Join the husbands, and finally reason as is typical for a husband. Avoid women's meetings, do not add shameful teaching to a shameful name. Do I want me to continue the word, or is that enough of what has already been said? However, may the eunuchs also be honored by the following words of Christ, for they serve to their praise. For there are eunuchs, says [Christ], who were born like this from their mother’s womb; and there are eunuchs who are castrated from people; and there are eunuchs who made themselves eunuchs for the Kingdom of Heaven. He who can contain it, let him contain it (Matthew 19:12). It seems to me that the word, evading the corporeal, through the corporeal depicts the highest, for it was small, perhaps even extremely weak and unworthy of the word, to stop the concept at the corporeal only eunuchs, but we must imagine something worthy of the spirit. So, some seem to be naturally disposed towards good. When I say: by nature, I do not demean desires, but I presuppose both: an inclination towards goodness, and the will, which puts the natural inclination into action. And others are such that teaching purifies them, removing passions from them, and I understand them as eunuchs who are emasculated from people; when an instructive word, separating good from bad and eliminating one and prescribing the other (as, for example, in the commandment: turn away from evil and do good - Ps. 33:15), creates spiritual chastity in them. I also praise this family of eunuchs, I even highly praise both the mentors and the disciples: the former because they know how to cut off, and the latter because they endure cutting off even better. And there are eunuchs who made themselves eunuchs for the Kingdom of Heaven. Others did not have mentors, but became praiseworthy mentors for themselves. Your mother did not teach you what you should, nor did your father, nor the priest, nor the bishop, nor any other of those entrusted with teaching, but you yourself, having brought your mind into action, ignited the spark of good with your free will, castrated yourself, cut off the root, destroyed the instruments of sin, acquired such a skill in virtue that it became almost impossible for you to strive for evil. Therefore, I praise this clan of eunuchs, even more than other clans. Whoever can contain it, let him contain it. Choose whatever you want: either follow the teacher, or be a teacher for yourself. There is only one shameful thing - if the passions are not cut off, and no matter who cuts them off, do not consider the difference. For the mentor is a creation of God, and you are from God. Although the mentor will precede your honor, although good will be your own work, in both cases it is equally good; let us only cut off passions from ourselves, so that no root of sorrow, having arisen, will cause harm (Heb. 12:15), let us only follow the image, let us only honor the Archetype. Cut off bodily passions, cut off spiritual passions, for as much as the soul is more valuable than the body, it is so more important to cleanse the soul than the body. If cleansing the body is one of the praiseworthy deeds, then look how much more important and higher the cleansing of the soul is. Cut off Aryan's wickedness, cut off Sabelli's evil faith and do not unite what is more proper, and do not divide evilly, do not unite the Three into one Person and do not make the Three different by nature. It is commendable to confess the One if you understand unity well; It is commendable to confess the Three, if you divide correctly, that is, you allow the division of Persons, and not the Divinity. I prescribe this to the laity, I command this to the priests, as well as to those who are entrusted with leadership. Help the word, everyone who has been given the opportunity to help by God. It is a great thing to prevent murder, to punish adultery, to curb rapacity; incomparably higher is to instill godliness and teach sound doctrine. My word, struggling for the Holy Trinity, will have not so much power as your behavior, if you stop the lips of evil-minded people, help the persecuted, stop murderers, prevent murder; I mean not only physical, but also spiritual murder, for every sin is the death of the soul. Let the word end with this; there remains a request to those gathered here. Husbands and wives, bosses and subordinates, elders, youths and maidens, people of all ages! Suffer any damage relating to property or body, but do not tolerate one thing - so that the doctrine of the Divinity suffers damage. I worship the Father, I worship the Son, I worship the Holy Spirit; It’s better to say, I, who says this, worship first of all, and after all of you, and with all of you, the Lord Himself, our Christ, to whom be glory and dominion forever. Sermon 36. About himself and to those who said that Saint Gregory desires the throne of Constantinople I wonder what attracts you so much to my words? Why does my speech, the speech of a foreigner, perhaps weak and lacking any attractiveness, have such power over you? It even seems that you have the same attraction for me as iron has for a magnet, because you hold on to me, holding each other to each other, and all to God, from whom and in whom are all things (Rom. 11:36). Truly, this is a wonderful chain, and the Holy Spirit weaves it, binding it with inextricable bonds! And if you ask about the reason, then, as far as I am aware of myself, I do not see in myself wisdom superior to others, unless someone else will take it as wisdom that I recognize myself as neither wise nor close to the true and original Wisdom. It is very necessary for today's sages to think about themselves in this way, because it is easiest to deceive oneself and, puffed up by empty glory, consider oneself to be something, being nothing. I was not the first to preach to you the teachings of Orthodoxy, to which you cling most tightly. I followed in other people's footsteps and (to tell the truth) in your footsteps. For you are disciples of the famous Alexander 60, the great champion and preacher of the Trinity, who eradicated wickedness in both word and deed, and remember that apostolic prayer that struck the leader of wickedness 61 in a place worthy of this unclean tongue, so that for reproach he would be punished with reproach and for the unrighteous death of the souls he had seduced, he would be disgraced by a righteous death. So, we did not open to you a new source, similar to the one that Moses showed in a waterless place to those being saved from Egypt (Exodus 17:6), but we dug up one that was closed and covered with earth, imitating the servants of Isaac the great, who not only dug new wells of living water, but also cleaned those blocked up by the Philistines (Genesis 26:15). On the other hand, I am not one of the eloquent people, I do not have pleasant manners, I do not know how to steal favor with affection, which I see many capable of among those who are now calling for the priesthood. These people and our piety, which is simple and alien to artificiality, turned into artificiality and into some new kind of government, transferred from the marketplace to the sanctuary and from the theaters to the secrecy inaccessible to the eyes of many; so that we have (if I must express myself more boldly) two scenes, and the only difference between them is that one is open to all, and the other to some; on one, laughter is aroused, on the other, respect; one is called theatrical, and the other is spiritual. You and God are witnesses, says the divine apostle (1 Thess. 2:10), that we do not belong to this part, on the contrary, we are such that we can rather be accused of rudeness and ignorance of secular decency than of caresses and servility, even towards those who are very committed to us, we sometimes turn out to be harsh, as soon as they act in something, in our opinion, illegally. And this was proven by the event that recently happened to me, when you, the people, seething with jealousy and anger, despite my cry and tears, elevated me to this throne, which I don’t know what to call, tormenting or high priest, you elevated me, out of love, breaking the law. On this occasion, I upset some of the most zealous so much that they left me and changed love into enmity. For I look less at what can please than at what can be useful. Therefore, what is the reason for such love for me and my words? Do you want to open and explain it yourself, to make your love for me known, or do you want me to explain it, whom you willingly accept as an interpreter in other cases? As far as I can conclude from your silence, you give me the floor. So, listen and see if I’m a bad guesser in such matters. Firstly, it seems to me that since you yourself called me, you support me with your own judgment, and therefore protect me as your prey. And this is definitely in our nature - to love everything that is ours, be it property, or creation, or word, and to have sincere goodwill towards our works. Secondly, you especially respect in me the fact that I am not impudent, not insolent, I do not behave in a theatrical and pompous manner, but I am compliant, modest, even in society I seem to have no communication with anyone and live as a hermit, in short: I behave wisely, and my wisdom is not artificial and cleverly sought out, but simple and spiritual content. For I do not hide myself so that they will look for me and so that they will consider me worthy of greater honor, with which the thought is that others discover beauty for a short time and then hide it, but in order to prove by my silence how much I avoid presiding and do not seek such honors. Thirdly, you see how much I endure from external enemies and domestic slander when I say with Daniel: iniquity came out of Babylon from the elder judges who were going to judge Israel (Dan. 13:41). You complain and are indignant about this, you cannot help the oppressed in any way, and instead of everything you bring me the gift of only regret. And pity combined with shame produced love. This is the secret of your respect for me! And since they attack me for my words, for this abundant and thus envy-inducing language, which we first taught secular literature, and then ennobled with the word of God and sweetened bitter Marah with the tree of life (Ex. 15:25), then you have given place in yourself feelings worthy of noble people, and love in me the very thing for which I am attacked. Why didn’t I love dumb, dry, and creeping learning on the ground? Why, seeing many satisfied with such learning, did I devote myself to alien and foreign wisdom, turned to controversial expressions, when it was necessary to boldly flee from all reasoning and call by faith such a renunciation of reason, which (I assure you) I myself would have loved as a fisherman (which also for many constitutes a ready pretext for apologizing for ignorance), if my words had been given the power of signs? Oh, if only envy would be destroyed among people, this ulcer for those possessed by it, this poison for those suffering from it, this one of the most unjust and at the same time just passions - an unjust passion because it disturbs the peace of all the good, and a fair passion because it dries out those who feed it! For I will not wish harm upon those who at first praised me. They did not know what the end of these praises would be; otherwise, perhaps, they would have added censure to praise in order to put a barrier to envy. Envy darkened the angel, who fell from exaltation. Being Divine, he could not resist not recognizing himself as a god, and cast Adam out of paradise, taking possession of him through voluptuousness and his wife (Gen. 3:2-3), for he assured him that the tree of knowledge was forbidden to him for a time out of envy, so that he would not become a god. Envy also made Cain a fratricide, who could not tolerate the fact that another victim was holier than his. Envy covered the evil world with waters and drowned the Sodomites with fire. Envy swallowed up Dathan and Abiron, who rebelled against Moses (Num. 16:32), and struck Miriam with leprosy, who grumbled only against her brother (Num. 12:10). Envy stained the earth with the blood of the prophets and, through its wives, shook the wise Solomon. Envy also made Judas a traitor, deceived by a small number of pieces of silver and deserving of strangulation; she produced both Herod, the child killer, and Pilate, the Christ killer. Envy humiliated and scattered Israel, who to this day has not risen from this sin. Envy has also brought back to us that apostate tormentor 62 of whom now coals still remain, although we escaped the flame. Envy also split the beautiful Body of the Church, dividing it into different and opposing groups. Envy has also raised up Jeroboam among us, that servant of sin, 63 and puts bonds on the tongue. He does not tolerate the shining Trinity, which illuminates us with the complete Divinity and makes His true preachers worthy for you. Don't you think that I'm talking empty words when I offer my comparisons? Or did the descriptive word very accurately depict the reasons for love? As for this love, this is how I understand the matter. But since I see that some are upset by insults and consider my misfortune to be their own misfortune, let’s talk briefly about this. If for some human and insignificant plans or to receive this see, I first appeared before you with this gray hair and with these limbs, bent from time and illness, and now endured so many dishonors, then I would be ashamed of heaven and earth (which the ancients were accustomed to take as witnesses), I would be ashamed of this see, this sacred assembly, this holy and recently united people, against which there is such a militia of evil forces that he, which had already begun to be formed according to Christ, was destroyed before its formation and put to death before its birth. I would be ashamed of my exploits, and labors, and this hair-lined clothing, and the desert, and the solitude with which I had become accustomed, and the carefree life, and the low-value meal, which was hardly more expensive than the meal of the birds of the air. But let others tell the truth about me, as if I desired someone else’s wife, 64 when I did not want to have my own! Let the Gibeonites also take precedence over me, whom (as far as I know) the Holy Spirit will not accept as woodcutters and water-bearers (Joshua 9:27), while they approach the sanctuary with such stains in their life and teaching! But if I came here to defend the teaching, to provide all possible assistance to the Church, which is still widowed and unmarried, to be, as it were, a viceroy and trustee, in order to notify her to another how soon someone will turn out to be worthy of this beauty, and to bring this queen the richest wine of virtue, in this case, what am I worthy of, praise for zeal or reproaches based on mere suspicion, because I am judged according to the passions of others? Therefore, if we give help to a ship caught in a storm, or a besieged city, or a house devoured by flames, hastening on boats, or with an army, or with devices for extinguishing the flame, you, my good one, will undoubtedly call us either sea robbers, or those who want to take possession of the city and house, and not helpers and defenders. But you will say: this is not how many people think about you. What need does this have for me, for whom to be, and not to appear, is most precious, or better yet, is everything? The fact that I am like this in myself will either condemn me or justify me, make me unhappy or blissful, and the way I seem to mean nothing to me, just like someone else’s dream. You say, my dear, that’s not how you appear to many people. But does the earth seem motionless to those who feel dizzy? Does it seem to drunk people that they are sober and not walking on their heads and not spinning? Don’t people who are sick and have lost their taste sometimes think that honey is bitter? But things in themselves are not like that, although they seem like that to those who suffer. Therefore, first prove that people who are in a healthy state think about us this way; and then advise us to change or condemn us if we do not obey, but remain with our judgment. I don’t seem like that to many, but I seem like that to God, and I don’t seem to be, but completely open before the One who knows everything before people were born, created our hearts, delves into all our deeds (Ps. 32:15), our movements and thoughts, and what is done differently, from Whom nothing that exists is hidden and cannot be hidden, Who looks at our affairs differently than how people look. For man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart (1 Samuel 16:7). So, hear, says the Scripture, and believe. And he who has understanding should think more about God than about the collective opinion of all others. If you have two human advisers in one matter, and one is smarter, and the other is less knowledgeable, will you show prudence if, leaving the more intelligent one, you follow the advice of the less knowledgeable? And Rehoboam is not praised because, having despised the advice of the elders, he carried out the opinion of the young (1 Kings 12:13–14). When comparing God with people, will you really prefer human opinions? Of course not, if you listen to me and judge more carefully. But we are ashamed, you say, of the insults made to you. And I’m ashamed of you for being ashamed of this. If we tolerate this justly, then we ourselves should be more ashamed, and we should be ashamed not so much because we are being dishonored, but because we are worthy of dishonor. If we suffer unjustly, then those who insult us are guilty of this, and therefore we should grieve more for them than for us, for they suffer evil. If I am bad, and you consider me good, what should I do after that? Should I make myself even worse in order to please you more? I wouldn't wish this on myself. Likewise, if I’m standing straight, but it seems to you that I’m falling, should I really leave you in a straight position? I live no more for you than for myself, and in everything I have as my advisors reason and the commandments of God, which often convict me, although no one accuses me, and sometimes justify me, although many condemn me. And it is impossible to escape from this one thing - from the internal judgment seat within ourselves, to which one can only look on the straight path. As for the opinion of others, if it is for us (I will say somewhat humanly), let us accept it; if it’s against us, we’ll give it a way and from what we really are, we won’t take anything away in order to do something for show. That's how it should be. Whoever practices good out of some interest is not firm in virtue, for the goal will change and he will abandon the good deed, just as someone who sails for profit does not continue sailing if he does not see profit. But whoever honors and loves good for its own sake, because he loves something constant and has a constant disposition towards good, so that, feeling in himself something characteristic of God, he can say about himself what God Himself said: I am the same and do not change (Mal. 3:6). Therefore, it will not transform, take on different forms, in accordance with circumstances and deeds, become one thing or another, change colors, just as a polyp takes on the color of the stone to which it adheres, but always remains the same - unshakable among fluctuations, incorruptible among vicissitudes, and, as I imagine, it is a rock that, when struck by winds and waves, stands unshakably and crushes everything that hits it. But enough about this, because I don’t have time to argue in words and what was said earlier, perhaps, already exceeds the limit. Now I have a word to you, my flock! You have become for me, says Paul, hope and joy and a crown of praise (1 Thess. 2:19-20). You are my justification before those who torture me. Just as architects and painters, when they are asked to report, it is enough to point to their buildings and paintings in order to be freed from all troubles, because deeds speak louder than words, so I, by pointing to you, will reflect all slander. How will I reflect it? Firstly, if you maintain an unwavering and firm confession of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, without adding, subtracting or belittling anything in the one Godhead (because what is humiliated in Him becomes the humiliation of the whole); and those who think and speak differently, destroy or delimit the One by assuming the gradual nature of natures, drive away from yourself as a plague for the Church and poison for the truth, however, without hatred, but only regretting their fall. Secondly, if you imagine a life in accordance with the right teaching, so that you will not lack not only virtue, but also anything else. Kings! Respect your purple (for our word gives laws to legislators), know how important what is entrusted to you is and how great the sacrament is accomplished in your judgment. The whole world is at your fingertips, held back by a small crown and a short robe. What is above belongs to one God, and what is below belongs to you too; be (I will say a bold word) gods for your subjects. It is said (and we believe) that the heart of a king is in the hand of the Lord (Proverbs 21:1). This should be your strength, and not in gold and not in hordes. Close to the royal courts and thrones! Do not be too proud of your power and do not consider immortal that which is not immortal. Be faithful to kings, first to God, and for His sake to those to whom you are entrusted and devoted. Proud of nobility! Ennoble your morals, or I will say something, although unpleasant, but nevertheless noble: then your nobility would be truly the most noble, if ignoble people were not written in genealogical books. Sages and philosophers, venerable in beard and cloak, sophists and grammarians, seekers of popular applause! I don’t know why we should call those who do not have the first teaching wise. Rich! Listen to the one who said: when wealth increases, do not put your heart on it (Ps. 61:11); know that you are relying on something fragile. It is necessary to lighten the ship so that it is easier to sail. Perhaps you will take something away from the enemy by having your property transferred to him. Eating sumptuously! Take something away from the belly and give it to the spirit. There is a beggar near you; provide help for the illness, pour out something from the excess on him. Why should you suffer from indigestion, and him from hunger? for you - a headache from wine, and for him - water sickness; should you feel burdened by satiety, and should he be exhausted by illness? Do not despise your Lazarus here, lest he make you a rich man there (Luke 16:19–31). Citizens of the great city 65, immediately first after the citizens of the world's first city 66 or even not inferior to them! Be the first not in vices, but in virtue, not in debauchery, but in decorum. It is a shame to dominate cities and yield victory over oneself to voluptuousness, or otherwise observe chastity, and to have such a mad passion for horse races, spectacles, the stage and hound hunting that in this alone one can devote one’s whole life and the first of the cities, which would most appropriately serve as an example of all that is good for others, to become a city of players. Oh, if you would reject this, become the city of God, vividly written in the hands of the Lord, and the bright ones would brightly appear with us to the Great City Planner! In conclusion, I preach this good news to you about Christ Himself, our Lord, to whom be glory, honor, and dominion forever. Amen. Sermon 21. Commendation to Athanasius the Great, Archbishop of Alexandria In praising Athanasius, I will praise virtue, for it is the same thing to name Athanasius and praise virtue; because he had all the virtues in the aggregate in himself, or, more correctly, he has, since before God all those who lived according to God are alive, although they moved from here, which is why God is called the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, as the God not of the dead, but of the living (Matthew 22:32). And in praising virtue, I will praise God Himself, from Whom is virtue in people and the gift of rebirth or return to Him through similar illumination. For of the many and great gifts that we have received and will continue to receive from God, and the number and greatness of which no one can express, the greatest gift and the one that most testifies to God’s love for us is our desire for it and our affinity with Him. What the sun is for sensory beings, God is for spiritual beings: one illuminates the visible world, the other illuminates the invisible; one makes bodily gaze sun-like, the other makes rational natures god-like. And just as the sun, making it possible for the seer to see, and for the visible to be visible, is itself much superior to the visible, so God, who arranges that thinking beings should have the gift of thinking, and that the imaginable should be the object of thinking, is Himself above everything mental, and every desire stops at Him, but does not extend further anywhere. For beyond Him, the most wise, sublime and inquisitive mind finds nothing higher and even nothing at all. God is the last thing desired, the pacification of all former speculations. Whoever, with the help of reason and speculation, has managed to dissolve matter and the carnal (if you call it that) cloud, or veil, to approach God as far as is accessible to human nature, and to unite with the purest light, he is blessed because of both the ascent from here and the deification there, to which true wisdom and elevation above material duality for the sake of the unity mentally represented in the Trinity leads. And whoever has become worse from being associated with matter and has become so attached to the mortal that he cannot look at the radiance of truth and rise above what is below him, while he himself came from above and is called to what is above, he is pitiful to me because of his blindness, even if he was prosperous in this life; even the more pathetic, the more he is deceived by his happiness and believes that there is another good besides the true good, reaping that harmful fruit of his harmful opinion, which is either condemned to darkness, or he looks at the One Whom he did not recognize as light like fire. Such wisdom, both from the new and from the ancients, has been achieved by a few (for there are not many of God, although all are God’s creatures): achieved by legislators, military leaders, priests, prophets, evangelists, apostles, shepherds, teachers, the entire spiritual fullness, the entire spiritual council, and among them the man now praised. Whom do I mean by those who have achieved? Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, the twelve Patriarchs, Moses, Aaron, Joshua, the Judges, Samuel, David, Solomon before a certain time, Elijah, Elisha, the prophets who lived before and after the captivity, and those in order of the last, but in reality the first, who are close to the time of Christ's incarnation or the taking on of the flesh by Christ - this lamp, the forerunner of the Light, this the voice that preceded the Word, this intercessor who preceded the Intercessor, this mediator between the Old and New Testaments, this glorious John and the disciples of Christ and those who after Christ either presided over the people, or became famous for their teaching, or became famous for miracles, or were sealed with blood. And of these men, Afanasy was not inferior to some in anything, inferior to others in a little, and some (if it is not bold to say) even surpassed. Imitating someone in word, someone in deed, someone in meekness, someone in jealousy, someone in enduring dangers, someone in many things, someone in everything. Borrowing from one this beauty from another, as do painters who try to bring the depicted object to extreme grace, and combining all this into one soul, he created from everything a single image of virtue, surpassing the strong in words with activity, and the active ones with words, or, if you like, surpassing in words those who were famous for words, and in activities with the most active ones, and those mediocre in words and deeds with excellence. in one and the other, leaving the high in one of the two below himself in word and deed. And if it serves to the glory of his predecessors that they were for him a model of valor, then this adornment of ours is no less praised that he became a model for his successors. Just as it would take, perhaps, more time to describe all his virtues and to express his surprise than how much a real word should take, and all this would be a matter not of a laudable word, but of history (and for the edification and delight of posterity I would like to depict his virtues in a special writing, just as he described the life of the divine Anthony, setting out in the form of a narrative the rules of monastic life), then of his many affairs, leaving most of his affairs to those who know, I will touch on the few that come this time I remember them as better known ones, just to satisfy my own desire and pay tribute to the holiday. For it would be neither pious nor safe to honor the memory of the lives of the wicked, but to pass over in silence men who are famous for their piety, and, moreover, in a city 67 that many examples of virtues are unlikely to save, because it turns divine objects into entertainment, just like horse races and shows. Athanasius was early imbued with divine rules and lessons, spending a little time studying the common sciences, so as not to appear completely inexperienced and ignorant of what he considered worthy of contempt. He did not tolerate the noble and abundant gifts of the soul being exercised in vain objects; I didn’t want to suffer the fate of inexperienced fighters who, hitting the air more often than their opponents, do not achieve awards. Having studied all the books of the Old and New Testaments, as no one else has studied even one, he enriches himself with speculative information, enriches himself with the lightness of life, and in an amazing way weaves from both this truly golden, for many inconveniently woven, chain, using life as a guide to speculation and speculation as the seal of life. For the rule is that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom (Ps. 110:10; Proverbs 1:7), as if it were the first veil; wisdom, having overcome fear and turned into love, makes us God’s friends and sons from slaves. Thus raised and trained, as it should be for those who are now preparing to be representatives of the people and to have care for the great body of Christ, according to God's great advice and foreknowledge, which long before lays the foundation for important events, he is numbered among this great altar, becomes one of those close to God (Lev. 10: 3), is awarded a sacred position and rank, and when he has passed through the entire series of degrees, then (not to talk about the average) he is given the presidency of the people, or, what is the same, he is entrusted with the care of the entire Universe; and he accepts the priesthood (I don’t know how to say) as a reward for virtue, or as the source and life of the Church. For it was necessary for the Church, tormented by a thirst for truth and barely breathing, to be watered, like Ishmael (Gen. 21:15-20), or cooled from a source, like Elijah, in a land dried up from lack of rain (1 Kings 17:2-6), and revived, so that seed would be left for Israel (Is. 1:9) and we would not become like Sodom and Gomorrah, these cities, drowned with fire and brimstone (Gen. 19:24) and known for their vices and even more for their destruction. Therefore, to us, who have already been cast down, a horn of salvation has been erected, a cornerstone has been sent down in good time, connecting us with ourselves and with each other, or a fire that cleanses rotten and harmful matter, or a farmer’s shovel, separating the light from the full in teaching, or a sword that cuts off the roots of malice. And the Word finds His champion, and the Spirit acquires a husband who will breathe zeal for Him. So for such reasons, by the verdict of the whole people, not in imitation of the bad example that later prevailed, not through murder and violence, but apostolically and spiritually, he is elevated to the throne of Mark 68 successor to his office, and no less to piety; for although it is far from it in the first, it is nevertheless close in the last. And in this, in fact, it is necessary to establish continuity, for like-mindedness makes them one-throne, and dissent makes them different-throne. And one continuity exists only in name, and the other in the thing itself. For the true successor is the one who did not use, but rather suffered, coercion, who was elevated without breaking the law, but according to the law, who does not adhere to the contrary teaching, but contains the same faith, unless you call him a successor in the sense in which illness succeeds health, darkness succeeds light, storm succeeds silence, frenzy succeeds sanity. This is how he is built and how he wields power. It should not be the custom to ascend the throne and immediately indulge in self-will out of satiety, like those who, beyond their aspirations, seize some kind of power or inheritance. This is characteristic of alien, illegitimate and unworthy priests, who, when entering the priesthood, bring nothing with them, without working at all for virtue, they find themselves both students and teachers of piety, and when they themselves have not yet been purified, they begin to purify others. Yesterday they were blasphemers, and now they are priests; yesterday they did not dare to approach the shrine, and now they are secret leaders, outdated in vices and new in piety, a product of human mercy, and not a work of the grace of the Spirit - they marked their entire path with violence and, finally, oppress piety itself; It is not morals that give them a degree, but a degree that gives them morals (order has changed so much!); they need more to offer sacrifices for themselves than for the sins of ignorance of the people (Heb. 9:7); they certainly sin in one of two ways: either, having a need for leniency, they are overly lenient, so that they do not stop the vice, but teach vice, or they cover up their own deeds with the severity of power. But Athanasius had none of these vices; on the contrary, as high in deeds as he was, he was so humble in heart; in virtue he is inaccessible to anyone, but in his behavior he is very approachable to everyone, meek, not angry, compassionate, pleasant in conversation, even more pleasant in disposition, angelic in appearance, even more angelic in heart; when he reprimanded, he was calm; when he praised, he was edifying. He did not spoil any of these good qualities by immoderation: his reprimands were fatherly and praises befitting a superior, and gentleness did not constitute weakness, and severity did not constitute cruelty, on the contrary, the former was represented as condescension, the latter as prudence, and both as wisdom. He did not need many words, because his life was enough to instruct others; he rarely needed a rod, because a word was enough, and even less often he needed to use a cut, because a rod that hit lightly was enough. But why should I describe this husband to you? Paul has already described it, partly when he praises the great High Priest (Heb. 4:14), who has passed through the heavens (may my word also be bold in this, because Scripture calls those who live according to Christ Christs), and partly when in the Epistle to Timothy he gives him the law. Depicting in words what he was to be like for the bishopric (1 Tim. 3:1-7). For if you apply this law, as a rule, to what is being praised in this particular respect, then you will clearly see its straightforwardness. Come with me to the glorification of Athanasius and give help to me, who finds it difficult to speak and, wanting to pass over most of it in silence, dwells on each of his deeds, not being able to find the most excellent, as it is difficult to find it in a body that is equally and beautifully finished on all sides, for whatever appears, everything turns out to be beautiful, the word is carried away by everything. So, let everyone who wants to be a broadcaster of his praises and a witness share with me his valor; let everyone enter into a wonderful competition with each other - men and wives, young men and virgins, old men and young, priests and people, hermits and those who labor in the community, lovers of simplicity and strict precision, leading a contemplative and active life! Let them praise - some for his incorporeality and immateriality in fasting and prayers, and some for his vigor and tirelessness in vigils and psalmody, one intercession for the needy, the other opposition to the exalted, or condescension to the humble; virgins - a bride-guide, spouses - a teacher of chastity, desert dwellers - an inspiration, staying in a hostel - a legislator, lovers of simplicity - a leader, leading a contemplative life - a theologian, living in joy - a bridle, the needy - a comforter, gray hair - a rod, youth - childbearing, poverty - a provider, abundance - a steward! I think that widows will also praise the patron, the orphans will praise the father, the beggars will praise the beggar-lover, the strangers will praise the lover of strangers, the brothers will praise the brotherly lover, the sick will praise the doctor who helps with every illness, the healthy will praise the guardian of health and all things - who has become all things to all (1 Cor. 9:22), so that all, or as many people as possible, will be gained. So, let all this, as I said, be considered astonishment and praise by others who have so much leisure to marvel at his small perfections! And when I call him small, I say this by comparing him with himself and comparing his valor with his own. For, as it is said, what is glorified, no matter how glorious, does not turn out to be glorious, because of the superior glory of what follows (2 Cor. 3:10). Meanwhile, even a few of his virtues would be enough for others to glorify. But it is not permissible for me, who, having left my word, to occupy myself with something unimportant, and in his perfections must turn to the most important. However, to say something worthy of his eloquence and spiritual qualities is the work of God, and this word is for God. Our affairs once flourished and went well; then this excessive, sweet-tongued and cunning theology did not have access to the Courts of God. On the contrary, to say or hear something new about God and satisfying one’s curiosity meant the same as playing with stones and deceiving the eyes with the speed of throwing them or amusing the audience with various and effeminate movements of the body. Simplicity and nobility of speech were considered piety. But after Sextus and Pyrrhon and the desire to argue with words, like some serious and malignant disease, invaded our churches, idle talk began to be considered learning, and, as the book of Acts says about the Athenians (Acts 17:21), we spent our time in nothing more willingly than in speaking or listening to new things; from now on, what Jeremiah, the only one who knows how to compose a Lament, equal to suffering, will mourn our shame and darkness! The beginning of this frenzy was laid by Arius, the same name as madness, 69 who suffered punishment for the unbridled tongue, through the action of prayer, and not through illness, accepting the end of his life in an unclean place and being seated, like Judas, for his equal betrayal of the Word. And others, having inherited this illness, made a science out of wickedness; They, having limited the Divinity to the Unborn, expelled from the Divinity not only the Born, but also the Coming One, honoring the Trinity with one communion of the name, or even without observing that. But this is not how this blessed, truly God-man and great trumpet of truth taught. Knowing that to reduce the Three into one number is godless and is an innovation of Sabellius, who was the first to come up with such a reduction of the Divinity, and also to divide the Three by nature means introducing a strange dissection into the Divinity - he perfectly preserved the unity in relation to the Divinity, and piously taught to recognize the Three in relation to personal properties, without merging Them into one and without dividing them into Three, but remaining within the limits of piety through avoiding as an excessive inclination to that or the other, and excessive resistance to both. And with this, firstly, at the holy Council in Nicaea, among this number of chosen men whom the Holy Spirit gathered together, he, as far as depended on him, stopped the illness. And although he had not yet been elevated to the rank of bishop, he was nevertheless awarded primacy among those gathered; for virtue was respected no less than degrees. Then, when evil was again revived by the breath of the evil one and engulfed most of the Universe (from now on, actions are revealed to me that filled almost the entire land and sea), then a strong battle is raised against Athanasius, as a courageous champion of the Word (for he is attacked the more who resists more) and from everywhere new and new troubles rush towards him; because wickedness is inventive in evil and attacks with extreme insolence. And could those who did not spare the Deities spare people? One of the attacks in particular was very brutal. And I have my part in this matter 70. But let the dear country, the fatherland, be excused for this! It is not the country that produced us that is guilty of evil, but those who chose evil themselves; she is sacred and known to everyone for her piety, and these are unworthy of the Church that gave birth to them. You have heard that thorns will be born in the vineyard, that Judas, one of the disciples, became a traitor. Others forgive the guilt of my namesake 71, who, out of love for science, then living in Alexandria and favorably received by Athanasius, as one of his most beloved children, enjoying his very great confidence, planned, as they say, to rebel against his father and patron. And although others acted, the hand of Absalom was with them, as they say (2 Samuel 18:18). If any of us knows this hand for which the saint was slandered, and this living dead 72, and this unjust expulsion, then he will understand what I am talking about. However, I will gladly consign this to oblivion. According to my reasoning, in matters that are subject to doubt, one must bow to philanthropy and excuse rather than accuse those being accused, because it is very easy for an evil person to accuse a good person, and it is difficult for a good person to accuse an evil person. He who is not disposed to evil is incapable of suspicion. But now it is no longer a word, but a deed, not a suspicion left without investigation, but a reliable and publicized incident. One Cappadocian monster, who appeared from the lower reaches of our country, was bad in birth, even worse in heart, not entirely free in origin, but something mixed, similar to what we know about mules - a man who first served at someone else’s table, having sold himself for a piece of bread, got used to doing and saying everything for the sake of his stomach, then, unfortunately, he achieved public service and received the very last place in it - the receiver of pork carcasses, which feeds the army, but even here he used trust for evil and served only the belly; when everything was taken away from him, he plots to escape and, moving from country to country, from city to city, as is typical for fugitives, finally, to the general harm of the Church, like one of the Egyptian plagues, he reaches Alexandria. Here his wandering stops and his malice begins. Although in other respects he did not deserve any attention, did not know the liberal sciences, had neither pleasantness in conversation, nor even the appearance and empty mask of piety, he was nevertheless more skillful than anyone else in plotting intrigues and causing confusion in matters. You all know and can tell yourself how many insolences he committed against the saint 73 . For often the righteous are given over into the hands of the wicked, not for the glory of the wicked, but for the testing of the righteous. And although, according to Scripture, the wicked will perish by a cruel death, both in this life they laugh at the pious (Job 9:23), while the mercy of God is hidden, and the great treasuries prepared for both of them later, when word and deed and thought will be weighed on the righteous scales of God, when God rises to judge the earth, gathers intentions and deeds and reveals everything that is sealed with Him and complied with. Let Job convince you of this both with his word and with his suffering. He was a just man, not vicious, righteous, fearing God (Job 1:1) and so on, as Scripture testifies about him; However, the one who asked him 74 strikes with so many, continuous and generous blows that out of the great multitude at all times who have suffered and, most likely, suffered severe disasters, no one can compare their misfortunes with his. For Job not only has money, property, prosperity and many children, which is very dear to every person, not only, I say, all this is taken away, and with the continuity of disasters there is no time for tears, but finally the body itself is struck by an incurable and disgusting ulcer, and in addition to misfortune there is a wife who gives advice for the worst, trying to hit the soul along with the body; there are the most sincere friends, pitiful comforters, as he himself says (Job 16:2), and not healers who see suffering, but, not knowing the secret of suffering, recognize its misfortune not as a test of virtue, but as a punishment for sins, and not only keep this in their thoughts, but are not ashamed to even reproach him with the misfortune itself, whereas it would be proper to ease the sorrow with words of consolation if Job had also suffered for his sins. So it was with Job; This was the beginning of his work, it was a struggle between virtue and envy: envy tried to defeat good, but virtue endured everything in order to remain invincible; one labored in order to pave the way for vice by punishing the prosperous, and the other in order to support the good, who had an advantage even in misfortunes themselves. What is He who speaks to him through the storm and clouds (Job 38:1), slow in punishment and quick to help, who does not at all leave the rod of the wicked over the lot of the righteous (Ps. 124:3), so that the righteous do not learn iniquity? At the end of his exploits, with a loud proclamation he calls the ascetic and reveals the secret of the blow that struck him, saying: Do you want to overthrow My judgment, accuse Me in order to justify yourself? ( Job 40:3 ). This is healing for wounds! Such is the crown for heroic deeds! This is the reward for patience! And what followed may be of little importance, although for some it seems great, and was accomplished by Providence for the sake of faint-hearted people, although with aggravation Job receives what he lost. Therefore, here too it is not surprising that George prevailed over Athanasius; on the contrary, it would be more surprising if the righteous man did not endure the test in the fire of slander. Even this is not very surprising, but what is more surprising is that this flame was enough to produce more. Afanasy leaves from there and makes the best use of the flight itself. For he settles in the sacred and divine abodes of the Egyptian hermits, who, separated from the world and loving the desert, live for God, devoting themselves to Him more than all those in the flesh. Some of them lead a completely solitary life without communication with people, they talk only with themselves and with God, and they consider that one thing to be the world, that they know about it in the desert. Others, fulfilling the law of love with their sociability, are together hermits and sociable people; for other people and things, for everything that circles in front of us, now captivating, now carried away and seducing us with rapid changes - they died, but for each other they make up a whole world, encouraging each other to virtue by mutual example. Conversing with them, the great Athanasius, as for all others, he was a mediator and reconciliator, imitating the One who pacified with His blood that which was separated (Col. 1:20), so he reconciles desert living with common life, showing that both the priesthood together with wisdom 75 and philosophy have a need for occult wisdom, for to such an extent he agreed with each other and united them into one both silent activity and active silence, which convinced me to place monasticism more in good morals than in bodily distance from the world. Why was the great David both the most active and the most solitary person, if in confirmation of our word what he said strongly and undoubtedly was: I am alone, until I pass (Ps. 140:10). Thus, those who surpassed others in virtue were inferior to Athanasius in understanding to a greater extent than in which they were superior to others, and while bringing a little from themselves to the perfection of the priesthood, they themselves borrowed much more to improve their wisdom. That was the law for them, which he approved, and everything that he did not approve of was again rejected by them; His definitions served as the Mosaic tablets for them; they had more respect for him than people should have for saints. And when those who pursued the saint like a beast came to them, after they had searched for him everywhere and had not found him, then they did not honor the messengers with even one word, but bowed their heads under their swords, as if in distress for Christ, and they considered enduring something the most difficult for Athanasius to be the greatest acquisition for wisdom, they put this much more pleasing to God and above prolonged fasts, reclining on bare ground and other hard sufferings, which they always enjoy. Such was the life of Athanasius at that time; he justified the words of Solomon, who wisely said that there is a time for every thing (Eccl. 3:1). Therefore, he disappeared for a short time while the war continued, in order to appear with the onset of peace, which will soon be fulfilled. And George, no longer seeing any opposition from anyone, bypasses Egypt, subjugates Syria to the power of wickedness, and captures, as far as he could, the East. Just as streams receive all the drains, so he gathers to himself everything that is weak - attacking people who are more frivolous or timid, he takes possession of the simplicity of the king 76 (this is what I will call his gullibility, respecting his zeal for faith, because, to tell the truth, he had zeal, but not according to reason (Rom. 10:2)); and how everywhere the wealth of the poor, used for bad deeds, paved the way for him, he bribes some nobles - more gold-loving than Christ-loving, especially among them effeminate people, men by name, who have nothing masculine in themselves, of dubious birth, but manifest wickedness 77 , to whom the Roman sovereigns, entrusting women’s affairs, I don’t know how or why, entrust the affairs together men's Thus, this servant of the evil one, the sower of tares, the forerunner of the Antichrist, became stronger. Instead of language, he used the most eloquent of the then bishops (if you want to call eloquent this not so much a defender of wickedness as our enemy and rival, I will gladly keep silent about his name); and he himself served his crowd instead of his hand and overthrew the truth with gold, which was collected for pious deeds, but was turned into an instrument of wickedness by malicious people. The consequence of this predominance was a council, first compiled in Seleucia, in the church of the holy and valiant Virgin Thekla, and then in this great city 78; and to the cities that were formerly famous for their valor, this pillar of Chalan 79 gave fame to the cities, which were formerly famous for their shameful deeds, which wisely divided the languages ​​(oh, if only they had divided their languages, because they were in agreement with evil!) - this is the cathedral of Caiathino, at which Christ is condemned - or whatever else this council should be called, which has perverted everything and led to confusion. He destroyed the ancient and pious confession of the Trinity, undermining and, as if with battering guns, shaking the Consubstantial One, and at the same time opening the door to wickedness with the vagueness of what was written, under the pretext of respect for Scripture, and the use of long-accepted names, in reality, in order to introduce unwritten Arianism in their place. For the words: “similar to the scriptures” 80 for the simple served as a bait that covered the bait of wickedness, - an image that looks into the eyes of everyone who passes by, - a shoe sewn on both feet, - a breath in every wind (Sir. 5:11). He based his rights on a newly described malice 81, on slander against the truth; for they were wise to do evil, but did not know how to do good. Hence the cunningly contrived condemnation of the heretics, whom they excommunicated in words in order to make their plan attractive, but in reality only exposed them to appearances, accusing them not of a grave misfortune, but of an excessive desire to write 82 . From this, the uninitiated became judges of the monks, a new confusion occurred - sacred and mysterious objects are considered in public assemblies; from this there is an illegal study of life 83, hired informers and a court by contract; some are unjustly overthrown from their thrones, others are elevated to their place, and from these, as something necessary, they demand manuscripts of wickedness, and the ink is ready and the informer is nearby. Quite a few of us have been subjected to this, even the most determined people; They did not fall in thought, but agreed in writing, entered into unity with the evil ones both in thought and in writing, and became partakers, if not of fire, then at least of smoke. I often shed tears, imagining the outpouring of wickedness at that time and the now rising persecution of the right word from the representatives of the word. Truly, the shepherds have gone mad, according to what is written: many shepherds have spoiled My vineyard, they have disgraced My beloved plot (Jer. 12:10), that is, the Church of God, gathered through many labors and sacrifices, slain before Christ and after Christ, and through the great sufferings of God Himself for us. With the exception of a very few, who were either bypassed due to their insignificance, or who resisted with their valor and had to remain for Israel as a seed and a root in order to arise again and be enlivened by the streams of the spirit, all submitted to the circumstances of the time, with the only difference being that some underwent this before, others after. Some became champions and patrons of wickedness, others took secondary places and were either struck by fear, or enslaved by need, or caught in caresses, or involved out of ignorance, which is a lesser guilt, if for anyone this is enough to excuse those entrusted with the care of the people. For just as the aspirations of lions and other animals are not the same, as well as of husbands and wives, old and young, on the contrary, there are many differences in each age and gender, so there is a difference between superiors and subordinates. Perhaps we would forgive the common people if this happened to them; ignorance often saves them - but how can we forgive this to a teacher who, unless he is an imaginary [teacher], must help others overcome ignorance? If it is unforgivable for anyone, no matter how rude and ignorant, not to know any Roman law, and if there is no such law that would cover what was done out of ignorance, then isn’t it strange for those who are secretly leading to salvation not to know the principles of salvation, even if in everything else they were very simple and of shallow mind? However, let those who followed wickedness out of ignorance receive an apology. What can you say about others who attribute insight to themselves and, for the reasons stated above, succumbed to the overwhelming force, who for a long time represented themselves as pious people, and when something incriminating was soon encountered, they immediately stumbled. I hear it said in Scripture that once again the heavens and the earth will shake (Hag. 2:6), as if this had never happened to them before, and I think that this signifies the glorious renewal of all things. We must also believe Paul, who says that the final shock is nothing other than the Second Coming of Christ, the transformation and transformation of the present Universe into a state of immobility and steadfastness (Heb. 12:26–27). But this present shock, as I reason, is no less than the former, because it has torn away from us all the wise, God-loving men who cohabit with the heavenly in advance, who, although peaceful and moderate in everything else, cannot bear with meekness when God is given over in silence, and even become very abusive and irresistible (for such is the heat of jealousy) and are ready to to overthrow what should not be, rather than to neglect what should be. A considerable number of people rush after them, like a flock of birds, flying after those who have flown ahead, and even now they do not stop flying away. This is what Athanasius means to us while he was the armor of the Church, and this is what happened when he gave in to the slander of the evil ones! Those who intend to take possession of some strong fortress, when they see that it is impregnable and cannot be taken by ordinary means, resort to cunning. So what are they doing? They attract the commander of the fortress to their side with money or deception, and then without any difficulty they take possession of it. Or, if you like, those who were plotting against Samson first cut off his hair, in which his strength lay, then they took the judge and abused him as they wanted, and just as powerfully as he had treated them before. Our foreigners did the same: first they snatched our power from us, cut off the glory of the Church, and then enjoyed the dogmas and deeds of wickedness. At this time, the support and patron 84 of the shepherd 85 hostile to us migrates from this life, putting a bad end not to a bad reign, but bringing, as they say, useless repentance at his last breath, when everyone becomes a sincere judge of himself, because of the judgment awaiting there. For he considered the following three things to be bad and unworthy of his reign: the killing of relatives 86, the elevation of an apostate by Caesar 87 and innovations in the faith; and, as they say, with words of repentance he ended his life. Then the word of truth again comes into its own, the oppressed receive complete freedom, while jealousy irritates anger and the people of Alexandria learn from experience how they stand against offenders. The inhabitants of Alexandria could not tolerate the unbridledness of man 88 and put his vices to shame by an unusual death, and by death through extraordinary insults. You know this camel, and the strange burden, and the new elevation, and the first, and I think the only, procession - formidable to this day for the oppressors 89 . When this storm of untruth, this corrupter of piety, the forerunner of the evil one, accepts punishment, which, in my opinion, does not deserve approval (because it was necessary to look not at what he had to endure, but at what we should have done), then the ascetic 90 returns from a wonderful wandering (so I will call his flight beyond the Trinity and together with the Trinity). With such joy he is met by the inhabitants of the city 91, and almost by all of Egypt, everywhere and from everywhere, even from the extreme limits, flocking, that some want to enjoy the single voice, and others the sight of Athanasius, others, as is known about the apostles (Acts 5:15), to be sanctified by one shadow of him, this new image of the body. And therefore, although many people have been given honors and meetings have been given to many people at all times, not only to people’s rulers and priests, but also to private individuals who have become famous for something, yet [no one] will remember a single meeting that would have been more crowded and more brilliant than the present one. Only one thing can be compared with this meeting - Athanasius himself and the honor previously shown to him during his previous entry into Alexandria, when he was returning from the same flight that happened for the same reasons. There is also the following rumor about this honor (even though it would be unnecessary to retell it, I will add to the word, as it were, some sweetness and extra color). After Athanasius entered the city, one of the rulers entered the city, taking up this position for the second time. He was ours, that is, a Cappadocian, and a famous man (of course, you guess that I’m talking about Philagria); he was loved as they rarely are loved and as no one else was loved, honor was given to him according to love and (to express this briefly) with all the signs of respect, the authorities were entrusted to him for the second time at the request of the city and by royal decree. On this occasion, one of the people, seeing an innumerable multitude of people, like a sea, immense to the eye, as they say, asked (as often happens in such circumstances) one of his acquaintances and friends: “Tell me, most respected, have you ever seen so many people and with such enthusiasm flocking to show honor to one person?” “Never,” answered the young man, “on the contrary, it seems to me that Constantius himself would not have received such an honor.” And he wanted to signify the highest honor with the name of the king. But the first one, laughing with particular pleasure and pleasure, objected: “What are you telling me, as if telling me about something great and amazing? I think that Athanasius the Great hardly entered with such triumph.” And to confirm his words, he added one of the oaths in use. And by this (which, I think, is clear to you) he wanted to express that he honors the now praised Athanasius above the king himself. Such was the general respect for this man, such is the surprise to this day at his remembered entry [into Alexandria]. For the inhabitants of the city, divided by sex, age and occupation (in this order, especially the Alexandrians, are usually arranged when they give national honor to someone), made up of themselves (how to describe this great spectacle in words?) one river. And the poet would say that this is truly the golden and luxuriantly flowing Nile, flowing back from the city to Chaerea at a distance, I think, of a one-day journey and beyond. Let me enjoy the story a little longer. I am mentally present there, and it is not easy to distract the word from this triumph. He rode on a foal and almost in the same way (don’t reproach me for madness) as my Jesus - on a young donkey (John 12:15), whether this is something else that the Word wants to represent by this, or the pagan people on which Jesus sits beneficially, having freed him from the bonds of ignorance. But Jesus is taken upon by tree branches, which are also thrown to the ground, and multi-colored and speckled garments are spread. And this is the only thing [Athanasius] was not honored with; in this alone, a tall and valuable man was incomparable, while his entrance represented the entrance of Christ. And before him there were those who cried and those who came; Moreover, not just a multitude of children praised him, but every consonant and dissenting tongue tried to outdo each other in praise. I won’t even talk about popular applause, the pouring out of incense, all-night vigils, the illumination of an entire city, public and private feasts, and everything else with which cities express their joy. All this was then brought as a gift to him in abundance and beyond all measure. So with such triumph the wonderful Athanasius enters his city! Did he really live as befitted the leader of a large people, but did not teach as he lived? Or did you struggle not as taught? Or was less exposed to disasters than any of those who labored for the Word? Or is he honored less than what his exploits deserved? Or, after entering [Alexandria], did he somehow tarnish the glory acquired during the [ceremonial] entry? Not at all; on the contrary, everything in him was supported by one another and, as in one lyre, everything was set up in the same way - both life, and teaching, and exploits, and disasters, and what was shown to him upon his return, and what he accomplished after his return. He takes over the administration of the Church, but at the same time he did not experience the same thing that happens to people who are blinded by the immoderation of anger and who, having submitted to his dominion, expel and overthrow everything that they first encountered, even if it was worth sparing. On the contrary, reasoning that now is the best time to earn his approval (because the one who suffers is always more moderate, and the one who has the opportunity to repay evil for evil observes moderation less), he treats those who insulted him so meekly and condescendingly that even for them, one might say, the return of Athanasius was not unpleasant. He cleanses the sanctuary of Christ-sellers selling holy things, so that in this too he can become an imitator of Christ; however, he does this not with a whip made of ropes (John 2:15), but with a convincing word. He reconciles the restless with each other and with himself, without requiring intermediaries, frees those who have suffered grievances from oppression, without discerning whether anyone supported him or the opposite side, and restores the fallen teaching. Again the Holy Trinity is freely confessed, placed on a candlestick and embracing the souls of all with the brilliant light of the One Divinity. Again he gives the laws of the universe, turns the minds of everyone to himself, writes messages to some, calls others to himself, and others come uncalled and receive edification. He offers everyone one law - free will, for he considered this alone to be a sufficient guide to perfection. In short, it imitates the properties of the two praised stones: for those who strike, it serves as adamant, and for rebels - as a magnet, which, by the inexplicable power of nature, attracts iron and adapts to itself the hardest of substances. But envy 92 could not patiently see that the Church very soon, like a body, healed its cut members and achieved its former glory and ancient prosperity; therefore, he sets up the king 93 against Athanasius, an apostate like himself, equal in malice and inferior only in time. He is the first of the Christian kings, having rebelled against Christ and suddenly casting out from himself the basilisk of wickedness, with which he had long been tormented, as soon as the favorable time arrived, he is proclaimed autocrat and turns out to be evil against the king who entrusted him with royal power, and even more evil against God, who saved him. He invents the most severe persecution of all that has ever been, because, adding conviction to torment (since he wanted to deprive the sufferers of the honor acquired by exploits), he shakes zealous courage itself, those turns and intricacies that are used in speech, introducing morality itself, or, more correctly, making it completely immoral, even caring about it and imitating the multiplicity of the evil one who lived in him. He considered it a small matter to subjugate the entire Christian race to his will, but a great thing to triumph over Athanasius and over the power that he had in our teaching. For he saw that he would not succeed in his plan against us while Athanasius was fully armed and ready to repel him; because the poverty of Christians was always replenished by those joining from the pagans and (which is truly amazing) by his prudence. Understanding and seeing all this, this terrible false thinker and persecutor does not remain any longer under the guise and in cunning self-coercion, but having discovered his cunning, he clearly expels Athanasius from the city; because this virtuous conqueror was to achieve full glory after a threefold struggle. After a little time, the Justice of God, having betrayed the evil king to the Persians, there carries out a trial on him and returns him to the dead by vanity, not arousing regret in anyone; even, as I heard from someone, the grave did not accept him, but rejected him, and the earth, which shook for his sake, was torn up with flames, in which I see the beginning of the torment there. But another king arises 94, not shameless in face (Dan. 8:23), like the previous one, and not oppressing Israel with heavy deeds and enforcers, but on the contrary, very pious and meek. He, wanting to lay the strongest foundation for his reign and rule according to good laws, to begin with, where it was necessary, on the one hand, returns from imprisonment the bishops, like everyone else in general, who was superior to everyone else in virtue and was exposed to obvious persecution for piety, and on the other hand, the truth of our faith, which many have ruined, obscured, fragmented into many interpretations and parts, tries to learn, so that especially the whole world can be brought into agreement. and unity through the assistance of the Holy Spirit; otherwise, in order at least for him to adhere to the best confession, to make it dominant and to borrow strength from it for himself - so sublimely and magnificently did he talk about the most important subjects! It was here that the purity and firmness of faith in Christ was most revealed in Athanasius. For when all the others who professed our teaching were divided into three parts and many in the doctrine of the Son, and a larger number in the doctrine of the Holy Spirit (where it was considered piety to adhere to a little wickedness) were infected with an illness, and only a few taught sensibly about both, he was the first, and alone or with very few, dared to stand for the truth clearly and openly, confessing in writing the one Divinity and the single essence of the Three (Persons); and what was previously granted to a great number of fathers to establish in the dogma of the Son, he subsequently taught with inspiration about the Holy Spirit, bringing to the king a truly royal and magnificent gift, that is, a written confession of piety 95 contrary to the unwritten 96 innovation, so that they would be conquered by the King - the king, by the Word - words, written - written. Ashamed of this confession, as I think, those in whom there were still signs of life in the West and in the East, some, if you believe their own words, bowed in thought to piety, but did not prostrate further, like a dead offspring that had lost life in the mother’s womb; others, like a spark, ignited somewhat to suit the circumstances of the time, or the most zealous of the Orthodox and the most God-loving of the people, and some dared to stand for the truth. I would also join the latter side (for I do not dare to boast of anything more) not in order to accommodate my timidity (such is the disposition of the mind in the weakest people, and we have already built enough, not acquiring someone else’s and ruining our own, like truly bad stewards), but to bring our fruit into the world, to carefully educate and present it to the eyes of all those who are constantly improving. This is another one of his feats that is less worthy of surprise. For what is surprising if he who himself was exposed to disasters for the truth confessed it in writing? But what most convinces me to be surprised at this husband, about which it is impossible to remain silent without harm, especially at a time when many disagreements arise, I will add to what has been said. May this act serve as a lesson for our contemporaries, if we only want to imitate it. For just as from the water drawn, not only what remains outside the scooping hand is separated, but also what flows through the fingers from what is held by the hand, so not only the wicked are cut off from us, but even the pious, and not only for the sake of unimportant dogmas, which would not be worth even arguing (which would not be so difficult), but even for the sake of sayings that contain the same meaning. For when we piously use the expressions: one essence and three Hypostases, of which the first means the nature of the Divinity, and the last - the personal properties of the Three, and when the Romans, understanding the same with us, due to the poverty of their language and due to the lack of names, cannot distinguish essence from Hypostasis and therefore replace the word Hypostasis with the word persons, so as not to give the idea that they recognize three essences, then what comes of this? Something very worthy of laughter and regret. This unimportant competition about sounds seemed like a difference of faith. Then, as a result of disputes about this, it happened that in the expression three persons, Sabellianism was discovered, and in the expression three hypostases - Arianism. What next? As every day something even somewhat distressing is added (since arguing always produces grief), the danger arises that along with the syllables the ends of the universe will be torn apart. Seeing and hearing all this, this blessed one, as a truly man of God and a great builder of souls, did not consider it necessary to ignore such an inappropriate and reckless cutting of the word, but uses his treatment against such an ailment. How does he do this? With all meekness and philanthropy, having invited both sides and strictly examining the meaning of the expressions, when he found them not to deviate from sound teaching and not at all different in concept, he gives them the use of different names, and connects them together by the names themselves. This is more useful than lengthy works and speeches, which everyone already devotes to writing and to which there is some added ambition, and from this, perhaps, they introduce something new into the teaching itself. This is preferable to many vigils, reclining on bare ground, which only benefit those who practice them. This is equal to the glorious expulsions and repeated flight of Athanasius himself. For what he decided to endure these exiles for was the same thing he took care to fulfill after enduring [suffering]. With such constancy he acted on others, praising some and punishing others moderately; inciting some to slowness, in others curbing ardor, taking care of others so that they do not fall somehow, and giving others the means to correct themselves after a fall. He was simple in character, varied in management, wise in word, even wiser in mind, quiet with the humble, exalted with the pompous; hospitable, the protector of those who ask, the averter of evil, truly combining in oneself everything that the pagans attributed in parts to each of their gods. I will also add that he was the patron of marriage, a friend of virginity, a guardian and restorer of the world, a guide to those departing from this life. Oh, how many names do the virtues of Athanasius represent to me, who wants to give this man a name for each of his valor! Since he led such a life, was so educated and taught that his deeds and morals serve as a rule for bishops, and his dogmas serve as a law for Orthodoxy, then what reward for piety does he accept? For nothing should be left unattended. In a good old age (1 Chronicles 29:28) he ends his life and is added to his fathers - the patriarchs, prophets, apostles and martyrs who fought for the truth. And I will say a short epitaph: at his departure he is given more honors than at his entrances. Many tears were shed for him, but in everyone’s heart there remained a glory about him that exceeded everything visible. O dear and sacred head! You, who, in addition to your other perfections, especially respected moderation in speech and silence, put an end to my word here; although it is meager compared to the truth of your deeds, it is not lacking in comparison with my strength. And you yourself mercifully look down on us, on this people, from above, and guide them so that they are a perfect worshiper of the perfect Trinity, contemplated and revered in the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, and if times are peaceful, preserve us, shepherding with us, and if battles come, take us out of here or take us and place us with you and those like you (although what I ask is too great) in Himself Christ our Lord, to whom be all glory, honor, and dominion forever. Amen. Who am I? Where? And when I return How will I rise from the sad ashes, Where and what kind of housing will be assigned Having escaped the storms of this world, Will I reach a quiet pier? in the crowded valley of life! How many misfortunes and troubles there are There is no joy here without grief. We didn’t try to enjoy our earthly joys power over the world is just a dream; Flour – addiction; poverty – Summer heat. Lightning sparkle Is it old age? - sad decline of life; Fast bird, instantly advantage of a fierce beast. Luxury is the spring of passions. Children are the heaviest care in the world; (However, childlessness hurts!). Judgments are battles of vices. The work of a farmer is hard. Sailing is the road to the grave. We're in a hurry to leave our homeland and talk about it movable wheel: in circles always brings us the same thing. Dark nights and bright days death and worries, illness, Joy or sadness; good luck, I'm all on the wings of my mind, everything has flown, And I was convinced that there was no one on earth Only I found everyone in the sky consolation for earthly misfortunes! unchanging, solid goods? Boldly - under the banner of the Cross! And to the battle with your passions! Then the burden will seem light to you The last work of life is near: And I already see in the distance the executions of bitter evil: Wrathful Tartarus, flame of fire, and, although it’s late, grant me I have suffered much, O God the King, I will bear my lot on myself, Surrendering oneself as a victim to sorrows, here is the sacred word: there is no benefit Life is reduced to dust. God's breath is the soul, and yet Unborn, with feathers; a lamp hidden in a cave - Yet she is incorruptible and divine, The image of the Great God without a trace Like she's a creeping thing Although sin tries to be immortal not her nature (after all, she cannot Be a torturer for the victim And not the changeable air that Also she is not a stream of blood, And not the harmony of bodily members, immortal form and body. the virtuous of the worst, If they are from a mixture of elements And why are the dumb ones deprived If their mortal flesh remains And everything that is harmonious will be the best This is how they reason, considering only When removing something and the soul You can't call food the reason I can't live without her because For the soul, abiding at all It's unlikely to wander in the air. After all, if it were so, then the soul Everyone would exhale one and inhale, Would be in others, agreeing What is poured in one thing or another. What is from her and what is from the womb Souls absorbed only by the big you reward her with numbers. and the book prank is empty, As if the soul is destined to change Lives according to their previous ones - Or as punishment for sin, or in some kind of honor according to merit. They will dress the soul in clothes, They rotate with great effort In vain they wheel Ixionovo 100, Beast, plant, mortal, dog, fish, bird, snake. Often and twice in one, since Where is the end? Never seen The crow croaks forever, And he floats on the salty sea If they say that, supposedly, the soul Karu, then there’s no point in arguing with them. Strange. And with flesh - who is to fire You connected me and the knowledgeable How it escapes my mind Who was my skin, who then and how many did I die? But it's clear Or from my long wanderings Listen now to our talk about the soul Here I’ll try my song It spoke and it happened The world was ordered, becoming dry land, Wisdom is the mother of beings, God-fearing king of creation; "The expansive sky is full of servants virtuous faithful angels, Rod, in whom both now The wise man standing between May he enjoy My works. Wise secret, great of the earth witness of My mind and greatness! So he speaks and, taking the newly created creates a human image. So from the dust of the earth and breath for reason reigns over both. That's why, like the earth, I'm bound My heart is drawn to it there like partaker of the Divine share. The first-born was so mated The body was born from the flesh, the soul It penetrated into the ringed composition like - Only the Creator knows Inhaled the soul at the beginning, with the earth Unless someone boldly (but, however, following many) To help my speeches, an explanation Just like the body that is molded Afterwards it became a stream of people, So inspired by God the soul Reborn from the original In every composition of man, but, distributed among many, Always preserves in mortal bodies With him he receives the dominion of the mind. Strong breathing sounds on flutes when will he get his hands on it? The flutes are big, they pour out So is the soul, weak in the weak when he created his man, So that he finds new glory To God as God in the last days nor completely bound created; In the heart, he settled in a blooming He was naked and did not yet know as it seems to me. In it fulfiller of God's covenants. Only from a single tree that was Completely, God restrained the man. Only those who succeed for good, while it is harmful for the inexperienced, So is adult food always And the persuasion of the wife of what was said Sweet fruit before its time And clothed himself in white flesh, Having fallen into decay (since Christ to the land where I came from, Having accepted the share of a difficult life. God protects with fiery jealousy So that some new Adam, without escaping the devouring sweetness, Being evil, I would not have tasted bad weather, goes away from the goal, Or rowing with difficulty on the way Again, not without a lot of work We are making the longed-for hike. People are in trouble, and it has increased Thoughts written in quatrains 101 I am the work of Gregory and preserve in spiritual sayings a quatrain monument of wisdom 1. Actions or contemplation, what will you choose? One for everyone, the other only for the best for future use, But both lives are good and righteous, Lead the one you are more capable of. 2. Once I was asked about spirituality, - “Wash away the filth first.” - “But I live with dignity.” – “Wash away the filth. Washed away? So cleanse yourself again: Foul-smelling myrrh should not be put into a vessel.” 3. Do not resist everything, and do not believe easily; But know what you can follow as far as possible. And don’t defend God, follow Him; They will challenge the word - with the word; challenge life with what? 4. Do not instruct otherwise than by your life, Or, by attracting, you will only repel. Fewer words are needed if you do what is right, The artist explains his creations. 5. Priests, I advise you first of all, Don't be an eye filled with darkness, So that you do not become the first in a vicious life; If the light is so dark, what is the darkness then? 6. Actions without conversations are better than words without actions; No one has risen without a good life, Without verbosity, on the contrary - many; God will not glorify you for your words, but for your life. 7. The best gift to God is good morals. And if you give everything back, you will not do what is worthy: Bring to Him what even the poor could give; The righteous will not share the harlot's wages. 8. Do not make even a small vow to God; All God's from the beginning. What else can I say? You will deceive yourself without giving it away. Debt is eliminated! Sapphira and Ananias will convince you of this. 9. Walk through life as if at a fair; Bargain! You can win for little - Great, and for empty - eternal. And there will be no other opportunity. 10. The path that lies before you now is not close; But the reward is greater. And suddenly seeing All the work, don’t give up! You won’t accomplish everything suddenly; But this is what the devil often tempts us with. 11. Don’t be arrogant, but don’t lose hope at all. In one there is lack of will, and in the other there is despondency. Correct this, stick to this, or forget about it. Incompleteness will not make work futile. 12. Don’t be scattered, be faithful to the chosen one; In goodness, addition is better than subtraction. We don’t call those who are thin, those who stand below, And those who, rising low, fall low. 13. A small spark ignites a flame, The viper's seed is often destructive; Therefore, avoid minor sins: Although it is small, it can grow into a larger one. 14. Examine yourself more than the affairs of others; Your reward is in the first, in the second others. And keep count of deeds, not property, It is short-lived, but they are unshakable. 15. Let the mind learn to absorb God-given words of love and thoughts; And be restrained with your tongue - it will easily do harm, The faster it moves, the less useful it is. 16. I was deceived by sight, but I was able to restrain myself, And he did not build an idol for sin, And if he does, then try to avoid the matter. All this is a struggle with the devil to a degree. 17. At least seal your ears with wax from rotten words And immoderate song convolutions! And open your ears to the good and the beautiful: To say, to hear, to do - it lies nearby. 18. Don’t be too flattered by incense, Pleasant touch and taste. If you give in to them, will you retain your courage? Husbands and wives have different pleasures. 19. “Give!” - the womb tells me. Why not give it? What if, having received it, you will remain chaste? But no - slop, and even then not enough; When you calm down, maybe I’ll give you enough. 20. For a healthy person, laughter is worthy of ridicule, And anyone, especially a dissolute one. Unrestrained laughter often brings you to tears. It is better to have a modest disposition rather than a spoiled one. 21. Consider the splendor of the heart beautiful - No handiwork, consumed by time, And what the chaste mind only sees; For those worthy of shame, the heart is corrupted. 22. Hopes, sorrows, fears, joys await us, Wealth, poverty, fame, power, infamy; Let everything flow as it wants. Does not apply Changeable approved in genuine. 23. Elevate yourself by deeds, not by thoughts, Those are the way to God, but these will lead you into sin. And build your life not by small standards; Whatever you do, the commandment will be higher. 24. All glory is not to be sought zealously; To be is better than to appear. If you can't hold back - Seek at least not vain, not outlandish. What good is a monkey if they think he's a lion? 25. Praise others, but when they praise you, don’t be proud of yourself: Don't be below a good word. But first test the object of praise, So as not to be ashamed if it turns out to be bad. 26. It’s better to hear bad things than to say them. And they will make you a laughing stock in your eyes Imagine yourself being ridiculed by someone. And with that joy you yourself will be saddened. 27. If you haven’t landed, don’t brag about your sailing, They sailed without trouble and sank in the harbor, And they managed to land, having passed through the storm. One thing is certain - don’t complain about fate. 28. For him it is more worthy to dare before the Lord, He who does what is right and works, And not to the one who does not know good deeds, Even if he did everything with reason. 29. Give everything away and only gain God for yourself, After all, you are not giving away your property; If you don’t want everything, then give at least more; And this is difficult - sacrifice at least the excess. 30. I wish I could save something from moths and envy! Wealth lies in being a debtor to Christ, And for a piece of bread He gives the Kingdom: And when you feed the poor, you give to Christ. 31. The beggar knocked, but in vain - he left with nothing. Christ! I'm afraid, seeking God's help, And I will be left with nothing for my business. If you didn’t submit it yourself, how do you hope to take it? 32. There is no more unrequited person than a poor person. After all, he only serves God, he only looks there; Cover him: it happens that falcons They will warm a small bird in their nest. 33. The need of the wealth of the unrighteous is more worthy, Illness is better than bad corpulence. A person will not suddenly die of hunger, But for the wicked, life is bad – it’s already death. 34. Slave, master - what kind of stupid division is this? There is one Creator, there is one law and one answer. Consider the servant as a partner in slavery, Then you will receive greater honor after death. 35. What should slaves do? And especially God’s?! Let them not abandon the service of their masters. Virtue makes the slave free; God himself, liberating, took on the form of a slave. 36. A bad life is shameful, not birth; After all, the nobility of the family is simply ancient rottenness; It is more worthy to begin a race than to end it, And your own honor is more beautiful than family honor. 37. Know no limit in God and the Divine, To those who accept, God gives even more, He, pouring out generously, thirsts for those who are thirsty; And if you don’t succeed in anything else, endure it. 38. You should not strive to be the first in everything, A harmful victory is better than defeat. And it happened among wrestlers that he won not at the top, but at the bottom. 39. There are also losses not without gain, And the branch is cut to collect the fruits. And it is wicked to increase wealth - Damage to health, ruin of the economy. 40. You don’t feel like you’re in debt to God, And don’t have any pity on the guilty before you; If you see your debt, be patient. God weighs mercy by our mercy. 41. And if resentment kindles your heart, Remember the plagues and sufferings of Christ, Is your destiny comparable to His destiny? And with this, like water, you will quench your sorrow. 42. Demon, lust, jealousy, drunkenness are equally destructive; To whom they appeared, their minds were poisoned; Prayer, fasting and tears are saving here, They also cure my ailments. 43. How to convince, since swearing is not allowed? In words, but also in life accordingly. And with a false oath you deny God, He is not the guarantor, but your deeds. 44. How to briefly talk about virtue? Be with your neighbors the way you want them to be Always have in relation to yourself. Even more briefly – only Christ’s suffering. 45. There is nothing more beautiful than a faithful friend, Tried in troubles, not in feasts, If anyone pleases, it is only with benefit. Know the limits not of friendship, but of hostility. 46. ​​The eye sees everything around; it does not see itself; He can’t even see around him, since he’s completely blind. Therefore, have an assistant in everything; After all, a hand needs another hand. 47. Obedient to the advice of the virtuous There is no shame if the vicious ones ridicule; And having thought something vile, think as if Everyone sees this, and you will improve. 48. Always prefer the wicked to the decent, By communicating with the vicious, you yourself will become corrupted. And reject the mercy of the vicious, So he seeks forgiveness for his deeds. 49. And the devil can be useful to us in some way - Those who are experienced will be more attentive in future. I'm afraid, to tell the truth, of bitter drugs, But sweet ones are completely unacceptable. 50. Despise the wicked, but show honor to the good, However, have mercy on those too, endure their evil, In order to guide them towards virtue. To the generous, meekness is a precious gift. 51. Be kind to everyone if you can, but especially To your family and friends. Here's the thing: Will they believe that you are fair to strangers? If you are not merciful to those to whom you are in debt. 52. Should we blame the unfortunate enemy for our troubles? If they themselves gave him power over life? If not for everything, then reproach yourself for more, Fire comes from us, the devil only blows. 53. Don’t give in too much to tempting dreams, So that your soul is not filled with fears And so that your mind is not inspired by charm. Often dreams are the devil's snare. 54. Let hope accompany good deeds, Since she can also help in bad things, Isn't it better to hope for good things? I will not humble myself before triumphant malice. 55. Believe me, the clear mind of luck is more reliable, It is a rapid flow of circumstances, He is your pilot. Consider yourself superior to everything Learning: we are the only ones who truly possess it. 56. If you want to be a god, in doing good, And do not show determination in evil. This is how he lives who knows what is akin to him, And both the stingray and the scorpion are capable of killing. 57. Shame if the young are weaker than the old And if the old is more reckless than the young. Be reasonable at least according to your age... But there are also those who are more perfect than their years. 58. Constantly worry about salvation, And at the end of life, this is especially true. Old age appeared, the herald of death; Get ready, whoever you are, judgment is coming. 59. Last thing. They renounce in two ways: By words or deeds. Be careful (The enemy will not stop plotting secret intrigues), May you escape purification before death. The Eunomians (followers of Eunomius) denied not only the consubstantiality, but also the similarity of God the Father and God the Son. In addition, they taught that it is possible to completely comprehend God with the human mind. The present word is directed against this last false teaching of the Eunomians. The Arians taught about the Son of God, what was when He was not, and that, therefore, He became from non-existent to existent. Plato in the dialogue Timaeus. In Greek - ἀναρχία, aura, that is, literally: anarchy, disorder, arbitrariness. In some lists, instead of the words: by power (τῇ ἐξουσία) it was read: by essence (τῇ γεοὐσίᾳ) Plotinus. Enneads. V, book. 2, ch. 1. In Greek - Αἰτία, that is: reason. That is, that the Son was born either as existing or as non-existent. In Greek - παχύτης, that is: obesity, coarseness, density. After these words, Elijah read the following: “For the prophet introduces God the Father Himself, who long before described the message to us of the Only Begotten Son, completed according to God’s advice, and says this: Whoever raises up righteousness from the east, will call me to his feet, and will go? He will bring forth tongues and terrify kings; and I shall marry, and the path of his feet shall pass in peace: who hath done and done this? I call upon you, call upon you from birth. I am God first, and I am the one to come (Is. 41:2–4).” In the Russian Synodal translation, this verse reads like this: The Lord had me as the beginning of His path, before His creatures, from time immemorial. In Greek – τῆς αἰτίας that is: for a reason. The meaning of the expression is this: the Father is greater than the Son due to the fact that he is the Cause of the existence of the Son. In Greek - δεσποτικῶς, literally: despotic. In Greek - παράκλησις, that is: exhortation, request for help. That is, the human body. The prophet Isaiah (Isaiah 3:15) in the Slavic translation reads: says the Lord of hosts, and according to some Greek editions it reads: φησὶ Κύριος, Κύριος στρατιῶν, that is: says the Lord, the Lord of hosts. In Greek - ὁ τραγέλαφος - literally: goat deer (from ὁ τράγος - goat, and ὁ ἔλαφος - deer). Mythical creature. That is, the Persons of the Holy Trinity have a single will. In Greek, the words spirit (τὸ πνεύμα), water (τὸ ὓδωρ) and blood (τὸ αἷμα) are neuter. In Greek, the word ὁ καρκίνος can mean: 1) cancer, crab; 2) constellation Cancer; 3) forceps, pincers. In Greek - μετὰ τὴν τοῦ σωτῆρος ἀποκατάστασιν. Literally: after the restoration (return, dedication) of the Savior. That is, on the second Sunday after Easter (Antipascha). In Greek - ε δος - appearance, appearance, image. After Easter there is a new week (Antipascha). Here Saint Gregory contains a lengthy discussion about the infinity of the Divine and the creation of the angelic world and man, which almost literally coincides with a similar reasoning in Homily 38 (On the Epiphany, or on the Nativity of Christ). Here we omit this place. In Greek - πάσχω - suffering. In Greek - εὔζωνοι - literally: beautifully belted, gracefully tied with a belt. In this context, dobropoyasnik means a heavily armed warrior (in the Slavic translation of the Bible: armed for the army). In Greek - μονόζωνοι - lightly armed warriors. This refers to the work of Josephus Flavius ​​“In honor of the Maccabees, or about the autocratic mind.” This Word was spoken by Saint Gregory in the year 373 in an almshouse built by Saint Basil the Great, which at that time had many people infected with leprosy. In Greek – αἴτιος – literally: being the cause. Ass is a copper coin weighing four spools. In Greek - μοῖρα Θεοῦ - literally: part (share, inheritance, possession, region, plot) of God. According to the explanation of Nikita, the interpreter of the Words of St. Gregory, this expression should not be understood in a material sense; it means the breath of life that God breathed into the face of the first-created man (Gen. 2:7), and together - the image of God. This refers to Christian services. In Greek - τίς γραφὴν - list, drawing, image, outline, contour. Some lists read Micah instead of Amos. In Greek - γῆν ἐκφύσεις - literally: that which grows from the earth. The words are taken from the Apostolic Constitutions. Mercury, patron of trade. This refers to the philosophers Empedocles and Epicurus. This refers to pagan mythology. This refers to the money box that the apostles carried with them (John 12:6; 13:29). In Greek - κενοῦται - empties, becomes empty. In Greek - κένωσις - devastation. Give to Caesar (Matthew 22:17). This refers to Saint Alexander, Archbishop of Alexandria. This refers to Emperor Julian the Apostate. Apparently, this refers to Maximus, the Cynic philosopher, who sought to overthrow St. Gregory from the episcopal see of Constantinople. That is, the throne of the Church of Constantinople, leaving the Church of Sasima. Saint Mark the Evangelist, first bishop of the Alexandrian Church. The name Arius, translated from Greek, can mean frantic, frantic. Saint Gregory was born in Cappadocia, from which one of Athanasius’ enemies also came - a certain George, who will be discussed below. Gregory, who, after the expulsion of Saint Athanasius from Alexandria, was elected Archbishop of Alexandria, but was removed from the throne by the Arians and replaced by George the Cappadocian. The Arians presented a severed human hand in court, claiming that Saint Athanasius cut off this hand from the Alexandrian cleric Arsenius, who he killed, and used it to perform spells. Meanwhile, Arseny was removed from the city by the Arians. But when the news reached him about what Saint Athanasius was accused of, he immediately appeared in court and exposed the liars. Contemplative and ascetic life. George, with expensive gifts, attracted to his side the eunuch Eusebius, the chief commander at the imperial court and an obvious Arian. Pillar of Halan - Tower of Babel (see: Gen. 10:10, 11:2–9). Words of the Arian Creed. According to the explanation of Nikita, Constantius, at the inspiration of the Arians, wrote that the word “similar” means the same as “consubstantial”, and therefore does not harm piety if someone uses this or that word. The Arians took advantage of this against the true teaching. Thus, at the Council of Constantinople, the Arians condemned the Syrian Aetius for vanity and for an excessive tendency to argue in his writings. See: Blessed Theodoret of Cyrus. Ecclesiastical history I, 2, 28. That is, the study of the life of bishops by lay people. Constantius, although he had the opportunity, did not interfere with the killing of his brother Constantine and himself ordered the death of Julian’s brother Gallus. The Alexandrian citizens, having killed George, cut his body into pieces and carried him around the city on a camel. It is remarkable that Julian, in a letter to the Alexandrians (see: Nikephoros. Byzantine History. Book 10, Chapter 7), expressing his anger at them for such an act, does not mention the participation of Christians in it; and Saint Epiphanius (Volume 1, Book 3) clearly attributes it to the pagans; and Marcellinus (Book 21) only concludes that the Christians agreed to this because they did not interfere with the pagans. Apparently, this refers to the confession of faith presented by Athanasius to Jovinian, see: Theodoret of Cyrrhus. Church history. Book 4, ch. 2–3. According to other readings, instead of “unwritten” (ἄγραφον), “written” (ἐγράφον) is read. In both cases, of course, the Arian creed. Translator unknown. First published in the magazine “Mayak” (1842. T. IV. pp. 17–18). This is an excerpt from: Mysterious Chants. Homily 11, On the low value of the outer man and on the vanity of the present (see: St. Gregory the Theologian, Archbishop of Constantinople. Collected Works in 2 volumes. Reprint of the publication by P. P. Soykin (1910). Holy Trinity Lavra of St. Sergius, 1994. Volume 2. pp. 48–49). Translation by St. Philaret (Drozdov), Metropolitan of Moscow. Completed in 1866. Reprinted from: Korsunsky I., professor. On the history of the study of the Greek language and its literature at the Moscow Theological Academy. Sergiev Posad, 1894. Applications. P. XVII. Translation by priest Andrei Zuevsky. First published in the journal “Theological Bulletin” (2004. No. 4. pp. 76–85). Ixion is a hero of Greek mythology who, as punishment for his wickedness, was tied to an ever-revolving wheel in Tartarus. Translation by priest Andrei Zuevsky. Published for the first time. Here Saint Gregory follows with a denunciation of heretics who do not recognize the God-manhood of Christ. This place completely coincides with a similar denunciation in word 38 (On the Epiphany, or on the Nativity of Christ). Here this part of the Word is omitted.