Слово 29. На [слова]: «Егда же покоритъ Ему всяческая, тогда и Самъ Сынъ покорится покоршему Ему всяческая» 1052

The objection seems to be on behalf of heretics. And how, they say, will the Son be equal to the Father, if Paul says the truth that the Son Himself will submit to the Father? For in every possible way it is necessary to recognize that the conquered is less than the conqueror, just as, undoubtedly, the conquered is [less than] the conqueror. Rebuttal to this. Those who oppose Christ do not understand that they contradict their own wickedness with these words. For if he who believes that the Son is lesser than the Father hastens to arm himself with this [saying], then why is He not already subdued? After all, Paul, saying that He will then submit, and defining the time of this event as the future, does not yet show Him to be subdued. Then, does it not go beyond any blasphemy to say that the Son is now not submissive to the Father, as if He were fighting and rebelling against Him who gave birth? After all, the rebellious, [reasoning] logically, will be self-willed. What shall we say when Christ says: “I have not come, but I will do My will, but the will of Him who sent Me” 1053? Let those who are renowned for their ability to understand the sacred Scriptures tell us, does not submission mean doing the will of the Father? How then is it said of the one who submits now that He will then submit? So, they will rightly hear: “You are deceived, not knowing the Scripture” 1054. OTHER. If you believe that the Son is a creature and a creature, and if you number Him among the created, then how, tell me - according to your, O heretic, folly - He, being a slave essence, does not now submit to the Father of all, when the Psalmist says about the created: “For all things are Your work” 1055? For it is necessary either to say that the Father is unable to subdue the Son and against His will, and then He who, in your opinion, is less, will be greater; or, if it is good to submit, but the Son does not now submit, since it is said that He will submit later, you will have to accuse Him of sin. And how then can we keep what was said about Him 1056: “Who shall commit no sin” 1057? Away with such absurdity! OTHER. The objection seems to be on behalf of the same people. And how, they say, will it not be obvious to everyone that the Son, who submits to Him, is less than the Father? Rebuttal to this. And how will it not be obvious to everyone - let’s use your own words - that the equal often subjugates the equal in an economic way? After all, do we admit that there is not one and the same Spirit in the prophets? And how then does Paul say: “And the souls obey the prophecies of the prophet” 1058? How does the name of submission deprive the Son of equality with the Father? After all, do not our sons also obey and submit to [their] fathers, having the same essence with them and being partakers of the same nature? For neither in those who submit is the logos of nature found less, nor in those who conquer is greater or superior. After all, while the logos of essence is the same in all people, many useful [things] are achieved through the subordination of some. If this is well established in relation to us, and in no way leads beyond the commonality of nature, then why don’t you reject this absurd blasphemy, maintaining equality [with the Father] with God the Word? OTHER. Where do you come from - oh, heretics! – did it occur to you to say that because of the so-called subordination the Son is lesser than the Father? For it is not in subordination that we find the logos of His essence, nor in subordination is the existence of the Son, but He who exists and abides in a special way is called submissive. Consequently, if the name of subordination is not a definition of His essence, then because of it He will not be less than the Father. If you think that “subjection” is a definition of the essence of the Son, then look to what depths of wickedness you fall. For then it will be necessary to say that the Son will then be called into being when the time of submission comes, since Paul represents Him as having to submit [in the future], and not as having already submitted. OTHER, containing a convincing interpretation of the saying. The Father does everything through the Son, and this is an image of submission (τὸ τῆς ὑποταγῆς σχῆμα) - that He seems to be submitting to the will of the Father. As, for example, when the Father says: “Let us create man” 1059, the Son divinely takes dust from the earth 1060 and fulfills his plan. For the whole thing was 1061. So, Paul, teaching that in the next century the Father will bring all things to life in us again through the Son, very wisely says: “When all things are put in subjection to Him, then the Son Himself will submit all things to Him who put all things in subjection, so that God may have all things in all.” For this is as if he had said: “Let no one think that in the age to come you will be partakers of the Father in any other way than again through the Son.” And this “through the Son” means subordination, which in no way harms the Son in terms of essence, but shows the unity and usual unchanging state of the Holy Trinity. For then She will not rebel against Herself, and what is always the same will not be confused by disorderly changes, but even at that time the Father through the Son will be all things in all, [will be] life, and incorruptibility, and joy, and holiness, and power, and all that is promised to the saints. After all, look at the kind of economy this word carries with it! For since [Paul] said that through the Father all things are subject to the Son, so that it would not be thought that the Father was out of dominion over all things, since all things are subjected to the Son, he shows the Son not to be disobedient to the Father, so that the Father also might have all the power of dominion over all things, with the natural participation of the Son, since one Godhead reigns: the Father through the Son with the Holy Spirit. OTHER. If the name of subordination deprives the Son of equality with the Father, then it is time for you, for whom there is nothing that you would not dare to say, to say that at present the Father is less than the Son, serving the image of subordination τρόπῳ) and saying to Him: “Sit at My right hand, until I will make Your enemies Your footstool” 1063. If the Father, serving the subordination of all to the Son, is not less because of this, then the Son will not be less than the Father because of the subordination. For what the Father has already created, in some way he himself receives back from the Son. OTHER. How is it said of Him who is now subject to the Father that He will submit in the last times or even in the age to come? Or is He not subordinate even now, fulfilling the will of the Father and humbling Himself, as it is written, taking on the form and image of a servant 1064 in order to accomplish His work 1065, as He Himself says? But I think that this is obvious to everyone and, being true, is revealed by examining things. So, how does the divine Paul show us those who are already subject to those who will submit later? Let them examine the speech thoroughly. “When,” he says, “all things are subjected to Him, then the Son Himself will submit all things to Him, that all things may be in God” 1066. What does he mean by this? Christ is still submissive to the Father, not for the sake of everyone, but only for the sake of those who believe in Him; and for them He offered Himself, like a blameless lamb, to the Father, carelessly about the cross and shame, 1067 so that, having freed them from all sin, He would bring them clean and blameless to the Creator. So, when all error is [thrown away] far away, and those in all the sunflower know the true God and confess Christ as King and Lord, submitting to His saving commandments, then, when everyone is already submissive, He will submit for the sake of all, finding Himself God and Lord, and the Bishop of all, and through Himself giving everyone the opportunity to be partakers of the Father who is in Him. For, thus, God will be all in all, dwelling in all through the mediation of the Son and being contained in each of those called to salvation. OTHER. Let every pious person pay attention to the power of what is said and let him carefully consider the precise meaning of the saying, for [in this way] he will in some way overcome the evil that comes from ignorance. So, Paul says that “when all things are put in subjection to Him, then the Son Himself also will subject all things to Him, that God may be all things in all.” First of all, it is worth noting with what thought Paul ends this phrase. For he did not say that the Son would submit to the Father in order to become less than Him in essence, but that God might be all in all. Do you see that he presents the mediation of the Son in relation to us as [mediation] in relation to the Father? For He will again dwell with the saints, giving Himself according to the grace of each [of them], so that through Him they may become partakers of the Father. And this is the tropos of submission: for He, as it were, serves the blessing [given] from the Father, naturally through Himself transmitting [it] to those called to eternal life. And this will not force the Son to become outside [His] natural dignity; but, being what He is, He, by condescension towards us, will then serve the Father, giving us knowledge of the Divine, as far as we can assimilate it. Further, in addition to this, one must also understand that just as the Father, by subordinating us to the Son, does not essentially create anything else, and we do not turn out to be someone else, due to subordination, in comparison with what we were created from the beginning, but accomplishes subordination by changing [our] state of mind (γνώμης), way of life (τρόπου) and knowledge, so the Son, not speaking beyond the limits of his own nature (since it is not characteristic of God to pretend), he submits to the Father, but [this] will be a certain way of action (τρόπος πράγματος), and at that time showing Him to those who submit - and [then] the action of submission (τὸ τῆς ὑποταγῆς πρᾶγμα.) will be found only in the will, and, of course, not in the transformation of essence. OTHER. If the Son is less than the Father and different in nature, submitting to Him at a certain moment, according to Paul’s word, but has not yet submitted, then it means that at the present time He has equality in relation to Him. And what is now equal in nature to the one who gave birth, how will it be less in time? After all, either there will be some kind of corruption and diminishment in Him, and then the Divinity will be subjected to this (τὸ Θεῖον), or, if it is impious and illogical to say so, let them themselves explain the image of the diminishment. Since, if the Son does not suffer any damage in relation to the essence, then the image of submission will not harm Him in any way. There is an obvious typo in the original: “Καὶ ποῦ σωθήσεται τὸ Πατρὶ αὐτοῦ λεγόμενον.” Instead of “Πατρὶ”, we read “περὶ”, in accordance with the Latin translation: “quod de ipso dicitur”. You might be interested in: