Proof of the Apostolic Preaching

Essay sschmch. Irenaeus of Lyon's "Proof of the Apostolic Preaching" (100 chapters, 190-199) is a type of catechetical instruction and is dedicated to Marcian, of whom it is only known that he was a friend of St. Irenea. The purpose of the essay, as the author defines it, is to prove (present) the Truth proclaimed in the sermon of the Savior and the apostles. The content of the essay corresponds to the stated purpose. It covers and reviews the main points of Christian doctrine. In the introduction (chap. 1-6), Saint Irenaeus makes a short excursion into anthropology: man is a “composite living being,” including soul and body, which must be kept pure. One must keep the rule of faith intact and fulfill the commandments of God. The author considers it necessary to recall the baptismal creed, with which the first part of the main section “Evidence” begins. First of all, the doctrine of God in Himself is presented here, that is, the doctrine of the Holy Trinity (chap. 3-7). Further St. Irenaeus proceeds to present thoughts about the action of God in relation to the world, showing that God is the Creator, Manager, Provider and Judge of the universe (chap. 8-42). Of all the created world, man certainly stands out. After this, the history of the Economy of Salvation is described, beginning with the creation of man and ending with the coming of Christ, His accomplishment of our salvation and the worldwide preaching of the apostles. The second part of the treatise (chap. 42-97) is devoted almost entirely to the Old Testament prophecies about Christ, which Saint Irenaeus supplements with his brief interpretations. The conclusion (chap. 98-100) contains a warning regarding various false teachings that distort and destroy the apostolic faith. *The title of the work in Greek is ᾿Επίδειξις τοῦ ἀποστολικοῦ κηρύγματος. *The title of the work in Latin is Demonstratio apostolicae praedicationis. Proof of the Apostolic Preaching in Audio Format 1. Since I have learned, my dear Marcian, your inclination to walk in reverence for God - and this alone leads a person to eternal life - then I both share your joy with you and ask you to be pleasing to God, your Creator, with unshakable firmness in faith. Oh, if we could constantly be together and mutually benefit and make life here easier, spending it in continuous general conversation about useful subjects! But since at the present time we are physically separated from each other, I would like not to miss the opportunity, within my power, to speak with you in writing and in brief words to expound the preaching of the truth in order to strengthen your faith. I am sending you this (work) as an important written reminder, so that in a little you may receive much, and in a little you may know all the members of the body of truth, and in a little you may hear the proofs of the divine. For in this way your salvation will become fruitful, and you will make all false believers lower their gaze, and to everyone who wants to know, you will express with all determination our sound and blameless word (cf. Titus 2.8). For there is one path, accessible to all who see, which is illuminated by heavenly light; but they are numerous and dark, and opposite to the paths of those who do not see, and the first leads to the heavenly kingdom, uniting man with God, while these lead to death, separating man from God. Therefore, both you and everyone who cares about their own salvation need to steadily, firmly, and confidently walk in faith, so that, having become careless and unsettled, you do not remain mired in material lusts or even lose your way to the right path. 2. Since man is a living being, consisting of soul and body, it is necessary and proper for him to observe both in a good state; and since sins arise from both of them, purity of the body serves as a protective means by which people are kept from everything harmful and from all unrighteous deeds, and purity of the soul is a means of keeping faith in God intact, without adding or cutting anything from it. For piety through desecration and pollution of the body becomes gloomy and sad; it is distorted and desecrated, and no longer remains intact if a lie penetrates the soul; on the contrary, it is preserved in beauty and in its measure if truth in the spirit and purity in the heart remain unshakable. For what is the use of knowing the truth in words, but desecrating the body and committing evil deeds? Or, on the other hand, what benefit can cleanliness of the body actually bring if there is no truth in the soul? For these (i.e., truth and soul) both rejoice with each other, and unite, and are comrades in the struggle to place man before God. And therefore the Holy Spirit says through David: “Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the ungodly” (Ps 1.1); this is the mood of those tribes who do not know God. For these godless ones are those who do not worship the truly existing God. And therefore the Word says to Moses: “I am who I am” (Exodus 3.14). Consequently, those who do not worship the existing God are godless. “And does not stand in the way of sinners,” and sinners are those who have knowledge of God, but do not keep His commandments, that is, they are despisers. “And he does not sit in the seat of the corrupters,” and the corrupters are those who, with their insidious and perverse teaching, corrupt not only themselves, but also others, for the seat is a symbol for the pulpit (teacher). All heretics are exactly like this: they sit on the seat of the corrupters and corrupt those who accept the poison of their teachings. 3. Therefore, in order not to tolerate this, we must keep intact the rule of faith and fulfill the commandments of God, believing in God and fearing Him, since He is the Lord, and loving Him, since He is the Father. Doing stems from faith, for “if you do not believe,” says Isaiah, “you will not understand” (Isaiah 7.9); and faith is brought by truth, for faith is built on what truly exists, so that we believe in what exists (ta onta) as it is; By believing in existence as it always is, we firmly maintain our confidence in it. And since faith is the constant guardian of our salvation, it is necessary and worthy to put a lot of care into it in order to achieve a true understanding of things. It is faith that produces this in us, as the elders, the disciples of the apostles, told us. First of all, it teaches us to remember that we received baptism for the remission of sins in the name of God the Father and in the name of Jesus Christ, the incarnate and dead and risen Son of God, and in the Holy Spirit of God; and that this baptism is the seal of eternal life and rebirth in God, that we may be children not of dead men, but of the eternal and unchangeable God; so that the eternal and unchangeable would become God, and He would stand high above each of the created beings, and everything would be subordinate to Him, and all those subordinate to Him would become His own (own), so that God would rule and be Ruler not over anything else (alien), but over His own, (reminds) that everything is God’s and that therefore God is the Almighty and everything is from God. 4. For it is necessary that we who have come into existence should have the beginning of our being from some great cause; and God is the beginning of everything, for He Himself did not come from anything, but from Him everything came. And therefore it is necessary and worthy, first of all, to confess that He is one God, the Father, Who created and formed everything, and brought non-existent things into being, and while He embraces everything, He alone is not embraced. Between everything (that happened) is this world of ours and man in the world; therefore, this world was also created by God. 5. Therefore, the matter is presented as follows: God, the Father, uncreated, invisible, Creator of everything, above Whom there is no other God and after (below) Whom there is no other God; and since God is a rational being, therefore He created what happened with the Word; and since God is Spirit, He adorned everything with the Spirit, as the prophet says: “By the Word of the Lord the heavens were established, and by His Spirit all their power” (Ps 32.6). Since the word affirms, that is, is the product of the body and gives the essence of emanation, and the spirit orders and forms the differences of forces, then in all justice the Word is called the Son, and the Spirit the Wisdom of God. Paul, His apostle, also says appropriately (for this case): “There is one God the Father, who is above all and with all and in us all” (Eph 4.6). For above all is the Father, and with all is the Word, since through Him all things came from the Father, but in us all is the Spirit, Who cries: “Abba Father” (Gal. 4.6), and prepares man for God-likeness. The Spirit reveals the Word, and therefore the prophets proclaimed the Son of God; but the Word gives an image to the Spirit, and therefore It Itself is the inspirer of the prophets and leads man to the Father. 6. This is the rule of our faith and the foundation of the building and the strength of our walk: God the Father, not made, not comprehended, invisible, one God, Creator of all; This is the very first position of our faith. The second position is the Word of God, the Son of God, Christ Jesus our Lord, who appeared to the prophets according to the image of their prophecy and following the definition of the Father, through whom all things happened, who also at the end of times, in order to bring everything to perfection and unite, became man among people, visible and tangible, in order to abolish death and show life, and to bring about the communion of unity between God and man. And the third position is the Holy Spirit, by whom the prophets prophesied and the fathers learned divine things, and the righteous were led to the path of righteousness, and who at the end of times was poured out in a new way on humanity throughout the whole earth, renewing man for God. 7. And therefore the baptism of our regeneration is accomplished by these three provisions, when God the Father gives us grace for regeneration through His Son through the Holy Spirit. For those who carry the Spirit of God within themselves are brought to the Word, that is, to the Son, and the Son brings them to the Father, and the Father allows them to partake of incorruption. Consequently, without the Spirit it is impossible to see the Son and without the Son it is impossible to approach the Father; for the knowledge of the Father is the Son, and the knowledge of the Son is through the Holy Spirit, and the Spirit is communicated by the Son, in accordance with His ministry, according to the good pleasure of the Father, to those whom the Father wills and as the Father wills. 8. But the Father is called by the Spirit most high and almighty, and Lord of hosts, so that we may know God that this same one is the creator of heaven and earth and the whole world and the creator of angels and men, and the Lord of all, through whom all these things came into being and from whom all things are nourished, merciful, merciful and gracious, kind, righteous, the God of all, of Jews as well as of Gentiles, as well as believers, but believers like the Father, for at the end of time He revealed the gospel of sonship. Of the Jews (God) as Lord and lawgiver, for in the midst of times, when mankind forgot God and moved away from Him, and retreated, He brought them into service through the law, so that they would know that they had (above them) the Lord, the creator and founder of the world, Who gives the breath of life, Whom we must worship day and night. He is the God of the pagans as creator and almighty, at the same time also as nourisher and bread-giver, and king, and judge; for no one will escape His judgment: neither Jew, nor Gentile, nor a believer who has sinned, nor an angel. But those who now do not trust in His goodness will recognize His power at the judgment, as the blessed apostle says: “You do not understand that the goodness of God draws you to repentance, you, by your stubbornness and impenitence of your heart, are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, who will reward everyone according to his deeds” (Rom. 2:4-6). This is He who in the law is called the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob, the God of the living. And despite all this, the height and greatness of this particular God is indescribable. 9. But the world is surrounded by seven heavens, in which the powers of both angels and archangels dwell, performing the service of worship of God Almighty and Creator of everything, not because He supposedly needs it, but so that they are not idle and useless and graceless. And therefore the Holy Spirit is abundant during His dwelling and is counted by the prophet Isaiah in seven forms of ministry that rested on the Son of God, that is, on the Word, when He came as a man. For “the Spirit of God,” He says, “will rest upon Him: the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and strength (the spirit of knowledge) and godliness, the spirit of the fear of God will fill Him” (Isaiah 11.2-3). So, the first heaven above, which embraces the others, is wisdom, and the second after it is the heaven of understanding, and the third of counsel, and the fourth, counting from above, is the heaven of strength, and the fifth is the heaven of knowledge, and the sixth - the heaven of piety, and the seventh - this firmament above us, which is full of fear of the Spirit illuminating this sky of ours (cf. Wis. 1:7). For Moses from here took the pattern of the lamp with seven branches, which gave continuous light in the sanctuary; because he arranged this worship according to the heavenly image, as the Word says to him: “You must make it exactly according to the pattern that you saw on the mountain” (Exodus 25.40). 10. This God is glorified by His Word, who is the eternal Son of God, and by the Holy Spirit, who is the Wisdom of the Father of all; and the powers of these (the latter), the Word and Wisdom, which are called cherubim and seraphim, glorify God with an unceasing song of praise; and every creature that is in heaven gives honor to God, the Father of all. He formed the whole world with the Word - and in this world there are also angels - and He gave laws to the whole world so that each (creature) would remain in its own (area) and would not overstep the limits established by God, each doing the work assigned to it. 11. But He created man with His own hands, taking from the earth the purest, the subtlest and the most tender, and He mixed His power to a certain extent with the earth; for He gave the creation His own forms, so that what is visible (in it) also might be God-like. For created man was placed on earth as the image of God. And to make him alive, He breathed into his face the breath of life, so that both in breath and in creation man is like God. He was free and independent, since he was created by God in order to dominate everything on earth. And this entire universe, which contains everything - prepared by God before the creation of man - was handed over to man as a place (of residence). And in this place were, each with his own service, the servants of that God who created everything; and the steward, who was appointed over the fellow servants, ruled over this place. The servants were angels, and the ruler was an archangel. 12. God, having made man the ruler of the earth and everything that is on it, made him, in addition, the ruler of those who are servants on it (i.e., angels). However, they had their inherent perfection, and the ruler, that is, the man, was small, for he was a child, and therefore it was necessary for him, growing, to achieve perfection. And so that his nourishment and growth would occur in complete joy and pleasantness, He prepared for him a place better than this world, which was excellent in air, beauty, light, food, plants, fruits, waters and all other means of life; and it is called heaven. And this paradise was so beautiful and good that the Word of God constantly rushed about in it, walked and talked with man about the future that was about to happen, sealing it in advance; in this way it lived with them and talked and was with people, teaching them righteousness. But the man was a child, since he did not have perfect understanding, which is why he was easily deceived by the deceiver. 13. In paradise, when a man lived there, God brought all the animals to him and commanded him to give them all names; and everything that Adam called the living creature became his name. And He decided to create a helper for man as well, for this is what God said: “It is not good for man that he is alone; Let us make him a helper suitable for him” (Gen. 2.18); for among all other living beings there was no helper for Adam who was the same as him, or equal in dignity, or similar. God Himself sent Adam into a frenzy and put him to sleep; and here one thing follows from another: while before there was no sleep in paradise, he came to Adam by the will of God. And God took one of Adam’s ribs and filled its place with flesh; and the rib that He took He created into a wife and brought her to Adam. When he saw her, he said: “This is bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh; she will be called woman, for she was taken from her husband” (Gen. 2.23). 14. Both Adam and Eve, for that is the name of the wife, were naked and were not ashamed, for they had an innocent and childlike feeling and did not come to the point of thinking about anything or understanding what later, in a state of depravity, was to be born in the soul as a result of sensual desires and shameful passions. For then they kept their nature still intact, because the breath of life was breathed into the creation within them. For the spirit, while it remains in its proper dignity and strength, everything that is vicious is incomprehensible and inaccessible; Therefore, they were not ashamed when they kissed, they hugged each other in purity, like children. 15. But so that man would not imagine much of himself and would not arrogantly exalt himself - as if, due to the dominion and freedom given to him, he had no ruler (over himself) and would thus sin against God, his creator, by transgressing his limit - and would not come to a self-satisfied, proud thought against God, God gave him a commandment so that he would know that he has the Lord of all as his ruler. Also, (God) set a certain limit for him, so that if he kept the commandment of God, he would constantly remain as he was, that is, immortal; if he does not comply, he will become mortal, turning into the earth from which his creation began. The commandment was as follows: “You may eat from every tree that is in the garden as you wish, but you cannot eat from the tree of which is the knowledge of good and evil, for on the day that you eat you will surely die” (Gen. 2.16–17). 16. Man did not fulfill this commandment, but did not obey God, deceived by an angel, who, envying people for the many gifts that God had given them, and looking at this with enmity, both destroyed himself and made man sinful, convincing him not to obey the commandment of God. Thus, having initially become in his cunning the head and leader of sin, the angel himself was once defeated after sinning against God, and then he led man to the loss of paradise. And since he, deceived by the dignity of his nature, rebelled and separated from God, he is called in the Hebrew language Satan, that is, the enemy; but he is also called a slanderer. God cursed the serpent, which carried an enemy within itself, which curse extended both to the animal itself and to the hidden angel nesting within it, Satan. He removed man from His face, then blocking the path leading to paradise. For heaven does not accept sinners. 17. When Adam and his wife Eve were outside of paradise, they fell into many troubles and confusion and walked in this world with sorrow and sorrow and groaning. For man worked the land under the rays of this sun, and it brought him thorns and thistles as punishment for sin. Then what was written was also fulfilled: “Adam knew his wife, and she conceived and gave birth to Cain and then gave birth to Abel” (Gen. 4.1–2). But the rebellious angel, who led man to disobedience and made him sinful, and was the reason for his expulsion from paradise, not being satisfied with the first evil, committed the second among the brothers; for, having filled Cain with his spirit, he made him a fratricide. And so Abel died, put to death by his brother, as a sign that from now on some will be persecuted and oppressed and put to death, but the unrighteous will kill and persecute the righteous. Having become even more angry at this, God cursed Cain, and this curse extended to each of his entire family, inherited from child to child, like a sower. God raised up another son for Adam in the place of the murdered Abel. 18. Evil, spilling and spreading, took possession of the entire human race, so that there was too little seed of righteousness in them, and confusion occurred on earth between different elements; for the angels mixed with the daughters of the sons of men, who bore them children, who, because of their extraordinary growth, were called earth-born. Then the angels brought evil teaching as a gift to their wives; for they taught them the powers of roots and herbs, as well as the art of dyeing and rouge, and the production of expensive fabrics, magical means for (exciting) hatred, love, ardent passion and love seductions, magical bandages, all kinds of magic and God-hating idolatry, through the introduction of which into the world the work of the evil one, exalted, spread, and the work of righteousness, diminished, weakened, 19. Until the judgment of God came to the world through the flood in the tenth generation, in which Noah alone, after the first creation, turned out to be righteous and for his righteousness he himself remained alive, as well as his wife and his three sons, and his three sons’ wives, he imprisoned him in the ark along with all the animals that God commanded to take with him into the ark. And then death befell everyone: both people and animals that were on the earth - only those who hid in the ark survived. There were three sons of Noah: Shem, Ham and Japheth, from whom the (human) race multiplied again; for after the flood people received their beginning from them. 20. But one of them fell under a curse, and two inherited a blessing for their deeds. For the youngest of them, who was called Ham, because he laughed at his father and was thus doomed to ungodly sin for insulting and reproaching his father, received a curse and passed it on as an inheritance to all who descended from him. It so happened that the entire family after him was cursed and grew and multiplied in sin. His brothers, Shem and Japheth, received a blessing for respecting their father. The curse of Ham, with which his father Noah cursed him, is as follows: “Cursed be the son of Ham; he will be a slave to his brothers" (Gen. 9.25). This (curse) passed on to his family, since he gave birth to many descendants on earth, growing for fourteen generations in a wild state, until finally his family, having fallen into judgment, was struck by God. For the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Amorites, and the Girgashites, and the Sidonians, and the Arabs (Arads?), and those who inhabit Phenicia, all the Egyptians and Libyans, come from the family of Ham; they fell under the curse, since the curse had been working on those wicked people for a long time. 21. And as the curse passed, likewise the blessing passed to the blessed one, in order, to each one. Between these, Shem was first blessed in the following words: “Blessed is the Lord God of Shem, and Ham will be his servant” (Gen. 9.26). The power of the blessing is that God and the Lord of all became for Shem a special possession of worship, when the blessing increased and reached Abraham, who represents the tenth generation in the line of generations from the seed of Shem. Therefore, it pleased the Father and God of all to be called the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob, for the blessing of Shem extended its effect to Abraham. The blessing of Japheth is as follows: “May God extend Japheth, and may he dwell in the house of Shem, and may Ham be his servant” (Gen. 9.27); and this must mean that at the end of time (salvation?) appeared to the Lord's elect from the calling of the Gentiles, when God extended the calling to them. And further: “Their speech went throughout the whole earth, and their words to the ends of the world” (Ps 18.5). “Spread” must be understood in relation to the calling of the Gentiles, i.e. about the church, and “He dwells in the house of Shem” must mean that (he will dwell) in the inheritance of the fathers, receiving the birthright in Christ Jesus. Thus, in the order in which each person is blessed, in the same order he receives, according to his origin, the fruit of blessing. 22. After the flood, God established a covenant with the whole world, equally with all animals and with people, that he would not destroy with the flood all the growth of the earth. And He gave them this sign: “When the air is covered with clouds, a rainbow appears in the clouds, and I will remember my covenant and will not again destroy with water every living creature on earth” (Gen. 9.14–15). And He changed the food of the people, commanding them to eat meat; for from the primordial Adam until the flood, people ate only seeds and fruits of trees, but meat food was not allowed to them. And since the three sons of Noah laid the foundation for humanity, God blessed them with reproduction and fertility, saying: “Grow, multiply, populate the earth and subdue it. Fear and trembling will come from you to all who live (on earth) and to all the birds of the air, and they will serve as food for you, like green grass. Only the flesh, which still has its life blood in it, you must not eat; I will avenge your own blood on every beast and every man. Whoever sheds human blood, his blood will be shed instead of this blood. For in the image of God He created man” (Genesis 9.1–6). But the image of God is the Son, in whose image man was made. Therefore, He also appeared in recent times to show the similarity of the human image with Himself. Based on this covenant, humanity multiplied, descending from the seed of three. And in the universe there were only one mouth, that is, one language. 23. But they rose from the east, and while they were still traveling through that country, they entered the extremely large plain of Shinar, where they began to build a tower. For they were looking for a means by which they could ascend to heaven and at the same time leave their work as a monument for future humanity. The construction was carried out using bricks and asphalt, and the brave work of their audacity succeeded, since everyone was unanimous and of the same mind and in concert worked towards the goal. So that their work would not develop further, God separated their languages, so that they could no longer understand each other. Thus they dispersed and took possession of the universe, each according to his own language: they settled in groups, tribe beside tribe. Therefore, there are many different nationalities and different languages ​​in the world. So three generations of people occupied the land; and one of them was under a curse, and two were under a blessing; but the first blessing became the lot of Shem, whose descendants lived in the east and occupied the land of the Chaldeans. 24. And after certain times had come, that is, in the tenth century after the flood, Abraham appears, who seeks what belonged to him from the blessing of his ancestor, and God, worthy for him (of worship). And when, by the inner attraction of his soul, he walked throughout the entire universe, asking where God was, and when he turned out to be weak and did not reach the goal, then God had mercy on him, only those who secretly sought Him, and appeared to Abraham, allowing him to know Himself through the word, as through a ray. For He spoke to him from heaven and said: “Get out of your land, from your kindred and from your father’s house, and go to the land that I will show you and settle there” (Gen. 12.1). And he, trusting in the heavenly voice, when he himself was already in mature years, since he was seventy years old and had a wife, went with her from Mesopotamia, taking with him Lot, the son of his deceased brother; and when he came to the land which is now called Judah and which was then inhabited by seven tribes, the descendants of Ham, then God appeared to him in a vision and said: “I will give this land to you and to your descendants after you for an everlasting inheritance” (Gen. 12.7). [After this, his descendants remained in a land that did not belong to them as strangers and were exposed to disasters there, suffering sorrow and enslavement for 400 years. And in the fourth century they returned to the country promised to Abraham, but God condemned the people who forced his descendants into slavery]. And so that Abraham would know both the number and the glory of his descendants, God brought him out (from the tent) by night and said to him: “Look up to the sky and see the stars in the sky, whether you can number them; such will your descendants be” (Gen. 15.5). Since God saw the steadfastness and firmness of his spirit, He testified about him through the Holy Spirit, saying in Scripture: “And Abraham believed, and it was credited to him as righteousness” (Gen. 15.6). But he was uncircumcised when it was testified about him. And so that the excellence of his faith might be known by a sign, He gave him circumcision as a seal of faith for the uncircumcision of one who was uncircumcised. Then from Sarah, who was barren, according to the promise of God, he had a son Isaac, whom he circumcised as God commanded him. And from Isaac was born Jacob; and thus the original blessing of Shem came to Abraham, and from Abraham to Isaac, and from Isaac to Jacob; through this the inheritance of the Spirit was divided within them; for He is called the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. And Jacob begot twelve sons, after whom the twelve tribes of Israel were named. 25. When famine spread throughout the world, it happened that only in Egypt there were means of food. Then Jacob and all his sons moved to Egypt. The number of all those evicted extended to seventy-five souls, and within 400 years, as the promise said in advance, they became six hundred and sixty thousand (?). But since they were greatly oppressed and tortured, and they sighed and wept before God, the God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob brought them out of Egypt through Moses and Aaron, after he had struck the Egyptians with ten plagues and at the last plague sent a destructive angel to destroy their firstborn, from man to beast; from this He saved the children of Israel, symbolically showing the suffering of Christ through the slaying of the spotless lamb, whose blood was given as a sign of safety for salvation by painting the houses of the Jews. And this sacrament is called Easter - the foundation of salvation. And having parted the Red Sea, He brought the children of Israel into the wilderness with all care, and the pursuing Egyptians, who followed them into the sea, were all completely destroyed. This is how God’s judgment befell those who unjustly tortured the descendants of Abraham. 26. In the desert, Moses received from God the law, the ten commandments written on stone tablets by the finger of God; the finger of God is that which extends from the Father to the Holy Spirit; likewise the commandments and justifications which He commanded the children of Israel to observe. And he, at the command of God, erected the tabernacle of testimony, a visible image on earth of that which is spiritual and invisible in heaven, at the same time a representation of the image of the church and a prophecy of the future; likewise also the vessels and the tables of sacrifice, and the ark in which he placed the tablets. At the same time, he appointed Aaron and his sons as priests, giving the priesthood to their entire family; they were from the tribe of Levi. Also, by the command of God, he called the entire tribe to serve at the church of God, giving them the Levitical law as the norm for how and in what manner those who continuously have at their disposal service in the church of God should behave. 27. When they approached the land that God had promised to Abraham and his descendants, Moses chose one man from each tribe and sent them to gather information about the land and the cities in it, and the inhabitants of those cities. Then God revealed to him a name that alone could give life to those who believe in him; and Moses changed the name of Hoshea the son of Nun, one of the messengers, to Joshua. And thus he sent them with the power of the name, in the belief that he would receive them back unharmed for the guidance of the given name. But when they, after their journey there, investigations and reconnaissance, returned, carrying with them grape bunches, some of those twelve sent brought all the people into painful fear, saying that there were large and fortified cities there, inhabited by earth-born giants, so that they were not able to take possession of the land. Then all the people wept, falling into doubt whether God was with them, who would give them strength and subjugate them all. And they (the scouts) also spoke badly about the land, as if it was not good, and that it was not worth going to danger for such land. But two of the twelve - Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh - tore their clothes because of the misfortune that had occurred and begged the people not to doubt and not to lose courage, for God had delivered everyone into their hands, (saying) that the land was also extremely good. But when the conviction did not work, and the people continued in the same unbelief, God turned away and changed their way so that they would wander, punishing them in the wilderness with many stripes. And how many days did those who surveyed the land go back and forth - this lasted forty days - counting a year for each day, He kept them in the wilderness forty years, and none of those who were mature in years and in mind, because of their unbelief, he did not consider worthy to enter the (promised) land, except two who testified in favor of the inheritance, that is, Joshua, the son of Nun, and Caleb, the son of Jephunneh, and also those who were still small and could not distinguish between right and left. Thus, the entire people of little faith died in the desert, receiving one after another a righteous reward for their lack of faith. The children who grew up over the course of forty years made up for the number of deaths. 28 When the people were forty years old, they came close to the Jordan and pitched their camp against Jericho. Here Moses gathered the people and repeated everything once again, telling about the great deeds of God until that day, and brought those who grew up in the desert into obedience and order, so that they would fear God and keep His commandments; having renewed the legislation which he had annexed to that given before, he entrusted it to them. And this was called “Deuteronomy,” in which many promises are written both about our Lord Jesus Christ, and about the people, and about the calling of the pagans, and about the kingdom. 29. And when Moses had finished his course of life, God said to him, Go up to this mountain and die, for you will not bring My people into the land. And he died according to the word of God, and Joshua the son of Nun took his place. He divided the Jordan and brought the people into the land, and after he had defeated and destroyed the seven nations living in it, he gave the people Jerusalem, which is on this side, in which lived King David and his son Solomon, who built a church in honor of God like the tabernacle that was made by Moses after the model of heavenly and spiritual things. 30. Prophets were sent here by God, who through the Holy Spirit guided the people on the path and returned their fathers to the almighty God; they appeared as the heralds of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, proclaiming that His flesh would come forth from the house of David, as a result of which, after a long series of generations, He would be in the flesh the son of David, who is the son of Abraham, - but in the Spirit He is the Son of God (cf. Rom. 1:3 f.), since He was first of the Father, begotten before the creation of the world, and at the end of time appeared to the whole world in human form; through this the Word of God accomplished in Himself everything that is in heaven and on earth. 31. He united people with God and established peace and harmony between man and God; for it was not in our power to become partakers of incorruption in any other way if He had not come to us. For while incorruption was invisible and did not appear, it was not at all useful to us; now it has become visible, so that we may in all respects receive participation in incorruption. Since all of us in the primordial creation of Adam, through his disobedience, were firmly tied to death, it was necessary that death should be destroyed by the obedience of the One who became man for us. But since death had dominion over the body, it was necessary that it should free man from its oppression, abolished through the body. The Word became flesh, so that through the same body through which sin was established and dominated, it could be abolished and no longer be in us (cf. Rom. 8:3ff.). Therefore, the Lord took on this bodily image of the primordial one in order to enter into the struggle for the fathers and, through Adam, to gain victory over the one who defeated us in Adam. 32. Where does the primordial being come from? From the will and wisdom of God and from the virgin land. “For God,” says Scripture, “before the creation of man, had not yet sent rain, and there was no man on it to till the ground” (Genesis 2.5). From this earth, when it was still virgin, God took dust and created man as the beginning of our humanity. For the second completion of this man, the Lord subjected Himself to the order of the same incarnation, being born of a Virgin in accordance with the will and wisdom of God, in order to show the likeness of His incarnation with the incarnation of Adam, and so that what was written at the beginning would be fulfilled: “Man in the likeness and image of God” (Gen. 1.26). 33. And just as through the disobedient virgin man was struck and died by death, so here also through the Virgin, who obeyed the Word of God, he received life through the life newly created in man. For the Lord came to find again the lost sheep (cf. Mt 18:12), and the lost was man. Therefore there was no new creation, but He received the likeness of the creation from one who was of the race of Adam. For a new perfection of Adam in Christ was necessary, so that what was mortal could be swallowed up into immortality (cf. 1 Cor 15:53); in the same way in relation to Eve and Mary, so that the Virgin, interceding for the virgin, with virginal obedience would destroy and destroy virginal disobedience. 34. Likewise, the crime that was committed through the tree was destroyed by the obedience of the tree. When God heard (such a petition), the Son of Man was nailed to the tree, thereby abolishing the knowledge of evil, and introducing and allowing to be assimilated the knowledge of good. And it is evil to disobey God, just as good is to obey God. Therefore, the Word speaks through the prophet Isaiah, when he predicts the future torment - for they are called prophets because they tell the future - and so, the Word speaks through him in the following way: “I do not resist or contradict; I gave My backbone for blows and My cheeks for blowing, and I did not hide My face from mockery and spitting" (Isaiah 50.6). By the obedience in which He was steadfast to death, hanging on the tree, He destroyed the ancient disobedience associated with the tree. For He Himself is the Word of Almighty God, Who has invisibly spread into us and in general throughout this whole world and traverses its length and width, and height, and depth, for through the Word of God the strength of being of the entire universe is maintained, and in it the Son of God is crucified, cross-shapedly imprinted on everything. For it was fitting for Him, after He had become visible, to open the communion of all with Him on the cross, in order to show His action in the visible through a visible image. For He is the One who brought into light the heights and extended the depths that lie far under the earth, and stretched out the length from the east to the west, and passed through the north and the south, and called those who were scattered on all sides to the knowledge of the Father. 35. He also fulfilled the promise that was to Abraham, which God promised him to make his descendants like the stars of heaven. For this was accomplished by Christ, being born of that Virgin who had her descent from Abraham. And in this way He made those who believed in Him to be lights in the world (cf. Phil 2:15) and by the same faith, together with Abraham, justified the Gentiles. “For Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness” (Gal 3.6; Gen 15.6). In the same way, we are justified by faith in God, “for the righteous shall live by faith” (Gal 3.11; Hab 2.4). Thus, the promise of Abraham is fulfilled not through the law, but through faith (cf. Rom 4.13). For Abraham was justified by faith, but for the righteous there is no law (cf. 1 Tim. 1.9). In the same way, we are justified not by the law, but by faith, which is attested by the law and the prophets and which the Word of God offers us. 36. He also fulfilled the promise of David: for God promised him from the fruit of his womb to establish an everlasting king, of whose dominion there would be no end. This king is Christ the Son of God, Who became the Son of Man, that is, He descended from that Virgin who had her origin from David. Therefore, the promise speaks of the fruit of the womb, which is a special product of the fruitfulness of a woman, but not from the fruit of the loins and not from the fruit of the womb, which is also a special type of birth; In this way, that special, different and own thing was revealed that is characteristic of the fruit of a virgin womb from the line of David. He rules over the house of David forever; his kingdom will have no end. 37. Thus, therefore, He gloriously accomplished our salvation and fulfilled the promises of the fathers, and destroyed ancient disobedience. The Son of God became the son of David and the son of Abraham; for He fulfilled this and did it again in Himself to make it possible for us to receive life. The Word of God became flesh according to the definition regarding the Virgin, in order to destroy death and give life to man; for we were captivated by sin and were among those who were born in sins and live with death. 38. So God the Father was full of mercy; He sent the creative Word, which, having come to save us, was in the same place and in the same environment in which we lost our lives, destroying the bonds of those fetters. And His light appeared and dispelled the darkness of the prison, and sanctified our birth, and abolished death, breaking the chains in which we sat captive. At the same time, He showed the resurrection. He Himself became the firstborn from the dead and in Himself resurrected fallen man, raising his mountain to the highest part of heaven at the right hand of the glory of the Father, as God gave a promise through the prophet, saying: “I will restore the fallen tabernacle of David,” that is, from David the (originating) body. And our Lord Jesus Christ truly fulfilled this, gloriously working out our salvation to enable us to truly be raised to life in the Father. And if anyone does not want to acknowledge His birth from the Virgin, how can he allow His resurrection from the dead. For it would in no way be surprising, or extraordinary, or strange; for if the unborn were to rise from the dead, then, in fact, it would be impossible to talk about any resurrection of the unborn. For he who is unborn and immortal and who did not come by birth cannot fall into death. For if someone has not accepted the human beginning, how can he accept its end? 39. Therefore, if He was not born, He did not die; if He did not die, then He did not rise from the dead; and if he had not risen from the dead, he would not have conquered death, and its dominion would not have been abolished; and if He had not conquered death, how could we, who had fallen into death from the beginning, rise to life? Therefore, those who take away salvation from people and do not believe God that He will raise them from the dead also reject the birth of our Lord, which He took upon Himself for us when the Word of God became flesh, in order to show the resurrection of the flesh and to go ahead of everyone to heaven. As the first-born Word of the Father's counsel, He accomplished everything when He Himself passed through the world and created order in it. For He was the firstborn of the Virgin, a righteous, holy man, reverent, good, pleasing to God, perfect in everything - He saved from hell all who followed Him. He Himself was the firstborn from the dead - the head and leader of divine life. 40. In this way the Word of God penetrates into everything to establish harmonious communication, since He is true man, and a wonderful counselor, and a mighty God. Thus God called man again, so that through fellowship with Him we might have a share in incorruption. He who was foretold through Moses by the law and the prophets of the highest and omnipotent God, as the Son of the Father of all, and from whom all things come, who spoke to Moses, - this one came to Judea, conceived of God through the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary, of her who was from the descendants of David and Abraham - Jesus the Anointed of God, showing Himself as foretold by the prophets. 41. His forerunner, John the Baptist, prepared the people in advance to receive the Word of life, proclaiming about Him that He is the Christ on whom the Spirit of God rests (cf. John 1:33), uniting with His body. His disciples and witnesses of all His good deeds, and teaching, and suffering, and death, and resurrection, and ascension after the bodily resurrection are the apostles, who, having received the power of the Holy Spirit (cf. Acts 1.8), were sent by Him into the whole world and called the pagans, showing people the way of life, converting them from idols, and fornication, and extortion, and cleansing their souls and bodies with baptism with water and the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit, which they received from the Lord, they communicated and taught to the believers, and thus founded the church in every order. By faith, and love, and hope, they fulfilled the calling of the pagans foretold by the prophets, in which participation was given to them by the grace of God, fulfilling it with their ministry, and those pagans who believed in the Lord and loved Him, receiving the promise of the fathers that it was the God of all, by virtue of the resurrection from the dead, instead of holiness, and righteousness, and patience, who would give eternal life, which He promised through Him who died and rose again, through Jesus. Christ, to whom He gave kingdom and dominion over all things, living and dead, as well as judgment; then (the apostles) also through the true word taught to keep the body blameless for the resurrection and the soul undefiled. 42. Thus, therefore, believers should behave, because the Holy Spirit constantly abides in them, which was given by Him (that is, Christ?) at baptism and is firmly preserved by those who received it, as a result of which it walks in truth, and holiness, and righteousness, and patience. For also the soul will take part in the resurrection, when the bodies of believers will again take on a certain form, and together with it will be awakened by the power of the Holy Spirit, and will be brought into the kingdom of God. This is the fruit of the blessing of Japheth, which is found in the calling of the Gentiles through the church, and he is preparing to dwell, according to God's promise, in the house of Shem. That all this should happen like this, the Spirit of God announced this in advance through the prophets, so that faith would be strong in those who serve God in truth. For what was impossible for our nature and therefore should have seemed incredible to people, God announced this in advance through the prophets, so that we - due to what was said before, i.e. for many centuries, then it was fulfilled as it was said before - we realized that it was God who from the beginning told us about our salvation. 43. God must be believed in everything, for God is true in everything, also in that which concerns the existence of the Son of God; and He was not only before His appearance in the world, but also before the origin of the world, which Moses first prophesied; he speaks in Hebrew: Baresit bara elowim basan benuam samentares, which translated into our language means: “The Son in the beginning - then God created heaven and earth” (Gen. 1.1). The prophet Jeremiah also testifies to this in the following way: “Before the morning star I gave birth to You, and before the sun Your name” (Ps 109.3; Ps 71.17). And this means before the creation of the world, because together with the world the stars also came into being. And again he says: “Blessed is He who was before the origin of man.” For for God the Son had a beginning before the foundation of the world, but for us now when He appeared. Before this, He was not for us, since we did not know Him. Therefore also His disciple John, intending to tell us who the Son of God is, who before the origin of the world was with the Father, and that everything that happened through Him came into being, says this: “In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God; It was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through Him, and without Him nothing came into being” (John 1.1–3). By this he firmly establishes that this Word (who) in the beginning (was) with God (and) through whom all things came into being, is also His Son. 44. And again Moses says how the Son of God came to talk with Abraham: “Then God appeared to him by the oak grove of Mamre at noon, and when he looked, behold, three men stood before him, and he bowed down to the ground and said: O Lord, if I have found favor with You” (Gen. 18.1-3), and all that then follows, he spoke with the Lord and the Lord spoke with him. Two of these three were angels, and one was the Son of God, with whom Abraham talked when he interceded for the Sodomites, so that they would not be destroyed if even only ten righteous people were found there. And while they were still speaking, the two angels went to Sodom, where they took Lot. And then the Scripture says: “And the Lord rained brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven on Sodom and Gomorrah” (Gen. 19.24). The Son who spoke with Abraham was the Son; since He was Lord, He received power from the Lord of heaven, from the Father who rules over all things, to punish the Sodomites. Thus, Abraham was a prophet and saw the future, which was about to happen in a human way, (saw) the Son of God, how He talked with people, and ate with them, and then must execute the Father's judgment on them, how He received power to punish the Sodomites from Him who rules over all. 45. And when Jacob walked through Mesopotamia, he saw in a vision that He was standing above on a ladder, that is, on a tree that reached to the very sky, for on it those who believe in Him ascend to heaven. For His sufferings are our ascension to grief. And all such visions point to the Son of God, how He talked with people and lived with them. For it was not the Father of all, Who could not be seen by the world, who spoke with Abraham, while in a small place, and not the Creator of all, Who says: “Heaven is My throne and earth is My footstool; what house will you build for me and what place is my rest” (Isaiah 66.1; Acts 7.49)? and Who embraces the earth with His handful and stretches out the heavens with His hand, but the Word of God, Who was always with mankind, and announced in advance the future that was about to happen, and taught man the divine things. 46. ​​He is the One who spoke to Moses in the thorn bush and said: “I have seen enough of the oppression of My people who are in Egypt, and I came down to save them” (Exodus 3.7ff.). He is the One who ascended and descended to save the oppressed, leading us out of the dominion of the Egyptians, that is, from all idolatry and all atheism, saving us from the Red Sea, that is, freeing us from the deadly confusion of the pagans, from the bitter chagrin of their reproach. For the Word of God prepared in them our (concerning us) promises of salvation, then in an image, showing the future in advance, and now actually delivering us from the cruel service of the pagans; so in the desert He issued an abundant stream of water from a stone, and the stone is He Himself; He also gave twelve springs of water, that is, the teaching of the twelve apostles. He also killed the stubborn ones of little faith in the wilderness, but those who believed in Him and became children in malice (cf. 1 Cor 14.20) He brought into the inheritance of the fathers, which is distributed as an inheritance not by Moses, but by Jesus, who freed us from Amalek through the binding of His hands and elevated us into the kingdom of the Father. 47. Thus, the Father is Lord and the Son is Lord, and the Father is God and the Son is God, for he who is born of God is God. And at the same time, according to His being and according to the power of His being, one must recognize one God, but according to the economy of our salvation, both the Son and the Father are completely just. For since the Father of all is invisible and unapproachable to those created, those who are predestined to approach God are drawn and captured to the Father by the Son. Even more obviously and clearly, David speaks of the Father and the Son in this way: “Your throne, O God, is always and forever; You loved righteousness and hated iniquity; therefore God has anointed you with the oil of gladness, like none of your fellows” (Ps 45:7–8). For the Son, since He is God, receives from the Father, that is, from God, the throne of the eternal kingdom and the anointing, like none of His partners. The anointing is the Spirit with whom He is anointed, and His partners are the prophets, the righteous and the apostles, and all who have a part in the fellowship of His kingdom, that is, His disciples. 48. And David says again: “The Lord says to my Lord, Sit at My right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool. The Lord will send a rod of strength from Zion: rule among your enemies. With you in the beginning, in the day of your power, with the shining of the saints, from the womb before the star, I gave birth to you. The Lord has sworn and will not repent: you are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek, and the Lord is at your right hand. In the day of wrath he crushed kings: he will execute judgment on the nations, he will fill the fallen, he will break the heads of many on the earth; He will drink from the stream along the way, therefore he will lift up his head” (Ps 109.1). By this he declared Him to be from the beginning, and that He would rule over the nations and judge all men and kings who now hate Him and persecute His name; these are therefore His enemies. And when he called Him the priest of God forever, He meant to point out His immortality; and therefore he said: “He will drink from the stream along the way and therefore lift up his head.” By this he announced the glorious exaltation in Him of the human, both low and inglorious. 49. And, further, the prophet Isaiah says: “Thus says the Lord God to my anointed, the Lord, whose right hand I have taken, to subdue the nations to him” (Isaiah 45.1). But what does it mean that Christ the Son of God is at the same time called the king of the nations, that is, of all people, and that He is called - and is - both the Son of God and the king of all? David says about this: “The Lord said to me: You are My Son; Today I have given birth to you; Ask of Me, and I will give you the nations for an inheritance and the ends of the earth for a possession” (Ps 2.7–8). These words were not spoken about David, for he did not rule over the nations or over the whole earth, but only over the Jews. Thus, it is obvious that the promise to the anointed one to rule over the ends of the earth refers to the Son of God, whom David himself confesses as his Lord, saying: “The Lord said to my Lord, Sit on my right hand” (Ps. 109.1), and what then follows, as we said before. For he believes that the Father speaks to the Son, as we pointed out a little earlier to Isaiah, who says this: “God says to my Lord, Anointed One, that he might subdue the nations" (Isaiah 45.1). This is the same promise through both prophets, that He is the king; therefore, the word of God refers to the same thing, I think, namely to Christ, the Son of God. For if David says: “God spoke to me,” then it must be said that neither David nor any of the prophets speak on their own behalf, since it is not man who prophesies, but the Spirit of God; He takes on a form and image in the prophets, each time in the likeness of the person to whom he relates, and sometimes speaks like Christ, and sometimes speaks like the Father. 50. Thus, in accordance with this, Christ Himself speaks through David that the Lord speaks with Him, and in a very fitting manner He Himself speaks and other things about Himself through the prophets, among others also through Isaiah as follows: “And now, thus says the Lord, who formed me from my mother’s womb to be his servant, that I should gather Jacob and gather Israel to Him, and I will be glorified in the Lord, and my God will be my strength. And He said: It should be important to you that you are called My servant, to restore the tribes of Jacob and bring back the scattered ones of Israel. And I have made you a light for the nations, so that you may be a source of salvation to the ends of the earth” (Isaiah 49.5–6). 51. Here, first of all, it is necessary to pay attention to the fact that the pre-existence of the Son of God follows from the fact that the Father talked with Him and, before He was born (on earth), made Him known to people; then He was determined to be born among people and to appear as a man; and that God Himself produces Him from His mother’s womb, that is, that He must be born of the Spirit of God, and that He is the Lord of all people and the Redeemer of the Jews and others who believe in Him. For in the Hebrew language the Jewish people are called Israel, after their father Jacob, who was also previously called Israel; But (Scripture) calls all people pagans. The Son calls Himself a servant of the Father for the sake of His obedience to the Father; For among men every son is his father's servant. 52. That the Son of God, Christ, Who was before all the world, is with the Father and, being with the Father, is at the same time close and in contact with people and is the King of all - since the Father subjected everything to Him - and the Redeemer of those who believe in Him, the Scriptures tell about this. But since it is impossible to separately make each testimony of Scripture the subject of explanation, then you must, in accordance with this, also understand the other (testimonies) that speak similarly to these, believing in Christ and asking God for wisdom and understanding in order to comprehend what was said by the prophets. 53. And that this Christ, who was with the Father, since He is the Word of God, was determined to become flesh and man, and to take birth upon Himself, and to be born of a Virgin, and to live among people, when the Father of all Himself brings about His incarnation, Isaiah speaks of this in this way: “Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: behold, a Virgin will conceive and give birth to a Son, and you will call Him Immanuel; He will eat butter and honey; before He is able to recognize and discern what is evil, He will choose what is good; for before the Child knows evil and good, He will reject the evil in order to choose the good” (Isaiah 7.14-16). Thus he announced His birth from the Virgin; and that He would become a true man, He foretold this through His eating, also by calling Him a child, but also by the name given to Him - for this is precisely the error in relation to the born - and He bears a double name: in the Hebrew language - Messiah Christ and in our language - Jesus the Savior. And these names are a designation of certain deeds performed by Him. It is He who is called Christ because the Father anointed and adorned all things through Him, and because He, at His coming as a man, was anointed by the Spirit of God and His Father. As He Himself says about Himself through Isaiah: “The Spirit of the Lord rests on Me, because He has anointed Me to bring good news to the poor” (Isaiah 61.1). And He was called the Redeemer because He became the cause of salvation for those who were then freed by Him from all sorts of illnesses and from death; for those who later believed in Him, He became the mediator of future and eternal salvation. 54. Therefore it is He who is the Redeemer. Immanuel in translation means: “God is with you,” or as the prophet’s full promise says in another place: “God is with us” (Isaiah 8.10). This also corresponds to the explanation and revelation of the promised. “For, behold,” he says, “the Virgin will conceive and give birth to a Son,” and this, although God, will be with us. And announcing the future, that God will be with us, he at the same time marvels at this. Also about His birth, the same prophet speaks in another place: “Before she went into labor, she gave birth; before the pain came, she gave birth to a son” (Isaiah 66.7); with this he announced the unexpected and His unimaginable birth from the Virgin. Again the same prophet says: “Unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and He is called: Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God” (Isaiah 9.6). 55. And he calls Him a wonderful adviser - the closest adviser of the Father, which indicates that the Father does everything together with Him, as it is said in the first book of Moses, the inscription of which reads Genesis: “And God said: Let us make man in our image, and like unto us” (Gen. 1.26). Thus, from this it is clear that the Father is speaking to the Son, and that, therefore, this (Son) is the wonderful adviser of the Father. However, He is also our advisor, when He offers us advice and gives instructions, that is, without forcing us, like God, although He is the mighty God, He gives us instructions to eliminate ignorance and acquire knowledge and move away from error, come to the truth, and reject corruption and accept incorruption. 56. And again Isaiah says: “And they will desire to be burned with fire, for to us a child is born, and to us a son is given, the government is upon His shoulder, and his name is the doer of the great counsel. For I will bring peace to the princes, peace and health to them. Great is his dominion and there is no end to his peace on the throne of David and on his kingdom to restore and strengthen with righteous judgment from now on and forever” (Isaiah 9.5,6). Thus these words show the Son of God at the same time both as a begotten king and as an eternal king. The words: “They will desire to be burned with fire” refer to those who do not believe in Him and who did what they did in relation to Him; (in this sense) it is said that at the judgment they will say: “How much better it would have been for us to have been burned with fire before the Son of God was born, instead of not believing in Him when He was born.” For for those who died before the appearance of Christ, there is hope that they will receive salvation at the judgment of the Risen One, for those precisely who feared God, and died in righteousness, and carried the Spirit of God within themselves, like the patriarchs, prophets and pious. For those who, after the appearance of Christ, did not believe in Him, punishment at the trial will be inevitable. And the words: “Dominion is on His shoulder,” understood allegorically, mean the cross on which His back was nailed. For that cross, which was and is a reproach for Him, as well as for His sake and for us, means His dominion, that is, the sign of His kingdom. And he was the executor of the great council, that is, the council of the Father, whom He revealed. 57. And that He must be born, and how He must be born, and that He will be revealed as Christ, this is clear from what has been said above, as it was previously announced through the prophets. But then it was also first announced in what country and among what people He was to be born. By the way, Moses in Genesis says this way: “The prince of Judah will not fail, nor the leader of his feet, until the one to whom this is appointed comes, and he will be the hope of the nations; he washes his clothes in wine and his garments in the blood of grapes” (Gen. 49.10–11). Judah is the patriarch of the Jews, the son of Jacob, from whom they received their name. And they had neither a prince nor a leader until the coming of Christ. But from the time of His coming the strength of his bow weakened, and the land of the Jews was subject to the Romans, so that they no longer had their own princes or king. For He has come, for whom the kingdom in heaven is prepared, who also washed His garments in wine and His garments in the blood of grapes. His clothing, as well as His vestment, are those who believe in Him, whom He purified, having redeemed us with His blood. His blood is called the blood of grapes. For just as it is not man who makes the blood of grapes, but God who creates it and gives joy to those who drink it, so His incarnation and His blood are produced not by man, but by God. The Lord Himself gave a sign to the Virgin, that is, Immanuel, who (must be born) of the Virgin, who also brings joy to those who drink Him, that is, those who receive His Spirit into eternal joy. Therefore, He is also the hope of the nations, that is, those who hope in Him, for we hope that He will restore the kingdom. 58. And again Moses says: “A star will rise from Jacob, and a leader will arise from Israel” (Numbers 24.17). By this he clearly proclaims that His dispensation regarding the incarnation must take place among the Jews. And this one who came down from heaven, was born and took upon Himself such a dispensation, was from the family of Jacob and Judah. For a star appears in the sky, and a leader is like a king, for He is the king of all the saved. When He was born, a star appeared to the wise men who lived in the east, which is why they knew that Christ was born - and they came to Judea, led by the star, until the star in Bethlehem, where Christ was born, shining in the house in which the Child lay wrapped in swaddling clothes, stood over His head and showed the wise men the Son of God, Christ (cf. Matthew 2.1-9). 59. And to this Isaiah also speaks in this way: “And a branch will come from the root of Jesse, and a flower will spring up from his root. And the Spirit of God will rest on him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and strength, the spirit of knowledge and piety. The spirit of the fear of God will fill him. He will not judge on the basis of opinions and will not reprove on the basis of words, but will give just judgment to the humble and have mercy on the sufferers of the earth. And with the word of his mouth he will smite the earth, and with the breath of his mouth he will kill the wicked. And righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins, and righteousness the girdle of his thighs. And the wolf will eat (grass) with the lamb, and the panther will eat with the kid, and the ox and the lion will graze together. And the child will lay his hand on the holes of the asps and on the nest of the offspring of the asp, and they will not harm him in any way. And in that day the offspring of the root of Jesse and the one who rises up will rule over the nations - the nations will trust in him; and his rising will be glorious” (Isaiah 11.1–10). By these (words) he designates Him as born of those who descend from David and Abraham. For Jesse was a descendant of Abraham and the father of David. The Virgin belonging to his offspring, who became the mother of Christ, is the (above-mentioned) offspring (rod). Therefore, Moses also shows miraculous signs to Pharaoh with his rod. Also in other cases among people, the rod is a sign of dominance. And he calls His body color, for He grew from the Spirit, as we said before. 60. With the words: “He will not judge [on] the basis of opinions and will not reprove on the basis of words, but will give just judgment to the humble and will have mercy on the sufferers of the earth,” he more indicates His divinity. For to pass judgment without partiality, without showing honor to the noble, but rather to render due and equal to the humble, is in accordance with the highest righteousness of God. For God did not suffer (influence) from anyone and did not have (false) compassion, and is merciful only to the righteous. Mercy, on the other hand, is characteristic of God in a very special way, that very God who by grace can save and who with a word strikes the earth and with one word kills the atheists; all this belongs to God, who does everything with the word. And the words: “And righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins, and the girdle of his thighs,” show, on the one hand, the appearance of His human image and, on the other hand, His own strict righteousness. 61. As for unity, harmony and peace between heterogeneous and by nature opposite and hostile animals, the elders say that this will actually happen at the second coming of Christ, when He will rule over all. For by this he indicates in a symbolic image the gathering in peace and harmony, in the name of Christ, of like-minded people of various dissimilar origins. In this connection, the righteous are compared to oxen and lambs and goats and children, when no harm is done to them by those who previously behaved in their violence like wild beasts, both men and women, so that some of them became like wolves and lions, because they robbed the weak and waged war with their own kind, and women became like panthers and vipers, who with their deadly poison or their with greed they were capable of killing even those dear to them. (All such), having come together in My (i.e., Christ) name, by the grace of God will receive right morals, changing their wild and indomitable nature. This has happened now; for those who were previously evildoers, so that they could not miss a single criminal deed, after they learned to know Christ and believed in Him, became completely believers and changed, so that they did not deviate from the strictest morality. Such a great change is produced by faith in Christ, the Son of God, in those who believe in Him. And if he says: “He rises to rule over the nations,” then this means that He must die and rise again in order for them to confess and believe in Him as the Son of God, as the King. Therefore he also says: “And his uprising will be glorious”; glorious because He was glorified as God when He rose again. 62. Therefore the prophet again says: “On that day I will restore the fallen tabernacle of David” (Am 9.11). By this he clearly designates, as we previously indicated (chap. 38 63. And again the prophet Micah indicates the place where Christ should be born, that is, Bethlehem of Judea, saying this: “And you, Bethlehem of Judea, are not small among the leaders of Judah; for from you will come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel” (Mt 2.6; Micah 5.2). Bethlehem is the region of David, so He is a descendant of David, not only for the sake of the Virgin who gave birth to Him, but also because He was born in Bethlehem, the region of David. 64. And again, about the fact that Christ should be born from his descendants, David speaks as follows: “For the sake of my servant, do not turn away Your anointed. The Lord swore to David a true oath, which He will not repudiate: I will set the fruit of your body on your throne. If your sons keep my covenant and my testimonies, which I have made with them, then their sons also will forever (sit on your throne)” (Ps 131.10-12). But none of the sons of David ruled forever, nor did his kingdom last forever, for it was destroyed, but only the king born of David, that is, Christ (rules forever). All these testimonies refer to His origin in the flesh and also indicate in clear speech His race and the place where He was to be born, so that there was no need to look for the Son of God for those born among the pagans or anywhere else, but in Bethlehem of Judea from the line of Abraham and David. 65. Also pointing to His entrance into Jerusalem, which was the main city of Judea, where the royal throne and the church of God were located, the prophet Isaiah says: “Say to the daughter of Zion: Behold, your king is coming to you, meek, sitting on a donkey, on a foal, the son of an ass” (Isaiah 62.11; Zech 9.9). For He came to Jerusalem sitting on the foal of a donkey, when the crowd laid their clothes (on the foal) and made Him sit on it. By the daughter of Zion we mean Jerusalem. 66. Thus the prophets declared that the Son of God was to be born, and in what manner and where it was appointed for Him to be born, and that Christ was the one eternal king. In the same way, they predicted how He, coming from men, would heal those whom He healed, and raise the dead whom He raised, and how He would be hated, and mocked, and suffer, and would be killed and crucified, just as He (indeed) was hated, mocked, and killed. 67. Now we will talk about His healings. Isaiah speaks about this like this: “He bore our infirmities and laid our sicknesses on himself” (Isaiah 53.4), that is, he will bear them and take them upon himself. For there are places where the Spirit of God communicates through the prophets what is about to happen as if it were accomplished; for what is weighed and predetermined by God to definitely happen is considered as having already happened. And the Spirit, contemplating in advance and foreseeing the time when the prophecy should be fulfilled, (according to this) makes His sayings. And to indicate the image of healing, he says the following: “In that day the deaf will hear written words and the eyes of the blind will see in darkness and in darkness” (Isa. 29.18); and again he says: “Be strong, you weak hands and trembling and stumbling knees; take comfort, you timid and faint-hearted ones; be strong, do not be afraid; Behold our God, He will reward with judgment; He Himself will come and save us. Then the eyes of the blind will be opened and the ears of the deaf will hear; then the lame will jump up like a deer, and the tongue of those who stutter will be free (clear).” About the dead that they will rise, he says this way: “The dead will rise, and those who are in the graves will rise” (Isaiah 26.19). When He does this, one must believe in Him as the Son of God. 68. About the fact that He will be mocked and tormented, and finally even killed, Isaiah says this: “In truth, My Son is recognized, exalted and exalted. How many were amazed at you - so inglorious is His face among people - so many nations will be amazed and kings will stop their mouths; for those to whom it was not announced will see it, and those who have not heard will understand. Lord, who believed what was announced to us, and the arm of the Lord - to whom was it revealed? He proclaimed that he had sprung up before him like a shoot from a root in dry ground; he had neither form nor glory, and we saw him, and he had neither form nor beauty; but his appearance is despicable and belittled more than other people; a man with sores and accustomed to endure suffering, for his face is turned away; he was despised and thought of as nothing. And he bears our sins and endures illness for our sake; and we thought that he was in sickness, in ulcers and in suffering (from God), while he was wounded for our sins and tormented for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon him, and by his stripes we were healed” (Isaiah 52:13–53:5). With these words, therefore, it is announced that he suffered, just as David says: “And I suffered” (Ps 37.7). But David never suffered, but Christ did, when the command was given to crucify Him on the cross. And again His word speaks through Isaiah: “I gave my back to be struck and my cheeks to be buffeted, and I did not turn away my face from mocking and spitting” (Isaiah 50.6). The prophet Jeremiah says the same thing in the following words: “He offers cheeks to him who strikes him, he is fed up with reproach” (Lamentations 3.30). Christ endured all this. 69. Further in Isaiah it follows: “By his stripes we were healed; We have all gone astray like sheep, each one has turned to his own way, but the Lord has laid our sins on him” (Isaiah 53:5–6). So, it is clear that this happened to Him according to the will of the Father for the sake of our salvation. Then he speaks about His suffering: “He does not open his mouth, like a sheep he was led to the slaughter, like a dumb lamb before the shearers” (Isaiah 53.7). Look, this is how he announces his voluntary march to death. The word of the prophet: “In his humility his judgment was taken away (from Him)” (Isaiah 53.8) indicates His humble appearance. The taking away of judgment was accomplished in accordance with His dishonor. Taking away judgment serves as salvation for some, but brings deadly torment for others. For it was brought by some, and taken away from others. So is the court; those to whom it is brought have it for their deadly torment; those from whom he was carried away are saved through this. Thus those who crucified Him brought judgment upon themselves, and when they did this to Him, they did not believe in Him, that through the judgment they brought upon themselves they would perish in torment. But judgment has been taken away from those who believe in Him, and they are no longer subject to it. And the judgment that will kill those of little faith with fire will take place at the end of this world. 70. Then he says: “Who will explain his generation” (Isaiah 53.8). So that we, for the sake of His enemies and for the sake of the suffering He endured, do not despise Him as an inglorious and unimportant person, this is said for our edification. For He who endured all this has an innumerable generation, since by generation he means His origin, that is, His Father, Who is innumerable and ineffable. Understand that a being of such origin endured such suffering, and do not revile Him for the suffering He endured with the intention of your sake, but fear before Him for the sake of His origin. 71. And in another place Jeremiah says: “The spirit of our face is the Lord Christ, and how he was caught in their net, about whom we thought: in his shadow we will live among the nations” (Lamentations 4.20). And that Christ, being the Spirit of God, will become a man subject to suffering, Scripture indicates this; and it seems to be amazed and amazed at His suffering, for this is how he must endure suffering, under whose shadow we thought to live; and by shadow he means His body. For just as the shadow comes from the body, so the body of Christ comes from His Spirit. But by the word “shadow” he at the same time designates the plainness and easy accessibility of His body for humiliation. For just as the shadow of even upright bodies lies on the ground and is trampled underfoot, so the body of Christ, thrown to the ground by suffering, is, as it were, trampled underfoot. And he called the body of Christ a shadow in the sense that the Spirit overshadowed and covered Him with glory. Thus, also very often, during the passage of the Lord, those who fell into various illnesses were placed on the path, and those to whom His shadow reached were healed. 72. And again the same prophet about the suffering of Christ (speaks) like this: “As a righteous man dies, and no one takes it to heart, and the righteous are caught up (from the earth), and no one will think that the righteous are caught up from evil. In peace he goes to his grave; he was taken out of the midst” (Isaiah 57.1–2). And who else is completely righteous except the Son of God, who brings to perfect righteousness those who believe in Him, who like Him were persecuted and put to death? And the word: “In peace he goes to his grave,” declares how He died for our redemption; for in the world it means redemption. For those who were enemies and adversaries, because of His death, believing in Him, maintain mutual peace, since through universal faith in Him they truly became friends and beloved. If he says: “He was taken out of the midst,” then by this he means His resurrection from the dead. For after His burial He no longer appeared as a dead man, since, dying and rising, He must remain immortal, (about which) the prophet says this: “He asked You for life and You gave him long life for ever and ever” (Ps 20.5). But why does he say: “he asked for life,” when after all He had to die? By this he proclaims precisely His resurrection from the dead, and that He, having been raised from the dead, is immortal. For He received life precisely in order to be resurrected, and long life forever and ever, in order to be incorruptible. 73. And again David speaks about the death and resurrection of Christ like this: “I lay down and slept, I arose, for the Lord protected me” (Ps 3.6). David did not say this about himself, since he did not rebel after he died; but this is the Spirit of Christ, who through other prophets, and in the present case through David, speaks of Him: “I lay down and fell asleep, I arose, for the Lord protected me. By sleep he means death, for He was resurrected." 74. And again about the suffering of Christ, David says this: “Why are the nations in turmoil and the tribes plotting in vain. The kings of the earth rise up and the princes take counsel together against the Lord and against His Anointed” (Ps 2.1-2). For Herod, the king of the Jews, and Pontius Pilate, the procurator of the emperor Claudius, came together and condemned Him to crucifixion (cf. Luke 23.7 ff.). For Herod was afraid that He would be an earthly king, by whom He might be deposed from His kingdom. Pilate was forced by Herod and the Jews around him to betray Him to death against his will, when he preferred to do this rather than act against the emperor by saving a man who bore the name “king.” 75. And the same prophet also speaks about the sufferings of Christ: “You rejected and despised us, you were angry with Your anointed; You have ruined the covenant of my servant; Thou hast cast down his shrine to the ground; You have destroyed its walls and made its fortresses tremble. He is plundered by all who pass by, and he has become a laughing stock to his neighbors. You have exalted the right hand of his oppressors; You allowed his enemies to rejoice over him. You turned back the help of his sword and did not strengthen him in battle. You put an end to his purity and threw his throne to the ground. You have shortened the days of his time and covered him with shame” (Ps 88.39–46). And that He endured all this, and that this was to happen according to the will of the Father, He declared this openly; for He had to, in accordance with the will of the Father, endure suffering. 76. And Zechariah says this: “Sword, rise up against my shepherd and against my husband, my partner; Smite the shepherd, that the sheep may be scattered" (Zechariah 13.7). And this happened when He was captured by the Jews; for all the disciples left Him out of fear, lest they die. For they did not yet firmly believe in Him until they saw Him risen from the dead. 77. Again He says in the book of the twelve prophets: “And they bound him and brought him as a gift to the king.” For Pontius Pilate was the governor of Judea and then harbored enmity towards Herod, the king of the Jews. But then, when Christ, bound, was brought to him, Pilate sent him to Herod, allowing him to interrogate Him in order to find out exactly what he wanted in relation to him, using Christ as a pretext to make peace with the king (cf. Lk 23.7 ff.). 78. And in (the book of) Jeremiah He announces His death and His descent into hell as follows: “And the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, remembered His dead who had fallen first on the earth, and came down to them to proclaim to them His salvation, to save them.” Here He explains the reasons for His death, for His descent into hell was for the salvation of the dead. 79. And again about His cross Isaiah says this: “All day long I stretched out My hands to a foolish and rebellious people” (Isaiah 65.2). For this is the sign of the cross. And David says even more clearly: “Dogs have surrounded me, a crowd of evil ones has surrounded me; they pierced my hands and feet” (Ps 21:17). And again he says: “My heart melted like wax in my insides and my bones were scattered” (Ps 21:15). And again he says: “Deliver me from the sword and nail my flesh, for the host of the wicked has come against me” (Ps 21:21,17). In these words he clearly refers to His crucifixion. Also, Moses says the same thing to the people in the following way: “And your life will hang before your eyes and you will tremble day and night and you will not be sure of your life” (Deut. 28.66). 80. Again David says: “They looked at me, they divided my garments among themselves and cast lots for my clothing” (Ps 21:19). For at His crucifixion the soldiers divided His garments, as was their custom, and tore His clothes and thus divided Him. But regarding the tunic, since it was woven on top and not sewn, they cast lots so that the one on whom it would fall would receive it (cf. John 19:23 ff.). 81. And again the prophet Jeremiah says: “And they took thirty pieces of silver, the price of the valued one, which they valued from the children of Israel, and gave them for the potter’s land, as the Lord commanded me” (Jer 32.6 ff.; cf. Mt 27.9–10). For Judas, who was one of the disciples of Christ, made a promise to the Jews and made an agreement with them when he saw that they wanted to kill Him, and since he was instructed by Him (cf. John 12.4 ff., Matthew 27.8-16), he then took thirty pieces of silver, the local coin, and handed Christ over to them, but then repented of what he had done and returned the silver to the leaders of the Jews, and he hanged himself. They did not consider it proper to invest them in the treasury, because it was the price of blood, and with them they bought a field that belonged to a potter for the burial of strangers (Matthew 26.14 ff.; Matthew 27.3 ff.). 82. And after He was crucified, when He asked for a drink, they gave Him vinegar with gall to drink (cf. Mt 27.34), and this is exactly what David said: “And they gave me gall for food, and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink” (Ps 68.22). 83. And that He, having risen from the dead, will ascend into heaven, David says about this: “There are thousands of chariots of God, thousands of them driving them, among them the Lord, in Sinai, in the sanctuary. He ascended on high, took captivity captive; He accepted and bestowed gifts on people” (Ps 67.18–19). By captives he means the destruction of the dominion of the indignant angels. He also indicates the place where He must ascend from earth to heaven. For he said: “The Lord has risen up from Zion.” For after His resurrection from the dead He gathered His disciples on the Mount of Olives opposite Jerusalem and confirmed to them the things pertaining to the kingdom of heaven; and here they saw how He ascended into heaven and how the heavens opened and received Him (cf. Acts 1.4–12). 84. David says the same thing again: “Lift up your gates, O princes; be lifted up, O everlasting gates, that the King of glory may enter in” (Ps 23:7). For the eternal gates are heaven. But since the Word came down in a way invisible to creation, they knew nothing about it. Now the Word became flesh and apparently ascended into heaven. And when the powers saw Him, the lower angels cried out to those who were in the firmament: “Lift up your gates; Be lifted up, O everlasting gates, that the King of glory may enter in." And when they were amazed and asked: “Who is this?” , then those who (before) saw Him, and now for the second time, testified: “The Lord is mighty and mighty, He is the King of glory” (Ps 23.8-10). 85. Thus, having risen and ascended, He remains at the right hand of the Father until, at the time appointed by the Father, all enemies are subdued to Him. The enemies are all those who rebelled: angels, and archangels, and powers, and thrones, who rejected the truth. And the prophet David speaks about this in this way: “Thus says the Lord to my Lord: Sit at my right hand, until I put your enemies under your feet” (Ps 109.1). And that He ascended to where He descended, David says about this: “His departure from the end of heaven and his return to the (other) end of heaven” (Ps 18.7). Then he points to His judgment with these words: “And nothing remains hidden from its heat” (Ps. 18.7). 86. If the prophets predicted about the Son of God that He would appear on earth, they also announced where on earth, and how, and in what form He would appear, and the Lord took upon Himself all these prophecies, then our faith in Him is firmly founded and the true tradition of preaching, that is, the testimony of the apostles who were sent throughout the world to preach the Son of God, how He, having come to suffer, suffered for the abolition of death and for the revitalization of the flesh, so that we put aside enmity against God, which is criminal, and come to peace with Him, doing what is pleasing to God before Him. And this was announced by the prophets: “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news of peace and good news” (Isaiah 52.7). And that they must come out of Judea and from Jerusalem in order to proclaim to us the word of God, which is also law for us, Isaiah says about this: “Out of Zion will come the law and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem (Isaiah 2.3).” And that they will preach throughout the whole world, David says about this: “Their broadcast goes through all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world” (Ps 18.5). 87. And that people will not live in the verbosity of the law, but in the brevity (simplicity) of faith and love, Isaiah says about this: “A short and precise word in righteousness; for God will give a short word to all the earth” (Isaiah 10.22–23). And therefore the Apostle Paul says: “Love is the fulfilling of the law” (Rom 13.10); for whoever loves God has fulfilled the law. Likewise, the Lord, when asked what the main commandment was, answered: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy strength; and the second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets” (Mk 12.30 ff.; Matt 22.37 ff.). Through faith in Him, He develops our love for God and neighbor, as a result of which we become pious, and righteous, and good; and therefore (it is said): “He performed a short word on earth, in the universe.” 88. And that after His ascension He will be exalted above all, and that no one can compare with Him, Isaiah says about this: “Who is he who is judged? Let him begin! And who is justified? Let him draw closer to the Son of God. Woe to you, for you will all wear out like clothing, and moths will eat you, and all flesh will humble itself, and the Lord alone will be exalted among all the exalted” (Isaiah 50.8; Isaiah 2.11, 17). And that in the end those who serve God will be saved by His name, Isaiah says about this: “And to those who serve Me will be given a new name, which is blessed on earth; and they will glorify the true God” (Isaiah 65.15ff.). And that He Himself will perform this blessing and will Himself save us with His blood, Isaiah announced this in the following words: “Not an intercessor or an angel, but the Lord Himself saved them; out of His love for them and condescension He redeemed them” (Isaiah 63.9). 89. That He does not want to return the redeemed to the legislation of Moses - for the law was fulfilled by Christ - but that one should live by faith and love from (?) the Son of God according to the new essence of this word, Isaiah proclaims this as follows: “Do not remember the former things and do not think about the things that once happened. Truly I am doing something new that is already happening, and you will recognize it. And I will make rivers in the wilderness and in the dry desert to give water to My chosen people, the people that I have purchased for Myself, that they may proclaim My glory” (Isaiah 43.19–21). The desert and the steppe were formerly the calling of the pagans, for neither the Word passed through it nor was it watered by the Holy Spirit, who paved a new path of piety and righteousness and issued abundant streams, that is, spread the Holy Spirit on the earth, as He promised through the prophets in the last days to pour out the Spirit on the whole earth. 90. Thus, our calling is through the renewal of the spirit and not in our old (being), as Jeremiah prophesied: “Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will fulfill for the house of Israel and for the house of Judah the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of Egypt; for they did not remain steadfast in the covenant, and I despised them, says the Lord. But the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel in those days will be this: I will put My law in their minds and write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they will be My people. Henceforth they will not teach each other or brother to brother: Know the Lord, for everyone will know Me, from the least to the greatest. For I will forgive their iniquity and will remember their sins no more” (Jer 31.31–34). 91. And that these promises should be inherited by the calling of the Gentiles, among whom the new covenant was revealed, Isaiah speaks of this in this way: “Thus says the God of Israel: On that day man will turn his gaze to the Creator, and his eyes will be fixed on the Holy One of Israel; and they will not look at the church of idols and at the work of their hands which their fingers have made” (Isaiah 17.7-8). These words are obviously spoken about those who left idols and through the Holy One of Israel believed in God, our Master. And the Holy One of Israel is Christ, and to Him, who has become visible to people, and not to idolatrous churches and not to the work of our hands, we turn our gaze. 92. And that He will become visible among us - just as the Son of God became the Son of Man - and will be known by us who had no knowledge (of Him) before, the Word itself in Isaiah speaks of this: “I have revealed myself to those who did not ask about Me. Those who did not look for Me found Me. I said, “Here am I, to a people who have not called on my name” (Isaiah 65.1). 93. And that this people will be holy, this is announced in the book of the twelve prophets as follows: “And I will say not to My people: You are My people, and those who are not beloved will not be beloved. And in the place where they said about them, “You are not my people,” there they will be called sons of the living God” (Hosea 2.23; Hosea 1.10). The same was said by John the Baptist: “God is able to raise up children for Abraham from these stones” (Matthew 3.9). For after our hearts have been plucked out and freed from the service of stone, we behold God by faith and become children of Abraham, who is justified by faith. And therefore God says through the prophet Ezekiel: “And I will give them another heart and put a new spirit within them; And I will pluck out of their flesh the heart of stone, and remove it, and give them a heart of flesh, that they may walk in My commandments, and keep My justifications, and do them. And thus they will be My people, and I will be their God" (Ezek 11:19,20). 94. Thus the change of hearts among the nations was accomplished by a new calling through the Word of God, when He became flesh and dwelt among people, as His disciple John also says: “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1.14). That is why the church is so fruitful in the saved. For neither Moses nor the prophet Elijah are any longer intercessors, but the Lord Himself saved us, giving us many children to the church, the assembly of the firstborn, as Isaiah announced in these words: “The barren one, who does not give birth, rejoices.” The barren church is one that never in former times allowed the children of God to be revealed. “Shout and cry, you who have not suffered in childbirth, because she who is forsaken has more sons than she who has a husband” (Isaiah 54.1). The first assembly (i.e., the church) had the law as its husband. 95. Also Moses says in Deuteronomy that the pagans will be first, and the rebellious people last, and again he says: “You have provoked Me to anger without God, and have grieved Me with your vain idols; and I will provoke you to anger with a nation that is not wise; I will provoke you to grief with a foolish people” (Deut. 32.21). For they forsook the God that exists, and served gods that do not exist, and killed the prophets of God, and prophesied for Baal, who was the idol of the Canaanites. They also despised the existing Son of God, chose the thief Barabbas, who was captured in murder (cf. Mark 15.7), they renounced the eternal king and confessed the temporary Caesar as their king (John 19.15). Thus, God was pleased to give his inheritance to the foolish pagans and those who did not walk in the ways of God and did not know that there is a God. After life has been given to us by this calling, and after God has brought Abraham's faith in Him again to perfection in us, I think we should no longer return to the first legislation. For we have received the Lord of the law, the Son of God. And through faith in Him we learn to love God with all our hearts and our neighbors as ourselves. Love for God is far from any sin, and love for one’s neighbor does not cause harm to one’s neighbor (cf. Rom 13.10). 96. Therefore we have no need of any law as an educator; behold, we speak with the Father and stand before Him face to face, having become children in wickedness and strengthened in righteousness and propriety. For the law will no longer say: “Thou shalt not commit adultery” to one who never again comes to the thought of lustful desires in relation to another man’s wife; and the law will no longer say, “Thou shalt not kill,” to him who has removed from himself all anger and all enmity; will not say: “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house, nor his ox, nor his donkey,” to those who do not care at all about earthly things, but gather heavenly fruits; and he will not say: “An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth” (Exodus 21.24) to one who does not consider anyone his enemy, but everyone his neighbors; therefore he can never stretch out his hands for vengeance. You cannot demand tithes from someone who brings all his property to God and leaves his father, mother and all his relatives and follows the Word of God. And it is not commanded to spend the day in peace and leisure for one who keeps the Sabbath every day, i.e. in the church of God, which is the body of man, he performs worthy service to God and does righteousness every hour. For “I want mercy, and not sacrifice,” He says, “and knowledge of God, and not burnt offerings” (Hosea 6.6). “If the wicked kill an ox for Me, it is the same as if he killed a dog; and he who sacrifices bread is the same as he who offers swine’s blood” (Isaiah 66.3). But everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved (Joel 2.32; cf. Rom 10.13). “Neither is there any other name of the Lord under heaven by which men have been saved” (Acts 4.12), except the name of God, that is, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, to whom demons and evil spirits and all rebellious forces are also subject. 97. When the name of Jesus Christ, who was crucified under Pontius Pilate, was called upon, division occurred in humanity. And where those who believe in Him will always call on Him and do His will, there He is close and present, and fulfills the requests of those who call on Him from a pure heart. Receiving redemption in this way, let us constantly thank God, who saves us with His unsearchable and incomprehensible wisdom and from heaven proclaims to us salvation - that is, the visible coming of our Lord, that is, human life - which we alone could not achieve. For what is impossible with men is possible with God (Luke 18.27). Therefore, Jeremiah also says about Him: “Who ascended into heaven and took it (wisdom) and carried it down from the clouds? He who crossed the sea found it and brought it, more precious than gold. There is no one who would find the way to her and who would know the paths to her. But He who knows everything and knows it with His mind; He who created the earth for eternity and filled it with four-legged animals; Who sends light and if He calls him again, he must obey Him. The stars shone in their order with joy, and when He calls them, they answer: Here we are, and they shone with joy for the sake of Him who created them. This is our God, no one can compare with Him. He found all the ways of wisdom and gave it to His servant Jacob and His beloved Israel. After that He appeared on earth and spoke among people. This is the book of commandments and the law that is everlasting. All who hold on to it will live, but those who leave it will die” (Bar.3:29–4:1). But Jacob and Israel he calls the Son of God, who received from the Father dominion over our lives; and after He received it, He brought it to us, far from Him, when He appeared on earth and spoke among people. Thus, He mixes and unites the Spirit of God the Father with God's creation, so that man may be in the image and likeness of God. 98. This is the precious preaching of the truth, and this is the image of our salvation, and this is the way of life that the prophets predicted, and Christ fulfilled, and the apostles passed on, and the church entrusted to its children throughout the world. It (i.e., the truth) must be preserved in its entirety with a strong will and in a godly manner, with good deeds and a sound direction of thought. 99. We must not imagine God the Father to be different from our Creator; They despise the existing God and make the non-existent as their deity. They create for themselves a Father far superior to our Creator; they think that in this way they have found something greater than the truth. All such are wicked and blaspheme their Creator and Father, as we showed in the refutation and exposure of the falsely called gnosis. Others do not attach any importance to the descent of the Son of God and the dispensation of His incarnation, which the apostles announced and the prophets predicted, that through this the perfection of our humanity should be realized, as we have shown you in a few provisions. And such should be counted among those of little faith. Others again do not accept the gifts of the Spirit and reject prophetic gifts, through the perception of which a person makes his life fruitful in God. These are those to whom Isaiah pointed: “For they will be,” says God, “like an oak whose leaf has fallen, and like a garden in which there is no water” (Isaiah 1.30). Such people are completely unfit for God, because they cannot bear any fruit. 100. Such are the false teachings regarding the three provisions of our seal 1, which have deviated far from the truth. For they (false teachers) either blaspheme the Father, or reject the Son, since they teach against the economy of His incarnation, or do not receive the Spirit, that is, they blaspheme the prophecies. We must beware of all such people and avoid their morals if we really want to be pleasing to God and receive salvation from Him. Confession of faith at baptism, cf. Ch. 7