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  WRITINGS OF THEODORE OF MOPSUESTIA
  by Theodore of Mopsuestia
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Writings of Theodore of Mopsuestia (c. AD 428). Theodore of Mopsuestia was an
early church father whose writings have been preserved for the edification of
the church.

  Chapters: 7

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  TABLE OF CONTENTS
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    0. Writings of Theodore of Mopsuestia
    1. Commentary on the Lord's Prayer, Baptism and the Eucharist - English translation
    2. Commentary on the Lord's Prayer, Baptism and the Eucharist - Translator's Introduction
    3. Commentary on the Nicene Creed - English translation
    4. Commentary on the Nicene Creed - Translator's Introduction
    5. Prologue to the Commentary on Acts - English translation
    6. Prologue to the Commentary on Acts - Preface to the online edition

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  CHAPTER 0: WRITINGS OF THEODORE OF MOPSUESTIA
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  CHAPTER 1: COMMENTARY ON THE LORD'S PRAYER, BAPTISM AND THE EUCHARIST - ENGLISH TRANSLATION
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Theodore of Mopsuestia, Commentary on the Lord's Prayer, Baptism and the
Eucharist (1933) pp.1-123.

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Chapter 1.

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Chapter 2.

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Chapter 3.

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Chapter 4.

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Chapter 5.

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Chapter 6.

[Translated by Alphonse Mingana] With your assistance, O Lord Jesus Christ, I
will begin to write the explanation of the sacraments by the blessed Mar
Theodore. Help me, our Lord, and bring my work to completion. Amen.

Chapter I.

Because by the grace of God we spoke to you yesterday of the subject of faith,
which our blessed Fathers wrote for our instruction according to the words of
the Divine Books, in order to initiate us, in accordance with the doctrine of
our Lord, in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit— it is
fitting that we should speak to-day of the necessary things concerning the
prayer which was taught by our Lord, and which they made to follow the words of
the Creed, so that it should be learnt and kept in memory by those who come near
to the faith of baptism. Our Lord also, after having said: "Go you, therefore,
and teach all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father, and of the Son,
and of the Holy Spirit," added: And teach them to observe all things I have
commanded you." He showed in this that, alongside the doctrine of religion and
the right knowledge, we should endeavour to harmonise our lives with the Divine
commandments. They added to the words of the Creed the prayer which our Lord
taught in short terms to His disciples, because it contains the teaching for
good works, in a sufficient manner. Every prayer contains teaching of good works
to any one who cares to think attentively of duty, because we wish our works to
be that which we ask in our prayer that they should be. He who cares, therefore,
for perfection and is anxious to do the things that are pleasing to God, will
pay |2 more attention to prayer than any other thing, and he who does not care
for any virtue and is not anxious to do the things that are pleasing to God, it
is clear that he will show also no interest in prayer. As we are pleased at all
times to meet, and to deal and converse with, a person whom we love most, and as
we do not care to meet or to speak to people whom we do not love, so those who
possess God in their mind and are very anxious to do the things that please Him
are wont to make use of frequent prayers, because they believe that they work
and converse with Him when they pray. He, therefore, who despises Divine things
and cares for other things is not anxious to pray. This is the reason why the
blessed Paul orders us to pray always so that by the frequency of prayer we
should implant in us the love of God and the zeal for the things that please
Him. This is the reason why our Lord also, who was man by sight and by nature,
and who put in practice this mode of life and good works, showed great zeal for
prayer; and because He was busy in day-time with teaching the things that were
necessary, He devoted the hours of His night to the work of prayer. He used to
go to lonely places in order to teach that it is necessary for the one who prays
to be free from every care, so that he might extend the sight of his soul
towards God and contemplate Him, and not be drawn to any other thing. He chose
His times and places so that He might attract us and save us from all the
disquietude by which the soul is disturbed and agitated, and sometimes
involuntarily distracted from the subject it has in mind.

Because He used to do these things in this way, as the blessed Luke said, His
disciples came and asked Him how it was fitting to pray, since John had also
taught his disciples; and He taught perfection conveniently in the short words
of prayer, which He uttered, saying: "After this manner, therefore, pray you:

"Our Father who is in heaven, hallowed be Your name, Your kingdom come, Your
will be done as in heaven so in earth. |3 Give us to-day our necessary bread,
and forgive us our debts and our sins as we have forgiven our debtors. And lead
us not into temptation but deliver us from evil, for Yours is the Kingdom, and
the power, and the glory now, always, and for ever and ever. Amen."

He made use of these short words as if to say that prayer does not consist so
much in words as in good works, love and zeal for duty. Indeed, any one who is
inclined to good works, all his life must needs be in prayer, which is seen in
his choice of these good works. Prayer is by necessity connected with good
works, because a thing that is not good to be looked for is not good to be
prayed for. More wicked than death by stoning is death, which would come to us
if we asked God to grant us things which contradict His commandments. He who
offers such prayers incites God to wrath rather than to reconciliation and
mercy. A true prayer consists in good works, in love of God, and diligence in
the things that please Him. He who is intent on these things and whose mind
contemplates them, prays without hindrance always, and at all times, whenever he
does the things that please (God). To such a one invocations of prayers are
always needful, because it is fitting for him who strives after good things to
ask God to help him in these same things after which he is striving, in order
that all his life might be in accordance with God's will. And it is known that
such a one will have his prayers answered, because it is impossible that he who
is diligent in the Divine commandments and acts according to them and does not
break them, should not assuredly receive help from Him who enacted them; it is
likewise clear beforehand that he who leads a life that is not in harmony with
them, will not receive any help from prayer, since he is caring for things which
do not please God and asking for such things as he himself chose to do all his
life. This is the reason why our Lord also taught us, as the blessed Luke said,
not to faint in praying, and by means of a parable instructed us about it. He
said: "There was in a city a judge which feared not God, neither regarded man.
And a widow |4 who was being injured by a man who was stronger than she was,
came to him incessantly and asked him for the cessation of the injustice that
was done to her. He postponed her (case) for a long time, but at the end he was
overcome by the persistence of the woman, who was urging on him to take up her
case and deliver her from the tyrant, who was doing injustice to her and who was
stronger than she was." And He added this: "Hear what the unjust judge said:
Because this widow troubles me I will avenge her lest by her continual coming
she weary me. And shall not God avenge His own elect which cry day and night to
Him, though He bear long with them "?

Because those who strive after perfection have unceasing molestation from the
urges of nature, from the promptings of the demons, and from daily happenings
which often cause many to stumble and deviate from the path of duty, they have a
constant struggle in this world; and in order that they might not think that God
had forsaken them, from the fact that they have not a moment of rest from their
daily struggle, He did well to allude to an unjust judge, so that by a
comparison with him, He might confirm the fact that it is not possible that God
should forsake those who chose to do good things. Indeed, if that tyrant who had
not the smallest care for justice, and did not fear God and regard man, was
overcome by the troublesome persistence of the woman and did his duty and
avenged her, without hope of reward, against the man who was acting unjustly
towards her, now do you think that God, who is so merciful and compassionate,
who did everything for our salvation and deliverance, and who does not bear to
forsake even those who sin, will forsake those who strive after good things and
are diligent in things that please Him? Indeed, it is not because He forsakes
them that He permits them to be beset by tribulations and daily temptations,
which they are forced to endure against their will, either from the promptings
of natural passions or from the weakness which is inherent in them and because
of which they are often drawn against their will towards things that are not
laudable, and have to endure a great fight against the demons, as they are
constantly |5 compelled to struggle against the passions which arise from
natural happenings. The benefits that are promised to them because of these
tribulations are no ordinary ones, and He fulfils their desires and makes them
worthy of His great Providence. He permits them to endure tribulations and
afflictions in this world in order that, because of them, they may receive
eternal and ineffable gifts. This is the reason why here also He uttered the
above words to the disciples who had asked Him how to pray, as if He had said to
them: If you care for prayer know that it is not performed by words but by the
choice of a virtuous life and by the love of God and diligence in one's duty. If
you are zealous in these things you will be praying all your life, and from your
good will towards them and your choice of them you will acquire a great desire
for prayer, and will undoubtedly also know what to ask (in it). If you chose
(the path of) duty, you will not be induced to ask for things that lie outside
it, as you will not be willing to ask for things in which you have no interest.
Your interest being in virtues after which you are striving, it is evident that
you will offer to God prayers that are consonant with them. If you live thus and
ask also of Him in this wise with all fervour, you know that you will receive.

Hear now in short words which are the things in which you have to show
diligence, the works and the mode of life which are required of you, the things
in which you have to persevere, and those for which you have to offer prayers
and in which your demands will undoubtedly be answered: The evangelist said that
"as He was praying in a certain place, when He ceased, one of His disciples said
to Him, Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples. And He said
to them, when you pray, say, Our Father which are in heaven hallowed be Your
name." The sentence "as He was praying in a certain place" is similar to that
which the same evangelist uses in another passage: "It came to pass in those
days that He went out into a mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer
to God." The sentence "in a certain place" means, |6 therefore, that He was
offering prayer in a place which was quiet and free from the noise of men. When
the disciples saw Him that He was praying with eagerness, they understood that
this was not an ordinary thing but that it was a matter of more importance than
any other, and they, therefore, asked Him that they should learn how to pray as
John had also taught his disciples. He then pronounced to them the above words
of prayer, as if meaning to say: if you are eager to pray, you should clearly
know the things which you have to say to God and be careful about the things
that are to be asked of Him.

What are you then to say when you pray, and what are the things in which you
have to show care?: Our Father who is in heaven.

Before everything else you should learn what you were and what is the nature and
the measure of the gift that you received from God. The things that have
happened to you are greater than those that happened to the children of men that
were before you. Such a thing will happen through Me to those who believe in Me
and choose My discipleship, as they will be much higher than those who were
working under the law of Moses, because that first law, which was given from
Mount Sinai, gave birth to servitude, and both itself and its children worked in
servitude. Indeed, all those who were under the law of the commandments were
slaves. They received orders how they were to conduct themselves, and through
the punishment of death that none of them could escape they were bound 1 to the
transgression of the law. As to you, you have received through Me the grace of
the Holy Spirit whereby you have obtained adoption of sons and confidence to
call God, Father. You have not received the Spirit in order to be again in
servitude and fear but to be worthy of the Spirit of adoption of sons through
which you call God, Father, with confidence. From this you have obtained
conversation in Jerusalem which is above and have been worthy of that life of
freedom which will be the lot of those who, in the |7 resurrection, will become
immortal and immutable, and will live in heaven in such a nature.

If, therefore, there is this difference between you and those who were under the
law—in the sense that the "letter, which is the law, kills," and thus brought
punishment of death from which there was no escape on those who transgressed it,
and in the sense that it is "the Spirit that gives life" and will make you
immortal and immutable through the resurrection—it is fitting that you should
know before anything else the nature of the works, worthy of this freedom, which
you should possess. Those who live in the Spirit of God are the children of God,
while those who are under the law have only received a mere name of children: "I
have said, You are gods, and all of you children of the Most High, but you shall
die like men."

Those who have received the Holy Spirit by whom they necessarily expect
immortality, while still in this world, it is fitting that they should live in
the Spirit, resign themselves to the Spirit and possess a mind worthy of the
freedom of men led by the Holy Spirit, and that they should also flee from all
the works of sin and acquire a conduct that is in harmony with the citizenship
of the heavenly abode. This is the reason why I do not teach you to say our Lord
and our God, although it is evident that you ought to know that He is God, Lord
and Maker of everything and of you also, and that it is He who will transfer you
to the delight of these benefits. I order you to call Him our Father, so that
when you have been made aware of your freedom and of the honour in which you
have participated and the greatness which you have acquired— things by which you
are called the sons of the Lord of all and your own Lord—you will act
accordingly till the end. I do not wish you to say my Father but our Father,
because He is a Father common to all in the same way as His grace, from which we
received adoption of sons, is common to all. In this way you should not only
offer congruous things to God, but you should also possess and keep fellowship
with one another, because you are brothers and under the hand of one Father. |8

I added who is in heaven, so that the figure of the life in heaven, to which it
has been granted to you to be transferred, might be drawn before your eyes. When
you have received the adoption of sons, you will dwell in heaven, and this abode
is fit for the sons of God.

What ought those who think in this way to do?:

Hallowed be Your name.

Before everything else you should do the things that redound to the glory of God
your Father. The very one who said in another passage: "Let your light so shine
before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father which is in
heaven," said also here: "Hallowed be Your name," as if He were saying: you
should strive to do the things by which the name of God will be glorified by all
men, while contemplating in amazement His mercy and His grace which have been
poured upon you, and thinking that He did not make you His children to no
purpose, but that in His mercy He granted you the Spirit, so that you might
increase in virtue and do the work of those who were found worthy to call God
their Father. As when we do ungodly works we give rise to blasphemy (by others),
because all the outsiders who see us doing these ungodly works will say about us
that we are unworthy to be children of God—so also when we do good works we
corroborate the fact that we are children of God, worthy of the freedom of our
Father, and show that we have been well educated and that we are living a life
worthy of our Father. In order to impede such a blasphemy from being uttered,
and in order that there might be praise from the mouth of all men to God who
brought you up to such a greatness, strive to do the things that effect this:
Your kingdom come.

He did well to add this (sentence) to the preceding one. It is right for those
who have been called to the Kingdom of Heaven in the adoption of sons, and who
expect to dwell in heaven with Christ when, as the blessed Paul said: "we shall
be caught up |9 in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so shall we ever
be with the Lord"—to think of things which are worthy of that Kingdom, to do the
things that are congruous to the heavenly citizenship, to consider the earthly
things small and believe them to be below their dignity to speak and think of
them. No one who is so placed as to live in the court of a king, and is
considered worthy to see him always and converse with him, will go and wander in
the bazaars and inns and such like, but will have intercourse only with those
who always frequent the places where he is. In this same way, we who are called
to the Kingdom of Heaven, are not allowed to relinquish our fellowship with it
or with the things that suit the citizenship therein, and busy ourselves with
the commerce of this world in which there is much evil trading and unholy work.

How could this be effected, and how should we do the things that are
commensurate with the freedom of our Father, and how should we pursue heavenly
citizenship, and how should we do the things which engender great praise to the
name of God?: Your will be done as in heaven so in earth.

(This will happen) if in this world we strive as much as possible to imitate the
life which we shall live in heaven, because heaven contains nothing that is
contrary to God, as sin will be abolished and the power of the demons will
cease, and, in short, all things that fight against us will be destroyed. When
all earthly things have ceased to exist, we shall rise from the dead and dwell
in heaven in an immortal and immutable nature. We will do the will of God better
than in anything else by wishing and acting as God wishes, and by thinking of
things belonging to heaven, where there will be no power and no passion which
will incite us against the will of God. In this world we ought to persevere as
much as possible in the will of God and not to will or do things that are
against |10 Him. As we believe that the will of God reigns in heaven, so it
should also hold sway in earth; and in the same way as it shall be in heaven, it
is right for us not to do now the smallest act which by our will or our thought
would contradict that will. This, however, is not possible as long as we are in
our mortal and changeable nature, but we must turn our will away from the
passions that are contrary (to the will of God) and not listen to them in any
way, and do that which the blessed Paul commanded in saying: "Be not conformed
to this world, but be you transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may
prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God." He does not
command that passions should not beset us, but that we should not be conformed
to things that will surely vanish with this world, and that the will of our soul
should not be conformed to the ways of acting of this world.

Let us strive against all happenings whether painful or joyful, sublime or
abject, in one word in any capacity high or low, which are capable more than
others to lead us astray towards harmful thoughts and to divert our mind from
good will, and let us be careful not to let our love fall on them, but let us
strengthen our thoughts with daily improvements and cast away from us the
injurious insinuations that come to us from the passions of this world, and bend
our will day by day towards virtues, in our search for the things which are
pleasing to God. We should only consider as unqualified good that which is
pleasing to God, and endeavour in everything to spurn the pleasures of this
world. We should also bear the tribulations that befall us, place the will of
God before everything, and consider ourselves happy when we act thus, even if
all the afflictions of this world should surround us. If we do not act in this
way we shall be more wretched than all men, even if we are prosperous in all
earthly things. In the above short words, our Lord taught us, therefore,
perfection of works, and ordered those who follow Him to strive after good
works, think of the heavenly life, despise all that is found in this world and
endeavour to imitate as much as possible the things of the next world; and He
wished them to ask these |11 things of God till the end. And because we ought to
possess a healthy mind and a true love for all these things, and because we know
that we are not able to do anything without the help of God, He rightly ordered
us to do these things by way of prayer, so that we might approach them with
perfect love and persevere ardently and zealously in asking them of God as good
and useful things, which will not come to us even if we chose them and wished to
have them myriads of times, if God does not help us in them. They will surely
come to us, however, if first we choose them and ask them of God. The blessed
Luke added many things to the prayer said by Christ our Lord, in order to
confirm the fact that things asked by those who pray will surely be granted. And
because He wished to invite us to imitate the world to come, in which when we
dwell, we shall always be high above the earthly things and shall never be in
need of anything, and in order that He might not be believed that He was
ordering a thing that was impossible for men who are mortal by nature and are in
need of many things in this world, in that He was asking them to imitate an
immortal life—He added:

Give us to-day our necessary bread.

It is as if He had said: I wish you to look at things belonging to the next
world, and while you are in this world to arrange your life as much as possible
as if you had been for a long time in the next world, not that you should not
eat or drink or make use of the necessities of life, but in the sense that your
choice (of the next world) is good, that you love it and constantly think of it.
As to the things belonging to this world, I allow you to make use of such of
them as are necessary; and you should not ask nor strive to have more than this
use. That which the blessed Paul implies: "And having food and raiment let us be
therewith content," our Lord called here "bread," and by it He alludes to a
thing which is indispensable. Indeed, bread is considered to be more necessary
for the maintenance and sustenance of this earthly life than anything else. He
means by "to-day" now, |12 as we are in "to-day" and not in "to-morrow." We are
in "to-day" as long as we are in it, although we might see to-morrow.

Holy Writ calls to-day a thing that exists now and is near, as the blessed Paul
puts it: "To-day if you will hear his voice, harden not your hearts as in the
provocation, but exhort yourselves daily while you call it to-day." As if one
had said: as long as we are in this world let us always suppose that we hear
this word which every day impresses our mind with an identical sound, and let us
awaken our soul and raise it for the amelioration of our conduct, the rejection
of vices and exhortation to virtues; and let us progress day by day as long as
we are in this world in which there is time for amelioration and repentance,
because when we have left it the time for repentance and amelioration will have
passed away from us, and the time of judgment will have arrived. Our Lord said
here: "Give us to-day our necessary bread," in the sense of the necessary food
of which we are in need as long as we are in this world, and He did not prohibit
nor did He forbid the food, drink and raiment which are necessary to the
sustenance of the body. It is not blameworthy to ask of God that which is
necessary to us, and that of which we are allowed to make use when we have it,
and that which is not considered blameworthy to receive from others. Indeed, how
can one consider blameworthy the use of a thing which we are permitted to ask of
God, as necessary for keeping and sustaining (human) nature?

He calls "bread," therefore, that which is necessary for the sustenance of
(human) nature. He used the expression "which is necessary to us in the sense of
"according to our nature," that is to say that which is useful and necessary to
nature and its sustenance, and which has been ordained by the Creator as a thing
that we must necessarily have for food. It is not advisable for those who wish
to strive after perfection to possess and hoard things which are beyond the
domain of the necessities of life. He rightly alluded, therefore, in prayer to
the necessities of life |13 by the words "which is necessary," that is to say, a
thing that is useful and necessary to our nature. As to "to-day," it means that
since those necessities of life are established by the Creator for the
sustenance of (human) nature, it is lawful to ask them and make use of them, but
that no one is allowed to ask of God and zealously endeavour to possess more
than these necessary things. Indeed, all things that are not necessary for our
sustenance and for our food in this world, if amassed by us, will go to others,
and will be of no use to the one who had managed them or to the one who had
striven to collect and possess them. They even go to others after his death, not
by his will. And because our Lord completely disregarded the care for
superfluous things, and because He did not forbid the use of the things which
are necessary for our sustenance but, on the contrary, ordered us to ask them of
God, He added: And forgive us our debts. In the first sentences He laid down the
principles of perfection and of blameless conduct, and by the addition "give us
this day our necessary bread" He limited our cares to that which is necessary;
and because however much we strive after perfection it is impossible for us to
be always without sins—as we are compelled to fall involuntarily into many,
owing to the weakness of our nature —He found a quick remedy for them in the
request for forgiveness. It is as if He had said: If you are eager to do good
and strive after it, and if you are unwilling to pray for superfluous things but
only (wish to possess) those which are necessary for sustenance, you should have
confidence that you will receive forgiveness of the sins which you may have
involuntarily committed. It is evident that the one who had striven after good
things and had been eager to avoid ungodly things has only fallen involuntarily.
Indeed, how could a man who hates bad things and desires good things have
stumbled voluntarily? It is clear that such a one will undoubtedly receive
forgiveness of those sins that were involuntarily committed by him. |14 And He
added: As we have forgiven our debtors.

He shows that we must have confidence that we shall receive forgiveness of our
(sins) if we do the same, according to our power, to those who trespass against
us. In case we have chosen good and are pleased with it, but by accident we
trespass in many things against God and man, He found a convenient remedy for
both sins in the fact that if we forgive those who trespass against us we have
confidence that we will undoubtedly receive, in the same way, forgiveness of our
trespasses from God. As when we ourselves trespass we rightly prostrate
ourselves, beseech God and ask forgiveness of Him, so also we have to forgive
those who trespass against us and apologise to us; and we should also receive
affectionately those who have sinned against us or injured us in any way. It is
evident that if we do not consider that those who have been sinned against or
injured have to forgive those who have sinned against them—if they repent and
ask forgiveness of them for the wrong they have done —the same thing would
happen to them from those who have been sinned against, when they wish to pray
to God. Our Lord clearly ordered us to ask forgiveness as we also forgave those
who had trespassed against us. And because we are in this world assailed by many
afflictions dealing with sickness of the body, evil deeds of men and many other
things which irritate us and annoy us to the extent that sometimes our soul is
so perturbed by thoughts that it is tempted to throw away from it the love of
virtues, He rightly added: And lead us not into temptation, so that we may be
saved from temptations in the measure of our power, but if these should assail
us let us do our utmost to bear with fortitude the afflictions which we had not
expected. Before everything we must pray to God that no temptation should come
near us, but if we should be led into it let us bear it with courage and pray
that it should come speedily to an end. It is |15 well known that in this world
many tribulations disturb our mind in different ways; even a long and severe
illness of the body has thrown into great confusion those who were affected by
it, and the inordinate impulses of the body have involuntarily made us stumble
and stray away from the path of duty, and beautiful faces suddenly seen have
kindled the passion found in our nature. There are other things which assail us
on unexpected occasions and involuntarily and strongly divert our choice and our
mind from good things to ungodly things. This is especially the case with the
opinions of unholy and contumelious men who are eager to do evil, because those
(opinions) are very apt to divert us in one way or another from a thing with
which we were pleased. They can even do that to a person who has a great zeal
for perfection. It would be all the more painful if those who acted against us
in this way belonged to the household of the faith. Against them our Lord said:
"Whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better
for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck and that he were drowned in
the depth of the sea." He said this about the obstinate people amongst us, and
He threatened them with severe punishment if by their contumely and wickedness
they endeavour to divert from the path of duty those who are humble and pure. He
calls "to offend" the act of injuring by wickedness and obstinacy those who for
the sake of perfection strive to lead a humble and pure life. Because of all
this, after He had said, "And lead us not into temptation," He added: But
deliver us from evil, because the wicked Satan injures us much in all the above
things, as he endeavours in different ways to do things through which he thinks
that he is able to divert us from our love and choice of duty. Our Lord embodied
perfection of works in the above words of prayer and taught us clearly how we
are to be, in what we are to be diligent, from what we have to flee, and what to
ask of God. And our blessed Fathers who thought that, together with the |16
right teaching and the true faith, we ought also to strive after a good life and
good works, ordered this prayer for those who draw near to the gift of baptism
so that side by side with an accurate doctrine concerning the creed of the faith
they might through prayer so order our life as to possess that perfection which
is required of those who receive the gift of baptism, and through which they are
counted in the number of the citizens of the heavenly life, while still on this
earth.

Endeavour now to keep clearly in your mind the things which you have learnt in
short words from the Lord's prayer, and meditate upon them with diligence in
order that, while still in this world and far from the next, you may imitate and
follow the teaching of our Lord, and thus be worthy of the heavenly benefits in
which we are all enabled to participate by the grace of the Only Begotten Son of
God, to whom, in conjunction with the Father and the Holy Spirit, be glory, now,
always, and for ever and ever. Amen.

Chapter II.

Synopsis.

He who is desirous of drawing near to the gift of the holy baptism comes to the
Church of God where he is received by a duly appointed person 2—as there is a
habit to register those who draw near to baptism—who will question him about his
mode of life. This rite 3 is performed for those who are baptised by the person
called godfather. The duly appointed person writes your name in the Church
register together with that of the one who is acting as your sponsor or guide in
the town. The services of the persons called exorcists have also been found
indispensable, as it is necessary that when a case is being heard in the
judgment hall the litigant should remain silent. You stand with outstretched
arms in the posture of one who prays, and you look downwards. This is the reason
why you take off your outer garment and stand barefooted, and |17 you stand also
on sackcloth. You are ordered in those days to meditate on the words of the
faith.

I think that in past days I spoke sufficiently to your love about the profession
of faith which our blessed Fathers wrote according to the teaching of our Lord,
who through it wished us to be taught and baptised in the name of the Father,
and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. (I spoke) in those days to you, who draw
near to the gift of baptism, in order that you might learn what to believe, and
in the name of whom you are baptised so that you might see that you are
receiving instruction according to the teaching of our Lord, and that you are
being baptised in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy
Spirit. I added to the above a discourse on prayer in order that you might
rightly know the teaching of good works consonant with the way in which those
who receive this great gift of baptism have to live. As, however, the time of
the sacrament has drawn near, and you are by the grace of God about to
participate in the holy baptism, it is right and necessary that we should
explain before you the power of the sacrament and of the ceremonies which are
accomplished in it, and the reason for which each of them is accomplished, in
order that when you have learnt what is the reason for all of them you may
receive the things that take place with great love.

Every sacrament consists in the representation of unseen and unspeakable things
through signs and emblems. Such things require explanation and interpretation,
for the sake of the person who draws near to the sacrament, so that he might
know its power. If it only consisted of the (visible) elements themselves, words
would have been useless, as sight itself would have been able to show us one by
one all the happenings that take place, but since a sacrament contains the signs
of things that take place or have already taken place, words are needed to
explain the power of signs and mysteries. The Jews performed their service for
the heavenly things as in signs and |18 shadows, because the law only contained
the shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, as the
blessed Paul said. A shadow implies the proximity of a body, as it cannot exist
without a body, but it does not represent the body which it reflects in the same
way as it happens in an image. When we look at an image we recognise the person
who is represented in it—if we knew that person beforehand—on account of the
accurately drawn picture, but we are never able to recognise a man represented
only by his shadow, as this shadow has no likeness whatever to the real body
from which it emanates. All things of the law were similar to this. They were
only a shadow of the heavenly things, as the Apostle said. You must now learn
the nature of this shadow:

According to what he had learnt in a Divine vision the blessed Moses made two
tabernacles, one of which they named holy, and the other holy of holies. The
first was the likeness of the life and sojourn on the earth on which we now
dwell, and the second, which they called holy of holies, was the likeness of the
regions which are above the visible heaven, to which our Lord Christ, who was
assumed for our salvation, ascended, in which He now is, and to which He granted
us to go in order to be there and dwell with Him, as the blessed Paul said:
"Whither the forerunner is for us entered, Christ, who became a high priest for
ever after the order of Melchizedec." He said of Him that He became after the
order of high priests because He was the first to enter there, and through Him
the favour of entering was promised to us. The work of a high priest is indeed
that he should draw near to God first, and then after him and through him the
rest should draw near; but because all these things have not yet taken place but
will take place at the end, the priests of the law did not perform a single one
of them through their service according to the law, in the place called holy of
holies, which indeed was never entered by any one, as the high priest entered it
once a year alone, and offered a sacrifice before entering it, and had no right
to enter it at all times. He entered it once a year so that it might be made |19
manifest that all those acts of the law only embraced the mortal life on this
earth, and had no relation of any kind with the heavenly things; in the same way
as we ourselves cannot enter heaven as long as we remain mortal in our nature.
Men would only have entered heavenly places after a man from us had been
assumed, and had died according to the natural law of men, and risen in glory
from the dead, and become immortal and incorruptible by nature, and had ascended
into heaven, and been constituted a high priest to the rest of mankind and an
earnest of the ascension into heaven.

Thus the law contained the shadow of the good things to come, as those who lived
under it had only a figure of the future things. In this way they only performed
their service as a sign and a shadow of the heavenly things, because that
service gave, by means of the tabernacle and the things that took place in it, a
kind of revelation, in figure, of the life which is going to be in heaven, and
which our Lord Christ showed to us by His ascension into it, while He granted
all of us to participate in an event which was so much hidden from those who
lived in that time that the Jews, in their expectation of the resurrection, had
only a base conception of it. They did not think, as we do, that we shall be
changed into an immortal life, but they thought of it as a place in which we
shall continue to eat, drink and marry. This we consider a great shame if we are
to believe the words of our Lord to the effect that: "You do err, not knowing
the scriptures nor the power of God, for in the resurrection from the dead they
neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels," and "they are
the children of God because they are the children of the resurrection." In this
He both reprimanded their error concerning the resurrection and taught that we
ought to believe that something like a Divine life will come to those who will
rise, as He clearly said that they will be like angels. The things that the
ancients held as figures and shadows came now into reality when our Lord Jesus
Christ, who was assumed from us and for us died according to the human law, and
through His resurrection became immortal, incorruptible |20 and for ever
immutable, and as such ascended into heaven, as by His union with our nature He
became to us an earnest of our own participation in the event. In saying: "If
Christ rose from the dead, how say some among you that there is no resurrection
of the dead," (the Apostle) clearly showed that it was necessary for all to
believe that there is a resurrection, and in believing in it we had also to
believe that we will equally clearly participate in it. As we have a firm belief
that things that have already happened will happen to us, so [the things that
happened at the resurrection of our Lord] 4 we believe that they will happen to
us. We perform, therefore, this ineffable sacrament which contains the
incomprehensible signs of the Economy of Christ our Lord, as we believe that the
things implied in it will happen to us.

It is indeed evident to us, according to the words of the Apostle, that when we
perform either baptism or the Eucharist we perform them in remembrance of the
death and resurrection of Christ, in order that the hope of the latter may be
strengthened in us. So far as the resurrection is concerned he said: "So many of
us as were baptised into Christ Jesus, were buried with Him by baptism into
death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the
Father, even so we also shall walk in newness of life." He clearly taught here
that we are baptised so that we might imitate in ourselves the death and the
resurrection of our Lord, and that we might receive from our remembrance of the
happenings that took place the confirmation of our hope in future things. As for
the communion of the holy Sacrament he said: "As often as you eat this bread and
drink this cup, you do show the Lord's death till He come." Our Lord also said:
"This is my body which is broken for you, and this is my blood which is shed for
many for the remission of sins." From all this it is clear that |21 both the
service and the Communion are in remembrance of the death and the resurrection
of Christ, from which arose our hope that we all expect communion with Him. And
we sacramentally perform the events that took place in connection with Christ
our Lord, in order that—as we have learnt by experience —our communion with Him
may strengthen our hope. It would be useful, therefore, to discuss before you
the reason for all the mysteries and signs. Our Lord God made man from dust in
His image and honoured him with many other things. He especially honoured him by
calling him His image, from which man alone became worthy to be called God and
Son of God; and if he had been wise he would have remained with the One who was
to him the source of all good things, which he truly possessed, but he accepted
and completed the image of the Devil, who like a rebel had risen against God and
wished to usurp for himself the glory that was due to Him, and had striven to
detach man from God by all sorts of stratagems and appropriate God's honour, so
that he might insult Him by rivalry. He (the Rebel) assumed, therefore, the
attributes and the glory of a helper, and because man yielded to his words and
rejected the injunctions which God had imposed upon him and followed the Rebel
as his true helper, God inflicted upon him the punishment of reverting to the
dust from which he had been taken. And from the above sin death entered, and
this death weakened (human) nature and generated in it a great inclination
towards sin. Both of these grew side by side, while the inexorable death
strengthened and multiplied sin, as the condition of mortality by weakening
(human nature) caused the perpetration of many sins. Even the commandments which
God gave in order to check them tended to multiply them, and those who infringed
the commandments strengthened the punishment by the frequency of the sins. From
these grew the ill will of the Rebel, who jubilated and rejoiced at the great
injury that he was inflicting on us, and at the state of our affairs which was
becoming daily more corrupt and iniquitous. |22 When this state of our affairs
became desperate, our Lord God willed in His mercy to rectify it. With this end
in view He assumed a man from us, who was a faithful keeper of the Divine
commandments, and was found to be free from all sin with the exception of the
punishment of death. The Tyrant, however, who could do nothing else, brought an
unjust death upon Him at the hand of the Jews, his servants, but He willingly
accepted it and sat in judgment with him before God, the just judge, who
pronounced Him not liable to the punishment of death which had been wickedly and
unjustly brought upon Him. And He became for ever immune from death, and
immortal and incorruptible by nature. And as such He ascended into heaven and
became for ever beyond the reach of the harm and injury of Satan, who was thus
unable to do any harm to a man who was immortal, incorruptible and immutable,
and who dwelt in heaven and possessed a close union with the Divine nature. From
the fact that the man who was assumed from us had such a confidence (with God),
He became a messenger on behalf of all the (human) race so that the rest of
mankind might participate with Him in His great change, as the blessed Paul
said: "Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God who
justifies; who is he that condemns? It is Christ who died, yes rather, that is
risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession
for us." He shows here that the benefits accruing to us are immutable and
unchangeable, since Christ who died for us, and who rose from the dead and
received close union with Divine nature, draws us, by His intercession for us,
to the participation in resurrection and in the good things that emanate from
it.

We draw near to the sacrament because we perform in it the symbols of the
freedom from calamities from which we were unexpectedly delivered, and of our
participation in these new and great benefits which had their beginning in
Christ our Lord. Indeed we expect to be partakers of these benefits which are
higher than our nature, while even the possibility of their coming to us we had
never expected. |23

We have spoken in this way so that our words might be better understood; and it
is time now to show you the reason for every act (performed in the sacrament).

He who wishes to draw near to the gift of the holy baptism comes to the Church
of God, which Christ our Lord showed to be a symbol of the heavenly things to
the faithful in this world, when He said: "You are Peter, and upon this rock I
will build my Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it, and I
will give to you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you shall bind
on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you shall loose on earth shall
be loosed in heaven." He showed in this that He granted to the Church the power
that any one who becomes related to it should also be related to the heavenly
things, and any one who becomes a stranger to it should also be clearly a
stranger to the heavenly things.

Owing to the fact that to those who are at the head of the Church is allotted
the task of governing it, it is to them that He referred in His saying to the
blessed Peter that they have the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven, and things that
are bound by them on earth shall be bound in heaven, and things that are loosed
by them on earth shall be loosed in heaven; not in the sense that they are
masters of men in it, but in the sense that the Church received power from God
that those who are related to it and under the care of those who are at its
head, acquire by necessity a relationship with heaven, inasmuch as those who are
outside this have no association of any kind with heavenly things.

Christ our Lord established a kingdom in heaven, and established it there as a
city in which He has His kingdom, which the blessed Paul calls "Jerusalem which
is above, free, and mother of us all," since it is in it that we are expecting
to dwell and abide. That city is full of innumerable companies of angels and men
who are all immortal and immutable. Indeed the blessed Paul said: "You are come
to Mount |24 Zion, and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem,
and to an innumerable company of angels, and to the Church of the firstborn,
which are written in heaven." He calls the firstborn those who are immortal and
immutable, like those who are worthy of the adoption of sons of whom our Lord
said that "they are the children of God because they are the children of the
resurrection"; and they are enrolled in heaven as its inhabitants.

These things will be seen so in reality in the world to come, when, according to
the words of the Apostle, "we are caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in
the air, so that we may be ever with Him." He will take us up and ascend into
heaven where His Kingdom is seen and where all of us shall be with Him, free and
exempt from all troubles, in happiness and pleasure, and enjoying to the full
the benefits of that kingdom. Those who draw near to Him in this world He wished
them to be, through religion and faith, as in the symbol of the heavenly things,
and He so constituted the Church as to be a symbol of the heavenly things; and
He wished that those who believe in Him should live in it. This is the reason
why the blessed Paul also said: "that you may know how you ought to behave
yourself in the house of God, which is the Church of the living God, the pillar
and ground of the truth." Church "of the living God" means that His name is for
ever and ever, and this demonstrates that the believers will enjoy life
eternally, while the expression "pillar and ground of the truth" denotes that
life firm, solid, unshakeable and unchangeable in which (the believer) will be
seen and from which he will also receive his power.

He, therefore, who is desirous of drawing near to baptism comes to the Church of
God through which he expects to reach that life of the heavenly abode. He ought
to think that he is coming to be the citizen of a new and great city, and he
should, therefore, show great care in everything that is required of him before
his enrolment in it. He comes to the Church of God |25 where he is received by a
duly appointed person 5—as there is a habit to register those who draw near to
baptism—who will question him about his mode of life in order to find out
whether it possesses all the requisites of the citizenship of that great city.
After he has abjured all the evil found in this world and cast it completely out
of his mind, he has to show that he is worthy of the citizenship of the city and
of his enrolment in it. This is the reason why, as if he were a stranger to the
city and to its citizenship, a specially appointed person,6 who is from the city
in which he is going to be enrolled and who is well versed in its mode of life,
conducts him to the registrar and testifies for him to the effect that he is
worthy of the city and of its citizenship and that, as he is not versed in the
life of the city or in the knowledge of how to behave in it, he himself would be
willing to act as a guide to his inexperience. This rite is performed for those
who are baptised by the person called godfather, who, however, does not make
himself responsible for them in connection with future sins, as each one of us
answers for his own sins before God. He only bears witness to what the
catechumen has done and to the fact that he has prepared himself in the past to
be worthy of the city and of its citizenship. He is justly called a sponsor
because by his words (the catechumen) is deemed worthy to receive baptism. When
in this world there is an order of the Government for a census of countries and
of people who are in them, it is right for those who are registered in
particular countries to obtain a title which would assure for them the
cultivation of the fields which are registered in their name, and to pay readily
the land taxes to the king. The same thing is required of the one who is
enrolled in the heavenly city and in its citizenship, as "our conversation is in
heaven." Indeed he ought to reject all earthly things, as is suitable to the one
who is inscribed in heaven, and to do only the things that fit the life and
conversation in heaven. He will also, if he is wise, pay perpetual taxes to the
king and live a life which is consonant with baptism. |26 As the Romans—when
they held Judea under their domination—ordered that every one should be enrolled
in his own city, and as Joseph with the blessed Mary went to Bethlehem to be
enrolled in it, because he was from the house and the tribe of David, so also
we, who believe in Christ, have to do. Indeed He conquered, by right of war, all
the enemies, delivered the human race from the power of the demons, freed us
from the servitude of the captivity, and brought us under His dominion, as it is
said: "He has ascended on high and has led captivity captive." He showed the new
world to come and the wonderful dispensation of that which is called the
heavenly Jerusalem, in which Christ established His imperishable Kingdom. It is,
therefore, incumbent on us all, who are under the power of His Kingdom, to pray
and desire that through faith we might draw near to baptism and be worthy of
being enrolled in heaven.

It is for this reason that as regards you also who draw near to the gift of
baptism, a duly appointed person 7 inscribes your name in the Church book,
together with that of your godfather, who answers for you and becomes your guide
in the city and the leader of your citizenship therein. This is done in order
that you may know that you are, long before the time and while still on the
earth, enrolled in heaven, and that your godfather who is in it is possessed of
great diligence to teach you, who are a stranger and a newcomer to that great
city, all the things that pertain to it and to its citizenship, so that you
should be conversant with its life without any trouble and anxiety.

You should learn now the reason for the remaining events, as your enrolment is
not effected to no purpose and accidentally only, but after a great judgment had
taken place on your behalf. It was necessary for you, who have drawn near to
Divine Providence, to have been first delivered from the Tyrant who had attacked
you so that, after having been enabled to flee from all the harm of the enemies
and avoid another servitude, you might be in a position to enjoy to the full the
happiness of this enrolment. When by order of the Government a census is |27
taken in this world, and one comes to establish his legal title to a land
fertile in corn and rich in good things, in which there is much happiness to
those who are registered for it—if a person who was previously his enemy learns
this, and envying him for this happiness which he was himself previously
enjoying, because (the land) for a long time belonged to him, goes and tells the
one who is about to be registered that the land belonged to him by right of
succession and that he ought not to be dispossessed of his right of ownership
and be given the ownership of another land—it is right for the one who is about
to be registered, if he is endowed with great zeal, to go to a magistrate and
make use of the title which he possesses, and show the supposed owner of the
land, for which he wishes to be registered, that he is desirous of bringing the
matter before a judge. In this same way God placed the kingdom of heaven before
men, and willed that all of them should be in it in an immortal and immutable
state, as is suitable to the dwellers in heaven, and granted to the Church to be
the symbol of heavenly things in this world, and we pray and implore Him to draw
us near through baptism to that heavenly city, and to make us participate in its
life; but it is necessary that a judgment should be given for us against the
Tyrant, who is fighting the case against us, that is to say Satan, who is always
envious of our deliverance and salvation. He shows here also the same ill will
towards us, and tries and endeavours to bring us to the judgment hall as if we
had no right to be outside his ownership. He pleads that from ancient times and
from the creation of the head of our race we belong to him by right; he narrates
the story of Adam, of how he listened to his words and by his will rejected his
Maker and preferred to serve him; of how this kindled the wrath of God, who
drove him out of Paradise, pronounced the death sentence upon him and bound him
to this world in saying: "In the sweat of your face shall you eat bread," and:
"Thorns and thistles shall it bring forth to you, for dust you are and to dust
shall you return." From these words which condemned him to the servitude of this
world, and from the fact |28 that by his will he chose my lordship he clearly
appears to belong to me, as I am "the prince of the power of the air, and work
in the children of disobedience." How, then, is it possible that this man, who
from the beginning and from the time of his forefathers belongs to me—as a just
judgment was pronounced against him in this mortal world, in which as long as he
is I hold sway over him—should be taken away from this world and from its life,
and consequently from my lordship also, which he himself chose willingly, and
should become immortal, a thing which is higher than his nature, and be seen in
the life and citizenship of the abode of heaven, a thing which does not pertain
to men or to beings who have this (human) nature, from which those who are
endowed with a higher nature are different?

As, in our supposition, such things are now pleaded and said by Satan, who was
seen from the very beginning to fight inimically against us, and at present
envies us all the more because we expect to receive this ineffable enrolment,
which is high above all words and all human mind, as: "eye has not seen nor ear
heard, neither have entered the heart of man the things which God has prepared
for them that love him" —we must run with all diligence to the judge and show
and establish the title which we possess: that we did not belong to Satan from
the beginning and from the time of our forefathers, but to God who created us
while we were not and made us in His own image, and that it was through the
iniquity and wickedness of the Tyrant and through our own negligence that we
were driven towards evil, from which we lost also the honour and greatness of
our image, and because of our sinfulness we further received the punishment of
death. And the long time that intervened strengthened the hold of Satan on us,
and we on our part, owing to the fact that we lived for a great length of time
in this cruel and dire servitude, the wrong and fearful acts of sin became sweet
and pleasing to us, and with them we strengthened the power of Satan over us.

While things were proceeding in this way, He who is truly |29 our Creator and
our Lord, He who created us while we were not, and formed our body of dust with
His hands and breathed into it a soul which did not previously exist, was
pleased to make manifest a providence consonant with the works which He himself
had made and which were now perishing through the wickedness of the Tyrant, in
order that He might not permit him to harm us till the end. He also abolished
our sins and our transgression against Him, and wished by His grace to
straighten our affairs. For this He took one of us, and in Him made the
beginning of all our good things, and permitted Him to receive the impact of all
the trials of the wickedness of Satan, but showed Him also to be high above his
wickedness and his harm, and although He had allowed Him to be even in His Death
the victim of his stratagems, through which He had been drawn to combat, He now
receives, on our behalf and against Satan, the intercession of the One who was
assumed.

He (Satan) brought forward all his subtle arguments (against Him) and did not
cease from inflicting injuries, from beginning to end, and finally, in spite of
the fact that he found not a single just cause against Him, brought an unjust
death upon Him. He further added (in his brief) how he had cruelly harmed all
our race from the beginning. God, however, who was listening to all the story,
after having heard the things that were said by both sides, condemned the Tyrant
for the ill will of which he had made use against Christ and against all our
race, and pronounced judgment against him, while He raised Christ our Lord from
the dead, and made Him immortal and immutable, and took Him up to heaven. And He
promised to all the (human) race, while still on the earth, the joy of (His)
gifts so that no room might be left to Satan from which to inflict injuries on
us. We are thus in a virtuous nature and in a high dwelling, which is higher
than all the trials arising out of the wickedness of Satan, and absent and
remote from all sin. Have we not learnt also all this from the words of our Lord
who said: "Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world
|30 be cast out, and I when I am lifted up from the earth will draw all men to
Me?"

We must believe now that all these things have happened and taken place, and
that in nothing shall we appear henceforth to belong to the Devil. We have
rightly reverted to our Lord to whom we belonged before the wickedness of Satan,
and we are, as we were at the beginning, in the image of God. We had lost the
honour of this image through our carelessness, but by the grace of God we have
retaken this honour, and because of this we have become immortal and we will
dwell in heaven. Indeed it is in this way that the image of God ought to rejoice
and acquire the honour that is due to the One who by promise was to be called,
and was to be, in His image. By His grace we rightly left for ever the mortal
world, moved to the heavenly abode and citizenship, recognised our Lord, and are
now hastening to go to our firstfruits (i.e. Christ) which were picked on our
behalf and through which the Maker and the Lord of all gave us immortal life and
a heavenly abode and conversation. We rightly draw near now to the Church of God
because of our deliverance from tribulations and our delight in good things, and
because we expect to be enrolled in heaven through the gift of the holy baptism.

It is you who furnish the reason for this question and for this examination as
you clearly show that through the gift of the holy baptism you are separating
yourselves from the servitude of the Tyrant, which all our fathers from the time
of Adam downwards received, and in which they lived. This, however, goads Satan
to fight fiercely against us, so much so that he did not even desist from
fighting against our Lord because he believed Him to be a mere man on account of
His resemblance (to men), and |31 thought that by his stratagems and temptations
he might detach Him from the love of God.

Because you are unable by yourselves to plead against Satan and to fight against
him, the services of the persons called exorcists have been found indispensable,
as they act as your surety for Divine help. They ask in a loud and prolonged
voice that our enemy should be punished and by a verdict from the judge be
ordered to retire and stand far, so that no room and no entry of any kind might
be left to him from which to inflict harm on us, and so that we might be
delivered for ever from his servitude, and allowed to live in perfect freedom,
and enjoy the happiness of our present enrolment. You are doubtless aware of the
fact that when a case is being judged before a judge and when a litigant shouts
that he is innocent, and complains of a dire and cruel servitude in which he had
lived, and contends that a powerful man had forcibly and unjustly brought him
under his rule, it is necessary that when the case is being judged this same
litigant should remain silent, so that he might by his demeanour and behaviour
induce the judge to have mercy upon him. Another man, in the person of the
advocate, will demonstrate to the judge the truth of the complaint of those who
contend that they are ill-treated, and will invoke also the laws of the kingdom
in order that through them he may redress the wrong that was done. In this same
way when the words called the words of exorcism are pronounced you stand
perfectly quiet, as if you had no voice and as if you were still in fear and
dread of the Tyrant, not being in a position even to look at him on account of
the great injustice which he did to you and to your fathers, in the fact that he
led you into captivity, brought you into a dire and cruel servitude, and
inflicted upon you wounds that leave indelible scars, through the punishment of
death which he placed in your midst; and in the fact that he has been for a long
time the master of the servitude which you, with your own hands, brought upon
yourselves. You stand, therefore, with outstretched arms in the posture of one
who prays, and look downwards and remain in that state in order to move the
judge to mercy. And you take off your outer garment and stand barefooted in
order to |32 show in yourself the state of the cruel servitude in which you
served the Devil for a long time, according to the rules of captivity, and in
which you did all his work for him according to his requirements. Your aim in
this posture is also to move the judge to mercy, and it is this picture of
captivity that is implied in the words of God who spoke thus through the prophet
Isaiah: "Like as my servant Isaiah has walked naked and barefoot three years in
order that he might become a sign for the Egyptians and Ethiopians, so shall the
king of Assyria lead away the Egyptians and Ethiopians captives, young and old,
naked and barefoot."

You stand also on garments of sackcloth so that from the fact that your feet are
pricked and stung by the roughness of the cloth you may remember your old sins
and show penitence and repentance of the sins of your fathers, because of which
we have been driven to all this wretchedness of iniquities, and so that you may
call for mercy on the part of the judge and rightly say: "You has put off my
sackcloth and girded me with gladness." As to the words of exorcism they have
the power to induce you, after having made up your mind to acquire such a great
gain, not to remain idle and without work. You are, therefore, ordered in those
intermediary days to meditate on the words of the profession of faith in order
that you may learn it, and they are put in your mouth in order that through a
continuous meditation you may strive to be in a position to recite them by
heart. It would indeed be strange that the Jews should have the law written in a
book hanging from their hands so that they might always remember the
commandments, and we did not impress indelibly in our memory the words of a
faith which is so much higher. Owing to the fact that immediately after having
received the Divine order Adam met the Demon and was easily overcome by him
because of his lack of meditation and contemplation of that order, it is
imperative that in all this time you should continually meditate on the words of
the Creed so that it may be strengthened in you and deeply fixed in your mind,
and so that |33 you may love your religion without which you cannot receive the
Divine gift, or if you receive it, you cannot keep it and hold fast to it. When
the time for (the reception of) the sacrament draws near and the judgment and
fight with the Demon—for the sake of which the words of exorcism have been
used—are at an end; and when by God's decision the Tyrant has submitted and
yielded to the shouts of the exorcist and been condemned, so that he is in
nothing near to you and you are completely free from any disturbance from him;
and when you have possessed the happiness of this enrolment without any
hindrance —you are brought by duly appointed persons to the priest, as it is
before him that you have to make your engagements and promises to God. These
deal with the faith and the Creed, which by a solemn asseveration you declare
that you will keep steadfastly, and that you will not, like Adam, the father of
our race, reject the cause of all good things, but that you will remain till the
end in the doctrine of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, while thinking
of the same Father, Son and Holy Spirit as one Divine nature which is eternal
and cause of everything, and to the discipleship of which you have been admitted
by faith. It is in their names that you receive the happiness of this enrolment
which consists in the participation in heavenly benefits. When a person wishes
to enter the house of a man of power in this world, with the intention of doing
some work in it, he does not go direct to the master of the house and make his
engagement and his contract with him—as it is unbecoming to the master of the
house to condescend to such a conversation —but goes to the majordomo and agrees
with him about his work, and through him agrees with the master of the house, to
whom the house and all its contents belong. In this same way you act, you who
draw near to the house of God, which is the Church of the living God, as the
blessed Paul says, because God is as much greater than we are as He is higher in
His nature than |34 we are, and is for ever invisible, and dwells in a light
which is ineffable, according to the words of the blessed Paul. We approach,
therefore, the majordomo of this house, that is to say, of the Church, and this
majordomo is the priest, who has been found worthy to preside over the Church;
and after we have recited our profession of faith before him, we make with God,
through him, our contract and our engagements concerning the faith, and we
solemnly declare that we will be His servants, that we will work for Him and
remain with Him till the end, and that we will keep His love always and without
a change. After we have, by our profession of faith, made our contracts and
engagements with God our Lord, through the intermediary of the priest, we become
worthy to enter His house and enjoy its sight, its knowledge and its habitation,
and to be also enrolled in the city and its citizenship. We then become the
owners of a great confidence. As all this happens to us through the Sacrament,
to which we draw near after our profession of faith, it is necessary to say what
it is and how it is performed. It would indeed be strange to explain the reasons
for the ceremonies that precede the Sacrament and neglect the teaching of the
Sacrament itself. As, however, we have exceeded our usual time limits, and as
the things that have been, said are difficult to remember, we shall postpone
what we have to say to another day, and we shall put here an end to our speech
while glorifying God the Father, and His Only Begotten Son, and His Holy Spirit,
now, always and for ever and ever. Amen.

Here ends the second chapter.

Chapter III.

Synopsis of the Third Chapter.

You stand barefooted on sackcloth while your outer garment is taken off from you
and your hands are stretched towards God in the posture of one who prays. First
you genuflect while the rest of your |35 body is erect, and then you say: "I
abjure Satan and all his angels, and all his works, and all his service, and all
his deception, and all his worldly glamour; and I engage myself and believe, and
am baptised in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit."
While you are genuflecting, and the rest of your body is erect, and your look is
directed towards heaven, and your hands are outstretched in the posture of one
who prays, the priest, clad in linen robes that are clean and shining, signs you
on your forehead with the holy Chrism and says: "So-and-so is signed in the name
of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit." And your godfather who is
standing behind you spreads an orarium 8 of linen on the crown of your head,
raises you and makes you stand up erect. From what we have previously said, you
have sufficiently understood the ceremonies which are duly performed, prior to
the Sacrament, and according to an early tradition, upon those who are baptised.
When you go to be enrolled in the hope of acquiring the abode and citizenship of
heaven, you have, in the ceremony of exorcism, a kind of law-suit with the
Demon, and by a Divine verdict you receive your freedom from his servitude. And
thus you recite the words of the profession of faith and of prayer, and through
them you make an engagement and a promise to God, before the priests, that you
will remain in the love of the Divine nature—concerning which, if you think the
right things, it will be to you the source of great benefits; and it consists of
the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit—and that you will live in this world to
the best of your ability in a way that is consonant with the life and
citizenship of heaven. It is right now that you should receive the teaching of
the ceremonies that take place in the Sacrament itself, because if you learn the
reason for each one of them, you will acquire a knowledge that is by no means
small. After you have been taken away from the servitude of the Tyrant |36 by
means of the words of exorcism, and have made solemn engagements to God along
with the recitation of the Creed, you draw near to the Sacrament itself; you
must learn how this is done.

You stand barefooted on sackcloth while your outer garment is taken off from
you, and your hands are stretched towards God in the posture of one who prays.
In all this you are in the likeness of the posture that fits the words of
exorcism, as in it you have shown your old captivity and the servitude which
through a dire punishment you have rendered to the Tyrant; but it is right that
after you have cast away that posture and those memories you should draw near to
the Sacrament which implies participation in the future benefits. You recall in
your memory your old tribulations in order that you may all the better know the
nature of the things which you cast away and that of the things to which you
will be transferred.

First you genuflect while the rest of your body is erect, and in the posture of
one who prays you stretch your arms towards God. As we have all of us fallen
into sin and been driven to the dust by the sentence of death, it is right for
us to "bow our knees in the name of Jesus Christ," as the blessed Paul said, and
to "confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God His Father." In this
confession we show the things that accrued to us from the Divine nature through
the Economy of Christ our Lord, whom (God) raised up to heaven and showed as
Lord of all and head of our salvation. Because all these things have to be
performed by us all, who "are fallen to the earth" according to the words of the
blessed Paul, it is with justice that you, who through the Sacrament become
partakers of the ineffable benefits,3 to which you have been called by your
faith in Christ, bow your knees, and make manifest your ancient fall, and
worship God, the cause of those benefits. The rest of all your body is erect and
looks towards heaven. In this posture you offer prayer to God, and implore Him
to grant you deliverance from the ancient fall and participation in |37 the
heavenly benefits. While you are in this posture, the persons who are appointed
for the service draw near to you and say to you something more than that which
the angel who appeared to the blessed Cornelius said to him: your prayers have
been heard and your supplications answered. God has looked upon your
tribulations which you were previously undergoing, and had mercy upon you
because you were for a long time captives of the Tyrant, and served a cruel
servitude to him. He saw the number and the nature of the calamities which you
have endured, and this moved Him to deliver you from that servitude and from the
great number of your ancient tribulations, and to bring you to freedom and grant
you to participate in the ineffable heavenly benefits, which immediately after
you have received, you become undoubtedly free from all calamities. It is now
time for you to learn the things through which you will surely receive
deliverance from your ancient tribulations, and enjoy the good things that have
been shown to you.

What are then the engagements and promises which you make at that time, and
through which you receive deliverance from the ancient tribulations, and
participation in the future benefits?:

"I abjure Satan and all his angels, and all his service, and all his deception,
and all his worldly glamour; and I engage myself, and believe, and am baptised
in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit." The deacons
who at that time draw near to you prepare you to recite these words. It is in
place here to explain to you the power of these words, in order that you may
know the force of the engagements, promises and words of asseveration through
which you receive the happiness of this great gift. Because the Devil, to whom
you had listened, was for you the cause of numerous and great calamities—as he
has begun (his work) from the time of the fathers of your race—you promise to
abjure him, since facts themselves and your own experience had made you feel his
injuries. This is the reason why you say "I abjure Satan." Formerly, even if you
wished it, you did not dare to make use of these words, because you were afraid
of his servitude, but as you |38 have, by a Divine decree, received deliverance
from him, you proclaim and abjure him with confidence and by your own words, and
this is the reason why you say "I abjure Satan." In this you imply both your
present separation from him and the former association that you had with him.
Indeed, no one says that he abjures a thing with which he had formerly no
association. The use of this expression is especially incumbent upon you as you
had relation with him from the time of your forefathers, together with that
cruel and ancient pact, which resulted in the calamitous servitude to him, under
which you lived.

You rightly say "I abjure Satan," but you can hardly realise that after having
formerly felt the injury which he inflicted upon you in his relation with you,
you could be in a position to be delivered from him. In uttering these words you
really imply that you have no association of any kind left with him any more. It
is indeed difficult for you to realise the extent of the calamities into which
he was daily planning to cast us. Did you realise the extent to which Adam, our
common father, who had listened to him, has been injured, and into how many
calamities he has fallen? or the extent to which his descendants have given
themselves up to Satan? or the gravity of the calamities which were borne by
men, who later chose to become his servants? Now, however, that the great and
wonderful grace, which was manifest through Christ, freed us from the yoke of
the Tyrant and delivered us from his servitude, and granted us this wonderful
participation in benefits, I have recognised my benefactor. I know now my Lord,
and He is truly my Lord, who created me while I was not, who does not relent in
His daily beneficence to me, who did not forsake me even when I sinned against
Him but bestowed favour on me, who revealed to us an awe-inspiring gift, who did
not only vouchsafe to us deliverance from tribulations, but placed also before
us the hope of ineffable benefits. I abjure, therefore, Satan, I flee from
communion with him, and engage myself that henceforth I shall not run towards
him nor shall I have any intercourse with him, but I shall flee completely from
him as from an enemy and an evildoer, who became to us the |39 cause of
innumerable calamities, who does not know how to do good, and who strives with
all his power to fight us and overcome us. The expression "I abjure" means that
I will no more choose and accept any communion with him.

If Satan was striving alone and single-handed to fight against us and injure us,
the above expression, which contains the profession of abjuring him and
completely renouncing communion with him, would have been sufficient; as,
however, although invisible, he knows how to fight against us by means of
visible beings, the men whom he once subjected and made tools of his iniquity,
and whom he employs to cause others to stumble—you add:

"and his angels." The expression "his angels" refers to all men who received
evil of some kind from him, which they practise to harm other people. At the
beginning, when he had no one to cause to fall into sin and consequently to suit
him in the service of injuring others, the serpent became a tool in his hands,
of which he made use to deceive man and cause him to fall. Since, however, he
caught in his net the children of men and brought them under subjection a long
time ago, he employs those among them who are suitable to the task of injuring
others. This is the reason why the blessed Paul said: "I fear lest as the
serpent beguiled Eve through his subtility, so your minds should be corrupted
from the simplicity that is in Christ." He shows here that men of this world are
anxious to divert them from duty, and play the same role to the Devil in the
deception of mankind as that played by the serpent. This is the reason why,
after saying: "I abjure Satan" you add:

"and his angels."

You call angels of Satan all those who serve his will for the purpose of
deceiving people and causing them to fall. We must believe to be servants of
Satan all those who occupy themselves with the outside wisdom and bring the
error of paganism into the world. Clearly are angels of Satan all the poets who
maintained idolatry by their vain stories, and strengthened the error |40 of
heathenism by their wisdom. Angels of Satan are those men who under the name of
philosophy established devastating doctrines among pagans, and corrupted them to
such an extent that they do not acquiesce in the words of the true religion.
Angels of Satan are also the heads of heresies, those who after the coming of
Christ our Lord devised in an ungodly way, and introduced into the world, things
contrary to the true faith. Angels of Satan are Mani, Marcion, and Valentinus,
who detached the visible things from the creative act of God, and pretended that
these visible things were created by another cause outside God. An angel of
Satan is Paul of Samosata, who asserted that Christ our Lord was a simple man
and denied (the existence) before the worlds of the person of the Divinity of
the Only Begotten. Angels of Satan are Arius and Eunomius, who dared to affirm
that the nature of the Divinity of the Only Begotten was created and not
existing from the beginning, but that it came into existence from nothing
according to the law of created beings. In this they imitate the pagans, as they
assert that although the nature of the Son is created, they nevertheless believe
Him to be God by nature. They also imitate the ignorance of the Jews who deny
that He is a Son from the Father and that He is eternally from His Divinity, as
He is truly a true Son, and pretend that He is a son in a way similar to those
who among the Jews are called sons of God, who have acquired this sonship by
grace and not by virtue of their Divinity. An angel of Satan is also
Apollinarius, who falsified the doctrine of the Father, and of the Son and of
the Holy Spirit, and who, under the pretence of an orthodoxy which would leave
our salvation incomplete, categorically asserted that our mind was not assumed
and did not participate like the body in the assumption of grace. Angels of
Satan are those who in all heresies are the heads and the teachers of error,
whether they be honoured with the name of episcopacy or of priesthood, because
they are upholders and protectors of the words of error, and as such all of them
serve the will of Satan, and clad in the robe of ecclesiastical service, strive
to lean towards error. Angels |41 of Satan are also those who, after the
abolition of the law, think of drawing those who believed in Christ to the
observances of the Jews. Angels of Satan are also those who give to mankind
admonitions which are iniquitous, mischievous and contrary to the Divine
commandments, and who endeavour to lead it to the service of evil.

You abjure all the above (men) in a way that leaves you no association of any
kind with them, because you have drawn near to Christ and have been enrolled in
the Church of God, and expect to be the body and the members of Christ through
the birth of the holy baptism. Your association should be with Christ our Lord,
as a member united to His head and far from those who endeavour to detach you
from the faith and the creed of the Church.

After having said: "I abjure Satan and all his angels" you add:

"and all his service." This means that you should strive to turn away from and
reject both the men who serve the will of the Evil One and the things done by
them in the name of teaching, as they are palpable iniquity. Service of Satan is
everything dealing with paganism, not only the sacrifices and the worship of
idols and all the ceremonies involved in their service, according to the ancient
custom, but also the things that have their beginning in it. Service of Satan is
clearly that a person should follow astrology and watch the positions and
motions of the sun, the moon and the stars for the purpose of travelling, going
forth, or undertaking a given work, while believing that he is benefited or
harmed by their motion and their course; and that one should believe the men
who, after watching the motions of the stars, prognosticate by them. This is
clearly service of Satan, and the one who puts his confidence in God alone and
trusts His Providence, strives to turn away from this and similar things, and
expects everything from Him: the bestowal of good things and the abolition of
bad things; and does not think that anything like these can happen from another
quarter, but knows that anything that is outside the love of God |42 and
confidence in Him is under the influence of the tyranny and power of the Evil
One.

[These] are service of Satan: the purifications, the washings, the knots, the
hanging of yeast, the observances of the body, the fluttering or the voice of
birds and any similar thing.9 It is service of Satan that one should indulge in
the observances of Judaism. Service of Satan is also that service which is found
among the heretics under the name of religion, because although it has some
resemblance to an ecclesiastical service, yet it is devoid of the gift of the
grace of the Holy Spirit, and is performed in impiety. It is clearly service of
Satan if true are the words of our Lord who said: "Not everyone that says to me,
Lord, Lord, shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven, but he that does the will of
my Father which is in heaven." It is evident that you will have no utility in
calling upon the name of our Lord while in your mind you are with the ungodly,
outside the fear of God. None of those things that are done by them in imitation
of the ecclesiastical teaching brings any utility to those who perform them,
because the things done (by them) are forbidden by God, and all of them are thus
devoid of the gift of the Holy Spirit. As when in a theatrical performance and
in a play you see kings and you do not consider them kings because of the
imitation of their dresses, but all of them as a ludicrous representation and a
burlesque worthy to be laughed at—they only show before the eyes things taken
from the ordinary life of the world—so also the things performed by the heretics
under the name of doctrine, whether it be their baptism or their Eucharist,
deserve laughter; and we ought to turn away from them as from the service of
Satan, because all of them tend to strengthen impiety.

You also say:

"and all his deception."

They named in clear words as deception of Satan all the things that were done by
pagans under the name of doctrine, because they displayed all of them
ostentatiously and performed them with the intention of fascinating the
spectators and deceiving the others. All these things have by the grace of God
disappeared |43 to-day; but we must not think any the less of the service
performed by heretics, because having noticed that the error of paganism had
disappeared in the name of Christ, Satan strove to deceive the children of men
by other means, and discovered the heresies, and found out that those who
presided over them were, by their imitation of ecclesiastical ceremonies both in
the invocation of the (Divine) names and in their fanciful communion service, in
a position to deceive simple people and so lead them to the perdition of
impiety. After this you say:

"And all his worldly glamour."

They called his glamour, the theatre, the circus, the racecourse, the contests
of the athletes, the profane songs, the water-organs and the dances, which the
Devil introduced into this world under the pretext of amusement, and through
which he leads the souls of men to perdition. It is not difficult to know the
great injury caused by these things to the souls of men, and we ought to remove
from all of them the son of the Sacrament of the New Testament, who is being
enrolled in the citizenship of heaven, who is the heir of the future benefits,
and who is expecting to become henceforth, through the regeneration of baptism,
a member of Christ our Lord, the head of us all who is in heaven. We who are
playing the part of members to Him ought to lead a life that is congruous to
Him.

It is for this reason that at the time (preceding your baptism) you make these
promises and engagements in the posture which we have described above:

I abjure Satan, and all his angels, and all his service, and all his deception,
and all his worldly glamour; and I engage myself before the Divine, the blessed
and the eternal nature of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit."

After having said: "I abjure Satan, and his angels, and his service, and his
deception, and all his worldly glamour" you add:

"And I engage myself, and believe and am baptised in the name of the Father, and
of the Son and of the Holy Spirit." |44 As when you say "I abjure (Satan)" you
mean to reject him for always, and not to revert to him nor be pleased to
associate yourself with him any more, so also when you say "I engage myself
before God" you show that you will remain steadfastly with Him, that you will
henceforth be unshakeably with Him, that you will never separate yourself from
Him, and that you will think it higher than anything else to be and to live with
Him and to conduct yourself in a way that is in harmony with His commandments.
The addition "And I believe" is necessary because the person who draws near to
God ought to believe that He is, as the blessed Paul said. As Divine nature is
invisible, faith is called to the help of the person who draws near to it, and
who promises to be constantly in its household. The good things that (God)
prepared for us, through the Economy of Christ our Lord, are likewise invisible
and unspeakable, and since it is in their hope that we draw near to Him and
receive the sacrament of baptism, faith is required so that we may possess a
strong belief without doubt concerning these good things which are prepared for
us and which are now invisible.

You add also the sentence "and I am baptised" to that of "and I believe" so that
you may draw near to the gift of the holy baptism, in the hope of future
benefits, and be thus enabled to be reborn and to die with Christ and rise with
Him from there, and so that after having received another birth, instead of your
first one, you may be able to participate in heaven. As long as you are mortal
by nature you are not able to enter the abode of heaven, but after you have cast
away such a nature in baptism and have risen also with Christ through baptism,
and received the symbol of the new birth which we are expecting, you will be
seen as a citizen of heaven and an heir of the Kingdom of Heaven. To all the
above (sentences) you add:

"In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit." |45 This is
the Divine nature, this is the eternal Godhead, this is the cause of everything,
and this is that which first created us and now is renewing us. This is, indeed,
the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. It is to it that we are drawing near
now, and it is to it that we are rightly making our promises, because it has
been to us the cause of numerous and great benefits, as at the beginning even so
now. It is to it that we make these ineffable promises, and it is in it that we
engage ourselves to believe henceforth. It is in its names that we are baptised,
and through it that we expect to receive the future good things which are now
promised to us as in a symbol, and it is to it that we look for the happiness
which is to come, when we shall rise in reality from the dead, and become
immortal and immutable in our nature, and heirs and partakers of the abode and
citizenship of heaven.

These engagements and promises you make in the posture which we have described
above, while your knee is bowed to the ground both as a sign of adoration which
is due from you to God, and as a manifestation of your ancient fall to the
ground; the rest of your body is erect and looks upwards towards heaven, and
your hands are outstretched in the guise of one who prays so that you may be
seen to worship the God who is in heaven, from whom you expect to rise from your
ancient fall. This is the reason why you have, through the promises and
engagements which we have already described, directed your course towards Him
and have promised to Him that you will make yourself worthy of the expected
gift. After you have looked towards Him with outstretched hands, asked grace
from Him, risen from your fall and rejoiced in (future) benefits, you will
necessarily receive the firstfruits of the sacrament which we believe to be the
earnest of the good and ineffable things found in heaven. When you have,
therefore, made your promises and engagements, the priest draws near to you,
wearing, not his ordinary garments or the covering with which he was covered
before, but clad in a robe of clean and radiant linen, the joyful appearance of
which denotes the joy of the world to which you will move in the future, and the
shining colour of which designates your own radiance in the life to come, while
its cleanness indicates the ease and happiness of the next world. |46

He depicts these things to you by means of the garments in which he is clad, and
by the hidden symbol of the same garments he inspires you with fear, and with
fear he infuses love into you, so that you may through the newness of his
garments look into the power which it represents. And he signs you on your
forehead with the holy Chrism and says:

"So-and-so is signed in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy
Spirit."

He offers you these firstfruits of the sacrament, and he does it in no other way
than in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Where
you expect to find the cause of all the benefits, there the priest also begins
the sacrament. In fact, it is from there that the priest draws you near to the
calling towards which you must look, and in consequence of which you ought to
live above all things according to the will (of God). The sign with which you
are signed means that you have been stamped as a lamb of Christ and as a soldier
of the heavenly King. Indeed, immediately we possess a lamb we stamp it with a
stamp which shows to which master it belongs, so that it may graze the same
grass as that which the rest of the lambs of the owner graze, and be in the same
fold as that in which they are. A soldier who has enlisted for military service,
and been found worthy of this service of the State because of his stature and
the structure of his body, is first stamped on his hand with a stamp which shows
to which king he will henceforth offer his service; in this same way you also,
who have been chosen for the Kingdom of Heaven, and after examination been
appointed a soldier to the heavenly King, are first stamped on your forehead,
that part of your head which is higher than the rest of your body, which is
placed above all your body and above your face, and with which we usually draw
near to one another and look at one another when we speak. You are stamped at
that place so that you may be seen to possess great confidence.

"Because now we see through a glass darkly, but then face to face, and with an
open face we shall behold as in a glass the glory of the Lord, and shall be
changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the
Lord," as the |47 blessed Paul said, we are rightly stamped in a place that is
higher than our face, so that from far we may frighten the demons, who will not
then be able to come near us and injure us, and so that we may be known to
possess so much confidence with God that we look at Him with an open face, and
display before Him the stamp by which we are seen to be members of the household
and soldiers of Christ our Lord. When the priest performs these things for you
and signs you with a sign on your forehead, he separates you from the rest as a
consequence of the aforesaid words, and decides that you are the soldier of the
true King and a citizen of heaven. The sign (with which you have been signed)
demonstrates that you have communion with, and participation in, all these
things.

Immediately after your godfather, who is standing behind you, spreads an orarium
of linen on the crown of your head, raises you and makes you stand erect. By
your rising from your genuflexion you show that you have cast away your ancient
fall, that you have no more communion with earth and earthly things, that your
adoration and prayer to God have been accepted, that you have received the stamp
which is the sign of your election to the ineffable military service, that you
have been called to heaven, and that you ought henceforth to direct your course
to its life and citizenship while spurning all earthly things. The linen which
he spreads on the crown of your head denotes the freedom to which you have been
called. You were before standing bareheaded, as this is the habit of the exiles
and the slaves, but after you have been signed he throws on your head linen,
which is the emblem of the freedom to which you have been called. Men such as
these (=freemen) are in the habit of spreading linen on their heads, and it
serves them as an adornment both in the house and in the market-place.

After you have been singled out and stamped as a soldier of Christ our Lord you
receive the remaining part of the sacrament and are invested with the complete
armour of the Spirit, and with the sacrament you receive participation in the
heavenly benefits. |48

We ought to explain little by little how these things are effected, but let what
has been said suffice for to-day, and let us end our discourse as usual by
offering praise to God the Father, and to His Only Begotten Son, and to the Holy
Spirit, now, always, and for ever and ever. Amen.

Here ends the third Chapter.

Chapter IV.

Synopsis of this Chapter.

You draw near to the holy baptism, and first take off all your garments, after
which you are duly and thoroughly anointed with holy Chrism. The priest begins
and says: "So-and-so is anointed in the name of the Father, and of the Son and
of the Holy Spirit." Then you descend into the water that has been consecrated
by the benediction of the priest, who, clad in the aforesaid apparel, stands up
and approaches his hand, which he places on your head and says: "So-and-so is
baptised in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit." He
places his hand on your head and says, "in the name of the Father," and with
these words he causes you to immerse yourself in the water. If you were allowed
to speak there you would have said ""Amen!", but you simply plunge into the
water and incline your head downwards; and the priest says "and of the Son" and
causes you with his hand to immerse yourself again while inclining also your
head downwards; and the priest says "and of the Holy Spirit" and presses you
down and causes you again to immerse in a similar way. After you have left that
place, you put on a very radiant garment, and the priest draws near and signs
you on your forehead and says: "So-and-so is signed in the name of the Father,
and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit."

We left off yesterday our catechetical discourse with the words which deal with
the fact that you have been signed with |49 the oil of baptism, enlisted in the
service of heaven, and counted among the chosen and the elect. The Kingdom of
Heaven has been made manifest through the Economy of Christ our Lord, who after
His Passion and resurrection ascended into heaven where He established His
Kingdom. Now it is right for us—all of us who have been called to that service
of heaven—to have communion with heaven, where all of us will move and where our
King is, as He Himself said: "I will that they be with Me where I am." We expect
to reign with Him if, as the blessed Paul said, through suffering we show our
love to Him; and we shall be with Him in heaven and partakers of that great
glory. It is for this task that you have been signed, and it is through this
signing that you are known to have been chosen for the service of heaven. This
is the reason why immediately you rise up you spread on your head linen, which
is a mark of freedom, and this signifies that you have been chosen for the
heavenly service and been freed from communion with earthly things, while
obtaining the freedom which is in heaven. If a slave is not allowed in this
world to do military service to a king, how much more ought the person who has
been detailed for the service of heaven to be remote from servitude? AH of us,
therefore, who have received communion with heavenly things are freemen of that
"free Jerusalem which is above and which is the mother of us all," as the
blessed Paul said.

Yesterday we spoke sufficiently of the signing and of the meaning of the
ceremonies that take place in it, and it is right for us to speak to-day of the
things that follow it.

You should now proceed towards baptism in which the symbols of this second birth
are performed, because you will in reality receive the true second birth only
after you have risen from the dead and obtained the favour to be in the state of
which you were deprived by death. It is indeed plain that he who is born afresh
returns to the state in which he was before, while it is equally clear that the
one who dies relinquishes his present state. You will, therefore, have the
second birth, at the resurrection, when you will be given to be in the state in
which you were |50 after you were born of a woman, and of which you were
deprived by death. All these things will happen to you in reality at the time
appointed for your birth at the resurrection; as to now you have for them the
word of Christ our Lord, and in the expectation of them taking place you rightly
receive their symbols and their signs through this awe-inspiring Sacrament, so
that you may not question your participation in future things.

You draw, therefore, near to the holy baptism which contains the symbol of the
birth which we expect. This is the reason why our Lord called it second birth
when He said to Nicodemus: "Unless a man is born again, he cannot see the
Kingdom of God." In this He showed that those who will enter the Kingdom of God
must have a second birth. Nicodemus, however, thought that they will be born
according to a carnal birth from a woman, and said: "How can a man be born when
he is old? Can he enter the second time into his mother's womb, and be born? "
He said this because he believed that we shall be born in a way similar to our
first birth. As to our Lord He did not disclose to him then that there are two
ways in which we shall in reality receive this, one of which is at the
resurrection, because He knew that the subject was too much for his hearing. He,
therefore, only disclosed to him then the symbolical birth which is accomplished
through baptism, to which all those who believe must draw near so that by means
of its symbols they may move to the happiness of the reality itself, and
answered: "Unless a man is born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into
the Kingdom of God." He mentioned the method by saying "of water," and He
revealed the cause by the mention of "the Spirit." This is the reason why He
added: "That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the
Spirit is spirit." He did not make mention here of the water, because it plays
the part of the symbol of Sacrament, while He did mention the Spirit, because
this birth is accomplished by His action. Illuminatingly he implied by these
words that he who is born of the flesh is flesh by nature, and is mortal,
passible, corruptible, and changeable in everything. |51 When Nicodemus asked:
"How can these things be? ", He answered Him: "The Spirit 10 blows where He
wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell from where He comes, and
to where He goes; so is everyone that is born of the Spirit." He did not mention
the water at all, but He lifted the veil of doubt from the point and showed it
to be credible from the truth of the Spirit. The sentence "He blows where He
wishes" demonstrates His power through which He does everything He wishes, which
implies that He can do everything. Indeed, anyone who has it in his power to do
everything He wishes, has also by necessity the power to accomplish anything He
wishes with ease. He used, therefore, the sentence "so is everyone that is born
of the Spirit" with a purpose. He implied by it that we ought to think that the
Spirit possesses such a great power and such a great might that we are not to
doubt and question anything that comes from Him although it be above, and higher
than, our intelligence.

He called baptism a second birth because it contains the symbol of the second
birth, and because through baptism we participate as in symbol in this second
birth. Indeed, we receive from baptism participation in this second birth
without any question and doubt. This is the reason why the blessed Paul said:
"As many of us as were baptised into Jesus Christ were baptised into His death,
and were buried with Him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised
up from the dead by the glory of His Father, even so we also should walk in
newness of life." Formerly, and before the coming of Christ, death held sway
over us by a Divine decree which was all-binding, and possessed great
sovereignty over us; but because Christ our Lord died and rose again, He changed
that decree and abolished the sovereignty of death, which to those who believe
in Christ resembles a long sleep, as the blessed Paul said: "But now is Christ
risen from the dead and become the firstfruits of them that sleep." He calls
"them that sleep" those who die after |52 the resurrection of Christ, because
they will rise and divest themselves of death through the resurrection. Because
Christ our Lord abolished the power of death by His own resurrection (the
Apostle) said: "As many of us as were baptised into Jesus Christ were baptised
into His death." As if one were saying: We know that death has been abolished a
long time ago by Christ our Lord, and we draw near to Him and are baptised with
such a faith because we desire to participate in His death, in the hope of
participating also in the resurrection from the dead, in the way in which He
himself rose. This is the reason why, when at my baptism I plunge my head I
receive the death of Christ our Lord, and desire to have His burial, and because
of this I firmly believe in the resurrection of our Lord; and when I rise from
the water I think that I have symbolically risen a long time ago.

Since, however, all this is done in symbols and in signs, in order to show that
we do not make use of vain signs only, but of realities in which we believe and
which we ardently desire, he said: "For if we have been planted together in the
likeness of His death we shall be also (in the likeness) of His resurrection."
In using the future tense he confirms the present event by the future reality,
and from the greatness of the coming reality he demonstrates the credibility of
the greatness of its symbols, and the symbol of the coming realities is baptism.
The working of the Holy Spirit is that it is in the hope of the future things
that you receive the grace of baptism, and that you draw near to the gift of
baptism in order to die and to rise with Christ so that you may be born again to
the new life, and thus, after having been led by these symbols to the
participation in the realities, you will perform the symbol of that true second
birth.

If you say that the greatness of the symbols and of the signs is in the visible
water, it would be an unimportant affair, as this has already happened before,
but because this second birth, which you receive now sacramentally as the symbol
of an earnest, is accomplished by the action of the Holy Spirit, great is the
Sacrament which is performed and awe-inspiring and worthy |53 of credence is the
virtue of the symbols, which will also without doubt grant us to participate in
the future benefits. We expect to delight in these benefits because as an
earnest of them we have received the grace of the Holy Spirit, from which we
have now obtained also the gift of performing this Sacrament. This is the reason
why the blessed Paul said: "In whom we believed and were sealed with the Holy
Spirit of promise which is the earnest of our inheritance to the praise of His
glory." He calls here the Spirit of promise the grace which is promised to us by
the Holy Spirit, as we receive it in the promise of the future benefits, and he
calls it the earnest of our inheritance because it is from it that we become
partakers of those future benefits.

He said, therefore, in another passage: "God has established us with you in
Christ and anointed us and sealed us and given the earnest of His Spirit in our
hearts." And again he said in another passage: "And not only they but ourselves
also which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within
ourselves waiting for the adoption of children to the redemption of our bodies."
He uses the words "firstfruits of the Spirit which we have here" to imply that,
when we shall dwell in the joy of the realities, we shall receive all the grace,
and by the words "we wait for the adoption of children, to the redemption of our
bodies" he shows that here we only receive the symbol of the adoption of
children but that thereafter, having been born afresh, risen from the dead,
become also immortal and incorruptible, and received complete abolition of pains
from our bodies, we shall receive the real adoption. He clearly calls
"redemption of our bodies" the assumption of incorruptibility and immortality,
because it is through these things that a complete abolition of calamities from
our bodies is effected. The power of the holy baptism consists in this: it
implants in you the hope of the future benefits, enables you to participate in
the things which we expect, and by means of the symbols and signs of the future
good things, it informs you with the gift of the |54 Holy Spirit the firstfruits
of whom you receive when you are baptised.

You draw, therefore, near to the holy baptism, and before everything you take
off your garments. As when Adam was formerly naked and was in nothing ashamed of
himself, but after having broken the commandment and become mortal, he found
himself in need of an outer covering, so also you, who are ready to draw near to
the gift of the holy baptism so that through it you may be born afresh and
become symbolically immortal, rightly remove your covering, which is a sign of
mortality and a reproving mark of that (Divine) decree by which you were brought
low to the necessity of a covering.

After you have taken off your garments, you are rightly anointed all over your
body with the holy Chrism: a mark and a sign that you will be receiving the
covering of immortality, which through baptism you are about to put on. After
you have taken off the covering which involves the sign of mortality, you
receive through your anointing the sign of the covering ot immortality, which
you expect to receive through baptism. And you are anointed all over your body
as a sign that unlike the covering used as a garment, which does not always
cover all the parts of the body, because although it may cover all the external
limbs, it by no means covers the internal ones—all our nature will put on
immortality at the time of the resurrection, and all that is seen in us, whether
internal or external, will undoubtedly be changed into incorruptibility
according to the working of the Holy Spirit which shall then be with us.

While you are receiving this anointing, the one who has been found worthy of the
honour of priesthood begins and says: "So-and-so is anointed in the name of the
Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit." And then the persons appointed
for this service anoint all your body. After these things have happened to you,
at the time which we have indicated, you descend into the water, which has been
consecrated by the benediction of the priest, as you are not baptised only with
ordinary water, but with the water of the second birth, which cannot |55 become
so except through the coming of the Holy Spirit (on it). For this it is
necessary that the priest should have beforehand made use of clear words,
according to the rite of the priestly service, and asked God that the grace of
the Holy Spirit might come on the water and impart to it the power both of
conceiving that awe-inspiring child and becoming a womb to the sacramental
birth. Our Lord also, when Nicodemus asked Him whether a man "can enter the
second time into his mother's womb, and be born," answered: "Unless a man is
born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God." He
shows in this that as in a carnal birth the womb of the mother receives the
human seed, and the Divine hand fashions it according to an ancient decree, so
also in baptism, the water of which becomes a womb to the one who is being born,
and the grace of the Spirit fashions in it, into the second birth, the one who
is being baptised, and changes him completely into a new man. And inasmuch as
the seed that falls into the womb of the mother has neither life, nor soul nor
feeling, but after it has been fashioned by the Divine hand, it results in a
living man, endowed with soul and feeling, and in a human nature capable of all
human acts, so also here the one who is baptised falls into the water as into a
womb, like a seed which bears no resemblance of any kind to the mark of an
immortal nature, but after he has been baptised and has received the Divine and
spiritual grace, he will undoubtedly undergo a complete change: he will be
fashioned from a mortal into an immortal, from a corruptible into an
incorruptible, and from a mutable into an immutable, nature; and he will be
changed completely into a new man according to the power of the One who fashions
him. And inasmuch as the one who is born of a woman has potentially in him the
faculty of speaking, hearing, walking and working with his hands, but is very
weak to perform all these acts in reality till the time in which God has decreed
for him to perform them, so also is the case here in connection with the one who
is born of baptism. This one has indeed in him and possesses |56 potentially all
the faculties of an immortal and incorruptible nature, but is not now in a
position to make use of them and put them into a complete and perfect act of
incorruptibility, immortality, impassibility and immutability. He who receives
through baptism the potential faculty of performing all these acts, will receive
the power of performing them in reality at the time when he is no more a natural
but a spiritual man, and when the working of the (Holy) Spirit renders the body
incorruptible and the soul immutable, while sustaining and keeping both of them
by His power, as the blessed Paul said: "It is sown in corruption, it is raised
in incorruption; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; it is sown in
dishonour, it is raised in glory; it is sown a natural body, it is raised a
spiritual body." He shows here that incorruption, glory and power will come then
to man through the working of the Holy Spirit, which affects both his soul and
body, the former with immortality and the latter with immutability; and that the
body which will rise from the dead and which (man) will put on will be a
spiritual and not a natural body.

It is owing to the fact that the nature of the water does not possess all these
attributes, which are implanted in it at our immersion by the working of the
Holy Spirit, that the priest makes use beforehand of his priestly service and of
clear words and benedictions, written for the purpose, and prays that the grace
of the Holy Spirit come upon the water and prepare it with His holy and
awe-inspiring presence for the task of performing all these things, so that it
may become a reverential womb for the second birth, and so that those who
descend into it may be fashioned afresh by the grace of the Holy Spirit and born
again into a new and virtuous human nature. When the water has been prepared for
this and has received such a power by the coming of the Holy Spirit, you plunge
into it hoping to receive from it benefits such as those (described above), and
an awe-inspiring salvation. It is right for you, therefore, to think that you
are going into the water as into a furnace, where you will be renewed and
refashioned in order that you may |57 move to a higher nature, after having cast
away your old mortality and fully assumed an immortal and incorruptible nature.
These things dealing with birth happen to you in the water because you were
fashioned at the beginning from earth and water, and having fallen later into
sin you assumed a thorough corruption through the sentence of death. The potters
are also in the habit, when the vessels which they fashion are damaged, to
refashion them again with water so that they may be remade and reconstructed and
given the wanted form. This is the reason why God ordered also the prophet
Jeremiah to repair to a potter; and he went and saw him working on a vessel,
which, because it was marred, he cast in water, remade, and brought to its
former state; and then God said to him: "O house of Israel, cannot I do with you
as this potter? says the Lord." Because we also were made of earth and clay—as
it is said: "For you are also made of clay like me," and "forgive them that
dwell in a house of clay because we also are made of the same clay"—when we fell
and sin corrupted us, we received a complete dissolution from the (Divine)
sentence of death, but afterwards our Maker and our Lord refashioned us and
remade us by His ineffable power, because He abolished death by resurrection and
granted to all of us the hope of resurrection from the dead, and a world higher
than the present, where we shall not only dwell but also become immortal and
incorruptible. Of these things which are believed to take place in such a
wonderful way that no one is able to describe, we perform the symbols and the
signs in baptism and in water. We were rightly taught to perform the symbol of
the resurrection so that we might think that we were by nature made of clay,
that we fell and sin corrupted us, that because of this we received the sentence
of death, but that we were renewed and remodelled by Divine grace, which brought
us to an immortal nature; a thing that no man had believed or imagined. We
perform the symbols and signs (of these things) in water, and are renewed and
reconstructed according to the working of the Spirit on it. We who draw |58 near
to baptism receive, therefore, these benefits from the Sacrament in symbol,
while in the next world we shall all of us receive renewal of our nature in
reality. As an earthen vessel, which is being remade and refashioned in water,
will remain in its soft nature and be clay as long as it has not come in contact
with fire, but when it has been thrown on fire and baked on it, it will
undoubtedly be remade and refashioned—so also we, who are in a mortal nature,
rightly receive our renewal through baptism and are refashioned through this
same baptism and receive the grace of the Holy Spirit, which hardens us more
than any fire can do. As we do not expect a second renewal, so we do not expect
a second baptism. Because we expect but one resurrection, from which we shall
become immortal and shall never be liable to death, we shall not be in need of a
second renewal. This is the case also with Christ our Lord, as the blessed Paul
said: "Christ rose from the dead and dies no more, and death has no more
dominion over Him." The things that happen to you through the gift of the holy
baptism are after this pattern.

It is now time to know who is the one who is the cause of all benefits to you,
who casts you into the fire and renews you, who transfers you to a higher
nature, who from being mortal makes you immortal, and from corruption brings you
to incorruption. The priest stands up and approaches his hand, which he places
on your head, and says: "So-and-so is baptised in the name of the Father, and of
the Son and of the Holy Spirit," while wearing the aforesaid apparel which he
wore when you were on your knees and he signed you on your forehead, and when he
consecrated the water. It is in this apparel that he performs the gift of
baptism, because it is right for him to perform all the Sacrament while wearing
it, as it denotes the renovation found in the next world, to which you will be
transferred through this same Sacrament. He says: "So-and-so is baptised in the
name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit" in order to show by
these words who is the cause of this grace. As he says: "So-and-so is signed in
the name of the Father, and of the Son, |59 and of the Holy Spirit," so he says:
"So-and-so is baptised in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the
Holy Spirit." All this is in harmony with the teaching of our Lord who said: "Go
you and teach all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father, and of the
Son, and of the Holy Spirit." He shows by these words that all the cause of the
good things is in the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, an eternal nature and
cause of everything, by which we were created at the beginning, and expect now
to be renewed. It is not possible that one should be the cause of our first
creation and another the cause of this second, which is higher than the first.

It is indeed known that the One who at the beginning willed and made us mortal,
is the One who is now pleased to make us immortal, and the One who at the
beginning made us corruptible is the One who now makes us incorruptible. He
willed at the beginning and made us passible and changeable, and at the end He
will make us impassible and unchangeable. He is the Lord, and has power to
accomplish both. He rightly and justly leads us from low to high things, so that
by this transference from small to great things we may perceptibly feel that our
Maker and the cause of all our good things, who at the beginning made us as He
wished and willed, and who at the end brought us to perfection, did do so in
order to teach us to consider Him as the cause also of our first state, and thus
to think that since we were in need to be transferred to perfection, we could
not have existed at the beginning if He had not brought us into existence. The
priest places his hand on your head and says: "So-and-so is baptised in the name
of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit," and does not say "I
baptise (So-and-so)," but "So-and-so is baptised"—in the same way as he had
previously said "So-and-so is signed" and not "I sign So-and-so"—in order to
show that as a man like the rest of men he is not able to bestow such benefits,
which only Divine grace can bestow. This is the reason why he rightly does not
say "I baptise" and "I sign" but "So-and-so is signed and baptised." In this he
immediately refers to the One by whom a person is signed and |60 baptised,
namely "in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit," and
shows that these are the cause of the things that happen to him, and
demonstrates that he himself is a subordinate and a servant of the things that
take place, and a revealer of the cause which gives effect to them.

When, therefore, (the priest) utters the words: "In the name of the Father, and
of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit," he reveals to you the cause of the things
that take place. Inasmuch as the one who said: "In the name of Jesus of Nazareth
rise up and walk," alluded to Christ as the cause of what would take place, and
to the fact that it would be He who would give (to the lame man) the power of
rising up and walking, so also the (priest) who says: In the name of the Father,
and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit" refers to them as the cause of the
benefits conferred upon us in baptism, and implies that it is by them that our
renewal is accomplished, by them the second birth is granted to us, by them we
are fashioned into immortal, incorruptible, impassible and immutable men, and by
them we cast away the old servitude and receive the freedom which involves
complete abolition of tribulations, and delight in the eternal and ineffable
benefits.

He says "in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit" as
if he were saying "in the call upon the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit."
The prophet Isaiah said thus: "Beside You we know no other Lord. We are called
by Your name." It is as if he were saying: He said, Beside You we know no other
Lord, O cause of everything, because it is by You that all evil is abolished, it
is from You that we expect to receive the delight in all good things, and it is
upon You that we were ordered to call for all our necessities. You are the cause
of everything, and You alone are able to grant everything and do everything as
You wish. Here also (the priest) says: "in the name" of the Father, and of the
Son and of the Holy Spirit as if he were saying: we are baptised by |61 the call
upon the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. It is upon this nature that we
call for the gifts of the benefits which we are expecting, as it is the cause of
everything, and it alone is able to do everything as it wishes. The priest does
not say "in the name of the Father, and in the name of the Son, and in the name
of the Holy Spirit," because every one of them has a separate name that does not
fit that of the other. Indeed, the name of the Father is one thing, if I may so
express myself, and the name of the Son is another thing, and the name of the
Holy Spirit is another thing still, but because (the priest) does not pronounce
the name by which each one of them is called, that is to say, Father, Son and
Holy Spirit, but refers by the word "name" to the invocation which is the cause
of our benefits, namely the eternal nature of the Father, the Son and the Holy
Spirit, and because this invocation of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit
is one, he says, "in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy
Spirit."

We do not name Father as one cause, and the Son as another cause, and the Holy
Spirit as another cause still, but because these three form the one cause from
which we expect the delight in the benefits which are looked for in baptism, we
rightly make use of one invocation only with which we name the Father, the Son
and the Holy Spirit. Think of these names as if you were performing a prayer
with them, and when the priest says "in the name of the Father" suppose that he
is saying "Grant, O Father, these eternal and ineffable benefits for which this
person is now being baptised"; and likewise when he says "of the Son" suppose
that he is saying "Grant, O Son, the gift of the benefits of baptism"; and
similarly when he says "of the Holy Spirit," suppose that he is saying "Grant in
baptism, O Holy Spirit, the benefits for which this person has come to be
baptised." In the same way as one who says: "In the name of Jesus Christ of
Nazareth rise up and walk" means this: O Lord Jesus Christ, grant this person to
rise up and to walk, so also when (the priest) says "in the name of the Father,
and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit," he does not imply anything else |62
but: O Father, Son and Holy Spirit, grant this person who is being baptised the
grace of the second birth. The sentence "in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth
rise up and walk 'is similar to that: "Aeneas, Jesus Christ makes you whole." As
he revealed here to Aeneas, who was healed, and to those who were present, the
One who was the cause of healing, so also in the sentence "in the name of Jesus
Christ of Nazareth" he revealed the cause of healing. In this same way the
sentence: "in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit"
reveals the giver of the benefits of baptism, which are: second birth, renewal,
immortality, incorruptibility, impassibility, immutability, deliverance from
death and servitude and all evils, happiness of freedom, and participation in
the ineffable good things which we are expecting. The person who is baptised is
baptised for these things. The call upon the Father, Son and Holy Spirit is,
therefore, used for the purpose of knowing from whom the benefits of baptism are
expected. The priest places his hand on your head and says "of the Father," and
with these words he causes you to immerse yourself in water, while you
obediently follow the sign of the hand of the priest and immediately, at his
words and at the sign of his hand, immerse yourself in water. By the downward
inclination of your head you show as by a hint your agreement and your belief
that it is from the Father that you will receive the benefits of baptism,
according to the words of the priest. If you were allowed to speak at that time,
you would have said: "Amen," a word which we believe to mean that we subscribe
to the things said by the priest, as the blessed Paul said: "He that occupies
the room of the unlearned says 'Amen' at your giving of thanks." He shows here
that this word is said by the congregation at the giving of thanks by the
priests to signify by it that they subscribe to the things that are said. You
are, however, not allowed to speak at the time of baptism, as it is right for
you to receive the renewal through the Sacrament, when you are baptised, in
silence and fear, while by inclining your head downwards you |63 signify that
you subscribe to the things said by the priest. You, therefore, immerse and bow
your head while the priest says "and of the Son," and causes you with his hand
to immerse again in the same way. And you show that you subscribe to the words
of the priest, and as a sign also that you are expecting to receive the benefits
of baptism from the Son, you bow your head. Then the priest says "and of the
Holy Spirit" and likewise presses you down into the water, while you immerse
yourself and look downwards as a sign that here also you make the same
confession to the effect that you are expecting the benefits of baptism from the
Holy Spirit. After this you go out of the water. When the priest says "of the
Father" you immerse, bow your head, but do not go out of the water; and when he
says "and of the Son," you immerse and bow your head likewise, but do not go out
of the water; and after he has said "and of the Holy Spirit," he has finished
the complete call upon the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and so after immersing
again and bowing your head, you go out of the water of baptism, which, so far as
you are concerned, comes to an end, because, as you remember, there is no name
left for you on which to call, as the cause of the expected benefits.

You perform three identical immersions, one in the name of the Father, another
in the name of the Son, and another in the name of the Holy Spirit; your
immersions are done in an identical way in order that you may know that each one
of those names is equally perfect and able to confer the benefits of baptism.
You immerse yourself in water three times, according to the words of the
priests, but you go out of the water once in order that you may know that
baptism is one, and one also the grace which is accomplished in it by the
Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit who are never separated from one another as
they are one nature. This is the reason why, although each one of them is able
to confer the gift—as the baptism by which you are baptised in the name of each
one of them shows—yet we believe that we only receive a complete baptism when
the call upon the Father, Son and Holy Spirit is finished. Because the Father,
the Son and the |64 Holy Spirit have one essence and one Godhead, it is
necessary to assume that they have also one will and one action whereby
everything is usually done by them to the creatures. It follows that we also
expect the second birth, the second creation, and, in short, all the benefits of
baptism, in no other way than by calling upon the Father, the Son and the Holy
Spirit; and this call we consider to be the cause of all good things to us. This
is the reason why the blessed Paul said: "One Lord, one faith, one baptism, one
body and one Spirit, one God and Father of all, and through all, and in you
all." He does not mean to say that one is Lord but not God and Spirit, and that
another is God but not Lord and Spirit, and that the third is Spirit but not
Lord and God, because it is necessary for anyone who is Lord to be also both God
and Spirit, and for anyone who is God to be both Lord and Spirit, and for anyone
who is truly Spirit—I mean the Holy Spirit—to be both God and Lord, but he
teaches us that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are one incorporeal and
uncircumscribed Lordship, one Godhead and one essence, which grants us through
baptism the adoption of children. In it we believe and are baptised and through
it we become one body, according to the working on us of the Holy Spirit, in
baptism, which makes us children of God and one body of Christ our Lord, whom we
consider our head, as He is from our nature, and was the first to rise from the
dead, and as it is through Him that we received participation in benefits. By
naming the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit we name the cause of all
benefits. He would not have said that the faith in the Father, the Son and the
Holy Spirit was one had He known that they had a different nature, nor would He
have said that the baptism in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy
Spirit was one had He known that they had a different will, power and action. It
is indeed evident that faith is one because the Godhead in which we believe is
one, and that baptism is one because the persons who are named in it have one
will, one power and one action, by which we receive the second birth. And we |65
become one body of Christ, because we consider Christ our Lord in the flesh as
our head, since He was assumed from us and was the first to rise from the dead,
and thus He confirmed for us our participation in the resurrection from which we
expect our body to be similar to His body. Indeed "our conversation is in heaven
from from where also we look for our Saviour, our Lord Jesus Christ, who shall
change our vile body that it may be fashioned like to His glorious body." This
will take place in reality in heaven, but we perform its symbols and its signs
in baptism. We are also called the body of Christ our Lord, Christ our Lord
being our head, as the blessed Paul said: "Christ is the head from which all the
body is joined and knit together and increases with the increase of God." The
same Christ our Lord was seen before His resurrection from the dead to receive
baptism in the Jordan from John the Baptist, so that He might draw in it
beforehand the figure of this baptism which we were to receive by His grace. He
was "the firstborn from the dead," as the blessed Paul said, "so that in all
things He might have the pre-eminence." Not only in the reality of the
resurrection, therefore, did He wish to have the pre-eminence over you but also
in its symbol, and this is the reason why He condescended to be baptised by
John. He thus drew beforehand in Himself the figure of the grace of this baptism
which you are about to receive, in order that He might have the pre-eminence
over you in it also. The blessed John the Baptist said to Him: "I have need to
be baptised by You, and You come to me?" so that he might show that there was a
great difference between himself and Him; but He replied: "Allow it to be so
now, for thus it appears right for us to fulfil all righteousness." He meant by
this that righteousness is fulfilled by grace in baptism, and that it is through
you that it has to find an entry into those who are under the law, so that this
same law might be considered praiseworthy from the fact that it was through it
that righteousness found an entry. Our Lord was, therefore, baptised by John,
but not in the |66 baptism of John, which was that of repentance for the
forgiveness of sins. Our Lord, who was completely free from sin, was in no need
of it, but He was baptised in our own baptism the symbol of which He depicted in
this way. This is the reason why He received also the Holy Spirit who, as the
evangelist said, "descended like a dove and lighted on Him." Indeed, John had no
power to confer the Spirit: "It is He that will baptise you with the Holy Spirit
and with fire." In this he clearly revealed that it did not belong to him to
confer the Spirit. His task was only to baptise with water in a baptism of
repentance for the forgiveness of sins, while it only belonged to our Lord to
confer the Spirit, whom He conferred now upon us in baptism as the firstfruits
of the future benefits, which He will confer upon us in their entirety at the
time of the resurrection, when our nature will receive a complete transformation
into virtue. It is right for you, therefore, to know that you are baptised in
the same baptism as that in which Christ our Lord in the flesh was baptised, and
this is the reason why you are baptised in the name of the Father, and of the
Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

(The baptism of our Lord) was in fact symbolically drawn to the pattern of ours.
In it the Father cried and said: "This is my beloved Son in whom I am well
pleased." In this He showed the grace of the adoption of children for which
baptism takes place, and the sentence "This is my beloved Son in whom I am well
pleased" is as if one were saying: this is truly adoption of children; this is
the beloved who pleased me; this is the Son who received such an adoption of
children as this, which is much higher than that ruling among the Jews, as the
latter underwent change: "I have said, You are gods, and all of you children of
the Most High, but you shall die like men," while the former will remain
unchangeable. Indeed anyone who receives this adoption of children will remain
immortal, because he moves, through the symbols (of baptism), to that adoption
of children which will take place at the resurrection, from which he will be
transformed into an immortal and incorruptible nature. There was also the Son in
the One who was baptised, and by His proximity to Him |67 and by His union with
the one who was assumed, He was confirming the adoption of children. And there
was also the Holy Spirit who descended like a dove and lighted on Him. In this
He was also baptised in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy
Spirit.

When, therefore, the priest says "in the name of the Father remember the
sentence "this is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased," and think of the
adoption of children which is conferred upon you by the Father; and when he says
"and of the Son" think of the One who was near to the One who was baptised, and
understand that He became to you the cause of the adoption of children; and when
he says "and of the Holy Spirit" think of the One who descended like a dove and
lighted upon Him, and expect from Him the confirmation of the adoption of
children. The blessed Paul said: "For as many as are led by the Spirit of God,
they are the children of God." The true adoption of children is, therefore, that
which is conferred by the Holy Spirit; and that to which the Spirit is not near,
and that in which He does not work and lead (men) to the gift of the things that
are believed, is not the true one.

You receive, therefore, the grace of the adoption of children in the name of the
Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, and you go out of the water. You have now
received baptism which is the second birth; you have fulfilled by your baptism
in water the rite of the burial, and you have received the sign of the
resurrection by your rising out of the water; you have been born and have become
a new man; you are no more part of Adam who was mutable and burdened and made
wretched by sin, but of Christ who was completely freed from sin through
resurrection,11 while even before it He never drew near to it. It was congruous
that (this sinless state) should have had its beginning in Him before (His
resurrection), and that at His resurrection He should fully receive an immutable
nature. In this way He confirmed to us the resurrection from the dead and our
participation in incorruptibility. |68 When you go out (of the water) you wear a
garment that is wholly radiant. This denotes the next world which is shining and
radiant, and the life into which you had a long time beforehand moved through
symbols. When you have received the resurrection in reality and put on
immortality and incorruptibility, such a garment will be wholly unnecessary, but
since now you do not possess these things in reality and have only received them
sacramentally and symbolically, you are in need of garments. Of these you wear
those which denote the happiness, which you have now received symbolically but
which you will one day possess in reality.

After you have received the grace of baptism and worn a white garment that
shines, the priest draws near to you and signs you on your forehead and says:
"So-and-so is signed in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy
Spirit." When Jesus came out of the water He received the grace of the Holy
Spirit who descended like a dove and lighted on Him, and this is the reason why
He is said to have been anointed: "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because of
which the Lord has anointed me," and: "Jesus of Nazareth whom God has anointed
with the Holy Spirit and with power": texts which show that the Holy Spirit is
never separated from Him, like the anointment with oil which has a durable
effect on the men who are anointed, and is not separated from them. It is right,
therefore, that you also should receive the signing on your forehead. When (the
priest) signs you he says: "So-and-so is signed in the name of the Father, and
of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit," so that it may be an indication and a sign
to you that it is in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit that the Holy
Spirit descended on you also, and you were anointed and received grace; and He
will be and remain with you, as it is through Him that you possess now the
firstfruits. Indeed, at present you only receive symbolically the happiness of
the future benefits, but at the time of the resurrection you will receive all
the grace, from which you will become immortal, incorruptible, impassible and
immutable; even your body will then |69 remain for ever and will not perish,
while your soul will be exempt from all inclination, however slight, towards
evil. As such is the second birth that comes to us through baptism, to which you
are about to draw near, and from which we expect to move into that real and
awe-inspiring second birth of the resurrection. It confirms in us that which
comes to us in symbols and signs through faith, and strengthens us in relation
to it. It is not to be wondered at that we receive two births, and that we shall
move from the present birth to the future one, as even in our carnal birth we
receive a two-fold birth, one of which from the male and the other, which comes
later, from the female. We are first born of the male in the form of human
semen, which has not a single vestige of human form. It is indeed clear to every
one that the semen has no human form of any kind, and that it receives the form
of the human nature according to the laws formulated by God for our nature after
it has been conceived, fashioned, formed and born of a woman. It is in this same
way that we are also born, first in the form of semen through baptism, before we
are born of the resurrection, and have taken shape in the immortal nature into
which we expect to be changed, but when by faith and hope in the future things
we have been formed and fashioned into the life of Christ and remained till the
time of the resurrection, then we shall receive according to the decree of God,
a second birth from dust, and assume an immortal and incorruptible nature, and
"our vile body will be changed by Christ our Lord that it may be fashioned into
His glorious body," as the blessed Paul said.

After you have received in this way a sacramental birth through baptism, you
draw near to an immortal food, consonant with your birth, with which you will be
nourished. You will have now to learn, at an opportune time, the nature of this
food and the way in which it is presented to you. For the present, however,
because you have received through (our) teaching the birth of baptism, and have
drawn near, through this second birth, to communion with that ineffable light,
and because we have, by what we have said, wrapped you tightly in swaddling
clothes, |70 so that you may grasp and remember firmly and unshakeably the birth
that takes place, we shall soothe you by silence, and by the permission of God
we shall bring you at an opportune time near to the Divine food and our
discourse thereon. And now let us put the usual end to our speech by glorifying
God the Father, and His Only Begotten Son, and the Holy Spirit, now, always, and
for ever and ever. Amen.

Here ends the fourth chapter.

Chapter V.

Synopsis of this Chapter.

We must first of all realise that we perform a sacrifice of which we eat, and
that it is the office of the priest of the New Testament to offer this
sacrifice, as it is through it that the New Covenant appears to be maintained.
We must think that the priest who now draws near to the altar performs the image
of the (heavenly) sacrifice, and we must also think that the deacons represent
the image of the service of the invisible hosts. They have an apparel which is
consonant with their office, since their outer garment is taller than they are.
They place a stole on their left shoulders, and it floats on either side
equally.

We must think of Christ being at one time led and brought to His Passion, and at
another time being stretched on the altar to be sacrificed for us. This is the
reason why those deacons who spread linens on the altar represent the figure of
the linen clothes of the burial (of our Lord), while those who stand on both
sides (of the altar) agitate all the air found upon the holy body with fans.
These things take place while everybody is silent, then comes prayer —not a
silent prayer—announced beforehand in the loud voice of the deacon. When
everyone is silent the priest begins with the appointed service. And the priest
finishes his prayer, after which he offers thanksgivings for himself; and all
the congregation says: "Amen." And |71 the priest prays: "Peace he to you" and
for this the congregation answers: "And to your spirit" And the priest begins to
give peace, and the Church crier shouts and orders all to give peace one to
another. While this is taking place the priest washes his hands first, and then
all those who, whatever their number, are counted in the assembly of priesthood.
Then the names of the living and the dead are read from Church books. After this
the priest draws near to the service while the Church crier shouts: "Look at the
oblation." 12

It is the habit of men to wrap the newborn babes in swaddling clothes so that a
freshly constituted and still soft body may not receive any injury, but that it
should remain firm in its composition. They first stretch and place them
restfully in swaddling clothes, and then bring to them a natural food that is
fitting and suitable to them. In this same way we have also tightly wrapped in
our teaching, as in swaddling clothes, those who were newly born of baptism so
that the memory of the grace promised to them might be firmly established in
them; and we soothed them by the cessation of our speech, because the measure of
things that were said was adequate. To-day, however, I am contemplating to draw
you, by the grace of God, to the nourishment of a bread, the nature of which you
must know and the greatness of which you must learn with accuracy. When we shall
have received the true birth through the resurrection, you will receive another
food that cannot be described with words, and you will then be clearly fed by
the grace of the Spirit whereby you will remain immortal in your bodies and
immutable in your souls. It is a food such as this that is suitable to that
birth; and the grace of the Spirit will grant those who shall be born of the
resurrection to remain firm, so that their bodies shall not suffer dissolution
and their souls shall |72 not be affected by any change that may incline them to
evil. And because we are born now symbolically through baptism, in the hope of
that other birth which we are expecting, we receive at present, in form of an
earnest, the firstfruits of the grace of the Holy Spirit, which will then be
given to us, as we expect to receive it fully in the next world through the
resurrection. It is only after its reception that we hope to become immortal and
immutable, and it is right for us now to eat symbolically, by the grace of the
Holy Spirit, a food suitable to the present life. For this reason the blessed
Paul said: "For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you do
remember the Lords death till He come." He shows that when our Lord shall come
from heaven, and make manifest the future life, and effect the resurrection of
all of us—from which we shall become immortal in our bodies and immutable in our
souls—the use of sacraments and symbols shall by necessity cease. Since we shall
be in the reality itself, we shall be in no need of visible signs to remind us
of the things that shall take place. Inasmuch as in this world we exist by two
acts: birth and food—in birth we receive our existence and in feeding ourselves
we are enabled to maintain our existence, as those who are born will surely die
if they are short of food—so also is the case with the next world, in which
having been born of resurrection we shall receive our existence, and having
become immortal, we shall continue to remain in that state. The blessed Paul
therefore said: "For we know that if this our earthly house were dissolved, we
have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens."
In this world we contrive to feed ourselves by the labour of our hands, and so
we maintain our existence; but when, at the resurrection, we have become
immortal and received the heavenly abode, we shall have no more need of this
food of the labour of our hands, because immortality, which we shall then
assume, will maintain us in our existence by the power of grace, as with food.
This is the reason why the blessed Paul calls our |73 abode of that time "an
house not made with hands, and a building of God in heaven."

These things will, as I have said, happen to us in the future, at the
resurrection; and because we are now born in baptism through symbols and signs,
it is right for us also to take our food according to the same symbols, so that
we may be enabled to maintain the existence which we receive from baptism.
Indeed, every animal is born of another animal and feeds on the body of the
animal that brings it forth, and God has so arranged it at the beginning, with
the creatures, that every animal that brings forth possesses food suitable to
those that are born of it. In this same way it is necessary for us, who have
symbolically received the grace of God, to receive our food from where we had
our birth, and the death of Christ our Lord, when abolished by His resurrection,
showed to us the birth that will come to us in the next world through the
resurrection. This is the reason why the blessed Paul said also: "As many of us
as were baptised into Christ Jesus were baptised into His death, because we were
buried with Him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from
the dead by the glory of His Father, even so we also should walk in the newness
of life. For if we have been planted with Him in the likeness of His death, we
shall also live in His life." He shows here that resurrection was made manifest
in the death of Christ our Lord, and that we are buried with Him in baptism, and
after we have been here partakers of His death in faith, we shall also
participate in the resurrection. As we receive birth of baptism in the death of
Christ our Lord, so also we receive food symbolically in death. The blessed Paul
bears witness to this when he says: "As often as you eat this bread and drink
this cup, you do remember the Lord's death till He come." He shows that in our
communion and participation in the Sacrament we remember our Lord from whom we
receive resurrection and happiness of immortality. Indeed, it is right for us
who have received a sacramental birth in the death of Christ |74 our Lord, to
receive the sacramental food of immortality in this same death, and to feed
ourselves in the future from where we had also received our birth, as it is the
habit of all the animals which are brought forth to be in a position to feed
themselves from those which bring them forth. Our Lord also testifies to this,
because in the institution of the Sacrament He said: Take, eat, this is my body
which is broken for you for the remission of sins," and: "Take, drink, this is
my blood which is shed for you for the remission of sins." He said this because
in His death He gave us the next world in which there will be abolition of all
sins. As to us it is right for us to perform symbolically the remembrance of His
death by our participation in the Sacrament, from which we derive the possession
of the future benefits and the abolition of sins. The food of the holy Sacrament
possesses such a power, and fits the birth of those who eat it. Indeed, as in
this world we take the spiritual food in signs and symbols, it is necessary that
the nature of these signs and symbols should fit our present condition in which
we take the symbolical food. As we received the second birth in water, which is
useful and necessary to life in this world—so much so that we are not even able
to make bread without water—so also we take our food in bread and in wine mixed
with water, as they eminently fit this life and sustain us to live in it. As we
are sufficiently enabled to maintain ourselves in this life, and to remain in it
by necessity through the suitable symbols of that spiritual food which shall be
ours, let us think in our mind that it is from this food that we are expecting
to become immortal and remain for ever. These are the things in the hope of
which we partake of this holy food of the Sacrament.

Indeed, He (our Lord) gave us the bread and the cup because it is with food and
drink that we maintain ourselves in this world, and He called the bread "body"
and the cup "blood," because, as it was His Passion that affected His body which
it tormented and from which it caused blood to flow, He wished |75 to reveal, by
means of these two objects through which His Passion was accomplished, and also
in the symbol of food and drink, the immortal life, in which we expect to
participate when we perform this Sacrament from which we believe to derive a
strong hope for the future benefits. It is with justice, therefore, that when He
gave the bread He did not say: "This is the symbol of my body," but: "This is my
body"; likewise when He gave the cup He did not say: "This is the symbol of my
blood" but: "This is my blood," because He wished us to look upon these
(elements) after their reception of grace and the coming of the Spirit, not
according to their nature, but to receive them as if they were the body and the
blood of our Lord. Indeed, even the body of our Lord does not possess
immortality and the power of bestowing immortality in its own nature, as this
was given to it by the Holy Spirit; and at its resurrection from the dead it
received close union with Divine nature and became immortal and instrumental for
conferring immortality on others. This is the reason why, when our Lord said:
"He that eats my body and drinks my blood has eternal life," and saw that the
Jews were murmuring and doubting the things that were said, and thinking that it
was impossible to receive immortality from mortal flesh, He added immediately
for the purpose of removing this doubt: "If you see the Son of Man ascend up
where He was before." It is as if He were saying: the thing that is being said
about my body does not appear now true to you, but when you see Me rising up
from the dead and ascending into heaven, it will be made manifest (to you) that
you were not to think that what had been said was harsh and unseemly, as the
facts themselves will convince you that I have moved to an immortal nature,
because if I were not in such a nature I would not have ascended into heaven.
And in order to show from where these things came to Him He added quickly: "It
is the Spirit that lives, the flesh profites nothing," as if He were saying:
these things will come to it from the |76 nature of the vivifying Spirit, and it
is through Him that it will be given to it to become immortal and to confer also
immortality on others. These things it did not possess, and was not, therefore,
in a position to confer upon others as coming from its nature, because the
nature of the flesh is not able by itself to grant a gift and a help of this
kind. If, therefore, the nature of the vivifying Spirit made the body of our
Lord into what its nature did not possess before, we ought, we also, who have
received the grace of the Holy spirit through the symbols of the Sacrament, not
to regard the elements merely as bread and cup, but as the body and the blood of
Christ, into which they were so transformed by the descent of the Holy Spirit,
by whom they become to the partakers of them that which we believe to happen to
the faithful through the body and blood of our Lord. This is the reason why He
said: "I am the bread which came down from heaven," and "I am the bread of
life"; and to show them what was that which He called bread, He said: "And the
bread that I will give is my flesh which I will give for the life of the world."

Because we sustain ourselves in this life with bread and food, He called Himself
the bread of life that came down from heaven, as if He were saying: I am truly
the bread of life and give immortality to those who believe in Me through this
visible (body) for the sake of which I came down and to which I granted
immortality, which through it will extend to those who believe in Me. While He
might have said: "It is I who give life," He did not say it, but said "I am the
bread of life," because as we would be receiving the promise given us here of
the immortality, which we expect in sacramental symbols, through bread and cup,
we had to honour also the symbol which became worthy of this appellation. He
called Himself bread as an allusion to the things that were to be given, as He
wished to convince us, from things belonging to this world, that we shall
receive also without doubt the benefits that are high above words. The fact that
in order to sustain ourselves in this life we eat bread, and the fact that bread
cannot fulfil this function by its nature, but has been enabled to do so by
order of God |77 who imparted this power to it, should by necessity convince us
not to doubt that we shall receive immortality by eating the sacramental bread.
Indeed, although bread does not possess such a nature, yet when it receives the
Holy Spirit and His grace it is enabled to impart to those who eat it the
happiness of immortality. If it is capable of sustaining us in this life by a
decree of God, although not possessing this power by nature, how much more will
it not be capable, after it has received the descent of the Holy Spirit, of
helping us to assume immortality. It does not do this by its own nature but by
the Spirit who is dwelling in it, as the body of our Lord, of which this one is
the symbol, received immortality by the power of the Spirit, and imparted this
immortality to others, while in no way possessing it by nature.

(Our Lord) chose, therefore, very fittingly bread as food, and the cup—which
consists of wine mixed with water—as drink. The Old Testament had already taken
blood to mean wine: "He gave him to drink the blood of the grapes," while in
another passage it says: "He shall wash his garments in wine and his clothes in
the blood of grapes." That what He gave was wine He made perfectly clear by
saying: I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine until I drink it
new with you in my Father's Kingdom." He alludes by the Kingdom of God to the
resurrection, because it is for those who shall rise from the dead in the next
world that He has established the Kingdom of God. And since He was about to
commune with them in food and drink after His resurrection, and before His
ascension into heaven, as the blessed Luke said, He meant by the above words
that His Passion was near and that He would not be taking any food with them
before this Passion, but that after His resurrection from the dead He would be
eating and drinking with them in order to confirm this resurrection. This is the
reason why He said: "I will not drink |78 henceforth of this fruit of the vine
until I drink it new with you in the Kingdom of God." As if He were saying: I
shall not take food or drink with you before my Passion, because it is very
near, but when I have risen from the dead I shall both eat and drink, and in
this I shall do a novel thing. It is indeed a novel thing for one who rose from
the dead and became immortal in his nature to eat and drink, but I shall do
violence to the natural laws so that you may possess a strong faith about Me
that I rose from the dead. It is I—whom you previously knew to have eaten and
drunk with you—who rose. Because you will have much doubt about my resurrection,
it is necessary that I should do violence to the natural laws in order to
confirm it to you, and that I should perform a novel thing that has never
happened before, namely to eat and drink after having assumed immortal nature. A
firm knowledge of my resurrection is all the more required of you because you
will be the teachers of this resurrection to others. That what is given to you
in the cup by Christ our Lord as a symbol of His blood is wine, one is able also
to see from the fact that it is mixed with water. This is either due to the fact
that it is generally drunk in this way, or to the fact that having already taken
bread it was fitting as a counterpart of it to take a cup of water—as bread
cannot be made without a mixture of water—or also to the fact that having made
use of this symbol in the birth of baptism we do likewise make use of it for the
delight of the Sacrament of our nourishment. As it was necessary to remember the
death of our Lord in our participation in the holy Sacrament, as the blessed
Paul said, in the same way as we remember it in the things that take place in
baptism, what was necessary for us to find in the elements of the gift of the
holy baptism, from which we believe that we symbolically receive the second
birth, had also to be found in the elements of the symbols of the Sacrament.
This is the power of the Sacrament, and these are the symbols and the signs of
the Sacrament in its twofold side of |79 eating and drinking. It is useful now
to speak to you, for the sake of your sound teaching, of the way in which they
are effected.

We must first of all realise that we perform a sacrifice of which we eat.
Although we remember the death of our Lord in food and drink, and although we
believe these to be the remembrance of His Passion—because He said: "This is my
body which is broken for you, and this is my blood which is shed for you"—we
nevertheless perform, in their service, a sacrifice; and it is the office of the
priest of the New Testament to offer this sacrifice, as it is through it that
the New Covenant appears to be maintained. It is indeed evident that it is a
sacrifice, but not a new one and one that (the priest) performs as his, but it
is a remembrance of that other real sacrifice (of Christ). Because the priest
performs things found in heaven through symbols and signs, it is necessary that
his sacrifice also should be as their image, and that he should represent a
likeness of the service of heaven. It would be impossible for us to be priests
and do priestly service outside the ancient law if we did not possess the
likeness of heavenly things. The blessed Paul said about Christ our Lord that
"if He were on the earth He should not be a high priest, seeing that there were
priests of the law who offer gifts according to the law and who serve to the
example and shadow of heavenly things." He means by this that all the priests
according to the law performed their priestly service on earth, where all the
law was made to suit mortal men, and the sacrifices consisted of irrational
beasts led to be slaughtered to death, which meant that they were fit for this
mortal sojourn on earth. It is indeed clear that all the injunctions and ritual
of the law were only partially suitable. Circumcision, Sabbath, holy days,
observances of days, and distinctions in food: all these suited a mortal nature,
and none of them has any place in an immortal nature, and to people who
performed such things even sacrifices of irrational beasts are not suitable, as
these are slaughtered and |80 die in the act of sacrifice. As to Christ our
Lord, if He were about to perform His priestly service on earth, it was
necessary that He also should perform this service according to the Divine law,
which was something that harmonised with the (Mosaic) law; and if He did not
perform a priestly service according to the law, He would not have been a high
priest, as He would then be performing a priestly service not according to the
law of God. Now, however, He performs the priestly service in heaven and not on
earth, because He died, rose, ascended into heaven in order to raise us all up
and cause us to ascend into heaven, and made a covenant with those who believe
in Him that He will grant them participation in the resurrection from the dead
and ascension into heaven.

He performs a real high priesthood and offers to God no other sacrifice than
Himself, as He had delivered also Himself to death for all. He was the first to
rise from the dead, and He ascended into heaven and sat at the right hand of God
in order to destroy all our adversaries, as the blessed Paul said: "He offered
one sacrifice for our sins for ever, sat on the right hand of God, from
henceforth expecting till His enemies be made His footstool. For by one offering
He has perfected for ever them that are sanctified." He calls His enemies those
who fight against us, and their destruction is clearly seen in our perfection,
as the work of a high priest consists in his drawing near to God first and then
in drawing also the others to Him through himself. The blessed Paul rightly
calls Him high priest because He was so in reality, as through His resurrection
He was the first to ascend into heaven; and He sat on the right hand of God, and
granted us through Himself to be near to God and partakers of good things. "The
high priest of all of us is," as the blessed Paul said, "Christ our Lord, who
did not, like the high priests of the law, serve to the example and shadow of
heavenly things, but He is the minister of the sanctuary and of the true
tabernacle which God pitched and not man," so that through them He might make
manifest |81 the heavenly things. He refers by the word "sanctuary" to heavenly
things which do not contain anything that is contrary or reprehensible, and by
the sentence "the true tabernacle which God pitched and not man" to the heavenly
abode, because the tabernacle of the law was pitched by man, but heaven is made
not by men but by God, and it is of it that the Apostle said that Christ is the
minister, as He ascended into heaven and there performs service for all of us,
so that He might draw us to Him by all means, according to His promise. It is
for this reason that he said in another passage that "He is at the right hand of
God and making intercession for us." He calls "intercession" not a supplication
made for us in words, as this intercession is made in deeds, because through His
ascension into heaven He makes intercession for us to God and is anxious that
all of us should ascend into heaven to Him.

If, as the blessed Paul said, Christ our Lord should not be a priest if He
performed His priestly service on earth, it follows that He does not perform His
service according to the ritual of the law, but since priesthood and the service
of the law were made manifest by God on earth, it was not necessary that it
should be rejected by God and another one be substituted on the same earth. He
is then rightly a priest because He performs priestly service in heaven, where
there is not a single association with earthly things, and in this way no blame
attaches to the priests of the law. Since these are said in another place to do
their work among mortal and earthly men, while He performs His priestly service
in immortal and heavenly things, which are much higher and loftier, is it not
clear that neither can we be priests appointed to do priestly service for
earthly things? It is indeed well known that the priesthood of the law suited
earthly and mortal men, while Christ is the high priest of heavenly things, and
will cause all of us to ascend into heaven at the right time. As to us who are
called to a new covenant, as the blessed Paul said, we received salvation and
deliverance in hope, and |82 although we have not seen them we expect "by our
patience to be absent from the body and be with our Lord." We walk by faith and
not by sight because we are not yet in the reality, as we are not yet in the
heavenly benefits. We wait here in faith until we ascend into heaven and set out
on our journey to our Lord, where we shall not see through a glass and in a
riddle but shall look face to face. These things, however, we expect to receive
in reality through the resurrection at the time decreed by God, and now it is
only by faith that we draw near to the firstfruits of these good things: to
Christ our Lord and the high priest of things that belong to us. We are ordered
to perform in this world the symbols and signs of the future things so that,
through the service of the Sacrament, we may be like men who enjoy symbolically
the happiness of the heavenly benefits, and thus acquire a sense of possession
and a strong hope of the things for which we look. As the real new birth is the
one which we expect through the resurrection, and we nevertheless perform this
new birth symbolically and sacramentally through baptism, so also the real food
of immortality is that which we hope to receive truly in heaven by the grace of
the Holy Spirit, but now we symbolically eat the immortal food which is given to
us by the grace of the Holy Spirit, whether in symbols or through symbols. It
follows that a role of a high priest must needs be filled, and it is found in
those who are appointed for the service of these symbols. Those who have been
chosen as the priests of the New Testament are believed to perform
sacramentally, by the descent of the Holy Spirit, and for the confirmation and
admonition of the children of the Sacrament, these things which we believe that
Christ our Lord performed and will perform in reality. This is the reason why
they do not immolate at all times new sacrifices like the priests of the law.
These were ordered to offer to God numerous and different sacrifices of oxen,
goats and sheep, and offered new sacrifices at all times. When first |83
sacrificial beasts had been slaughtered, had died and suffered complete
dissolution, others were always immolated in the place of those which had been
slaughtered a long time previously. As to the priests of the New Testament they
immolate the same sacrifice always and everywhere, because one is the sacrifice
which has been immolated for us, that of Christ our Lord who suffered death for
us and who, by His offering this sacrifice, obtained perfection for us, as the
blessed Paul said: "By one offering He perfected for ever them that are
sanctified." All of us, everywhere, at all times, and always, observe the
commemoration of that sacrifice, "for as often as we eat this bread and drink
this cup we do show the Lord's death till He come." As often, therefore, as the
service of this awe-inspiring sacrifice is performed, which is clearly the
likeness of heavenly things and of which, after it has been perfected, we become
worthy to partake through food and drink, as a true participation in our future
benefits—we must picture in our mind that we are dimly in heaven, and, through
faith, draw in our imagination the image of heavenly things, while thinking that
Christ who is in heaven and who died for us, rose and ascended into heaven and
is now being immolated. In contemplating with our eyes, through faith, the facts
that are now being re-enacted: that He is again dying, rising and ascending into
heaven, we shall be led to the vision of the things that had taken place
beforehand on our behalf.

Because Christ our Lord offered Himself in sacrifice for us and thus became our
high priest in reality, we must think that the priest who draws near to the
altar is representing His image, not that he offers himself in sacrifice, any
more than he is truly a high priest, but because he performs the figure of the
service of the ineffable sacrifice (of Christ), and through this figure he dimly
represents the image of the unspeakable heavenly things and of the supernatural
and incorporeal hosts. Indeed, all the invisible hosts did service to that
Economy which transcends our words and which Christ our Lord accomplished for
us. "They are all ministering spirits sent forth to minister |84 for them who
shall be heirs of salvation" as the blessed Paul said. Matthew, the evangelist,
showed also this when he said: "and the angels came, and ministered to Him."
This is also attested by our Lord who said: "Hereafter you shall see heaven open
and the angels of God ascending and descending to the Son of Man." Incidents in
the Gospel show also events that happened through them, whether it be through
those who at the birth of our Lord sang: "Glory to God in the highest, peace on
earth and good hope to men," or through those who at His resurrection revealed
to women what had occurred, or through those who at His ascension explained to
the Apostles that which they did not know. It is necessary, therefore, that here
also, when this awe-inspiring service is performed, we should think that the
deacons represent an image of the service of these invisible spirits, and that
they have been appointed to minister to this awe-inspiring service by the grace
of the Holy Spirit which they received. This is the reason why all of us are
called the ministers of Christ, as the blessed Paul said: "Inasmuch as I am the
apostle of the Gentiles I magnify my ministry." This name, however, is
especially applied to those who perform this ministry, and are called by all
"deacons," as they are alone appointed to perform this ministry, and represent a
likeness of the service of the spiritual messengers and ministers. They have
also an apparel which is consonant with their office, since their outer garment
is taller than they are, as wearing such an apparel in such a way is suitable to
those who serve. They place on their left shoulders a stole, which floats
equally on either side, forwards and backwards. This is a sign that they are not
performing a ministry of servitude but of freedom, as they are ministering to
things that lead to freedom all those who are worthy of the great house of God,
that is to say the Church. They do not place the stole on their neck in a way
that it floats on either side but not in front, because there is no one serving
|85 in a house who wears such an apparel; it is only those who are masters of
themselves and remote from servitude of any kind who wear it in this way, but
the deacons place it on their shoulders because they are appointed for service.
The stole is their only sign of that freedom to which all of us, who believed in
Christ, have been called; and we hasten to go to, and be in, "the house of God,
which is the Church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth," as
the blessed Paul says; and they are clearly appointed for the service of all
things performed in it.

Because the things performed for us by Christ our Lord are awe-inspiring, and
because we expect their complete fulfilment in the next world, we receive them
now only by faith, and we proceed gradually in this world in a way that we are
in nothing absent from our faith in them. This being the case, we are
necessarily confirmed in the faith of the things revealed to us through this
ministry of the Sacrament, as we are led through it to the future reality,2
because it contains an image of the ineffable Economy of Christ our Lord, in
which we receive the vision and the shadow of the happenings that took place.
This is the reason why through the priest we picture Christ our Lord in our
mind, as through him we see the One who saved us and delivered us by the
sacrifice of Himself; and through the deacons who serve the things that take
place, we picture in our mind the invisible hosts who served with that ineffable
service. It is the deacons who bring out this oblation—or the symbols of this
oblation—which they arrange and place on the awe-inspiring altar, (an oblation)
which in its vision, as represented in the imagination, is an awe-inspiring
event to the onlookers.

We must also think of Christ being at one time led and brought to His Passion,
and at another time stretched on the altar to be sacrificed for us. And when the
offering which is about to be placed (on the altar) is brought out in the sacred
vessels of the paten and the chalice, we must think that Christ our Lord is
being led and brought to His Passion, not, however, by the Jews—as it is
incongruous and impermissible that an |86 iniquitous image be found in the
symbols of our deliverance and our salvation—but by the invisible hosts of
ministry, who are sent to us and who were also present when the Passion of our
Salvation was being accomplished, and were doing their service. Indeed, they
performed their service to all the Economy of Christ our Lord without any
exception, and were present with their service at the time of the Passion,
endeavouring to perform it according to the will of God. When our Lord was in
deep thought and fear at the approach of His Passion, the blessed Luke said that
"an angel appeared to Him strengthening and encouraging Him," and like those
persons who are wont to stir up the courage of the athletes with their voices,
he anointed Him to bear tribulations, and by encouraging words persuaded Him to
endure pains with patience, and showed Him that His Passion was small in
comparison with the benefit that will accrue from it, as He would be invested
with great glory after His Passion and His death, from which He would be the
cause of numerous benefits not only to men but to all the creation.

We must think, therefore, that the deacons who now carry the Eucharistic bread
and bring it out for the sacrifice represent the image of the invisible hosts of
ministry, with this difference, that, through their ministry and in these
remembrances, they do not send Christ our Lord to His salvation-giving Passion.
When they bring out (the Eucharistic bread) they place it on the holy altar, for
the complete representation of the Passion, so that we may think of Him on the
altar, as if He were placed in the sepulchre, after having received His Passion.
This is the reason why those deacons who spread linens on the altar represent
the figure of the linen clothes of the burial (of our Lord). Sometime after
these have been spread, they stand up on both sides, and agitate all the air
above the holy body with fans, thus keeping it from any defiling object. They
make manifest by this ritual the greatness of the body which is lying there, as
it is the habit, when the dead body of the high personages of this world is
carried on a bier, that some men should fan the air above it. It is, therefore,
with justice that |87 the same thing is done here with the body which lies on
the altar, and which is holy, awe-inspiring and remote from all corruption; a
body which will very shortly rise to an immortal nature.

It is on all sides of this body that persons, who are especially appointed to
serve, stand up and fan. They offer to it an honour that is suitable, and by
this ritual they make manifest to those present the greatness of the sacred body
that is lying there. It is indeed clear to us from the Divine Book that angels
sat upon the stone near the sepulchre and announced His resurrection to the
women, and remained there all the time of His death, in honour of the One who
was laid there, till they witnessed the resurrection, which was proclaimed by
them to be good to all mankind, and to imply a renewal of all the creation, as
the blessed Paul said: "Any man who is in Christ is a new creature. Old things
are passed away and all things are become new. Was it not right, therefore, that
here also (the deacons) should represent as in an image the ministry of the
angels? It is in remembrance of those who constantly came to the Passion and
death of our Lord, that they also stand in a circle and agitate the air with
fans, and offer honour and adoration to the sacred and awe-inspiring body which
is lying there. In this they make manifest to all those present the greatness of
the object that is lying there, and induce all the onlookers to think of it as
awe-inspiring and truly sacred, and to realise that it is for this reason that
they keep it from all defiling things, and do not even allow the dirty
tricklings of birds to fall upon it and come near it. This they do now according
to their habit in order to show that because the body which is lying there is
high, awe-inspiring, holy, and truly Lord through its union with the Divine
nature, it is with great fear that it must be handled, seen and kept.

These things take place while every one is silent, because when the service has
not yet begun, every one must look at the bringing out and spreading of such a
great and wonderful |88 object with a quiet and reverential fear and a silent
and noiseless prayer. When our Lord also had died the Apostles moved away and
were in the house in great silence and immense fear; so great indeed was the
silence that overtook every one that even the invisible hosts kept quiet while
looking for the expected resurrection, until time came and Christ our Lord rose,
and a great joy and an ineffable happiness spread over those invisible hosts.
And the women who came to honour the body received from the angels the new
message of the resurrection that had taken place, and when the disciples also
learnt through them what had occurred they run together with great zeal to the
sepulchre. We are drawn now by similar happenings to the remembrance of the
Passion of our Lord, and when we see the oblation on the
communion-table—something which denotes that it is being placed in a kind of a
sepulchre after its death— great silence falls on those present. Because that
which takes place is awe-inspiring, they must look at it with a quiet and
reverential fear, since it is necessary that Christ our Lord should rise in the
awe-inspiring service which is performed with the sacerdotal ceremonies, and
announce our participation in ineffable benefits to every one. We remember,
therefore, the death of our Lord in the oblation because it makes manifest the
resurrection and the ineffable benefits.

Then comes prayer—not a silent prayer—announced beforehand in the loud voice of
the deacon, who, as we ought to know, explains the sign and the aim of all the
things that take place. The ceremonies that are to be performed by all those
present are made known by the proclamation of the deacon, who orders and reminds
every one of the statutory acts that are to be performed and accomplished by
those who are assembled in the Church of God.

After he has finished his congruous service and admonished all with his voice
and exhorted them to recite the prayers that are suitable to ecclesiastical
gatherings, and while all are silent, the priest begins with the appointed
service, and before |89 everything else he offers prayer to God, because before
all other things that are indispensable to religion he has necessarily to begin
with prayer. This is especially the case with this awe-inspiring service in
which we are in need of God's help, as He alone is able to perform things such
as those (implied in it). And the priest brings his prayer to a close after
having offered thanksgivings to our Lord for the great things which He has
provided for the salvation and the deliverance of men, and for His having given
us the knowledge of these wonderful mysteries which are a remembrance of that
ineffable gift which He bestowed upon us through His Passion, in that He
promised to raise us all from the dead and take us up to heaven. After this he
offers also thanksgivings for himself for having been appointed servant of such
an awe-inspiring Sacrament. With this he prays also for the grace of the Holy
Spirit, so that he may be now made by Him worthy of the greatness of this
service, as he had been rendered by Him worthy of priesthood; and so that he may
perform this service free, by the grace of God, from all evil conscience, and
not fearing any punishment, as he, being infinitely below the dignity of such a
service, is drawing near to things that are much higher than himself.

After the priest has finished his prayer with this and similar things, all the
congregation says: "Amen," a word that signifies agreement with, and
confirmation of, the prayer of the priest, as it is said: "He that occupies the
room of the unlearned says Amen at your giving of thanks, while he does not
understand what you say." The congregation must make use of this word to signify
their agreement with the prayers and thanksgivings of the priest.

After the congregation has said this word the priest prays: "Peace be to you."
It is appropriate to begin with this phrase every service that takes place in a
Church gathering, and especially this awe-inspiring service which is about to be
performed. The blessed Paul also placed at the beginning of all his Epistles:
"Grace and peace be to you." (The priest) |90 prays for us concerning the
benefits granted for the happiness of all of us through the Economy of Christ
our Lord, who by His coming abolished all wars, and completely destroyed all
hatred and all fight against us, and by His resurrection delivered us from
death, corruption, sin, passion, vexations of the demons and all harassing
things, and made us completely immortal and immutable, and will take us up to
heaven where He will give us His full confidence and prepare for us great
friendship and fellowship with the invisible hosts, the trusted messengers of
God. The reason why the blessed Paul writes at the beginning of all his Epistles
the word "grace" before the word "peace" is found in the fact that it was not we
who began or did anything by ourselves to merit the reception of such a gift,
but it was God Himself who bestowed it on us by His grace.

There is an ordinance, found (in the Church) from the beginning, to the effect
that all those who have been deemed worthy to do the work of priesthood, should
begin all the functions performed in a Church assembly with the above phrase,
which is more than anything else suitable to this awe-inspiring service. The
priest prays for peace to all because it is he who makes manifest these great
benefits, of which this Divine service, which is the remembrance of the death of
our Lord, is a figure and a symbol, and because it is through him that the
greatness of these and similar benefits has been promised to us. And those
present answer him: "And to your spirit." They requite him with an identical
prayer so that it may be made manifest to the priest and also to all of them
that it is not only they that are in need of the benediction and the prayer of
the priest, but that he also is in need of the prayer of all of them. This is
the reason why, by an ordinance found in the Church from the beginning, the
priests are also mentioned in all the ecclesiastical prayers side by side with
the rest of the congregation. Indeed all of us are one body of Christ our Lord
and all of us are members one of another, and the priest |91 only fills the role
of a member that is higher than the other members of the body, such as the eye
or the tongue. Lo, like the eye he sees the works of every one, and with the
diligence pertaining to a priest he also leads and directs every one according
to the rule of priesthood, to that which is necessary; and like the tongue he
offers the prayers of every one; and as every one requires that the members that
are attached to his body should perform their particular function, and as for
this it is necessary that they should be healthy and sound in their structure so
that they may be in a position to perform this function when asked to do so, in
this same way the priest, who is also attached to the body of the Church, is
required to be healthy in his office, so that after making manifest the health
of good works and priesthood, which are required of him, he may be seen to be
worthy of the honour that he possesses, and capable of filling helpfully and
suitably the needs of every member of the community. This is the reason why he
blesses those present with the voice of greeting, and for this receives also
blessing from them, when they answer him: "And to your spirit." In saying and to
your spirit" they do not refer to his soul, but to the grace of the Holy Spirit
by which those who are under him believe that he drew near to priesthood, as the
blessed Paul said: "I serve Him with the Spirit in the Gospel of His Son." It is
as if he were saying: so that, through the gift of the grace of the Holy Spirit
which is promised to me, I may fulfil the service of the Gospel, and all of you
may join with my spirit; meaning by this that "I received from God to be in a
position to perform these and similar things and did not find peace for my
spirit"; meaning also that "I was not able to do the thing that any one who
serves with the Holy Spirit has to do for the utility of others, because the one
who had to be my fellow-worker was absent."

It is in this sense that the phrase: "And to your spirit" is addressed to the
priest by the congregation, according to |92 the regulations found in the Church
from the beginning, the reason for it being that when the conduct of the priest
is good, it is a gain to the body of the Church, and when the conduct of the
priest is unholy, it is a loss to all. All of them pray that through peace the
grace of the Holy Spirit may be promised to him, so that he may strive to
perform his service to the public suitably and rightly. In this way the priest
obtains more abundant peace from the overflow of the grace of the Holy Spirit,
and from it he receives help for the works required of him, because, as in other
affairs so in service, the priest will appear to be doing the right thing when
the blessing goes from him to the congregation and from it to him. The priest,
then, begins by giving peace, and the Church crier, who is the deacon, cries and
orders all to give peace one to another so that they may do that which the
priest is doing, and so that in giving peace one to another and in embracing one
another they may make a profession of their mutual concord and of their love to
one another. Every one of us gives peace as far as possible to the one next to
him, but by implication all of us give peace one to another, because that which
is taking place implies that all of us ought to be one body of Christ our Lord,
to possess towards one another the harmony which is found between the members of
one body, mutually to love one another, to help and assist one another, to count
our private affairs as affairs of us all, and to suffer with the sufferings of
one another and rejoice with the joys of one another.

Owing to the fact that we received one new birth of baptism, through which we
are joined as if into one natural close union, and owing to the fact that all of
us partake of one food in which we receive the same flesh and blood and become
more strongly united in the single body of baptism, as the blessed Paul said:
"For we are all partakers of one bread, because the bread is one and we also
being many bodies are one bread"—it is right that the rite of giving peace
should be performed before we draw near to the Sacrament and to the service, as
it is in |93 it that we make our profession of mutual concord and love to one
another. It is indeed unsuitable to those who fill the role of members of one
ecclesiastical body to consider as an enemy a child of the faith, who through
the same birth drew near to the same body, whom we believe to be like us a
member of Christ our Lord, and who partakes of the same food from the holy
communion-table. This is the reason why our Lord said: "Whosoever is angry with
his brother without a cause shall be liable to judgment." That which takes place
is not only a profession of love but a reminder that we must remove and cast
away from us every enmity, if it appears to us that we have aught against a
child of our faith. Our Lord, who decreed that under no circumstances an undue
anger should occur, gave also a remedy to those who sin in any way: "Therefore,
if you bring your gift to the altar, and there remember that your brother has
something against you, leave your gift before the altar and go and first be
reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift." He orders the
one who has sinned to make haste and be reconciled to the one who has been
sinned against, and not to offer the gift before he has placated the one who has
been angered, and be reconciled to him with all his might. Indeed, all of us
offer the gift with the priest, and although the latter stands up alone to offer
it he nevertheless offers it, like the tongue, for all the body. Thus the gift
that is being offered belongs to all of us in the same way as the grace which it
contains belongs to all, and is placed before all of us so that we may partake
of it equally. In this sense the blessed Paul said about a high priest that "he
ought, as for himself so also for the people, to offer for sins" in order, to
show that the priest offers the gift for all, and is ordered to offer both for
himself and for the rest of the people.

It is incumbent, therefore, on the one who has sinned to placate with all his
might the one against whom he has sinned, and to be reconciled to him. If the
one who has been sinned against be near, he should put in practice the order of
Christ literally, and if he be not near let him decide in his mind to |94 do
this to him at the right time, and then draw near to the communion of the
offering. On the other hand, the one who has been sinned against must accept the
reconciliation of the one who had sinned against him, because the one who has
been sinned against must show the same promptness as the one who has sinned.
Indeed, he must remove from his mind all the things in which he has been sinned
against, while remembering the sentence: "If you forgive not men their
trespasses, neither will your Father who is in heaven forgive your trespasses.
We must think of this greeting as an acceptance and a remembrance of all this,
if we are, like the blessed Paul, to salute one another with a holy kiss, and
not, like Judas, to kiss with our mouth while striving to show hatred and evil
things against the children of our faith.

While this thing is taking place the priest washes (his hands) first, and then
all those, whatever their number, who are counted in the assembly of priesthood.
This is not done for the cleanliness of hands—if it were so all would be bound
to do it, some on account of their service and some others because of the
Sacrament which they are about to receive—but because the officiating priests
offer the sacrifice for all, and in this they remind all of us to draw near to
the Sacrament which is offered, with clean consciences. Having thus, after the
giving of the peace, proclaimed that we have removed and cast away from us all
hatred and enmity against the children of our faith, and having washed away the
remembrance of trespasses, we may believe that we have freed ourselves, to the
best of our ability, from all uncleanness. Then all rise, according to the sign
given to them by the deacon, and look at what is taking place. The names of the
living and the dead who have passed away in the faith of Christ are then read
from Church books,13 and it is clear that in the few of them who are mentioned,
all the living and the departed are implicitly mentioned. This is done for the
teaching of what took place in the Economy of Christ our Lord, of which the
present service, which is (Divine) |95 help for all, living and dead alike, is
the commemoration. Indeed the living look to the future hope, while the dead are
not really dead but cast in a sleep in which they remain in the hope, for which
our Lord received His death, which we are commemorating in this Sacrament. When
the above reading is brought to an end, the priest draws near to the service,
while the Church crier, that is to say the deacon, whose voice is a clear
indication of what the congregation has to do while following the priestly signs
which are given to them—first shouts: "Look at the oblation." In this he exhorts
every one to look at the sacrifice, as if a public service was about to be
performed, and a public sacrifice was about to be immolated, and a public
sacrifice was about to be offered for all, not only for those who are present
but also for those who are absent, as long as they were in communion with us in
faith and were counted in the Church of God and had finished their life in it.
It is clear that we call also this service "offering the sacrifice" and
"immolating the sacrifice," 14 because an awe-inspiring sacrifice is being
immolated, and if He is offered to God, "He did this once, when He offered up
Himself" as the blessed Paul says, and another time now when (the priest) must
needs have something to sacrifice. This is the reason why we call "sacrifice" or
"immolating the sacrifice the likeness of the sacrifice (of Christ), and this is
the reason why the deacon also rightly says before the offering of the
sacrifice: "Look at the sacrifice." When every one has been prepared to look at
the object that is being placed (on the altar), and when all those things of
which we have spoken are accomplished—things which had necessarily to be
performed before the service, and which were indispensable to your instruction
and your remembrance— the priest begins with the sacrifice itself. You must now
learn the way in which this is done; but since a measure had to be fixed for the
things already said, I will keep what I have |96 to say on this subject and say
it on another day, if God permit; and for all of them let us glorify God the
Father, and His Only Begotten Son, and the Holy Spirit, now, always, and for
ever and ever. Amen.

Here ends the fifth Chapter.

Chapter VI.

Synopsis of this Chapter. The priest begins the Anaphora, and before anything
else he blesses the people with these words: "The grace of our Lord Jesus
Christ, and the love of God the Father, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be
with you all." For this the people answer him: "And with your spirit." And the
priest says to the congregation: "Lift up your minds ": and the congregation
answers: "To You, O Lord." And the priest says: "Let us thank the Lord." And the
people answer: "It is fit and right." The priest begins the Anaphora, and offers
a public sacrifice and says: "In singing loudly and glorifying, Holy, Holy,
Holy, the mighty Lord. Heaven and earth are full of His praises." While all have
resorted to silence, and while we look downwards, the Church crier shouts: "Let
us all stand up in great fear and tremor." Indeed, by the power of the things
that are taking place it is necessary that Christ our Lord should rise from the
dead and spread His grace over all of us. And the priest prays that the grace of
the Holy Spirit may descend also on those present. And the priest offers a
supplication for all those of whom, by regulation, mention is made in the
Church, and then begins to mention the departed. The priest recites quietly
these prayers, and immediately after takes the holy bread and looks towards
heaven. He breaks the bread while praying over the congregation: "May the grace
of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you." And the congregation replies with the
usual words, and he with the bread makes the sign of the Cross over the blood
and with the blood over the bread. For this reason it is customary to throw the
vivifying bread little by little |97 into the chalice. Before any other thing we
must pray our Lord for those who presented this holy offering. And the priest
blesses the people with "peace be to you" and the latter answer with the usual
words, which are recited while their heads are duly bowed. And the Church crier
shouts: "Let us be attentive." And the priest cries: "The holy thing to the
holies." And all answer and say: "One holy Father, one holy Son, one holy
Spirit," and add: "Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy
Spirit." And he receives the communion, and all of us hasten to do the same. The
priest who offers the sacrifice draws near and partakes of it first, and then
every one of us draws near, while looking downwards and stretching out both
hands to receive the sacrament which is given. A person stretches out his right
hand, and under it he places the left hand. When the priest gives it he says:
"the body of Christ." The same thing is done with the reception of the cup. This
is the reason why you say after him: "Amen." You receive communion and you send
the participation of the sacrament inside. After you have received the
communion, you offer thanksgiving and praise to God, and you remain (in the
Church) so that you may also offer this thanksgiving and praise to God with all
others, according to the regulations of the Church.

It is time now to give you, if God permit, what was left off. We began to speak
to you of the spiritual food of which you partake when you receive the holy
communion, and we discoursed also to your love on some other indispensable
things dealing with this subject. We further taught you the service which is
performed in it, and reached the sentence: "Look at the sacrifice" which the
deacon utters loudly according to the Church ritual, and after which the priest
must begin the Anaphora. Since, however, the things that had to be said were
many, we rightly put an end to our speech and kept the service of the |98 priest
concerning them for another discourse, and I hope, by the grace of God, to bring
them also to an end to-day.

After the deacon has said: "Look at the sacrifice," and while, according to his
announcement, all look at what is taking place, the priest begins the Anaphora,
and before anything else he blesses the people with these words: "The grace of
our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God the Father, and the communion of the
Holy Spirit be with you all," because he thinks that before anything else the
people ought to be blessed, prior to this service, with these words of the
Apostle, on account of their great usefulness; and because of the honour due to
them, he uttered them first and confided them to writing, since, according to
the words of the Gospel, "God so loved the world that He gave His Only Begotten
Son for it, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting
life."

He showed all this love to men, not because He received from us anything worthy
of this good will, as it is by His grace and mercy that He made manifest to us a
love for the sake of which the Only Begotten Son of God, God the Word, was
pleased to assume a man for us, whom He raised from the dead, took up to heaven,
united to Himself, and placed at the right hand of God. And He promised to us
participation in all these, and gave us also the Holy Spirit, whose firstfruits
we are receiving now as an earnest. We shall receive all (the fruits) when we
shall have communion with Him in reality and when our vile body shall be
fashioned like to His glorious body. This is the reason why the blessed Paul
prayed in his Epistles for the faithful so that they may be seen worthy of the
love of God, which He by His grace made manifest to all our race, and made us
all worthy of the grace of the Holy Spirit by whose gift He promised to us
communion with Him.

It is with justice, therefore, that the priest who is about to perform such a
great service, from which we are led to the hope of these (benefits), should
first bless the people with the above words. Some priests only say: "The grace
of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you," and include in, and restrict with these,
|99 words all the sentence of the Apostle. For these words the people answer:
"And with your spirit," according to an ordinance which states that whenever the
priest blesses the people with "grace" or with "peace" all those present should,
for the reasons which I have already explained, answer him with these words.

After this benediction the priest prepares the people by saying: "Lift up your
minds," in order to show that although we are supposed to perform this
awe-inspiring and ineffable service on earth, we, nevertheless, ought to look
upwards towards heaven and to extend the sight of our soul to God, as we are
performing the remembrance of the sacrifice and death of Christ our Lord, who
for us suffered and rose, is united to Divine nature, is sitting at the right
hand of God, and is in heaven, to which we must extend the sight of our soul and
transfer our thoughts by means of the present remembrances. And the people
answer: "To You, O Lord," and in this they confess with their voices that they
are anxious to do so

After the priest has prepared and set in the right direction the souls and the
minds of the congregation, he says: "Let us thank the Lord." This means that for
all these things which were accomplished for us, and which we are about to
perform in this service, we owe, before anything else, gratitude to God, who is
the cause of all these benefits. To the above words the people answer: "It is
fit and right." In this they confess that we certainly ought to do it for two
reasons: because of the greatness of God, who granted us things such as these,
and in order to show that it is right on the part of those who were granted such
benefits not to be ungrateful to the One by whom they were promised to them.

After we have all of us performed this, and while we are silent, in a great
reverential fear, the priest begins the Anaphora. He offers a sacrifice for the
community, and a reverential fear, which embraces both himself and us all, is
cast upon him on account of what has happened, namely that our Lord suffered for
us all a death, the remembrance of which is about to be |100 performed in the
present sacrifice. Let the priest be at that time the tongue of the
ecclesiastical community, and let him make use of the right words in this great
service. The right praises of God consist in professing that all praises and all
glorifications are due to Him, inasmuch as adoration and service are due to Him
from all of us; and of all other services the present one, which consists in the
commemoration of the grace which came to us and which cannot be described by the
creatures, takes precedence. And because we have been initiated and baptised in
the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, and because we
ought to expect therefrom the full accomplishment of the things that are
performed, he says: "the greatness of the Father." He adds also "and of the
Son," because the same thing that is due to the Father is also due to the Son,
who is really and truly a Son with an identical substance with His Father, and
in nothing lower than He. He adds necessarily in the same sentence: "and of the
Holy Spirit," and confesses that the Spirit is also of Divine substance. He
asserts that praises and glorifications are offered at all times, and before all
other (beings), to this eternal and Divine nature, by all the visible creatures
and by the invisible hosts.

He makes then mention, before other (creatures), of the Seraphim, who offer that
praise which the blessed Isaiah learned in a Divine vision and committed to
writing, and which all of us in the congregation sing in a loud voice, as if we
were also singing that which the invisible natures sing: "Holy, holy, holy, is
the Lord of Sabaoth, the whole heaven and earth are full of His praises."
Indeed, while the blessed Isaiah foresaw, by the working of the Spirit, the
benefits that were to be granted to the human race, he heard in vision the
Seraphim uttering these words. The prophet saw through revelation that a great
service was being performed, which was high above human nature. The prophet
noticed that the spiritual hosts appeared to look with great awe and reverence,
since they were looking downwards and covering their faces completely with their
wings. The doctrine of the Trinity was also revealed at that time when one
Godhead |101 was proclaimed in three persons. This was revealed by their saying
"holy" three times, and once only "Lord." In saying "holy" three times, they
showed three persons: the person of the Father, the person of the Son, and the
person of the Holy Spirit. We must believe that each one of them is eternal and
truly holy, because the Godhead is really holy and immutable, while a creature
may be said to be or to become holy by an act of grace from it. The words said
at the end, "the Lord of Sabaoth" mean Lord and God of hosts, and omnipotent
God. The expression "Lord of Sabaoth" shows all these, and is congruous to the
nature of the Trinity, which is alone eternal and God.

It is necessary, therefore, that the priest also should, after having mentioned
in this service the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, say: "Praise and
adoration are offered by all the creatures to Divine nature." He makes also
mention of the Seraphim, as they are found in the Divine Book singing the praise
which all of us who are present sing loudly in the Divine song which we recite,
along with the invisible hosts, in order to serve God. We ought to think of them
and to offer a thanksgiving that is equal to theirs. Indeed, the Economy of our
Lord granted us to become immortal and incorruptible, and to serve God with the
invisible hosts "when we are caught up in the clouds to meet our Lord in the
air, and so shall we ever be with the Lord," according to the saying of the
Apostle. Nor are the words of our Lord false, who says that the children of God
"are like the angels of God, because they are the children of the resurrection."
When Isaiah heard the above words in a spiritual vision, he fell upon his face
and said: "Woe is me. I am wretched, and sorrowful, and a man, and have unclean
lips and dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips, and mine eyes have seen
the King, the Lord of Sabaoth," as if he were sorrowing in his heart for all
human nature, for what we are and what we receive. He said "I am a man," so that
by the mention of human nature he might show that it is an attribute of this
same human nature |102 to lean towards evil, as God said: "for the desire of a
man's heart is set on evil from his youth." This is the reason why, while Isaiah
was sorrowing for all the human race, he was astonished at the boundless mercy
of God, who granted such a grace to a race full of sins such as these. As to us,
because we are ordered to perform the greatness of the gift that was shown a
long time previously to the prophet, and was afterwards seen and realised
sometime ago as a sacrifice on our behalf, we all stand in reverential fear
while we bow our heads, as if unable even to look at the greatness of this
service. And we make use of the words of the invisible hosts, in order to make
manifest the greatness of the grace which has been so unexpectedly outpoured
upon us. We do not cast away the awe from our mind, but on account of the
greatness of the things that are taking place, we keep it throughout the service
equally, and we bow our heads both before and after we recite loudly the
Sanctus, and make manifest this fear in a congruous way. In all this the priest
also associates himself loudly with the invisible hosts, and prays and glorifies
the Godhead, and is like the others in fear of the things that are taking place,
as it is right that in connection with them he should not be less than the rest;
on the contrary, he is to be in awe and fear more than all, as he is performing
for all this service which is so awe-inspiring.

After all those present have recited loudly: "Holy, holy, holy, the Lord of
Sabaoth," and have reverted little by little to silence, the priest proceeds
with the holy service and says before anything else: "Holy is the Father, holy
also is the Son, and holy also the Holy Spirit," in order to proclaim that they
are the eternal and holy nature, and in order that he may be seen that he
understands clearly the meaning of the praise of the Seraphim which the prophet
heard and confided to writing. He afterwards makes mention also of the ineffable
grace of (God) for which He made manifest the Economy which took place in
Christ, and by which the One who was in the form of God was pleased to take upon
Him the form of a servant, so that He might assume |103 a perfect and complete
man for the salvation of all the human race; and He abolished the old and harsh
observances which were formerly enjoined upon us through the deadweight of the
law, and also the dominion of death which was dating from ancient times; and He
granted us ineffable benefits which are higher than all human intelligence and
for which He agreed to suffer, so that through His resurrection He might effect
a complete abolition of death; and He promised us communion with Him in the
happiness of the future benefits.

It is with great justice, therefore, that He gave us this Sacrament which is
capable of leading us efficiently to those benefits, as through it we are born
again in the symbo1 of baptism, and we commemorate the death of our Lord through
this awe-inspiring service, and receive the immortal and spiritual food of the
body and blood of our Lord, for the sake of which, when our Lord was about to
draw near to His Passion, He instructed His disciples that all of us who believe
in Christ had to receive them and perform them through these (elements), and in
this way to commemorate by stages the death of Chnst our Lord, and obtain
therefrom an ineffable nourishment. From these things we derive a hope that is
strong enough to lead us to the participation in the future benefits. The priest
says these and similar things in this holy service, and in his remembrance of
the things that had taken place previously, and prepares us all to see through
the oblations the gift of Christ our Lord. It is necessary, therefore, that our
Lord should now rise from the dead by the power of the things which are taking
place and that He should spread His grace over us. This cannot happen otherwise
than by the coming of the grace of the Holy Spirit, through which the latter had
also raised Him previously, as the blessed Paul showed when he said in one
passage: "He was declared to be the Son of God, by power and by the Spirit of
holiness, from the resurrection from the dead of Jesus Christ our Lord," and in
another passage: |104

"But if the Spirit of Him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, He
that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your dead bodies, because
of His Spirit that dwelleth in you." Our Lord also said: It is the Spirit that
lives; the flesh profits nothing."

It is with great justice, therefore, that the priest offers, according to the
rules of priesthood, prayer and supplication to God that the Holy Spirit may
descend, and that grace may come therefrom upon the bread and the wine that are
laid (on the altar) so that they may be seen to be truly the body and the blood
of our Lord, which are the remembrance of immortality. Indeed, the body of our
Lord, which is from our own nature, was previously mortal by nature, but through
the resurrection it moved to an immortal and immutable nature. When the priest,
therefore, declares them to be the body and the blood of Christ, he clearly
reveals that they have so become by the descent of the Holy Spirit, through whom
they have also become immortal, inasmuch as the body of our Lord, after it was
anointed and had received the Spirit, was clearly seen so to become. In this
same way, after the Holy Spirit has come here also, we believe that the elements
of bread and wine have received a kind of an anointing from the grace that comes
upon them, and we hold them to be henceforth immortal, incorruptible,
impassible, and immutable by nature, as the body of our Lord was after the
resurrection. And the priest prays that the grace of the Holy Spirit may come
also on all those present, in order that as they have been perfected into one
body in the likeness of the second birth, so also they may be knit here as if
into one body by the communion of the flesh of our Lord, and in order also that
they may embrace and follow one purpose with concord, peace, and diligence in
good works. In this way, all of us pray God with a pure mind not to receive the
communion of the Holy Spirit for punishment, as if we were divided in our
thoughts and bent on |105 disunions, bickerings, jealousy and envy, and
despising good works, but to be considered worthy to receive (that communion)
because the eye of our soul looks towards God with concord, peace, diligence in
good works, and purity of mind. We must draw near in this way to the communion
of the Holy Sacrament, and through it we will be united to our head, Christ our
Lord, whose body we believe ourselves to be, and from whom we have communion
with Divine nature. The priest performs Divine service in this way, and offers
supplication on behalf of all those of whom by regulation mention is to be made
always in the Church; and later he begins to make mention of those who have
departed, as if to show that this sacrifice keeps us in this world, and grants
also after death, to those who have died in the faith, that ineffable hope which
all the children of the Sacrament of Christ earnestly desire and expect. The
priest recites quietly these prayers, and immediately after, takes the holy
bread with his hands and looks towards heaven, and directs his eyes upwards. He
offers a prayer of thanksgivings for these great gifts, and breaks the bread.
While breaking it he prays for the people, that the grace of God may be upon
them, and says thus: "May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with all of
you." The people accept this and answer with the usual words. And with the bread
he makes the sign of the Cross over the blood, and with the blood over the
bread, and he unites and joins them together, in order to reveal to all that
although these elements are two, they are nevertheless one in power, and are the
remembrance of the death and the Passion that affected the body of our Lord,
when His blood was shed on the Cross for us all. When the priest makes the sign
of the Cross over them he unites them and joins them together, because the human
body is one with its blood, and where the body is there also is the blood; and
from whatever slit or cut, whether large or small, that is made in it, blood
will necessarily flow according to the size of the cut. The body of our Lord was
so constituted before His Passion, and much blood must necessarily have been
shed from it by the wounds of the crucifixion. When |106 our Lord gave both of
them, He said: "This is my body which is broken for you for the remission of
sins, and this is my blood which is shed for you for the remission of sins." In
the first sentence He referred to His Passion, and in the second to the severity
and length of His Passion, in which much blood was shed.

It is with justice, therefore, that according to this teaching, we place both of
them on the altar, in order to refer to happenings that took place afore, and to
show that both of them are one in power, as they belong to the one person who
received the Passion, that is to say to the flesh of our Lord, from which blood
was also shed. This is the reason why the priest, at the end of the Anaphora,
rightly breaks the bread and joins it with the blood while making the sign of
the Cross, and then likewise brings the blood near the bread in order to show
that both of them, which the Passion affected, are one, and that we also are
ordered to perform the remembrance of this Passion in this way.

It is customary to throw the vivifying bread into the chalice in order to show
that they are not separable, that they are one in power, and that they vouchsafe
the same grace to those who receive them. The priest does not break the bread to
no purpose, but in remembrance of Christ our Lord, who after His resurrection
from the dead appeared to all His followers: He first appeared to the women,
then to the eleven Apostles, and later, little by little, to individuals and to
the rest of the believers while they were gathered together, as when He appeared
to Cleophas and his companion, who were two in number. His aim in this was to
show Himself to them that He had risen, and by His resurrection He revealed and
announced to them that they also will participate with Him in those great
benefits with which He greeted them, and He thus prepared them to rejoice in the
expectation of the future good things. This is the reason why even to the women,
to whom He immediately appeared after His resurrection, He said: "Peace be with
you." For these reasons it is with justice that now also the priest does the
same |107 thing after the service has come to a complete end, according to the
teaching of our Lord, and the remembrance of the death and the resurrection has
been accomplished.

He breaks the bread according to the first method (used by our Lord), who varied
His apparitions, once appearing to this and once to that, and another time
showing Himself to many, so that He might draw all to Him; and (in the present
case) so that they may embrace the good thing that was made manifest to them,
and worship Him while acknowledging the greatness of the honour that came to
Him. They think in their minds, while eating the holy bread, that they also are
receiving an ineffable communion with Him. By this we are steadfastly led with
much happiness, a great joy and a strong hope to the greatness which, through
the resurrection, we expect to have with Him in the next world. At the end all
the bread is broken, so that all of us who are present may be able to receive
(communion). Each one of us takes a small portion, but we believe that we
receive all of Him in that small portion. It would, indeed, be very strange if
the woman, who had an issue of blood, received Divine gift by touching the
border of His garment, which was not even part of His body but only of His
garment, and we did not believe that we receive all of Him in a part of His
body. This is also illustrated by the fact that when we kiss we are in the habit
of kissing only with the mouth, which is but a small part of the body, but we
believe that we embrace all the body. Furthermore, how many times do we not hold
one another by the arms in walking together, and show our whole fellowship with
one another through parts only? For the sake of the things that will take place
at the end, it is necessary that the priest, who offers this holy and ineffable
sacrifice, should begin also with this (act). When, therefore, the priest has
finished all the service of the Anaphora, he rightly begins to break the bread,
from which we must picture in our mind that Christ our Lord, through each
portion of the bread, draws near to the person who receives Him, while greeting
|108 him and speaking to him of his resurrection, and while becoming surety for
us concerning the future benefits for the sake of which we draw near to the holy
Sacrament, and obtain the gift of immortality through an immortal nourishment.
When everything comes to an end, the Church crier shouts and mentions in short
words those for whom every one ought to pray, and before any other thing he
says: "We ought to pray for those who presented this holy offering," as if one
were saying: for those who (gave us the occasion) of becoming worthy of this
offering; and for this let us also pray that we may be found worthy of looking
at it, standing by its side, and partaking of it. The priest finishes the prayer
by imploring that this sacrifice may be acceptable to God, and that the grace of
the Holy Spirit may come upon all, so that we may be able to be worthy of its
communion, and not to receive it to punishment, as it is much and immeasurably
higher and loftier than we are. After he has finished the prayer with words such
as these and has blessed the people with "peace be to you," they answer him with
the usual words which are recited by all those present, while duly bowing their
heads.

Sometime after the priest has finished this prayer, and after all the above
services have been brought to an end, and while every one of those who is about
to receive the communion is looking, the Church crier shouts: "Let us be
attentive." He prepares loudly every one to pay attention to the thing which is
about to be said. And the priest says loudly: "The holy thing to the holies,"
because this food is holy and immortal, as it is the body and the blood of our
Lord, and is replete of holiness on account of the Holy Spirit who dwells in it.
Not everybody partakes of this food, but only those who have been sanctified for
some time. This is the reason why only the baptised ones partake of it, those
who have received the firstfruits of the Holy Spirit in the second birth of
baptism, and have been found worthy to receive holiness therefrom. It is for
this reason that the priest says: "The holy thing to the holies" and directs the
|109 mind of all to look at the greatness of the oblation. He says in this way
that you ought to observe the greatness of the offering which is laid (on the
altar). You should know that you partake of a food of which, by your nature, you
are not worthy, as it is immortal and immutable in everything; and it is not
right for every one to partake of it, as it belongs to those who have been
sanctified. This is the reason why when you alone partake of this food, as men
who have received holiness through baptism, you ought to know the greatness of
the gift, and what you had to make you worthy of this holy food. You must,
therefore, strengthen in you the gift, which has been bestowed upon you, with
good works, so that in doing, in the measure of your power, the works that are
worthy of the thing given to you, you may partake of this food, which would then
be fit for you.

God has provided in every animal, which is born of another animal, the food that
is suitable to the one which is born. Indeed, every animal is born of another of
its species and feeds itself from it. A sheep is born of a sheep, and feeds
itself from the nature of a sheep; and so a horse in a like manner; and so also
all other animals of one species are born of others of the same species, and
have their food in the nature of the one which brought it forth. In this way it
is right and fit also for you, who were born in baptism of the grace and the
coming of the Holy Spirit, and who have received holiness therefrom, to partake
of a food similar to it, from the grace and the coming of the Holy Spirit, in
order to confirm and increase the holiness which has been promised to you, and
perfect the expected benefits which will come to us in the next world and
through which all of us will be wholly holy. It is in this meaning that we must
understand the (sentence) "The holy thing to the holies"; and it is with these
things that we draw near to the greatness of this communion; and it is with this
mind, with this faith, with this diligence, with this reverential fear, and with
this love that we must partake of the holy and immortal food. In this sense,
after the priest has said, "The holy thing to |110 the holies," all answer and
say: "One holy Father, one holy Son, one holy Spirit." They profess that one is
the nature that is truly holy, and this is the Father, the Son, and the Holy
Spirit, a nature that is alone eternal, alone immutable, and alone capable of
bestowing holiness upon whomsoever it wishes. And they add: "Glory be to the
Father, to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, for ever and ever. Amen," as it is
fit that those who make a profession of faith in the holy nature should glorify
it with their duty of glorifying.

After all these things have taken place, and all the service has come to an end,
all of us hasten to receive the communion, and from a communion-table which is
awe-inspiring and higher than words, we partake of the immortal and holy food.
Although those who wait at the altar and are appointed for Divine service draw
near to the altar and partake of the Divine food, while the rest partake of it
from a distance, there is nevertheless no distinction in the food itself,
because one is the bread and one is the body of Christ our Lord, into which the
element of bread is changed; and it receives this great change from one descent
of the Holy Spirit, and all of us partake of it equally, as all of us are one
body of Christ our Lord, and all of us partake of the same body and blood. As
through the second birth and through the Holy Spirit all of us become one body
of Christ, so also by the one nourishment of the holy Sacrament, through which
the grace of the Holy Spirit feeds us, all of us are in one fellowship with
Christ our Lord. In one passage it is said: "For by one Spirit are we all
baptised into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or
free," and in another passage: "For we are all partakers of one bread, because
the bread is one, and we are many but one bread." When all of us partake,
therefore, of the one body of Christ, and receive communion with Him through
this nourishment, we become one body of Christ, and from this we receive
communion and close union with Him as (the members) with the head, because: "the
bread which we break, is it not the communion |111 of the body of Christ, and
the cup which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ?" (The
Apostle) shows here that by our partaking of these we are united to the body and
the blood of our Lord, and so when we partake of them we remain in communion
with Him, while we are the body of Christ; and through this communion we
strengthen that which we had received from the second birth of baptism, by
becoming His body, according to the words of the Apostle who said: "You are the
body of Christ," and in another passage: "The Christ is the head from which all
the body is joined and knit together, and increases with the increase of God."
The gift of the communion of the Sacrament is thus granted in a general way to
all of us, because all of us are equally in need of it, as we believe that in it
is found the happiness of the eternal life. The priest who is offering the
sacrifice draws near first and partakes of (it), so that it may be made clear
that he is offering the sacrifice for all according to the order written in the
rules for priesthood, but that he is in equal need with the others of partaking
of it, and asserts that there is utility in this food and drink. In saying: "He
that eats my flesh and drinks my blood, shall live for ever," He (our Lord)
refers not to the one who offers the sacrifice but to the one who eats (of it),
and this, like the sacrifice, belongs equally to all of us. It is indeed offered
so that by the coming of the Holy Spirit it should become that which it is said
to be: the body and the blood of Christ. All of us partake of them, when they
become like this, because all of us believe that in this food and in this drink
of which we are ordered to partake, there is life, according to the words of our
Lord. To partake of them is common to all, but the one who, through love, faith
and good works, shows himself, in the measure of human capability, to be worthy
of them, obtains something more from them. It is, however, clear that not a
single man is worthy of partaking of them, because how can a man who is mortal,
corruptible and burdened with sin, be deemed worthy to |112 take and to receive
that body which became immortal and incorruptible, which is in heaven, and at
the right-hand of God, and which receives honour from all as Lord and King? We
have confidence, however, because of the grace of our Lord who granted these
things, and we draw near to them with the best zeal and diligence which we can
possess and produce by ourselves. We draw near to them in the measure of the
power of the human nature.

It is with these expectations that all of us draw near to Christ our Lord, who
promised to us the second birth in baptism, in which He made us His flesh and
His body—as it is written "Behold I, and the children which God has given me"
—and who, firstly in the likeness of the love of a carnal mother, strove to feed
us from His body, and secondly placed before us the elements of bread and cup
which are His body and His blood through which we eat the food of immortality,
and through which the grace of the Holy Spirit flows to us and feeds us into an
immortal and incorruptible existence, by hope; and through these leads us
steadfastly and, in a way that no one can describe, to the participation in the
future benefits, when we shall really feed ourselves from the grace of the Holy
Spirit, without signs and symbols, and shall become completely immortal,
incorruptible, and unchangeable by nature.

It is in this way and through these remembrances and these signs and symbols
which have been performed that all of us draw near to Christ our Lord risen from
the dead, with a great joy and happiness. And we joyfully embrace Him with all
our power as we see Him risen from the tomb, and we hope also to participate
(with Him) in the resurrection, because He also rose from the tomb of the holy
communion-table as from the dead, according to the symbol that has been
performed; and He draws near to us by His apparition, and announces resurrection
to us through our communion with Him. Although He comes to us after having
divided Himself, all of Him is nevertheless in every portion (of the bread), and
is near to all of us, and gives Himself to each one of us, in order that we may
hold Him and embrace Him with all our might, and make manifest |113 our love to
Him, according to the pleasure of each one of us. It is in this way that we
partake of the body and the blood of our Lord, and expect to be changed into an
immortal and incorruptible nature. It is with these (expectations) that each one
of us draws near while looking downwards and stretching out both hands. By his
looking downwards he signifies that he is offering a congruous thing (to God)
through adoration, and giving thanks for his receiving the body of the King, who
became the Lord of all through His union with the Divine nature, and who is
worshipped as a Lord by the whole creation; and in the fact that both his hands
are stretched out, he confesses the greatness of the gift which he is about to
receive. To receive the Sacrament which is given, a person stretches out his
right hand, and under it he places the left hand. In this he shows a great fear,
and since the hand that is stretched out holds a higher rank, it is the one that
is extended for receiving the body of the King, and the other hand bears and
brings its sister hand, while not thinking that it is playing the role of a
servant, as it is equal with it in honour, on account of the bread of the King,
which is also borne by it. When the priest gives it he says: "The body of
Christ." He teaches you by this word not to look at that which is visible, but
to picture in your mind the nature of this oblation, which, by the coming of the
Holy Spirit, is the body of Christ. You should thus draw near with great awe and
love, according to the greatness of that which is given: with awe, because of
the greatness of (its) honour; and with love, because of (its) grace. This is
the reason why you say after him: "Amen." With your answer to the words of the
priest, you confirm and subscribe to the words of the one who gives. The same
thing happens in the communion of the chalice. As to you, after you have
received the body,15 you offer |114 adoration as a confession of the power
placed in your hands, while remembering the words uttered by our Lord to His
disciples after He rose from the dead: "All power is given to me in heaven and
in earth." You press it with great and true love to your eyes and kiss it, and
you offer (to it) your prayers as if to Christ our Lord, who is at present so
near to you, and in whom you believed before that you had confidence, which you
will receive now that you have drawn near to Him and held Him. You pray, while
confessing your weakness, the great number of your sins, and your great
unworthiness for such a gift. You glorify also in a fitting manner the One who
granted these things to a person such as you, and rendered you worthy to receive
help from Him to the extent that you became worthy to receive the communion,
free from all evil things and doing all the things that please Him.

You receive the communion with these and similar (devotional acts), and you send
the participation of the Sacrament inside,16 as not only the body but also—and
even before the body —the soul does the grace of the Holy Spirit nourish through
this awe-inspiring communion, when in the next world it will render the body
immortal and the soul immutable, and not subject to any sin whatever. After you
have received the communion you rightly and spontaneously offer thanksgiving and
praise to God, so that you may not be ungrateful with regard to this Divine
gift. And you remain (in the Church), so that you may also offer thanksgiving
and praise with every one, according to the regulations of the Church, because
it is right for all those who received this spiritual food to offer thanksgiving
to God publicly for this great gift.

We have, as you know, spoken in many past days of things pertaining to such a
Sacrament the greatness of which far exceeds what the words are able to express.
Indeed, what can mortal words say that is worthy of immortal, heavenly and
unspeakable |115 things? It was necessary, however, to speak of them to your
hearing, so that you might not remain completely ignorant of the greatness of
the gift. It is right for you now to make use of an intelligence consonant with
these sublime things of which you have been rendered worthy, and to think well,
according to the measure of the greatness of a gift such as this, what we were
and into what we have been transformed: that we were mortal by nature and we
expect to receive immortality, that from being corruptible we shall become
incorruptible, from passible impassible, from mutable, for ever immutable; and
that we shall be transferred from the evils of the earth to heaven; and that we
shall enjoy all the good and delightful things found in heaven. We have acquired
this hope from the Economy of Christ our Lord, who was assumed from us. He was
the first to receive this change, from Divine nature, and in this way He became
to us the usherer of our participation in these great things. We strive,
therefore, to partake of the Sacrament because we believe that through symbols,
as through unspeakable signs, we possess, sometime beforehand, the realities
themselves, and also because after having received the firstfruits of the Holy
Spirit in our participation in the Sacrament—firstfruits which we obtain when we
are baptised into the second birth—we believe that, when we receive the
communion, we do receive it for the nourishment and the sustenance of our
(spiritual) life.

We ought to think of these and similar things every day and in all our life, and
to endeavour to make ourselves worthy, as much as possible, of the Sacrament;
and we shall be worthy of it if we obey the commandments of Christ our Lord, who
promised afore these and similar benefits to us, if we strive to turn away from
evil things and cleave to good things, and to reject cruelty and adopt mercy,
which brought us benefits such as these. Indeed if our Lord, who ordered those
who pray to say: "Forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven our debtors,"
added: "For if you forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father
who is in heaven forgive your trespasses" |116 —we will all the more not receive
the grace and the benefits prepared for us by God, while still in this world, if
we do not strive with all our power to have mercy upon our neighbours. We
become, therefore, worthy of this awe-inspiring Sacrament if we think of things
of which we spoke above; and if we acquire in the measure of our power, a mind
higher than earthly things; and if we contemplate heavenly things, and think
continually that it is in their hope that we have received this Sacrament.

It is fitting for those who always lead an unmarried life to spurn earthly
things and constantly look towards heavenly things, and remember the words of
the blessed Paul: "He that is unmarried thinks about the things that belong to
His Lord, how he may please Him; and he that is married thinks about the things
that are of the world, how he may please his wife." He shows here that it is
suitable to the one who is unmarried to be free from all worldly care, and to
have his entire regard for the things that please God, to whom he also joined
himself by promise. It fits such a one, who has drawn near to this Sacrament and
has been called to heaven where there is neither marriage,3 nor food nor drink,3
to live, in the measure of his power, beforehand, while still in this world,
according to that which is congruous to a world in imitation of which he chose
to be unmarried. It is also fitting for the married persons not to be tied to
the cares of this world, as through the Sacrament they have received the hope of
the happiness of the world to come in which we shall cast away marriage, and—to
express myself succinctly—all the affairs of this world. It is creditable for
those who lead a married life to strive, with all their power, to imitate the
world to come, as the blessed Paul said: "It remains for those that have wives
to be as though they had none, and they that weep to be as though they wept not,
and they that buy to be as though they possessed not, and they that rejoice in
possessions to be as though they rejoiced not, and they that use this world to
be as not abusing it, for the fashion of this world passes away."

Because all this world stands in a worldly fashion which will |117 pass away,
according to the words of the Apostle, and will undoubtedly suffer dissolution,
and because we are expecting the world to come which will remain eternally, it
is right for us all to order our life according to the things of the next world.
This is especially good and suitable to us, who partake of the food of the
Sacrament and look for the things in the hope of which we participate in the
holy communion. The sins which come to us from human weakness are not capable of
deterring us from the communion of the holy Sacrament. As those who live in sins
are not to draw near to this communion without fear, so also those who care for
their salvation ought to draw near and receive the holy communion, while
thinking that as for the sustenance of our present existence we are by necessity
obliged to take food, so also for our future existence we partake of spiritual
food from Divine grace, through the Economy of Christ.

It is right for us, therefore, neither wholly to abstain from communion nor to
go to it unworthily, but we must strive with all our power after the things that
are right, and after having thus striven we must hasten to receive communion,
well aware that if we devote our life to unworthiness, and sin fearlessly, and
do anything we take fancy to, and are careless of our duty, we shall eat and
drink this food and this beverage which words cannot describe, to our damnation;
but if we are careful of our salvation, and hasten towards good works and
meditate upon them continually in our mind, the sins that come to us
involuntarily from (human) weakness will not injure us; on the contrary, we will
acquire great help from our communion. Indeed, the body and the blood of our
Lord, and the grace of the Holy Spirit that is promised to us therefrom, will
strengthen us in doing good works, and invigorate our minds, while driving away
from us all ungodly thoughts and surely quenching (the fire) of sins, as long as
we have committed them involuntarily, and they have come to us against our will,
from the weakness of our nature, and we have fallen into them against our
desire, and because of them we have sorrowed intensely and prayed God in great
repentance for our trespasses. The communion of the holy |118 Sacrament will,
without doubt, grant us the remission of trespasses of this kind, since our Lord
plainly said: "This is my body which is broken for you for the remission of
sins, and this is my blood which is shed for you for the remission of sins,"
and: "I am not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.

If, therefore, we sin carelessly, it is hard for us to draw near to the holy
Sacrament, but if we do good works with diligence and turn away from evil works
and truly repent of the sins that come to us, we will undoubtedly obtain the
gift of the remission of sins in our reception of the holy Sacrament, according
to the words of Christ our Lord, because while we were sinners we have been
chosen to a penitence, a deliverance and a salvation that embrace all, solely by
the grace of the One who has called us. This may also be learnt from the words
of the blessed Isaiah, because the awe-inspiring vision which he saw was a sign
of the Economy of Christ our Lord, from which all the earth was about to be
filled with Divine glory, was to learn also the mystery of the Trinity, and
receive evangelisation, faith and baptism in the name of the Father, the Son,
and the Holy Spirit. To make this manifest, the Seraphim shouted in a loud voice
the canticle: "Holy, holy, holy the Lord of Sabaoth, the heaven and the earth
are full of His praises." When the prophet saw these things in a spiritual
vision, he fell upon his face, because he remembered human weakness, which is
full of sin and iniquity; and one of the Seraphim was sent to him, and took with
tongs a live coal from the altar, and brought it to his lips and said: "This has
touched your lips, and your iniquity is taken away, and your sins are forgiven."
There were, therefore, live coals on the altar: a figure of the Sacrament that
was to be given to us. A piece of coal is at first dark and cold, but when it is
brought to the fire it becomes luminous and hot. The food of the holy Sacrament
was going to be similar to this: at first it is laid upon the altar as a mere
|119 bread and wine mixed with water, but by the coming of the Holy Spirit it is
transformed into body and blood, and thus it is changed into the power of a
spiritual and immortal nourishment.1 This is the reason why he (the prophet) saw
the sign and the figure of what was to take place in the form of live coals. The
Holy Spirit also came down from heaven in the form of fire upon the blessed
Apostles, through whom the grace of the Holy Spirit was united to all the human
race. As the Seraph drew near, purified, and forgave all the sins of the
prophet, so also we ought to believe that by participation in the holy Sacrament
our trespasses will be completely wiped out, if we repent and are grieved and
afflicted in our mind for our sins. When the prophet was granted this (vision)
he fell upon his face and said: "Woe is me, for I am wretched, sorrowful, and a
man, and my lips are unclean, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean
lips, and I have seen with mine eyes the King, the Lord of Sabaoth." Because
these are words of a repentant man, smitten by his conscience for his sins,
while he was in this state it was given to him to hear the above words when a
live coal was brought to him by the Seraph. And if we also strive to act
similarly, it is clear and evident that the grace of the Holy Spirit will
promise us help to do good things, and like fire which consumes thorns, will
completely obliterate our sins. And the Seraph did not hold the live coal with
his hand but with tongs. This vision demonstrates that the (faithful) should be
afraid to draw near to the Sacrament without an intermediary, and this is the
priest, who, with his hand, gives you the Sacrament and says: "The body of
Christ," while he himself does not believe that he is worthy to hold and give
such things; but in the place of tongs he possesses the spiritual grace, which
he received in his priesthood, and from which he acquired the confidence for
giving such things. He holds (the elements) with his hand, so that he may
himself receive confidence with his own hands; and he not only is not in fear
because of (their) greatness, but has much confidence because of (their) grace.
|120

If the live coal that was carried with tongs by the Seraph took away sins when
brought into contact with the lips, and did not scorch or wholly consume
according to the nature of the object that was seen, how much more will it not
be right for you, when you see the priest bestowing upon you this gift with his
hands, and with great confidence, because of the grace of the Spirit conferred
upon him for this service—to have also confidence and to receive it with great
hope? You have fear because of the greatness of the gift, but when you have
received it, you will put your trust on Him who granted such things to mankind,
and who bestowed also such a confidence upon the priest; not only upon himself
alone, but upon those who are in need of the grace of God, if according to the
words of the blessed Paul, he stands "to offer sacrifice for his own sins and
for the people's."

It is such a thought and such a love that we ought to possess concerning the
holy Sacrament. If a great sin, contrary to the commandments, is committed by
us, and if we do not induce ourselves to turn away from sins of this kind, it is
right for us to refrain always and without reservation from receiving the
communion, because what utility can come to us from this act if we are seen to
persist in these sins? We must first induce our conscience with all our power to
make haste and fittingly repent of our sins, and not permit any other medicine
to ourselves. Let us know that as God gave to our body, which He made passible,
medicinal herbs of which the experts make use for our healing, so also He gave
penitence, as a medicine for sins, to our soul, which is changeable. Regulations
for this (penitence) were laid down from the beginning, and the priests and the
experts, who heal and care for the sinners, bring medicine to the mind of the
penitents who are in need, according to the ecclesiastical ordinance and wisdom,
which is regulated in accordance with the measure of the sins. This is the
reason why our Lord said: "If your brother shall sin against you, tell him his
fault between you and him alone: if he shall hear you, you have gained your
brother, but if he will not, then take with you one or two, that in the mouth of
two or three witnesses every word |121 may be established; and if he will not
hear them also, tell (it) to the Church, and if he will not hear even the
Church, let him be to you as a publican and an heathen man." This is the
medicine for the sins, which was established by God and delivered to the priests
of the Church, who in making use of it with diligence, will heal the afflictions
of men. The blessed Paul also said thus: "Teach in season and out of season,
reprove, rebuke, and comfort." He ordered that the sinners should be reproved
"with all long-suffering and doctrine," so that they should reveal their sins to
(the priests); and the "rebuke" is administered so that they may receive
correction by some ordinances, and obtain help therefrom for themselves. He
ordered also to "comfort them," in the sense that after they have been seen,
through reproofs and rebukes, to be eagerly willing to amend themselves, turn
away from evil and be desirous of drawing near to good, he necessarily added
"doctrine and long-suffering" to all of them. He singled out "long-suffering"
because it is highly necessary, as it soothes the one who is gained; and also
"doctrine" because in everything that takes place, whether he (the sinner) be
reproved or rebuked or comforted, it is by words that he learns what is
necessary and draws near to what is fit. This the blessed Paul seems to have
done when he learned that among the Corinthians an insolent man had taken his
father's wife. He ordered him to be delivered to Satan, who had caused him to be
driven out of the Church, and he showed the purpose of this by saying: "for the
destruction of his flesh, that he may live in spirit in the day of our Lord
Jesus Christ. As if he were saying: I order this so that he may suffer and be
conscious of his sins, and receive reproof; and that through rebuke he may be
reprimanded, learn wisdom and turn away from sin and draw near to duty; and
after he has thus moved away from sin, he will receive full salvation in the
next world, because, at his baptism, he had received the grace of the Spirit,
which left him when he sinned and persisted in his sin. He undoubtedly calls the
salvation of the spirit the turning away |122 from sins and the full reception
of the Holy Spirit, who will cause him to revert to his previous state. When
(that man) had repented in this way he (the Apostle) ordered in the second
Epistle that he should be received, and said: "Sufficient to such a man is his
reproof, and you ought contrariwise to love him and to comfort him more, lest
perhaps such a one should be swallowed up with overmuch sorrow. Wherefore I
beseech you that you would confirm your love toward him. To whom you forgive, I
forgive also." With these words he ordered that he should be reinstated in the
same confidence as that he had before, because he had been rebuked and had
amended his ways, and, through true repentance, had received forgiveness of his
sins. Afterwards he laid down rules concerning these things and said: "If any
man that is called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolator, or a
drunkard, or a railer, or an extortioner; with such a one do not eat. For what
have I to do to judge them also that are outsiders? do not you judge them that
are insiders?"

He shows here that this correction is not to be given by us to those who are
outsiders but to those who are insiders: those who obey the things that are said
and rightfully accept a correction that comes from us. He shows also the nature
of the gain that accrues to those who are insiders, by saying: "But those who
are outsiders, God judges." He demonstrates here that if those who are outsiders
remain without correction, they will undoubtedly receive punishment, as being
strangers also to religion; as to the children of the faith, if they are willing
to receive that correction, they will obtain the forgiveness of their sins, and
will be delivered from the threat of the punishment of the world to come. Owing
to the fact, therefore, that it may happen that some people do not accept the
correction that is offered to them, he said: "Put away from amongst yourselves
that wicked person," as if one were saying: let him be completely outside you.
This is similar to the sentence which our Lord uttered: "And if he |123 will not
hear the Church, let him be to you as an heathen man and a publican."

Since you are aware of these things, and also of the fact that because God
greatly cares for us gave us penitence and showed us the medicine of repentance,
and established some men, who are the priests, as physicians of sins, so that if
we receive in this world through them, healing and forgiveness of sins, we shall
be delivered from the judgment to come—it is right for us to draw near to the
priests with great confidence and to reveal our sins to them, and they, with all
diligence, pain and love, and according to the rules laid down above, will give
healing to sinners. And they will not disclose the things that are not to be
disclosed, but they will keep to themselves the things that have happened, as
fits true and loving fathers, bound to safeguard the shame of their children
while striving to heal their bodies.

After we have thus regulated our life, and known the greatness of the Sacrament,
and of the boundless grace to which we have been called; and been solicitous for
our salvation, and endeavoured to rectify our trespasses in the right way—we
shall be deemed as deserving the future hope for the sake of which we have been
rendered worthy, by Divine grace, to perform this Sacrament. And we shall
delight in the Kingdom of Heaven and in all those ineffable and eternal
benefits, which all of us will be enabled to receive by the grace of our Lord
Jesus Christ, to whom, together with the Father and the Holy Spirit, be glory,
now, always, and for ever and ever. Amen.

Here end the six discourses on the interpretation of the sacraments of the holy
Church, composed by Mar Theodore, bishop and commentator of the Divine Books.
Glory be to Christ our Lord.

[Most footnotes omitted, as being biblical references or explanation where the
translator deviated from the literal meaning. I have also removed Thou and Thee
etc.] 1. 1 Or: circumcised.

2. 1 I.e., the registrar of baptisms.

3. 2 The rite of conducting a person and answering the questions of the
registrar.

4. 2 The words between brackets represent a blank of one or two words which were
illegible in the MS. from which the copyist was transcribing.

5. 1 I.e., the registrar of baptisms.

6. 2 The godfather.

7. 4 The registrar.

8. 1 Evidently this orarium spread on the crown of the head was somewhat
different from the modern stole.

9. 1 All this refers to superstitious acts.

10. 1 John iii. 9 and 8. I use "Spirit" instead of "wind" in the sense in which
the author understands the word πνεῦμα of the sacred text, which in Greek and in
Syriac means both "Spirit" and "wind."

11. 7 This passage is quoted in the Acts of the Fifth Council (see Prefatory
Note).

12. 3 The word Kurbana may be translated throughout by "offering," as is often
done in the English Bible, or by "sacrifice."

13. 5 Allusion to the Diptychs.

14. 3 Or: "oblation" in both cases. The expression is a translation of the Greek
word Anaphora.

15. 4 In Syriac literature the word paghra, "body," is used for the consecrated
Eucharistic bread. See Barsalibi's treatise against the Armenians in my
Woodbrooke Studies, vol. iv., pp. 28 and 57, etc.

16. 2 I.e., apparently you eat and swallow the Eucharistic bread, so that it may
mix with the blood, which, according to the ancients, was the seat of the soul.
See Woodbrooke Studies, vol. v., p. 5, and the references given there. This text
was transcribed by Roger Pearse, 2008. This file and all material on this page
is in the public domain - copy freely.

Greek text is rendered using unicode.

Early Church Fathers - Additional Texts


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 2: COMMENTARY ON THE LORD'S PRAYER, BAPTISM AND THE EUCHARIST - TRANSLATOR'S INTRODUCTION
========================================================================

Theodore of Mopsuestia, Commentary on the Lord's Prayer, Baptism and the
Eucharist (1933) pp.i-xxv.

WOODBROOKE STUDIES CHRISTIAN DOCUMENTS EDITED AND TRANSLATED WITH A CRITICAL
APPARATUS BY

A. MINGANA

VOLUME VI COMMENTARY OF THEODORE OF MOPSUESTIA ON THE LORD'S PRAYER AND ON THE
SACRAMENTS OF BAPTISM AND THE EUCHARIST

CAMBRIDGE W. Heffer & Sons Limited

1933

PREFATORY NOTE. THE following pages contain the text and the translation of the
second part of the Liber ad Baptizandos by Theodore of Mopsuestia. The first
part, dealing with the Commentary on the Nicene Creed, was published in the
preceding volume of the Woodbrooke Studies. This second part is divided into six
homilies or discourses which treat successively of the Lord's Prayer, the
sacrament of baptism and that of the Eucharist, and like the first part is
characterised by the high standard of Biblical erudition and theological acumen
that stamp their illustrious author as one of the most profound thinkers of the
Golden Age of Christianity. In the opinion of some East Syrian scholars this
second part of the Liber ad Baptizandos constituted a separate work from the
preceding part. `Abdisho` in his Catalogue 1 calls the first part "Book on the
Faith," and this second part "Book on the Sacraments." 2 The same thing is done
by the author of the Chronicle of Seert 3 who even makes use of the Syriac word
raze. The indications of the MS. favour this opinion. On the other hand, the
Acts of the Fifth Council, as will be seen from the quotation given below,
rightly attach it to the first part as one continuous text. The Manuscript which
contains the text of this volume is Mingana Syriac 561 from which I gave a
facsimile reproduction in the preceding volume of the Woodbrooke Studies.
Although the headings of the work give it, in the MS., as a separate treatise,
we are entitled to consider it as one work with the |x commentary on the Nicene
Creed, since the copyist himself, the actual author of these headings, places it
in an unbroken sequence side by side with that commentary. From the fact that
all the discourses dealing with the sacraments of baptism and of the Eucharist
are preceded in the text by a synopsis of their contents, we may infer that they
were used in the Greek Church of the Patriarchate of Antioch as a kind of
text-book for the Catachumens, before they were translated into Syriac. On
linguistic grounds we may also state with confidence that the first part and the
second part of the work were not translated by the same man, and that the
translator of the second part must have lived some years after the translator of
the first part. In the chapter that deals with the Lord's prayer, Theodore
argues from the short words of the prayer which our Lord ordered us to recite
that "Prayer does not consist so much in words as in good works, love and zeal
for duty. Indeed, any one who is inclined to good works, all his life must needs
be in prayer. . . . Prayer is by necessity connected with good works, because a
thing that is not good to be looked for, is not good to be prayed for. ... If
you care for prayer, know that it is not performed by words but by the choice of
a virtuous life and by the love of God and diligence in one's duty. If you are
zealous in these things you will be praying all your life." So far as the words
"daily bread" are concerned Theodore holds that they mean our necessary food,
i.e., the food that is necessary for the sustenance of the human body.

Theodore's Commentary on baptism and the Eucharist is of outstanding importance
for the right understanding of the historical and theological background of
these two Christian sacraments. In the sphere of history this importance can
hardly be overestimated. In examining the extant Greek liturgical Manuscripts
which contain these two sacraments, one is struck by the scarcity of old
Manuscripts, and by the changes that their contents have undergone at the hand
of liturgiologists and copyists of later generations. In this connection it is
useful to remark that the text and the sequence of events, as exhibited by
Theodore, are to be considered identical in every detail with |xi the very text
and sequence of events that were current in the liturgical book of the Greek
Church of the fourth century. Theodore's work is a commentary on the text of the
Liturgy, and this commentary having been translated into Syriac shortly after
his death, there is every reason to believe that it has come down to us without
any alteration, addition or subtraction. In the domain of Liturgy, the Byzantine
Church generally made use of the Liturgies attributed to St. James and to St.
Mark, and later, of the Liturgies attributed to SS. Chrysostom and Basil.4 In
early times the Greek speaking Church of Antioch apparently made use of some
such Liturgy as that found in the eighth book of the Apostolic Constitutions 5
and, with some omission and modification, in Didascalia Apostolorum.6

Taking first the Liturgies of SS. James and Mark, we find that the oldest Greek
Manuscripts are represented by two pieces of a parchment roll of the end of the
tenth, or the beginning of the eleventh century, formerly belonging to the
Basilian Monastery of S. Salvator in Messina, and by Vat. Gr. 1970 of the
thirteenth century. All other MSS. are of the fifteenth century and later. For
the Liturgy of St. James, however, we have also Cod. Vat. 2282, of the ninth
century,7 and for that of St. Basil we have MS. iii, 55 of Biblioth. Barberina,
of the end of the eighth century. The manuscript evidence of the oldest of the
above Liturgies is, therefore, some four hundred years after the time of Theod
ore. Hans Lietzmann,8 who submitted all of them to a masterly study, does not
seem to have a very high opinion of their authenticity through the ages. On page
261 of his work he rightly thinks that the Nestorian Liturgy of the Apostles may
be older than all of them.9 "Aus der gleichen |xii antiochenischen Wurzel ist
die fär den Jerusalemer Sprengel massgebende Jakobusliturgie erwachsen, die
vielfach wie eine Parallelbildung zur byzantinischen Liturgie wirkt, vermutlich
auch direkte Einflässe von dort erfahren hat. Sie ist ihrerseits wieder Vorbild
fär die meisten der zahlreichen national syrischen Formulare geworden, die im
Gegensatz zu der Erstarrung der Byzantiner in immer neuer Schöpfung die
produktive liturgische Freiheit der alten Kirche bewahrt haben. Möglich, dass
die nestorianische Apostelliturgie eine ältere Form repräsentiert." As to the
section of the Liturgy found in the Apostolic Constitutions Lietzmann is of
opinion that many ceremonies described in it are of Jewish origin.10 The Liturgy
commented upon by Theodore has many points of resemblance with that exhibited in
the aforesaid Apostolic Constitutions,11 and with the exception of the
generalities that are found more or less in all Liturgies, it has much less in
common with the Liturgy of St. James, and that of St. Mark. Historical reasons
would strongly militate against the theory that the Liturgies that pass under
the names of SS. Chrysostom and Basil had spread to such an extent in North
Syria as to justify a theologian like Theodore to comment upon them. Theodore
himself makes use of sentences which suggest that he was commenting on an
ancient and not a modern Liturgy ascribed to one of his contemporaries of the
fourth century:

"There is an ordinance found (in the Church) from the beginning, to the effect
that all those who have been deemed worthy to do the work of priesthood, should
begin all the functions performed in a Church assembly with the phrase 'Peace be
with you'" (p. 90).

"It is in this sense that the phrase: 'And to your spirit' is addressed to the
priest by the congregation, according to the regulations found in the Church
from the beginning" (pp. 91-92). |xiii The ritual of baptism on which the author
commented was also ancient:

"From what we have said, you have sufficiently understood the ceremonies which
are duly performed, prior to the sacrament, and according to an early tradition,
upon those who are baptised" (p. 35).

I shall not enter here into details and examine the points of resemblance and
divergence that characterise the Liturgy explained by Theodore and the Greek
liturgies described above. A whole volume would be required for such a
comparison, and I will leave this task to professional liturgiologists, but it
would be useful to state that the Liturgy commented upon by Theodore has nothing
in common with the Liturgy ascribed to him, in the East Syrian Church, under the
title of "Liturgy of Mar Theodore the Interpreter," nor has it any points of
contact with the numerous anaphoras attributed, in the West Syrian Church, to
various apostles, disciples and saints. In the following lines I will give a
short summary of the sequence of events and ceremonies of the sacraments of
baptism and the Eucharist as described by Theodore.

Baptism. The catechumen comes to church attended by his godfather,12 and his
name is written down in church books by the Registrar of baptisms. The godfather
answers the questions put to the catechumen by the Registrar of Baptisms and
becomes his surety for his past life, his preparedness and his competence to
receive the sacrament of baptism. Then the exorcists come and "ask in a loud and
prolonged voice that our Enemy should be punished and by a verdict from the
Judge (God) be ordered to retire and stand far." During all this time the
catechumen remains silent and stands barefooted on sackcloth; his outer garments
are taken off from him while his head is bent and his |xiv arms are
outstretched. Then he goes to the priest before whom he genuflects and recites
the Creed and the Lord's Prayer and the words of abjuration which are: "I abjure
Satan and all his angels, and all his works, and all his service, and all his
deception, and all his worldly glamour; and I engage myself and believe, and am
baptised in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit."

Then the priest "clad in a robe of clean and radiant linen" signs him on the
forehead with the holy Chrism and says: "So-and-so is signed in the name of the
Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit." Theodore calls this signing the
first-fruits of the sacrament of baptism, which stamp the catechumen as a
soldier of Christ, and as a lamb belonging to His fold. After the priest has
finished his recital of the above formula, the catechumen's godfather, who is
standing behind him, spreads an orarium of linen on the crown of his head,
raises him and makes him stand erect. The above ceremony has nothing to do with
the sacrament of Confirmation which, as is seen below, is given after baptism
proper.

Then the catechumen receives the holy baptism. He first takes off all his
garments, and then is anointed by a deacon all over his body with the holy
Chrism, while the priest pronounces over him the following words: "So-and-so is
anointed in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit."

After this, the catechumen is brought to a pond full of water, which the priest
consecrates. Then the latter stands up and puts his hand on the head of the
catechumen and says: "So-and-so is baptised in the name of the Father, and of
the Son, and of the Holy Spirit." At the mention of each name of the Holy
Trinity, he causes him to immerse himself in water and bend his head downwards.
There are three immersions as there are three persons in the Trinity.

After his baptism, the catechumen "wears a garment that is wholly radiant." Then
the priest approaches and signs him on his forehead, apparently with the holy
Chrism, and says: "So-and-so is signed in the name of the Father, and of the
Son, and of the Holy Spirit." |xv

It would not be out of place here to compare the summary of the above sequence
of events and ceremonies connected with the sacrament of baptism, as described
by Theodore, with the corresponding ceremonies outlined in the VIIth Book of the
Apostolic Constitutions:13

You shall beforehand anoint the person who is to be baptised with the holy oil,
and afterwards baptise him with water, and in conclusion shall seal him with
ointment; that the anointing with oil may be the participation of the Holy
Spirit, and the water the symbol of the death of Christ, and the ointment the
seal of the Covenant. Before baptism, let him that is to be baptised fast. And
when it remains that the catechumen is to be baptised, let him learn what
concerns the renunciation of the Devil and the joining himself with Christ. Let,
therefore, the candidate for baptism declare thus in his renunciation: "I abjure
Satan, and his works, and his pomps, and his worships, and his angels, and his
inventions, and all things that are under him. And I associate myself with
Christ, and believe, and am baptised, into One Unbegotten Being, the only true
God Almighty, etc."

After this, he comes to the water and the priest baptises him. And after he has
baptised him in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit,
he anoints him with ointment and recite the following prayer which begins: "O
Lord God." After this, let the catechumen stand up and recite the Lord's prayer.

Without entering into minute details, we may assert that there are points of
resemblance between the ceremonies and prayers described by Theodore and those
found in the Apostolic Constitutions. There are, however, so many discrepancies
also between the two texts that we are compelled to state that, if our author
was drawing upon the book of the Apostolic Constitutions, that book must have
been in many points different from that with which we are familiar in our days.
By common consent the Apostolic Constitutions are believed to have been composed
|xvi in Antioch in the latter half of the fourth century.14 The text of the
ritual of baptism commented upon by Theodore seems to be shorter and more
archaic than that exhibited in the Apostolic Constitutions.

Eucharist.

After their baptism the catechumens were admitted to the Church and allowed to
participate in the Eucharist. The author first speaks of deacons, whose function
it is to bring the oblation to the altar and spread linens on it, as symbols of
the linen clothes of the burial of our Lord. At the end of this preliminary act
they stand on both sides of the altar and agitate the air with fans. All these
things take place while everybody is silent. Then comes a vocal prayer
"announced in the loud voice of the deacon." After this all become silent again,
and the priest begins a service in which he offers "thanksgivings to our Lord
for the great things which He has provided for the salvation and deliverance of
men"; and "he offers also thanksgivings for himself for having been appointed
servant of such an awe-inspiring Sacrament." At the close of this prayer the
congregation says Amen." Then the priest says "Peace be to you," to which those
present respond: "And to your spirit."

After this benediction the priest says: "Lift up your minds," and the people
answer "To You, O Lord"; and the priest says: "Let us thank the Lord," and the
people answer: "It is fit and right." Then the priest recites the prayer which
contains the words: "The greatness of the Father, and of the Son, and of the
Holy Spirit," and asserts that praises and glorifications are offered at all
time to the Trinity. At the end of this the priest recites the preliminary
prayer to the Canticle of the Seraphim, and then all the congregation sings in a
loud voice the Sanctus. Then the people resort to silence, and the priest
proceeds with the service and recites the prayer which begins with the words:
"Holy is the Father, holy also is the Son, and holy |xvii also is the Holy
Spirit." Then the deacon shouts: "Let us all stand up in great fear," at the end
of which the priest begins the Epiclesis in which he prays that the Holy Spirit
may come down and change the bread and wine which are on the altar into the body
and blood of Christ. He prays also that the grace of the Holy Spirit may come
down on all those present and on all those "of whom, by regulation, mention is
to be made always in the Church." He recites these prayers quietly, and after
that he takes the holy bread with his hand and looks towards heaven, offers a
prayer of thanksgiving and breaks the bread. While breaking it he prays for the
people and says: "May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with all of you," to
which the people respond, "And with your spirit." He then makes the sign of the
Cross with the bread over the blood, and with the blood over the bread, and
breaks the bread and joins it with the blood.

Then the church crier shouts and mentions by name those for whom every one ought
to pray, and before any other thing, he says: "We ought to pray for those who
presented this holy oblation."

Then the priest offers a prayer, at the end of which he says: "Peace be to you!"
and the people answer: "And to your spirit," while duly bowing their heads. A
little while after, the church crier, who is always the deacon, shouts: "Let us
be attentive," and the priest says loudly, "The holy thing to the holies," and
the people answer: "One Holy Father, one Holy Son and one Holy Spirit," and add
"Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, for ever and
ever. Amen." After this all hasten to receive the Communion from the Communion
table. The priest receives the Communion from the altar, and after him the
congregation, from a distance.

"To receive the sacrament, a person stretches out his right hand, and under it
he places the left hand." The communicant eats then the consecrated bread placed
by the priest in his right hand. In giving the consecrated bread the priest
says: "The body of Christ," and in giving the consecrated wine he says: "The cup
of Christ," and the communicant answers "Amen." After some prayers of
thanksgivings, recited by all the congregation, |xviii the Communion service and
the liturgical prayers connected with it come to an end. Of all the ancient
Liturgies which I have consulted, the one which exhibits the nearest text to
that given by Theodore seems to be the Liturgy found in the VIIIth Book of the
Apostolic Constitutions, and, for the reader's convenience, I will give here a
summary of it, similar to that given above in the case of Theodore, and will
exclude from it the part which deals with the catechumens:15

Let the deacons bring the gifts to the bishop at the altar, and let the priests
stand on his right hand and on his left, as disciples stand before their Master.
And let two deacons, each side of the altar, hold a fan made up of thin
membranes or of the feathers of the peacock, or of fine cloth, and let them
silently drive away the small animals that fly about, that they may not come
near to the cups. Let the high priest, together with the priests, pray, and let
him put on his radiant garment and stand at the altar and make the sign of the
Cross upon his forehead with his hand, and say: "The grace of Almighty God, and
the love of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the fellowship of the Holy Ghost be with
you all"; and let all with one voice say: "And with your spirit." And the high
priest says: "Lift up your mind," and the people say: "We lift it to the Lord";
and the high priest says: "Let us give thanks to the Lord," and the people say:
"It is fit and right."

After this, the high priest recites a long prayer which ends with the Sanctus
recited by all the congregation. Afterwards, the high priest recites a prayer
which begins: "For You are truly holy," in which are found the words of the
Institution. At the end of it the people say "Amen"; and the bishop says: "The
peace of God be with you all"; and the people answer: "And with your spirit."

After this the deacon recites a long prayer at the end of which the congregation
says "Amen." Then the deacon says: "Let us be attentive," after which the bishop
says: "Holy things for holy persons," at the end of which the people answer,
"There is |xix One that is holy, there is one Lord, one Jesus Christ blessed for
ever, to the glory of God the Father. Amen. Glory to God in the highest and on
earth peace, good will among men. Hosanna to the Son of David. Blessed be He
that cometh in the name of the Lord, being the Lord God who appeared to us.
Hosanna in the highest."

After this, "Let the bishop partake, then the presbyters and deacons and
sub-deacons and the readers and the singers and the ascetics; and then of the
women, the deaconesses and the virgins and the widows; then the children; and
then all the people in order, with reverence and godly fear, without tumult. And
let the bishop give the oblation saying: 'The body of Christ'; and let him that
receiveth say, 'Amen.' And let the deacon take the cup; and when he gives it,
say: the blood of Christ, the cup of Life'; and let him that drinketh say,
'Amen.' And let the 33rd Psalm be said, while all the rest are partaking, and
when all, both men and women, have partaken, let the deacons carry what remains
into the vestry.

"And then let the deacon recite the prayer which begins: 'Now we have received
the precious body and the precious blood of Christ, let us give thanks to Him
who has thought us worthy to partake of these His holy mysteries.' "

After this the bishop gives thanks in a long prayer which begins: "O Lord God
Almighty," at the end of which the deacon says: "Depart in peace." As I stated
above, I do not intend to make a thorough comparison with the points of
resemblance and divergence found in the Liturgy commented upon by Theodore and
the text of the Apostolic Constitutions. It appears to me, however, that, in the
Eucharist as in baptism, the text commented upon by Theodore represents a more
ancient layer in the development of the Liturgy. The next liturgical text with
which it would be useful to compare the present work of Theodore is that of the
early Clementine literature, better known under the name of Testamentum
Domini:16

Then the bishop, in offering thanksgivings, says the |xx awe-inspiring words:
"Our Lord be with you," and the people answer: "And with your spirit," and the
bishop says: "Lift up your hearts," and the people answer: "They are with the
Lord"; and the bishop says: "Let us thank the Lord," and the people answer: "It
is fit and right"; and the bishop shouts: "The holy things with the holy
people," and the people answer: "In heaven and earth without ceasing."

Then the bishop offers thanksgivings for the oblation and recites a prayer which
begins: "We thank You, O God," followed by another prayer recited also by the
people, which begins: "In remembering Thy death and resurrection." Then the
bishop recites the prayer which begins: "We offer You these thanksgivings," at
the end of which the people say: "Amen."

After this, the deacon exhorts to prayer and the bishop recites a short
invocation to which the people respond "Amen," while reciting it with the
bishop. At the end of all this comes the prayer of dismissal, which is: "May the
name of the Lord be blessed for ever." The congregation proceeds then to receive
the holy communion in the following order: bishops, priests, deacons, widows,
readers, sub-deacons, those endowed with gifts, those who have been newly
baptised, and last of all, the children. The order of the communion for the
laity is as follows: old men, ascetics, and the rest; and for the women: first
the deaconesses, and then the rest.

Before receiving the communion, the communicant says "Amen," and after the
communion, he says: "Holy, holy, holy, the ineffable Trinity. Grant me to
receive this Eucharistic bread to salvation and not to damnation," etc. In
partaking of the cup, let the communicant say twice: "Amen." After this the
service comes to an end.

It is easily seen that the text of the Testamentum Domini has fewer points of
contact with the text of the Apostolic Constitutions than the Liturgy commented
upon by Theodore.

There is no need here to dilate on the additions to all the aforesaid liturgical
texts made by A. Baumstark,17 A. Rucker,18 |xxi and Rahmani,19 nor to the
papyrus of Dair-Balizah, edited by Schermann,20 nor to the much advertised
Euchologium of Serapion,21 as none of them could possibly have had any influence
on the Church of North Syria in the time of Theodore. As in the preceding part I
shall not attempt to give a synopsis of Theodore's views concerning the
sacraments of baptism and the Eucharist and other Christian doctrines of the
Golden Age of Christianity which are discussed in this part of his work. Let
Theodore speak for himself in his own words, which can easily be understood by
any intelligent reader familiar with the phraseology of the Fathers of the
fourth century. I will, however, quote here the following beautiful passage
concerning the sacrament of penitence:—

"It is right for us to draw near to the priests with great confidence and to
reveal our sins to them, and they, with all diligence, pain and love, and
according to the rules laid down above, will give healing to sinners. And they
will not disclose the things that are not to be disclosed, but they will keep to
themselves the things that have happened, as fits true and loving fathers, bound
to safeguard the shame of their children, while striving to heal their bodies"
(p. 123).

About the reception of the holy communion I will quote the following passage:
"It is right for us, therefore, neither wholly to abstain from communion nor to
go to it unworthily, but we must strive with all our power after the things that
are right, and after having thus striven we must hasten to receive communion,
well aware that if we devote our life to unworthiness, and sin fearlessly, and
do anything we take fancy to, and are careless of our duty, we shall eat and
drink this food and this beverage which words cannot describe, to our damnation;
but if we are careful of our salvation, and hasten towards good works and
meditate upon them continually in our mind, the sins that come to us
involuntarily from (human) weakness will not injure us; on the contrary, we will
acquire great help from our communion. Indeed, the body and the blood of our
Lord, and the grace |xxii of the Holy Spirit that is promised to us therefrom,
will strengthen us in doing good works, and invigorate our minds, while driving
away from us all ungodly thoughts and surely quenching (the fire) of sins, as
long as we have committed them involuntarily, and they have come to us against
our will, from the weakness of our nature, and we have fallen into them against
our desire, and because of them we have sorrowed intensely and prayed God in
great repentance for our trespasses. The communion of the holy Sacrament will,
without doubt, grant us the remission of trespasses of this kind, since our Lord
plainly said: 'This is my body which is broken for you for the remission of
sins, and this is my blood which is shed for you for the remission of sins,'
and: 'I am not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.'

If therefore we sin carelessly, it is hard for us to draw near to the holy
Sacrament, but if we do good works with diligence and turn away from evil works
and truly repent of the sins that come to us, we will undoubtedly obtain the
gift of the remission of sins in our reception of the holy Sacrament, according
to the words of Christ our Lord, because while we were sinners we have been
chosen to a penitence, a deliverance and a salvation that embrace all, solely by
the grace of the One who has called us" (p. 117). For the time following the
reception of the Sacrament, the following passage is also worth quoting: "As to
you, after you have received the body, you offer adoration as a confession of
the power placed in your hands, while remembering the words uttered by our Lord
to His disciples after He rose from the dead: 'All power is given to me in
heaven and in earth.' You press it with great and true love to your eyes and
kiss it, and you offer (to it) your prayers as if to Christ our Lord, who is at
present so near to you, and in whom you believed before that you had confidence,
which you will receive now that you have drawn near to Him and held Him. You
pray, while confessing your weakness, the great number of your sins, and your
great unworthiness for such a gift. You glorify also in a fitting manner the One
who granted these things to a person such as you, and rendered you worthy to
receive help from Him to the extent |xxiii that you became worthy to receive the
communion, free from all evil things and doing all the things that please Him"
(p. 113). A general note that rings through all Theodore's doctrine about the
sacraments of baptism and the Eucharist is that what happens in them is a figure
of the reality that will take place in the Kingdom of Heaven, which God
established in the next world. All the benefits which we derive from baptism and
the Eucharist are symbols of the real gifts of God which will be bestowed upon
us in our future life "in Jerusalem which is above, free, and mother of us all"
(Gal. iv. 26). The author quotes also, in this connection, the sentence in the
Epistle to the Hebrews: "You are come into Mount Zion and into the city of the
living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, and
to the church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven" (Heb. xii. 22-23).
In Theodore's opinion we shall go to the Kingdom of Heaven because, in Christ's
words: "We shall be the children of God, being the children of the Resurrection"
(Luke xx. 36).

It may be useful also to remark that what the author means by discipleship (Syr.
talmidhutha) 22 throughout his work, may possibly refer to the act of anointing
or signing which the catechumens received before their baptism. This ceremony,
which was performed in the early Church, seems to imply that a believer was
"stamped" as a lamb belonging to the fold of Christ. In the first part of the
book 23 I gave six quotations from Theodore's work found in the Acts of the
fifth Council. The following quotation from the Acts of this Council is found in
the present volume:— Mansi, Sacrorum Conciliorum nova et amplissima Collectio
(Vol. IX, p. 217).

Ejusdem Theodori ex eodem libro:

[Latin, Syriac omitted] |xxiv In reading the first part of Theodore's work ad
Baptizandos, which was published in the fifth volume of the Woodbrooke Studies,
I came across a few inaccuracies to which I wish to draw attention.

P. 19, 11.25 and 28. The word translated by "incident" literally means
"distinction." |xxv

P. 21, 1. 4. For "the first man" read "our forerunner" and change the Note to
"Cf. Heb. vi. 20." P. 21, 1. 11. Attach note 3 to "faith." P. 84,1.16. Read
"his" not with a capital "H." P. 87, 1. 8. Read (made) for (done).

P. 90 1. 22. Instead of "differentiated" it would be better to read "affected."
Although "differentiated" corresponds more literally with the text, "affected"
will be better understood by an English reader.

P. 92, 1. 1. Delete "of."

P. 98, 1. 16. For "prominently" read "pre-eminently."

P. 101, 1. 29. Add "the" before "Holy Spirit."

P. 114, 1. 1. For "I will believe and be baptised" read "I believe and am
baptised."

It is a pleasing duty to offer here my sincerest thanks to Mr. Edward Cadbury
for his generosity and unfailing interest in the Woodbrooke Studies, which are
making no small contribution towards the solution of many problems dealing with
the history and doctrine of early Church; and to the Aberdeen University Press
for the satisfactory way in which they have performed their difficult task.

Selly Oak Colleges Library, Birmingham, 16th December, 1932.

[Footnotes renumbered and moved to the end] 1. 1 See Woodbrooke Studies, Vol. V,
p. 7.

2. 2 Assemani, Bib. Orient. iii, 33.

3. 3 Pat. Orient. V, 290.

4. 1 Brightman, Liturgies Eastern and Western, Vol. I (Oxford 1896).

5. 2 Or possibly with one of the Liturgies spoken of below.

6. 3 There is no liturgy of the Eucharist in the Syriac Didascalia as edited by
Mrs. Gibson in Horae Semiticae No. I.

7. 4 Baumstark and Schermann in Oriens Christianus, iii, 214 sqq.

8. 5 Messe und Herrenmahl, eine Studie zur Geschichte der Liturgie (Bonn, 1926).

9. 6 Lietzmann's conclusion as to the priority of the Nestorian Liturgy is
reached also after careful consideration by the late Archbishop Joseph David in
his Arabic work entitled Kusara, p. 55.

10. 1 Messe und Herrenmahl, pp. 127-131.

11. 2 I am including in this section the recension of the Clementine literature,
edited and translated by Rahmani under the title of Testamentum Domini (Mainz,
1899). See below.

12. 1 There is no question in Theodore of the children's baptism; all the
persons admitted to baptism were adults who had received a thorough education
and instruction in the theological points explained by him in his present work,
ad Baptizandos.

13. 1 Ante-Nicene Christian Library, Vol. XVII, Part II, pp. 185-204.

14. 1 Brightman, ibid., p. xxix of the Introduction. Lietzmann (op. cit., p.
261) writes also as follows: "Auf ihr (i.e., the Liturgy of Hippolytus) baut
sich die antiochenische Liturgie des iv Jh. auf, von der uns eine massgebende
Textform im viii (und ii) Buch der Constitutiones Apostolorum vorliegt."

15. 1 Brightman, ibid., pp. 14-27, and Ante-Nicene Christian Library, Vol. XVII,
pp. 224-237.

16. 1 My references will be here to a MS. of my Collection, Mingana Syr. 12, ff.
11a-17b, and not to the printed text edited by Rahmani in 1899 of which I spoke
above.

17. 1 In his well-known Kleine Texte No. 35 (1909).

18. 2 Liturgie-geschicht. Quell. Heft. 4 (1923).

19. 1 Vetusta documenta liturgica (1908), pp. 25-82.

20. 2 Texte und Untersuchungen, Bd. 36 (1910).

21. 3 Edited by Wobbermin in Texte und Untersuchungen 17, Heft. 3 (1898).

22. 1 I have translated this word sometimes by "initiation," and some other
times by "discipleship," and very rarely by "catechumenate."

23. 2 Woodbrooke Studies, Vol. V, pp. 8-11. This text was transcribed by Roger
Pearse, 2008. This file and all material on this page is in the public domain -
copy freely.

Early Church Fathers - Additional Texts


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 3: COMMENTARY ON THE NICENE CREED - ENGLISH TRANSLATION
========================================================================

Theodore of Mopsuestia, Commentary on the Nicene Creed (1932) pp.18-116

•

Chapter 1

•

Chapter 2

•

Chapter 3

•

Chapter 4

•

Chapter 5

•

Chapter 6

•

Chapter 7

•

Chapter 8

•

Chapter 9

•

Chapter 10

Translation.

[By Alphonse Mingana] By the power of our Lord Jesus Christ we begin to write
the exposition of the faith of the three hundred and eighteen (Fathers)1
composed by Mar Theodore the interpreter.

Chapter I.

What discourse is worthy of, and what mind is equal to, the greatness of the
subjects placed before us? Or which is the tongue that is able to teach these
mysteries? It is indeed difficult for our tongues to speak with accuracy even of
the created natures, because they also are created with great wisdom by the
Maker. As for those which are higher than our nature—because such are those of
which we intend to speak—how much are they not higher than all the minds of men?
They truly transcend our words! The blessed Paul bears witness concerning them
in saying: "Eye hath not seen nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart
of man the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him." 2

It is with these wonderful things that our discourse wishes to deal, and it is
to the delight of these mysteries that we have been invited, because the time of
the great festival of the holy Passover leads us to teach them. If God had
wished those heavenly gifts not to be known to us, it is evident that we should
not have been able to discourse on them, because how could a man have spoken of
unknown things? Since, however, He wished from the first and before the
foundations of the world to make manifest the wisdom that was in Him 3 through
the Economy of our Lord Jesus Christ, He revealed to us these hidden mysteries
and the greatness of these gifts, and He granted their knowledge to men through
the Holy Spirit. It is indeed written that God revealed to us by His Spirit and
showed us the sublime and ineffable mysteries which are performed by the power
of the Holy Spirit so that through them we might proceed in a congruous way, by
degrees and by |19 faith, to these future gifts.4 This is the reason why we
desired to discourse with confidence, according to the grace of God vouchsafed
to us, on these unspeakable things which are higher than ourselves. It is this
time of this festival that has led us to speak with those who wish [to
participate in] these awe-inspiring mysteries.

Now is the time for me to say: "Sing unto the Lord a new song for He has done
marvellous things." 5 Indeed a new song is required for new things, as we are
dealing with the New Testament which God established for the human race through
the Economy of our Lord Jesus Christ, when He abolished all old things and
showed new things in their place. Every man who is in Christ is a new creature;
old things are passed away and all things are become new.6 Death and corruption
have ceased, passions and mutability have passed away, and the life of the new
creature has been made manifest, a life which we hope to reach after 7 our
resurrection from the dead. At the resurrection from the dead He will make us
new instead of old, and incorruptible and immortal instead of corruptible and
mortal.

He gave us this new covenant which is fit for those who are renewed; and because
of this covenant we receive the knowledge of these mysteries so that we should
put off the old man and put on the new man who is renewed after the image of Him
who created him, where there is neither Jew nor Greek, bond nor free, but Christ
is all and in all.8 This will take place in reality in the next world when we
shall have become immortal and incorruptible, when we shall only contemplate
Christ of whose Kingdom we shall partake, when the incident of being Jew or
Greek, bond or free, shall be taken from us, and when all the ways of the image
of this world shall have completely disappeared. Indeed what incidence of being
Jew or Greek, bond or free, can remain with those who are in an immortal and
incorruptible nature after the image of Christ, according to the testimony of
the blessed Paul?

Because it was necessary that the faith in the truth of the future gifts should
remain in us so that we should not throw doubts on them on account of their
greatness—since we see them very much alien to our nature and above it—these
awe-inspiring mysteries were confided |20 to us in order that through them as
through symbols we might gradually approach our future hope, and in order to
obtain a faith without doubts in these gifts, while cultivating a conduct that
is in harmony with the new world and arranging our work in this world as much as
possible in conformity with the following sentences: "Our conversation is in
heaven," 9 and: "our building is of God," 10 and "we have a house in heaven not
made with hands." 11

While still on the earth we have been inscribed 12 in that awe-inspiring glory
of the future world through these mysteries, but we (ought to) live as much as
possible a heavenly life in spurning visible things and aspiring after future
things. Those who are about to partake now of these awe-inspiring mysteries are
inspired to do so by the grace of God. They do not do this in order to partake
of small and ordinary gifts, but to be transformed completely into new men and
to possess different virtues which they will receive by the gift of the grace of
God: being mortal they will become immortal, being corruptible they will become
incorruptible, being passible they will become impassible, being changeable they
will become unchangeable, being bond they will become free, being enemies they
will become friends, being strangers they will become sons. They will no more be
considered a part of Adam but of Christ; they will call as their head not Adam
but Christ, who has renewed them; they will not cultivate a ground that will
bring forth thorns and thistles to them,13 but they will dwell in a heaven which
is remote and immune from all sorrow and sighing;14 nor will death rule over
them but they will become themselves rulers in a new life where they will be not
slaves of sin but warriors of righteousness, not servants of Satan but intimate
friends of Christ for all time.

Adam, the father of mankind, received the abode of Paradise from which he was
driven out through his disobedience and sin, and we, who became the heirs of his
nature and his punishment, ascend to heaven by faith in Christ through our
participation in these mysteries, as He said: "Except a man he born of water and
of the Spirit he cannot enter into the Kingdom of Heaven." 15 The man, however,
who receives this spiritual birth is immediately inscribed in heaven and |21
becomes the heir and partaker of those future gifts, as the blessed Paul said,16
because those who believed in Christ are in expectation of making their abode in
heaven after the resurrection from the dead. Indeed we hope to go to heaven
where the first man,17 Christ, went on our behalf. Through these mysteries we
are truly inscribed in that abode.

We are in need of great care and immense diligence in order not to fall away
from this great promise and suffer the fate of Adam who was driven out of
Paradise. This is the reason why we partake in a wonderful way of these
awe-inspiring mysteries with a true faith which has no doubt,18 and we ought not
to forget this faith but to keep what we have received with great care. When we
have received these heavenly gifts in a perfect manner so that we may delight in
them, and when we have become their heirs in our actions, it is impossible that
we should fall away from them. As long as we are on the earth, however, because
we only receive them by hope through our participation in these mysteries, it is
possible to fall away from them, as we have a changeable nature. We ought,
therefore, to have great care and anxiety concerning them and to endeavour truly
to possess the hope of the future in our souls.

Now which is the faith and which are the promises through which we have our part
in mysteries in the hope of these heavenly gifts in which we will delight? These
are found in the profession of faith which we make before Christ our Lord at the
time of our baptism. If it were possible to comprehend their power by hearing
only, our words would have been useless, because their mere recitation would
have made them understood by those who heard them. Since, however, there is much
power hidden in them—as our holy Fathers confided to us from the gift of God an
ineffable treasure condensed in words which are easy to learn and to remember—it
is necessary to teach those who are about to receive these mysteries and to show
them the sense and the meaning that are hidden in them. When they have learnt
the greatness of the gift to which they wish to make their approach, and have
understood the meaning of their religion and their promises for the sake of
which they receive such a great gift, they will keep with diligence in their
souls the faith which has been handed down to them. |22 The principle of your
faith and promise which is to be carefully kept in these mysteries is: I believe
in one God, Father Almighty, Creator of all things visible and invisible. By the
grace of our Lord we will explain these words one after another, because it is
good that you should know the power of all of them. Let us, therefore, rightly
begin from where you also began in your profession of faith:

I believe in one God, Father Almighty. This is the foundation of the religion of
the fear of God,19 "for with the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and
with the mouth confession is made unto salvation."20 This is the truth of the
true teaching of the faith. Because the question of religion lies in the belief
in things that are invisible and indescribable, it is in need of faith, which
causes mind to see a thing that is invisible. The things that are visible we see
them with our eyes, while the things that are invisible are only seen by faith,
as "faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not
seen." 21 This faith brings in substance to the mind the things that are not yet
existent in reality. We accept by faith as true the resurrection from the dead
to heaven and all the future existence, which is not yet in existence. Faith
causes the soul to see and understand the things that are invisible and
indescribable. We are enabled by faith to be worthy of seeing the nature of God
"who is the sole invisible and incorruptible, who dwelleth in the bright light
which has no equal, and whom no man hath seen nor can see."22

We are able to see the visible thing with material eyes, if these are sound and
able to see, and if there is nothing to hinder them from seeing properly; but if
they are affected by injury, all things that were visible become invisible,
although in reality visible. In this same way we all see with accuracy the
invisible and the indescribable things, which the question of religion has
taught us, if our faith is sound, but they are not seen by those whose faith is
not sound. The question of religion consists in two things: confession
concerning God and concerning all the various and numerous things that were and
will be made by Him, and both of these are in need of faith as is shown by the
blessed Paul: "He that cometh to the religion of God must believe that He is" 23
and that the "worlds were framed by His |23 Word so that things which are seen
were not made of things which do appear." 24 In these he shows first that even
confession concerning God cannot consist in anything but the thought of religion
25 through faith alone; secondly, that we are unable to understand and confess
the things that were made by Him if we do not receive their knowledge by faith.
Faith perfects those who accept it thoroughly in the truth of religion while
those who become remote from it sink in error completely.

Paul called the Church of God "the pillar and ground of the truth," 26 because
it is sound in faith and well established in the teaching of religion. As to
those who are outside the faith: pagans, Jews, and heretics, because they are
devoid of faith, they greatly stray from the truth. Indeed because the pagans
had no faith they were unable to understand how God was able to create and to
make everything from nothing and establish it in substance, and in their error
they gave fancifully to God a consort to whom He had given a seat with Him from
eternity; and they strayed from the truth into various other insipid stories. As
to Jews they recoiled from the name of a son, and because of their lack of faith
they did not understand the one who is a true Son. In this way all the heretics
who are outside the Church and who have ascribed the name of Christ with untruth
to themselves, because they have no faith, have erred and strayed from the
truth. In order not to mention to your hearing all the heresies, it will be
sufficient to refer to Arius and Eunomius and all those who subscribe to their
opinion, and note how they were affected with the disease of the Jews; and
because of their lack of faith they did not understand nor did they accept that
the Son is of Divine nature, and that everything that is said of the nature of
the Father is said also of that of the Son, while the nature of the Father in no
way suffers from the fact that it has a true Son who in His nature is a true
mirror of itself.27

These few things have been said out of many in order to rebuke |24 those who
have strayed from the truth, and to show that they have strayed because of their
lack of faith. Indeed, the error of men who have gone astray because of their
lack of faith is great and possesses many ramifications, and as error increases
in proportion to its remoteness from faith, so also knowledge increases in
proportion to its nearness to faith. It is by faith that we know that God is,
that He is the creator of everything and that He created everything from
nothing. It is by it that we understand that those who have passed away and
perished will come back again to life and existence, when the Creator wishes. It
is by faith that we have known that the Father has a Son born of His nature and
God like Himself. It is by faith that we have accepted that the Holy Spirit is
of the same nature as God the Father and that He is always with the Father and
the Son. It is by faith that we have no doubt nor suspicion concerning the
preaching of the Economy of Christ which took place in the world.

It is, therefore, with justice that our blessed Fathers placed faith like a
foundation in the forefront of our teaching and of the mystery of our covenant,
and it is with right that they intimated to us to begin from there and say: I
believe in one God, Father Almighty. We must not be astonished that our blessed
Fathers included and handed down to us all the teaching of religion in a few
words. They thought that a long discourse would better fit other times and other
persons. As to you who for a long time have been weaned from the world, and have
come nigh unto religion with a good will, and have made yourselves ready to
receive the Divine mysteries with a clean conscience at a time full of fear,
condensed words are more useful, as their fewness renders them more easy to keep
in your memory when you wish to remember the faith which you professed and the
promises which you made on account of these mysteries It is right, however, that
a detailed teaching of them should be added to you so that you should understand
them more accurately, and beware in your souls of all the words of the enemies
of religion when you stand fast by this Divine teaching which is confided to
you. I believe in one God, Father Almighty. See how our blessed Fathers, with
the first word of the true profession of faith in one God the Father, removed us
with care from the error of polytheism and from the fallacy of Judaism which
puts in practice to-day all the teaching of the Old Testament in its entirety.
|25 The words of the New Testament concerning Christ were found in the prophets
of the Old Testament; they were indeed found in the prophets as a symbol and a
sign whereby the Jews expected Christ to appear to them as a man, but none of
them was aware of the divinity of the Only Begotten Son—the Word-God. (Our
blessed Fathers) gave us a perfect doctrine which separates from paganism those
who become initiated to religion, and which removes completely from the error of
polytheism those who obey its commandments, while teaching that the natures of
the Godhead are not many and separate, but that God is in one, single and
eternal nature which is the cause of everything; that such a one is God, and
outside Him there is no other God; that God is a being who is eternal and the
cause of everything; that a being who is not like this is not God by nature;
that a being who is eternal is the cause of everything; that a being who is not
eternal and the cause of everything, is not God but the work of God, who alone
is capable of creating everything from nothing.

He said: "The Lord Thy God is one Lord" 28 in order that we might learn that
there is one nature in the Godhead to which is due the name of Lord and God. He
also said: "the gods that have not made the heavens and the earth shall perish
from the earth and from under the heavens " 29 in order that we might understand
that he who is not the cause of everything is not God. The one who is the cause
of everything is God alone. He said to Moses, "I am the cause of everything," 30
in order that we might learn that He is truly the one who was from eternity and
is always, and that He is God. He who does not possess this attribute and is not
eternal, is not truly existent by Himself, but is made and has actually been
made when he was not existent, at the time at which the one who is from
eternity, that is to say God, wished to make him.

He also said: "I am the first and the last God and there was no other god before
me and there shall be no other god after me," 31 in order that we might
understand that He is the God who was first and from eternity and that it is
impossible that another God that is created should exist. Divine nature cannot
indeed fall within the notion of creation.32 |26

All these words teach us the doctrine of religion and expel the error of
paganism. Among pagans gods are many and of different kinds: some of them are
young, and some others old; some of them can do this, and some others that; some
of them perish, and some others will continue their existence; and they are of
different natures. That we ought to reject all these the Old Testament taught us
in the prophets, who spoke through the Holy Spirit to the effect that all the
gods of the Gentiles are false and are not gods because God is one, who is from
eternity and is the cause of everything, as He said: "There shall be no strange
god in thee," 33 that is to say a new god, and, "neither shalt thou worship a
strange god" 34 because everything that is new is not God, and "they are new
gods that came newly up." 35

Divine nature is one and eternal. It was in no need to be made by another,
because it is the cause of everything. This is the reason why He is God alone,
and anything that is made cannot by nature be God, as it is made by another. All
the created things rightly attribute their existence to their Creator who is
God, to whom they owe their being, and for this they are under an obligation of
gratitude to Him who by His own good will and power vouchsafed to them to be
what they are. Our blessed Fathers succinctly included all this great teaching
in the sentence: I believe in one God. Let us, therefore, accept the belief in
one God according to the preaching of the prophets and the teaching of our
Fathers. Divine nature is truly one, and it exists from eternity and is the
cause of everything; this is not as the pagans erroneously state that there are
many gods of different kinds.

It is necessary that we should offer you an oral teaching about everything,
little by little, in order that you may be able to remember the things that are
spoken to you, as these are indispensable to those who adhere to what has
preceded. By the help of the grace of God we will keep our promise to you in
other days, and now let the words that have been spoken suffice, and let us
glorify the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, now, always and for ever and
ever.

Here ends the first chapter. |27 Chapter II. On Faith.

Yesterday we spoke to your love sufficiently, and in the measure granted to us
by the grace of God, of faith which is the foundation of the principle of
religion. We approached the words of our profession of faith and showed how
through faith in one God all the error of the polytheism of the Gentiles
vanishes completely. We learned from the holy Books of the prophets to shake off
from us all the aberrations of pagans, whose gods are different and numerous,
and to believe that Divine nature which ought to be called God and Lord is one,
because He alone is from eternity and is the cause of everything.

All the created beings are very remote from this nature, as it is impossible to
admit that a created being is from eternity, and the created beings themselves
will not suffer to be called rightfully Lord and God by nature. A being who is
created by another cannot by any means create another being from nothing, or be
called God with justice, but the one who created him is God by necessity. This
is the reason why we say that there is only one God as the blessed prophets
taught us; and by the grace of the Holy Spirit they spoke and defined the kind
of nature which belongs to God. Beyond this they did not teach us anything
clearly. The doctrine concerning the Father and the Son was kept (to be
promulgated) by Christ our Lord, who taught His disciples that which was unknown
before and was not revealed to men, and ordered them to teach it to others also
in saying to them plainly: "Go ye and teach all nations, baptizing them in the
name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost." 36 As the blessed
Moses said when he promulgated his doctrine: "The Lord, Thy God is one Lord"
37—a doctrine that was taught and handed down by all the prophets—so the Christ
our Lord gave His teaching in the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the
Holy Ghost, but did not say what we had to learn and to teach others concerning
the Lord and God, as this had been clearly done by the prophets. He ordered His
disciples to teach all the nations that which was lacking to make the teaching
of the prophets perfect, and for this He said: "Go ye and teach all nations |28
baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy
Ghost," not that we should think that one of these is not God nor that there is
a God beside them, but that we should believe that they alone constitute Divine
nature, which we had formerly learnt from the prophets to be one.

Because the Gentiles had previously taught the doctrine of the plurality of
gods, who were numerous and different in youth and old age, in weakness and
strength, so that some of them were able to do this and some others that—Christ
ordered His disciples against this to teach all the nations to turn from all the
error of paganism, and to believe in the unity of nature in the Godhead, as was
the case with the doctrine first taught to mankind, from which the knowledge of
religion was received; and also to learn that the one who is from eternity and
is the cause of everything is one Divine nature known in the three persons of
the Father, of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

He would not have induced the Gentiles to turn away from names of false gods to
the knowledge of the Father if He did not know that He (the Father) was truly
Divine nature, nor would He have brought them to the knowledge of the Son if He
did not know that He (the Son) was truly of the same Divine nature, nor would He
have inculcated to them the knowledge of the Holy Spirit if He knew that He (the
Holy Spirit) was alien to that nature, otherwise He would have caused them to
turn from one falsehood to the knowledge of another falsehood. It is known that
it is from false gods, who were wrongly called gods, that He ordered His
disciples in His teaching to turn the Gentiles to the knowledge of the true God,
which consists in the faith in the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Each one
of these persons is a true God, but the Divine nature of the Father, of the Son
and of the Holy Spirit which we believe to be eternal and the cause of
everything, is one. In this way the teaching of the Old Testament is in harmony
with the teaching of the New Testament, and the words which the prophets uttered
concerning God are not foreign nor contradictory to those which Christ our Lord
delivered to the Gentiles through the Apostles, as His words are in full harmony
with the true knowledge of religion according to the teaching of the prophets.
Through the prophets we only understood God and the being to whom an uncreated
nature belongs, but the teaching of our Lord Jesus Christ gave us also with |29
certainty the persons in whom is Divine nature. This is the reason why our
blessed Fathers placed first the doctrine of the belief in one God as it was
written in the Old Testament in order to destroy the error of polytheism, and
then imparted to us the knowledge of the persons according to the teaching of
Christ. They were in a position—and it was easy for them—to repeat the words of
our Lord "in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost," but
because they wrote this profession of faith against the teaching of the
heretics, they taught it as succinctly as possible with more words than those
uttered by our Lord, for the demolition of error and the construction of the
doctrine of the Church, so that by their meaning they should reprove those who
contradict the true faith. For this reason they added with justice the name of
the Father after they had said, I believe in one God.

After the words concerning God they proceeded to the teaching of the persons,
which is the true teaching of the Christian faith and the true knowledge for
those who become disciples of Christ. Because the sentence denotes Divine
nature, it refers to the three persons, but as the teaching concerning the
persons could not be considered as referring to one of them only, they rightly
spoke to us of what is due to each person separately. At the beginning of their
sentence they placed the Father from whom are the Son and the Holy Spirit. The
Father is truly the one who is a Father alone, but we hold each one of the three
persons to be God, because Christ included this true doctrine in His teaching
concerning these three persons. When we hear the name "Father" we do not hear it
to no purpose, but we understand that God is a Father, and a true Father,
because He is Father alone; and we hold that God is Father in a way that belongs
only to Divine nature. All the created beings obtain the power of being fathers
after their creation, and there is no human being that has the attribute of
fatherhood concomitantly with his existence. Even Adam, the first man, who was
not born of another man, had not the attribute of fatherhood concomitantly with
his existence. He came first into existence by the will of God the Creator and
afterwards received the power of becoming a father, as it is said: "Adam knew
his wife, and she conceived and bore a son." 38 He became and was called a
father after his intercourse with Eve, after a long time of gestation, after
pangs of travail, and after the birth of his child. It is iniquitous |30 to
attribute any of those functions to Divine nature. He who had no need of time to
exist was in no need of time to become a Father. Because He was from eternity,
He was also a Father from eternity.

God the Father is truly a father; and He did not receive this in time, because
He did not have a Son after a time, but the latter was with Him from eternity
and was from Him as a Son also from eternity. It is for this that when our Lord
gave this wonderful teaching to His disciples He said, "Teach in the name of the
Father," and did not need to add another sentence in order to show whom He was
calling "Father." It was sufficient for Him to say, "Teach and baptize" to show
whom He was calling Father. He called God the Father in whom they had to believe
and in whose name they had to be baptized, the God who was from eternity
according to the teaching of the prophets.

It is not possible that the one who is from eternity should become Father after
a time. The very name Father shows this without further addition. If like us He
became Father later, He would also be identical with us in attribute and in the
meaning of the word. Now since this vocable "father" is one and the same with
many men, we should rightly inquire as to whom He called Father. Because He is a
true Father, He is Father alone. As He is eternal by nature so He is eternally a
Father. Since He is alone called by this name and in the full meaning of the
word,39 we do not feel any necessity to inquire who is the one who is called
Father, as His very name indicates to us the true Father. When He says: "I am
that I am," this is my name for ever and this is my memorial unto generations,"
40 we understand that God is called by this name, because He is truly "I am that
I am" while all the created beings are not truly "I am that I am," 41 because
they were created from nothing according to the will of their Maker. Because He
is the true being, He is called I am that I am, and He is not made by another.
As He is not like us He is not a Father like us, because He did not receive the
power of becoming a Father in time. So when we hear the word "father" we should
rightly think of that true Father who did not acquire the power of becoming a
Father in time, nor was He in need of an intercourse. He is a Father in truth
and from |31 eternity, a complete nature, with whom His child exists also from
eternity. The sentence: I believe in one God the Father taught us all these
things. It is rightly followed by the phrase Creator of all things visible and
invisible, so that we should understand that He is not only the Father of the
Son but also the Creator of all the creatures, and think of the difference which
exists between Father and Creator, and between Son and creatures. He is the
Father of the Son and the Creator of the creatures. The creatures were created
later while the Son was from the beginning with Him and from Him. This is the
difference between Father and Creator. He is called the Father of the one who
was born of Him, and the Creator of all the natures which are outside Him and
which were created from nothing by His will. This is the reason why they added
nothing to the doctrine concerning the Father; indeed the very word Father
sufficed to indicate the Son, as there is no father without a son, and as
wherever there is a father there is also a son. As to the Son they were going to
teach us as much as possible concerning Him later.

Because He is Creator they added, Of all things visible and invisible in order
to show in this also the difference between the Son and the creatures: that He
is the Father of the Son only, while He is the Creator of everything visible and
invisible, as everything was created from nothing. He would not have been called
Father of the Son and Creator of the creatures if there was not a great
difference between the two: the difference that should exist between a Son and
creatures. He is called and He is the Father of the Son, because He is of the
same nature as the one who is said to be His Son, but He is the Creator of
everything because everything was created from nothing; and although the natures
of the visible and invisible things differ among themselves yet all these
created things, whether visible or invisible, came into existence by the will of
their Maker. The fact that they were made from nothing is common to all of them,
as all were created from nothing by the will of their Maker. This is the reason
why the blessed David said: "Praise ye the Lord from the heavens. Praise ye Him
all His angels. Praise ye Him all His hosts. Praise ye Him sun and moon." 42 And
he gradually enumerated all other creatures found in the heavens and on |32 the
earth, visible and invisible, mortal and immortal, rational and irrational,
material and immaterial, those with life and those without life. When he invited
them to the praise of God he gave one reason which holds good for all of them:
"For He commanded, and they were created. He hath established them for ever and
ever. He hath made a decree which shall not pass." 43 Because everything was
created by Him and is sustained by His will, everything whether visible or not
owes praise to the Creator.

Two things render it obligatory for us to praise God: because He is God and
because He is Creator. We must, however, understand the difference between the
two. It is not because He is Father that He is also Creator, and it is not
because He is Creator that He is also Father. Indeed He is not the Creator of
the One whose Father He is, nor is He the Father of those whose Creator He is.
He is only the Father of the true and only Son who is in His Father's bosom,
because He was born of Him and is with Him from eternity, but He is the Creator
of all the things which are created and made, which are very remote from His
essence and which were created by His will when He pleased. He is called and He
is the Father of the Son because the latter is from Him and consubstantial with
Him, and He is the Maker and the Creator of the creatures because He brought
them to existence from nothing.

If He is called Father of men, He is not called their Father because He created
them, but because of their proximity to Him and relation with Him. This is the
reason why He is not called Father of all men but only of those who have
relation with Him, such as "I have nourished and brought up children." 44 To
these He granted by special favour to be called in this way. As such also is the
sentence: "Israel is my son, even my first-born," 45 because the others were not
sons. 46

Since we know the difference in our calling God: the Father of the Only Begotten
Son who alone is the true Son because consubstantial with Him, and the Creator
of everything which was created and came into |33 being from nothing—we should
retain this meaning in our faith. When, therefore, we say "Father," "Maker" we
ought not to conceive of God that which we conceive of men when we call them
fathers and makers, but we ought to understand the difference between Father and
Maker from the way they may be applied to us. Indeed, as with God so with us, a
father is one thing and a maker another thing. We are called the fathers of
those who are from us and are born of our nature, but the makers of those things
which are not of our nature but which were made and came into existence outside
us. A house, a ship and similar things are not of our nature, and are made by
us.

Such being the case with us, we ought to think with a clear mind of the
differences in God between the two terms of Father and Creator, and to
understand that He is the Father of the Only Begotten Son who was born of His
nature, and the Creator of all the creatures, which were created and came into
existence from nothing. For this He did not need any matter but He created the
natures through which they are seen and exist.

Since we were created in the image of God,47 we picture to ourselves the higher
things that are said of God through an image taken from things that belong to
us. In this way it is possible also to picture to ourselves what and how great
is the difference in the belief in God as Father and as Creator from things
belonging to us, although it is clear that there is a great difference between
us and God; and this difference we ought not to overlook when thinking of Divine
nature and the works done 48 by it. Indeed when we speak of Divine nature we
must remove completely from our mind all things that happen to us through
weakness. When we do a work we are in need of labour, matter and time; but God
is above all these, because the moment He wished it, His works were completed
out of nothing. From the fact also that we are born in labour and through human
agency,49 when we become fathers we need the nature of a female as matter, and a
long period of time. Without these we cannot become fathers. As to God He is a
Father without all these, because He did not experience labour nor did He make
use of any material agency 49 nor did He need |34 intercourse, nor did He wait
for any lapse of time, but He was at once Father from eternity.

We should, therefore, rightly remove from God all unbecoming thoughts of things
which happen to us through weakness whether in the domain of offspring or of
work. We do everything in labour, and our nature itself emanates and suffers
from it. As to God, He is above all these. Even when we reign, when we become
governors, when we judge, when we work, when we speak, when we look, and do any
other thing, we do all with labour; and when fatigue is protracted, it is
followed by sweat; and because our nature is mortal and corruptible, it will
perish through labour. As to God He does all things ascribed to Him, such as
governing, providing, judging, reigning and the like without fatigue, without
material agency and without injury.50

It is such an idea that we must have of God, and it is such a faith that we
ought to possess concerning God the Father. When we call Him Father, we mean 51
Father of the Son; and He is truly a Father by nature, as we are. It is
impossible to understand how He is truly a Father if He were not a Father by
nature. He is eternally a Father because His nature, in which He is a Father, is
eternal. When we call Him Creator we mean that He created everything in wisdom
as it is said: "In wisdom Thou hast made them all," 52 as we also do things in
the wisdom of the skill that we possess. God is creator in the sense that when
He wished, the creatures came fully into existence, and He was in no need of
time or any other intervening thing between His wish and the coming into
existence of His creatures. Immediately after He wishes to create a thing, it
comes into existence from nothing.

It is in this kind of profession of faith and with this meaning that our blessed
Fathers gave us the belief in one God, Father and Creator, whom we have tried to
explain to your love in a long teaching, which you should keep without
modification, so that you should flee from the iniquitous opinions of the
heretics, while your faith is sound, by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ to
whom, in conjunction with His Father and the Holy Spirit, be glory and honour
for ever and ever. Amen.

Here ends the second chapter. |35 Chapter III. On Faith.

I believe that from what has been said you have learnt sufficiently which are
the things that those whose solicitude is the fear of God have to understand and
utter concerning God the Father. Let us now quote and examine also the words
uttered by our blessed Fathers in the profession of faith concerning the Son:
And in one Lord Jesus Christ the Only Begotten Son of God, the first-born of all
the creatures.

It was right that after their doctrine concerning the Father they should teach
concerning the Son according to the teaching of our Lord, while preserving the
order and the sequence of their words. As when speaking of the Father they not
only said "Father" according to the teaching of our Lord, but added, in one God
the Father and the Creator of all things, and first placed the name of God in
the profession of faith by saying that He is one in order to refute the error of
polytheism, and then added, the Father and the Creator of all things—so also
they acted concerning the Son: In one Lord Jesus Christ the Only Begotten Son of
God, the first-born of all the creatures. In this they clearly followed the
preaching of the blessed Paul, who when teaching against idols and erroneous
creeds said in refutation of the error of polytheism: "There is but one God," 53
and because he knew that we hold the doctrine of the faith in the Father, the
Son and the Holy Spirit, he strove openly to show us that the question of the
faith in these persons does not inflict any injury on us in our faith 54 nor
does it lead us to the error of polytheism.

Because we know that the Divine nature of the Father, of the Son and of the Holy
Spirit is one, when he desired to teach us this faith in a succinct manner he
said: "To us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things." 55 In
saying "one God the Father" he confuted all the error of polytheism, and showed
that to us one Divine nature is preached. By the addition of the person of the
Father he showed us the Son also, as after this he said: "And one Lord Jesus
Christ by whom are all things" 56 in order to proclaim the Father, the Son and
the Holy Spirit together, while including also in his sentence |36 the
Incarnation of our Lord which took place for our salvation and in which Divine
nature became our Saviour. When he says: "one Lord by whom are all things" he
alludes to God the Word who is a true Son consubstantial with His Father. He
called Him rightly Lord in order to make us understand that He is from the
Divine nature of God the Father.

We do not say that the Father is one God in the sense that the Son is not God,
nor that the Son is one Lord in the sense that the Father is not Lord, because
it is known and evident that any one who is truly God is also truly Lord, and
any one who is truly Lord is also truly God, and any one who is not truly God is
not truly Lord: "The Lord thy God is one Lord," 57 as He alone is so in truth.
He who possesses these true attributes is alone called Lord and God in truth,
and there is no other thing outside this nature which may be called Lord and God
in truth. He who says "one God" shows also that there is one Lord, and he who
says "there is but one Lord" confesses also that there is but one God. He (Paul)
first said: "There is but one God" and immediately after "there is but one
Lord," in order to separate the persons, because in repeating the word "one"
about each one of them he showed that the two persons are to be known as of one
Divine nature, which is truly both Lord and God. In order to include in their
sentence the human nature which was assumed for our salvation they said: In one
Lord Jesus Christ. This name is that of the man whom God put on, as the angel
said: "She shall bring forth a Son whose name shall be called 'Jesus.'" 58 They
added also the word Christ in order to allude to the Holy Spirit, as it is
written: "Jesus of Nazareth whom God anointed with the Holy Ghost and with
power." 59 And He is God because of the close union with that Divine nature
which is truly God. In this same way our blessed Fathers who assembled in that
wonderful Council of the Catholic Church [of Nicea] first spoke, like Paul, of
Divine nature while coupling with it a word which denotes the form of humanity
which He took upon Him 60 and said: And in one Lord Jesus Christ the Only
Begotten Son of God, the first-born of all creatures. It is thus that they
wished to teach mankind when they spoke of the Divine nature of the Son. His
humanity, in which |37 is Divine nature, is also made known and proclaimed in
it, according to the saying of the blessed Paul: "God was manifest in the
flesh," 61 and according to the saying of John the evangelist, "The Word was
made flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only
begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth." 62 Our Fathers rightly thought
not to overlook the humanity of our Lord which possesses such an ineffable union
with Divine nature, but added: And in one Lord Jesus Christ, as if they had
said, 'We believe in one Lord who is of Divine nature, to which the name of Lord
and God is truly due.' In speaking of God the Word they said: By whom are all
things,63 as the evangelist said: "All things were made by Him, and nothing was
made without Him." 64 It is as if they had said, ' This one we understand to be
one Lord who is of the Divine nature of God the Father, who for our salvation
put on a man in whom He dwelt and through whom He appeared and became known to
mankind. It is this man who was said by the angel that he would be called Jesus,
who was anointed with the Holy Ghost in whom He was perfected and justified, as
the blessed Paul testifies.' 65 After saying these and showing the Divine nature
and the human nature which God put on, they added: The "Only Begotten Son," the
"first-born" of all creatures. With these two words they alluded to the two
natures, and by the difference between the words they made us understand the
difference between the natures. From the fact also that they referred both words
to the one person 66 of the Son they showed us the close union between the two
natures. They did not make use of these words out of their own head but they
took them from the teaching of Holy Writ. The blessed Paul said: "Of whom Christ
in the flesh, who is God over all," 67 not that He is God by nature from the
fact that He is of the House of David in the flesh, but he said "in the flesh"
in order to indicate the human nature that was assumed. He said "God over all"
in order to indicate the Divine nature which is higher than all, and which is
the Lord. He used both words of one person in order to teach the close union of
the two natures, and in order to make manifest the majesty and the honour that
came to the man who was assumed by God who put Him on. |38 In this same way they
said also: The Only Begotten Son, the first-born of all creatures. Because they
were on the point of enlightening us concerning the two natures: how they are,
which was the Divine nature which came down, and which was the human nature
which was assumed—they used in advance these two expressions together in order
to indicate the two natures through them. It is clear that they do not speak of
one nature when they say: The Only Begotten Son, the first-born of all
creatures, because the two expressions cannot be said of one nature, as there is
a great difference between an only son and a first-born. It is not possible that
an only son and a first-born should denote the same man. A first-born is the one
who has many brothers while an only son is the one who has no brothers. So great
is the difference between an only son and a firstborn that it may be compared
with the difference that nature places between the one who is alone and the one
who is in company of others.

We call an only son one who has no other brothers at all while we call a
first-born one who clearly has other brothers. This the Sacred Book teaches us
also without ambiguity. In wishing to speak of an only son it says: "We beheld
His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and
truth." 68 It says also: "The only begotten Son who is in the bosom of the
Father," 69 so that by His close proximity to His Father He might be known as an
only Son. The sentence, "We beheld His glory, the glory as of an only begotten
of the Father" shows that He alone is of the nature of the Father by birth, and
He alone is a Son. In using the word "bosom" it conveys to us a union that never
ceases, as it is unbecoming to understand this word to refer to a corporeal
bosom of God. Inasmuch as they call eye "sight" and ear "hearing," so also they
call a union that never ceases "bosom," as it is said: "Render unto our
neighbours sevenfold into their bosom," 70 that is to say let them receive
punishment continually and always. The expression "only Son" that has been used
signifies, therefore, that He is alone born of the Father, that He is alone Son,
that He is always with His Father and is known with Him, because He is truly a
Son from His Father. As to the expression "the first-born of all the creatures,"
we |39 understand it in the sense in which it is said: "For whom He did foreknow
He also did predestinate, and He formed them to the image of His Son that He
might be the first-born among many brethren." 71 (Paul) did not make use of this
word in order to show us that He is Son alone, but in order to make us
understand that He has many brethren and that He is known among many since they
acquired with Him participation in the adoption of sons,72 and because of them
He is called first-born as they are His brothers. In another passage He is
called "first-born of all the creatures." 73 This is also said about the
humanity of Christ, because (Paul) did not simply say "first-born" but
"first-born of all the creatures." No one is called first-born if he has no
other brothers because of whom he is called and is a first-born, so the
expression "the first-born of all creatures" means that He was the first to be
renewed by His resurrection from the dead; and He changed into a new and
wonderful life, and He renewed also all the creatures and brought them to a new
and a higher creation. It is indeed said: "Everything that is in Christ is a new
creature. Old things are passed away, and all things are become new through our
Lord Jesus Christ." 74 He is the firstborn of all the creatures because all the
creation was renewed and changed through the renewal which He granted to it by
His grace from the renewal into which He Himself was renewed, and through which
He moved to a new life and ascended high above all creatures.

He is rightly called the first-born of all the creatures, because He was first
renewed, and then He renewed the creatures, while He is higher in honour than
all of them. This is how we understand the difference between the two names. Our
Fathers, who took their wisdom from Holy Writ, referred this difference to one
person and said: In the Only Begotten Son, the first-born of all creatures, in
order to show us, as I said previously, the close union of the two natures. It
is with justice, therefore, that they first said, "an only Son" and then, "the
first-born." Indeed they had first to show us who was the one who was in the
form of God,75 and who, because of His grace, took upon Him our nature, and
afterwards to speak of that form of a servant which was assumed for our
salvation. In this way and by the change in the terms that they used, they made
manifest to us the two natures and |40 differences, and also the unity of
sonship arising out of the closeness of the union of the natures, which was
effected by the will of God. In this they kept also the right order of things as
they taught first concerning Divine nature which by its grace came down to us
and put on humanity, and then concerning that humanity which was assumed through
grace, and afterwards they gave the true doctrine for the refutation of the
heretics who strove to twist the truth. In their teaching they began later to
speak of Divine nature about which they had already spoken at the beginning of
the profession of faith: Who was bom before all the worlds, and not made. It is
clear that they said these words concerning Divine nature, although the word
"only Son" was sufficient to teach the true doctrine concerning the Son to all
non-contentious. If He is an only Son, it is clear that He alone is born of God,
and He alone is a Son con-substantial with His Father. The expression "only Son"
denotes all these things, and even more, because those who are called sons of
God are numerous, while this one is alone the only Son. It is, indeed written:
"I have said, Ye are gods, and all of you children of the Most High," 76 and
again, "I have nourished and brought up children." 77 Since there are many who
are called "sons" this one would not have been called "an only Son" if there was
not a great difference between them. They were called sons by grace because they
became near to God and members of the household,78 and because of this
membership of the household they deserved by grace to be called by this name.
This one, however, was called an only Son because He alone is a Son
consubstantial with His Father. He was not called a Son, because He, like
others, became by grace worthy of the adoption of sons, but because He was born
of the very nature (of the Father) He was called and He is a Son. Although these
things are clear and evident in the Sacred Books, and although it is patent to
every one that no one can be called an only son except the one who is truly of
the same nature as his father, the unholy and erroneous opinion of the heretics
remained for some time without rectification. Of all those who had received the
knowledge of Christ, Arius was the first to dare and to say impiously that the
Son was a creature 79 and was made from nothing: a novel theory alien to public
opinion and |41 to the laws of nature, as any one who is created is not a Son,
and any one who is a Son is not a creature, because it is impossible that a
creature should be called a true Son or a true Son to be called a creature. This
compelled our blessed Fathers to assemble from all regions and hold a holy Synod
in the town of Nicea in the district of Bithynia, and to write this (profession
of) faith in order to uphold the true faith, to confute the wickedness of Arius,
to refute those who sprang up later and who are called by the name of their
deceiver Eunomius, and to overthrow those heresies which arose out of erroneous
opinions. Although the question was clear and evident to all from the law of
nature, from common consent and from the teaching of the Sacred Books, they
added and said: Born and not made.

They used words suitable to the belief in the Son, as if they had said: we call
Him a Son, not a mere man and not like one who is figuratively called so—such as
those who are by grace called children because of their adoption in the
household—but alone a true Son. He is a true Son because He is an only Son; and
He is truly born of His Father, is from Him and from His nature, and is
eternally like Him. There is no created thing that is before the worlds, as the
one who is before the worlds is the one who is alone from eternity. As the
Father is from eternity so also the Son who is from Him is from eternity. He did
not come into existence after a time nor was He born later, but He was born
eternally before all the worlds from the one who is from eternity, and He is
with Him from eternity as the evangelist said: "In the beginning was the Word."
80

He is from eternity, and did not come into existence later, but He was in the
beginning before everything. He who comes into existence later is called "the
last," and the last is not the first; and he who is not the first was not in the
beginning. If, therefore, He was in the beginning, He was also the first, as
there is nothing that precedes the beginning. If He is the first He is not the
last, and if He is not the last He did not come into existence later. In the
beginning He was,81 and He was in the beginning from God, that is to say He was
from eternity and before all the worlds with God. And to show that He was with
God, and not from outside, as something foreign and not from the very nature of
Divinity, the blessed evangelist called Him "Word," because a word belongs to
|42 a man and is from a man; and since it is possible that the being who was
with Him was from another he made use of this illustration so that the hearers
should not doubt that He was from eternity from the one who is eternally from
eternity. Indeed, the word of the soul, the rational character of which is
accomplished in itself, is with it and in it by nature, and it is through it
that this same soul is known to be rational. And it comes out of the soul, and
is seen from it and in it, and is always with it and known through it. In this
same way the Son is from the Father like the word is from the soul. He is
eternally from Him, with Him and in Him, and He is known from eternity with Him.
"He was in the beginning," that is to say He was from eternity, from the
beginning, and before everything; not that He came into existence later, but
that He was in the beginning and always; that He was eternally from Him and
eternally with Him, like the word is with the soul, from which and with which it
always is. The word, however, is seen as something different from the soul, and
is the personality 82 of the soul, because not having its own personality it is
seen in the soul. In order that, by following this illustration, we may not
believe that the Son has no personality 82 or that He was alien to the nature of
the Father he quickly added: "And the Word was God." After saying that He "was"
and that He "was with God" he added "And the Word was God" so that he should
show clearly that He was not from a nature different from that of God, or that
He was different from Him in the Godhead, but that He was identical with the one
from whom He was and that He was God with the one who was God.

He said wonderfully: "And the Word was God" in order to show that He is what God
is, and that He is what our blessed Fathers rightly described: Born of Him
before all the worlds. In this they wished to convey that from eternity and
before all the worlds He was in the beginning from Him and with Him. Their words
did not stop here but to complete the doctrine of truth, to warn the children of
faith and to overthrow the error of the heretics, they added the sentence: And
not made.

We should be in need of many words if we intended to comment fully upon all
things said by our blessed Fathers concerning the Divinity |43 of the Only
Begotten. In order, however, to lighten to you the burden of the many things
that are said to you we shall utter them little by little so that you may better
be able to hear and to learn them. With your permission, therefore, we shall put
an end here to the things that were said to-day, and keep the things that follow
(in the credo) to another day, and for all of them let us praise the Father, the
Only Begotten Son and the Holy Spirit, now, always, and for ever and ever. Amen.

Here ends the third chapter.

Chapter IV.

Yesterday we endeavoured to interpret to your love, according to our ability and
in a succinct manner, the things said by our blessed Fathers concerning the
Divinity of the Only Begotten, while we kept the remainder of them for another
day. In our commentary we reached, as you remember, the sentence in which it is
said: Born of His Father before all the worlds, and not made, and there we ended
our speech. If you wish, let us now begin by the grace of our Lord with this
sentence. We were stating that in saying: Born of His Father before all the
worlds they showed us that He is a Son truly and not figuratively only, as the
heretics pretend that He is a Son only in a borrowed name like those who were
called sons by grace. He is indeed alone the true Son of God the Father because
He is the Only Begotten and is alone born of God His Father. This is the reason
why they added: Born of His Father before all the worlds. This was due to the
Only Begotten Son of God, who is a true Son and not in name only. And He is from
the nature of the Father and eternally from Him and with Him. It is not possible
for us to imagine that there is anything between God the Father and God the Son,
as God is high above everything. He who is above everything is also above the
time and from eternity. If, therefore, God the Father is eternal, and if the Son
is God, He is also eternal, God from God, and Eternal from Eternal, and there is
nothing between God and God. As it is not possible to imagine that either times
or worlds precede God, so there is nothing before the Son as He also is God,
because He is born of His Father before everything, and is eternal, born of the
One who is eternal. |44 For a perfect faith to those who have the good-will of
religion this name of "Only Begotten" would have been sufficient, and they would
have agreed to say that He was a true Son. (Our Fathers), however, added to it
the sentence: Born of Him before all the worlds. Both phrases demonstrate how
the Only Begotten is the Son of God, and it is with justice that they added for
the refutation of the haters of truth: And not made. We confess that He is the
Only Begotten, the Son of God, born of the Father before all the worlds, and
that He is consubstantial with the Father; and we completely reject the opinion
held by the ungodly people who said that the Son of God is created. He is indeed
born of God and He is not made, and He is of the same nature as God and not a
creature.83 A Son is very different from a creature.

If He is a Son He is not a creature, and if He is a creature He is not a Son. If
He is a Son He is from Him and not from outside Him, and if He is a creature He
is from outside Him. If He is a Son He is from Him and like Him, and if He is a
creature He is from outside Him and not from Him and like Him. The natural law
teaches us also these things, because we call sons those who are born of us; as
to creatures they are made outside us while they were not. Likewise we
understand that there are many creatures of God, but the Son is One whom we also
call Only Begotten. The Son is one alone, and He is eternally from Him; as to
creatures they are many and exceed all numbering, and are composed of many
natures which came into existence later according to the will of their Maker,
both individually and collectively. He knew that diversity was useful to the
creature because it is created, and some parts of it came into existence
earlier, some later and some others later still; parts of it came into existence
at the same time, and parts after many others. Since all the created things were
to come into existence it was justifiable that some should come earlier and some
later. As there is a beginning to the existence of all created things, those
which came into existence later are like those which came into existence
earlier. As to the Son, because He did not come into existence to His Father
later but was in the beginning from Him and was from eternity with Him, is alone
Son. It was not possible that the one |45 who was similar to the one who is from
eternity should have come into existence later, nor was it possible that the one
who has a beginning should have been similar to the one who is from eternity.
Indeed there is a great difference between one who is from eternity and one who
began his existence later; the difference is so great that the two cannot exist
concomitantly. What possible relation can exist between one who is eternal and
another who was at one time nonexistent and began his existence later?

It is well known that the one who is eternal and the one whose existence has a
beginning are greatly separated from each other, and the gulf found between them
is unbridgeable. The one who is eternal has no limits, while the one whose
existence has a beginning, his very existence is limited, and the one the
beginning of whose existence is limited, the time that elapsed before he came
into existence is also limited. It is not possible to limit and define the chasm
that exists between the one who is from eternity and the one who began to exist
at a time when he was not. What possible resemblance and relation can exist
between two beings so widely separated from each other? And because the Son is
from eternity, and from a Father who is from eternity, no other son like Him
came into existence later. He remained Son alone because He is from eternity
from one who is from eternity. It was fitting that such a one should be alone
the Son from the Father. In this way our Fathers warned us concerning the
knowledge of the Son, and wrote to us the true doctrine to the effect that when
we believe in the Only Begotten Son we should understand that He is from the
Father. They taught us also to flee from the impiety of the heretics and reject
their contention that the Son is made, as this is very remote from the truth.
The Son should not be thought of as a made being nor as a creature, but we ought
to profess concerning Father and Son what is congruous to both of them, namely
that the Son is from the nature of the Father and is not a being made by the
Father and created outside Him from nothing. Our blessed Fathers taught us these
and added something that fits the sequence of the sentence: True God of true
God. Indeed what else were we justified in thinking of the one who is from God
and not from outside Him but from the very nature of the Father, except that He
was what God is by nature, that is to say a true God? |46 In this they followed
the teaching of the Gospel in which it is said: "And the Word was with God, and
the Word was God," 84 as if the evangelist had said, "And God was with God, and
He was what He was, as He was with Him and from Him." In this way our Fathers
said also: True God of true God. They added to the sentence, "God from God" that
of, "True from true" because of the wickedness of those who wish to show
contention and insolence even concerning heavenly 85 things. The sentence which
they used does not differ from that found in the Gospel, as it is clear that the
one who says, "God with God" says also "A true one with a true one." The
(Gospel) does not say "And He is called God," like those who are called gods by
men, nor, "He was with the one who was called God by name only," but, He was God
with the one who was God, and God by nature with the one who was God by nature.
Men are called gods, but are not assumed to be gods by nature: "I have said, Ye
are gods, and all of you children of the Most High, but ye shall die like men,86
because I only called you so to bestow honour upon you, as you are not gods by
nature; you are mortal men by nature, which is very different from Divine
nature; this is evident from the nature of things, because if you had been gods
by nature you would not have been entangled in sin for which you received
death."

God is not only called God by name, but He is in reality by nature that which is
implied by His name; and God the Word who is with Him is not only called God
figuratively, but is also God by nature; and he who is God by nature what else
can he be except true God? What is there truer than nature, and how is it
possible that the one who is (God) by nature should not be so in truth? If He is
not God by nature, He is neither God in truth. Indeed this name "god" is either
applied to demons, who falsely and insolently dare to call themselves by it in
their arrogance, or to men who are called so by God's gracious permission as an
honour. As to the Son He is God by nature like the Father.

Although the heretics dare to call the Only Begotten, "Son of God" in a
different sense, yet since He is God by nature it is evident that He is also God
in truth, as there is nothing truer than the one who is what he is by nature. It
is indeed evident that the one who is God by nature is also God in truth. And
there is nothing truer than |47 a true one—(and this contrary to) the new wisdom
of the heretics— when each of them is a true (God) by nature. Indeed they say
that God the Father is God by nature and that God the Son is also God by nature,
but they refuse to admit that the Son is God in truth, in spite of the fact that
they admit that He is God by nature, and in this they introduce a new law to us
in their innovations to the effect that He is a true God but not like God His
Father. If each one of them is God by nature, how is it possible for us to
understand that one of them is higher and the other lower while both of them are
assumed to have an identical nature? It is impossible to find an addition or a
diminution in the one whom the Sacred Books and those who followed their
doctrine teach us that He is God by nature. Our blessed Fathers also followed
the Books and warned us against the unholy opinion and the ineptitude of the
heretics, in saying: True God of true God. The Books had already stated that He
was "God," and they (our Fathers) added prudently the word "true" so that we
might believe that the Son is a true God like the Father, because like the
Father He is a true God by nature. And as the Father was confessed as God for
the confutation of the error of the multiplicity of gods—who were falsely called
gods by the peoples of the earth—so also is the case with the Son of God,
because we believe that God the Father and God the Son are one God, inasmuch as
the Divine nature of the Father and of the Son is one. To this our blessed
Fathers added that the Son was "consubstantial" with His Father, a word that
confirms (the faith of) the children of faith and rebukes the unbelievers.
Although this is not explicitly written in Holy Writ yet its meaning is found
therein. They explained here by means of a clear word the meaning of that which
they had previously stated, because the sentence: Consubstantial with the Father
is not different from that of: True God of true God. They did not wish to
insinuate by this sentence "Consubstantial with the Father any other thing than
that the being who, as previously stated by them, was God and born of His Father
before all the worlds and not made—is God. Indeed, if He is born of Him before
all the worlds and is not made, and if He is not a creature but a true Son of
His Father, it is evident that He is from Him and not from outside Him, and that
He is born of the nature of the Father and consubstantial with Him; and if He is
true God of true God, it is |48 evident that He is consubstantial with Him,87
because any one who is truly God in nature is consubstantial with one who is
truly God in nature. The meaning of the sentence "consubstantial with His
Father" is clearly found in the Book. When it says: "In the beginning He was
with God and He was God," 88 it shows by means of these two phrases that He is
God in nature and that He is consubstantial with God. This is also the meaning
of the sentence: "My Father and I are one." 89 If the Son is one with His Father
in power and in nature, He is consubstantial with Him. By His statement: "My
sheep hear my voice and follow me, and I give unto them eternal life, and no man
shall pluck them out of my hand," 90 He bore witness to His omnipotence and to
the fact that no man can prevail against Him; and because this sentence conveyed
higher things than the simple man who was seen in Him, He added: "My Father who
gave them me is greater than all, and no man is able to pluck (them) out of my
Father's hand." 91 He lowered the significance of the sentence by the addition:
"He gave me." What He said of Himself to the effect that no man can prevail
against Him, He said it of His person; and to show that He did make use of such
words for the purpose of showing that the power of both (the Father and the Son)
was identical and that no man was able to prevail against Him in the same way as
no man was able to prevail against the Father who was believed to be higher than
all, He said: "My Father and I are one."

He made clear in this (sentence) that which He had implicitly insinuated in the
meaning of the preceding words which He had uttered; it is as if He had said,
"my power is identical with that of my Father and higher than all like His
power, and no man can prevail against me even as no man can prevail against my
Father, because my Father and I are one, and have one power and one dominion
that is higher than all." This is the reason why the Jews called Him a
blasphemer. Indeed they did not know the Divine nature that was dwelling in Him,
but knew only that which was visible in Him, and wished to stone Him like a man
making use of blasphemous words. To the same effect is the sentence: "He that
hath seen me hath |49 seen my Father," 92 and: "I am in my Father and my Father
in me." 93 If the Father is seen in the Son it is evident that both have one
nature, and each of them is seen and known in the other. In this way their
mutual equality shows also the unity of their nature, and the consubstantiality
of the Son with the Father. This is likewise the meaning of the sentence: "No
man knoweth the Son but the Father, neither knoweth any man the Father save the
Son." 94 If each of them is not known and seen except by the other, it is
evident that they are invisible to all men because of their equality in nature,
each of them only knowing the other. If this is so then the Son is
consubstantial with the Father. In spite of the fact that all these things are
manifestly evident in the Sacred Books, those who incline towards evil, to the
condemnation of their souls, and are not upright, dared to say that the nature
of the Son is different from that of the Father, a saying which also implies
that He is not a Son. It is known that he who is truly a son is of the same
nature as his father. Our blessed Fathers were well advised, therefore, to make
use of this expression the meaning of which was implicitly found in many words
of the Sacred Books, in order to warn the faithful of their time and to rebuke
the heretics; and they wished also to make it known in condensed words. If the
blessed Paul did not hesitate to quote in his teaching sentences that were used
by Greek philosophers, such as: "we are of the offspring of gods," 95 and: "The
Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, slow bellies," 96 and if he did not
shrink from writing them for the reproval of his adversaries, it was all the
more right for our blessed Fathers to make use in the profession of faith of the
expression that the Son was Consubstantial with the Father, and although this
word is not explicitly written in the Sacred Books, its meaning was implicitly
found in many passages.

After this they said: By Whom the worlds were made and all things were created.
As in the section of the faith which deals with the Father, after the word
"Father" they added "Creator of all things," so also in the section which deals
with the Son, after stating that He was born of the Father and was
consubstantial with Him, they rightly added that He was the creator of all
things, because a true Son |50 who is consubstantial with His Father is also a
true creator like Him. In this same way the blessed John the evangelist, after
having said "in the beginning He was with God, and He was God" 97 added: "All
things were made by Him and without Him was not anything made," 98 in order to
show us that He was a creator like God His Father. In this same way after our
blessed Fathers had said that the Son was from the Father, that He was true God
from true God and that He was consubstantial with His Father, they added: By
whom the worlds were made and all things were created. They said this because as
He is with His Father before all the worlds, He is the creator of all things
like God His Father. And since the worlds were made by Him, He is the creator of
all creatures, and He is before all the worlds, because He is from eternity and
did not begin to exist later, but was in the beginning and is the creator of all
the worlds, as the blessed Paul said: "By Him He made the worlds." 99 Our
blessed Fathers also after saying like him: "By Him the worlds were made," added
that He was the creator of all things. In this way they taught us the divinity
of the Only Begotten while stating something which was in harmony with the
Sacred Books; and gave also encouragement to those who are zealous in their
religion, and confuted those who deny the divinity of the Only Begotten. As to
us we have explained to your love the meaning of the (profession of) faith in a
succinct manner, according to our ability. If you wish it let the measure of the
things which we said suffice for our teaching of to-day, and let us praise the
Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit for ever and ever. Amen.

Here ends the fourth chapter.

Chapter V.

I know that you remember what we spoke to your love concerning the divinity of
the Only Begotten, and how our blessed Fathers after their teaching about the
Father came to the words written in the Sacred Books concerning the Son, and
taught us both about the divinity of the Son and the form of man which He
assumed for our |51 salvation.100 They thought not to keep silent on the human
nature which He put on because it is through it that we received the knowledge
of the Divine nature of the Only Begotten.

After saying: And in one Lord Jesus Christ, in order to make manifest the Divine
nature and the human nature they added: The Only Begotten Son, the first-born of
all creatures, and they further instructed us concerning Divine nature and the
form of man which was put on for our salvation so that little by little they
might teach us everything with accuracy.

They first taught us how to believe in the divinity of the Only Begotten by
saying that the Only Begotten Son was consubstantial with the Father, and not a
Son with only an assumed name like other men who are so by grace and not by
nature, but that He was a true Son from the Father; that He was an only Son,
because He alone was born of the nature of His Father; that He did not become
Son or was called so later, but that He was in the beginning, before all the
worlds and eternally from His Father, and was not made. The reason why the Son
of God should not be called a creature of God, is that He did not come into
existence from nothing according to the law of all created beings, but He is
eternally from His Father, "a true God of true God, and consubstantial with His
Father," because He is a true Son and is by nature what the one who begat Him
is. Our fathers taught us these things with accuracy concerning the divinity of
the Only Begotten, and fixed the profession of faith in our souls while removing
from us the contention of the ungodly who dare to assert that the Son of God,
who was born eternally from His Father before all the worlds, is made and
created. After having shaken from our mind all the falsehood of the error of the
heretics, they began to speak of the Incarnation of our Lord which took place
for our salvation, in saying: Who for us children of men and for our salvation
came down from heaven, was incarnate and became a man.

It is with justice that they first used the sentence "for us children of men and
for our salvation." Because they were on the point of speaking about the Economy
of His humanity, they were bound to show the purpose of it, as they could not do
this with the words which |52 dealt with the divinity of the Only Begotten and
in which they spoke to us how He was eternally from His Father. Since they took
pains to teach us concerning His humanity, it is with justice that before
everything they set forth the reason for which Divine nature humbled itself to
the extent of taking upon itself the form of a servant for us 101 and of its
caring for our salvation. It is with justice, therefore, that our Fathers, in
beginning their teaching concerning the Economy of His humanity, formed the
starting-point of their discourse from this purpose: For us children of men and
for our salvation. It was also fitting on their part to place the words "for our
salvation" after the words "for us children of men," in order that they might
show the aim of His coming, which was not only for the "children of men" but
also "for their salvation." He came down from heaven to save and to deliver from
evil, by an ineffable grace, those who were lost 102 and given up to iniquities.

He came down not in the sense that He moved from place to place. We are not to
think that Divine nature which is everywhere moves from place to place; because
this Divine nature has no body, it cannot be circumscribed in a place.. He who
is not circumscribed is everywhere, and He who is everywhere it is not possible
for us to think of Him that He moves from place to place. To this the blessed
John bears witness when he says: "He was in the world and the world was made by
Him and the world knew Him not. He came unto His own and His own received Him
not." 103 He says here that "He was in the world" and that "He came unto the
world"; but if He was in the world how did He come to it? Indeed, how can we say
that a man came to a place where he was? He, therefore, said "He was in the
world" in order to show that He is everywhere; and he added: "He came unto His
own," about the Economy of His humanity. Likewise the blessed David said: "He
bowed the heavens and came down," 104 in order to make manifest to us the
deliverance from their tribulations which God effected for them. He called the
condescension of God the "coming down" of God, in the sense that He who was so
much above all condescended to deliver them from their tribulations. |53

It is in this sense that God the Word, the only Son of God, is said to have come
down for our salvation, because He is eternally from His Father, is always with
Him, and is above all as He is the cause of everything. For our salvation He
condescended to come down to such a humility as to take upon Him the form of a
servant 105 and be in it so that through it 106 He might grant us the delight of
His abundant gift. It is with justice, therefore, that our blessed Fathers said:
Who for us children of men and for our salvation came down from heaven. They
called the Economy of His humanity a "coming down from heaven," at which the
blessed David was awe-struck and said: "What is man that Thou art mindful of
him, and the son of man that Thou visitest him?" 107 Who for us children of men
and for our salvation came down from heaven: what is His coming down and what is
its aim? And what did [man] do that He humbled Himself to such an extent for him
as to become like him, and to take upon Him the form of a servant, and to be a
man for our salvation, and to make Himself manifest to all, and to assume upon
Himself all that which belonged to the nature of that man, and to be exercised
in all (human) faculties? And He perfected him by His power, so that He did not
remove from him the (bodily) death which he received according to the law of his
nature,—but while He was with him He delivered him by act of grace from (real)
death and from the corruption of the grave,108 and raised him from the dead, and
made him worthy of a high honour concerning which he said: "Destroy this temple,
and in three days I will raise it up," 109 which he did; and He was not
separated from him in his crucifixion nor did He leave him at death, but He
remained with him until He helped him to loose 110 the pains of death,111 and He
delivered his soul from bonds which were indissoluble; and He raised him from
the dead and transferred him to immortal life,112 and made him immortal,
incorruptible and immutable; and He caused him to go up to heaven where he is
now sitting at the right hand of God; |54 and he is "far above all principality,
and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in
this world, but also in that which is to come" 113 as the blessed Paul
testifies; and he constantly receives adoration from all creation because of his
close union with God the Word.

It is with justice, therefore, that our blessed Fathers said that He was
incarnate and became a man, so that for the sake of our salvation He might act
according to all this Economy whereby He was believed to be a mere man by those
who were unaware of the Godhead which was dwelling in Him and who only saw that
which was visible. Indeed the Jews said to Him: "For good works we stone Thee
not, but for blasphemy; and because that Thou, being a man, makest Thyself God."
114 And Paul also said, "He was in the likeness of men, and was found in fashion
as a man." 115 The (sentence) "He was in the likeness of men" does not mean any
other thing than that He became a man. When the Book said: "God sent His own Son
who became in the likeness of the sinful flesh," 116 the "likeness of the flesh"
does not mean any other thing than flesh itself; and so also when in another
passage it says: "He was manifest in the flesh." 117 In this passage it uses
"flesh" and in the other "likeness of the flesh," but by the two expressions
"flesh" and "likeness of the flesh" it does not show us any other thing than
that it teaches us that He was manifest in the flesh, in the same way as "in the
likeness of man" does not mean any other thing than "man."

It is with justice, therefore, that our blessed Fathers said: He was incarnate
and became a man in order to show that He was a man, as the blessed Paul
testifies, and that He fulfilled this Economy for the salvation of all. It is
with justice then that our blessed Fathers made use of this word in the
profession of faith for the refutation of the error of the heretics, while
conforming with the true belief of the Church. And on account of the numerous
schisms that had taken place among men concerning that ineffable Economy and
concerning the man whom our Lord assumed, they rightly made use of the sentence:
He was incarnate and became a man. The Marcionites and the Manicheans together
with the followers of Valentinus and the rest of the heretics who were affected
with |55 a like malady, say that our Lord did not assume any of our natures
either of the body or the soul, but that He was a phantasm that struck the eyes
of men like the form of the visions which the prophets saw and the apparition
seen by Abraham of three men of whom none had a corporeal nature but who were
only in appearance men who performed human acts, walked, talked, were washed,
ate and drank. They say that in this same way our Lord did not assume any body
but that He was only in appearance a man who performed and felt everything
according to the requirements of men, while the one who was seen had no human
nature but was only seen in appearance to be so, and that in reality He felt
nothing but only the onlookers believed that He was feeling. The partisans of
Arius and Eunomius, however, say that He assumed a body but not a soul, and that
the nature of the Godhead took the place of the soul. They lowered the Divine
nature of the Only Begotten to the extent that from the greatness of its nature
it moved and performed the acts of the soul and imprisoned itself in the body
and did everything for its sustenance. Lo, if the Godhead had replaced the soul
He would not have been hungry or thirsty, nor would He have tired or been in
need of food. All these things befall the body because of its weakness, as the
soul is not able to satisfy its wants, but does for it only those things that
belong to itself 118 according to the nature given to it by God. The soul is in
need of a body which is perfect in everything that deals with its sustenance,
and if something is missing in it, not only this same soul is unable to help it
but will itself be overcome by the weakness of the body, and will be compelled
to leave it against its own will.

If, therefore, the Godhead was performing the acts of the soul, it would also by
necessity have performed the acts of the body. Only in this way could be right
the opinion of the misleading heretics who deny that He assumed a body and was
only seen in the same way as the angels (were seen in the Old Testament), and
was a man in appearance only while He did not possess any qualities of human
nature. Indeed the Godhead was able to accomplish everything so that the eyes
which were seeing believed that they were seeing a real man,119 in the same way
as the angels were, by the will of God, seen by Abraham. |56

If, however, Divine nature was sufficient for all these things, human nature
which was in need of the grace of salvation from God should not have been
assumed, as according to the opinion of the heretics this same Godhead would
have satisfied the requirements of human nature, and in this case it would have
been superfluous to assume a body at all as the Godhead was able to perform all
its acts. This, however, was not the will of God, who indeed wished to put on
and raise the fallen man who is composed of a body and of an immortal and
rational soul, so that "as by one man sin entered the world, and death by sin,
so also the free gift and the grace of God by the righteousness of one man might
abound unto many." 120 As death was by man so also the resurrection from the
dead (will be) by man, because "as we all die in Adam, even so in Christ shall
all be made alive," 121 as the blessed Paul testifies. Therefore it was
necessary that He should assume not only the body but also the immortal and
rational soul; and not only the death of the body had to cease but also that of
the soul, which is sin. Since according to the sentence of the blessed (Paul)
sin entered the world through man, and death entered through sin, it was
necessary that sin which was the cause of death should have first been
abolished, and then the abolition of death would have followed by itself. If sin
were not abolished we would have by necessity remained in mortality, and we
would have sinned in our mutability; and when we sin, we are under punishment,
and consequently the power of death will by necessity remain.

It was, therefore, necessary that sin should have first been abolished, as after
its abolition there would be no entry for death. It is indeed clear that the
strength of the sin 122 has its origin in the will of the soul. In the case of
Adam also it was his soul which first accepted the advice of error and not his
body, because it was not his body that Satan persuaded to yield to him, to
forsake God and to believe that his Helper was a deceiver, in his desire for
higher things; and in following the advice of Satan he transgressed the
commandment of God and chose for himself those things which were contrary to the
commandment of God. It was not his body that had to know these things but his
soul which, on the promise of higher things, yielded and accepted the advice of
the deceiver and lost the good things that it possessed. |57

It was, therefore, necessary that Christ should assume not only the body but
also the soul. The enemy of the soul had to be removed first and then for the
sake of it that of the body, because if death is from sin and the same death is
the corruption of the body, sin would have first to be abolished and the
abolition of death would follow by itself.

It would be possible to save the body from death and corruption if we first made
the soul immutable and delivered it from the passions of sin, so that by
acquiring immutability we would also obtain deliverance from sin. The abolition
of death would then be effected by the abolition of sin, and after the abolition
of death it would be possible that our body should remain without dissolution
and corruption. If the soul had only sinned in those things that befall it from
the passions of the body, it would perhaps have been sufficient for our Lord to
have assumed only the body in order to deliver (the soul) from sin. Many,
however, and of different kinds are the iniquities and sins that are born of the
soul. The first (sin) through which it shows its association with Satan is that
of pride, about which the Apostle said: "Lest being lifted up in pride he should
fall into the condemnation of the Devil." 123 In this sentence the Apostle has
shown that any one who falls into pride becomes the associate of the Devil in
condemnation. The one, therefore, who possesses the uncorporeal Devil in his
evil thought, feels passion in his soul; and consequently it is clearly evident
that the soul was greatly in need to be delivered from sins and be saved also
from the passions of the body which overcome it by the power that the latter
adequately possesses. The blessed Paul bears witness to our words when he counts
the evils to which men were drawn, to which they degraded themselves and from
which Christ came into the world to deliver them; he says thus: "Wherefore God
gave them over to a reprobate mind to do that thing which is not convenient,
being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, covetousness, fornication,
maliciousness, envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; and are disobedient to
their parents, implacable and unmerciful." 124 These (evils) are clear and
evident and in no need of a comment, and the majority of them are not born of
the passions of the body but exclusively of the will of the soul. Indeed
wickedness, maliciousness, envy, debate, deceit and malignity, together with
pride, boasting, invention of evil things, disobedience to parents, |58
non-understanding, covenant-breaking, and unmercifulness—all these are clearly
from the soul.

It is with justice, therefore, that our Lord assumed the soul so that it should
be first delivered from sin and be transferred to immutability by the grace of
God through which it overcomes also the passions of the body. When sin is
abolished from every place and has no more entry into the soul which has become
immutable, every kind of condemnation will rightly be abolished and death also
will perish. The body will thus remain immune from death because it has received
participation in immortality. The blessed Paul confirms this in saying: "There
is therefore now no condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus, who walk not
after the flesh, for the law of life in Christ Jesus hath made thee free from
the law of sin and death." 125

He said that all the sentence of death,126 together with all condemnation, has
been removed to those who believed in Christ, because they became alien to the
way of mortality and received the Spirit and immortality, and with it they
assumed immutability and became completely free from sin and mortality. It is,
therefore, great madness not to believe that Christ assumed the soul; and he
would even be madder who would say that He did not assume human mind, because
such a one would imply that He either did not assume the soul or that He did
assume the soul not of man but an irrational one akin to that of animals and
beasts.

Human soul differs only from that of animals in the fact that the latter has no
distinct person 127 of the soul except in the (material) composition of the
animal,128 and so it has no separate existence, and is not believed to survive
after the death of the animal. This is the reason why what is called the soul of
the animal, which is said to reside in its blood,129 perishes when the blood is
shed; and it is the soul that was believed to reside in the person and in the
movements of the animal |59 before its death. The soul of men, however, is not
like this, but it resides in its own person and is much higher than the body, as
the body is mortal and acquires its life from the soul and dies and perishes
whenever the soul happens to leave it. As to the soul, when it goes out it
remains and does not perish but lasts forever in its own person because it is
immortal and is incapable of receiving any injury 130 in its nature from men.
When (Christ) said: "Fear not them which kill the body but are not able to kill
the soul," 131 He clearly showed that the body is capable of death because it is
mortal, but that the soul will remain immortal because it cannot be injured by
men in its nature. The difference between the soul of men and the soul of
animals is such that the latter is irrational and has no person,132 while the
former is immortal and is rightly believed to be also rational. Who is,
therefore, so mad and devoid of human understanding as to assert that human soul
is without knowledge and without reason, unless he wishes to be a teacher of a
novel theory not found previously in the world to the effect that there exists
an immortal nature which lives in an imperishable life but which is itself
irrational? Such a thing is indeed impossible, because anything that is immortal
in its nature and dwells in an imperishable life is also truly rational and
endowed with reason.

Because of all this our blessed Fathers warned us and said: He was incarnate and
became a man, so that we should believe that the one who was assumed and in whom
God the Word dwelt was a complete man, perfect in everything that belongs to
human nature, and composed of a mortal body and a rational soul, because it is
for man and for his salvation that He came down from heaven.

They rightly said that He assumed a man who resembles 133 those from whom He was
assumed, because the man whom He assumed resembles Adam who introduced sin into
the world, so that He might abolish sin by one who was of the same nature.
Indeed, He put on a man resembling Adam who after having sinned received the
punishment of death, so that He might eradicate sin from us and abolish death by
similar means. When He said: "The prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing
in me," 134 He showed that such was the |60 reason for His resurrection from the
dead, because Satan was holding the reins of the power of death on account of
the sin that was cleaving to us, as Paul said,135 and was always working 136 for
death. And because when we were subjected to sin 137 we had no hope of
deliverance, the grace of God kept that man whom God put on for us free from
sin, but Satan came with his deceitfulness and brought death upon Him as upon
(any other) man, when he roused all the Jews against Him; and since He was not
touched by sin which would subject Him to death, Christ our Lord received also
upon Himself the death which with wickedness the tyrannical Satan brought upon
Him. He showed to God that there was no sin in Him and that it was through
injustice that He was enduring the trial of death. And He effected 138 the
abolition of condemnation with ease, and He rose from the dead by the power of
God and became worthy of a new and ineffable life which He generalised to all
the human kind. This is the reason why our Lord said here: "The prince of this
world cometh, and hath nothing in me." In another passage He said: "Now is the
judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be condemned and cast
out, and I when I am lifted up from the earth will draw all (men) unto me." 139
In the first passage He shows that Satan had not one just cause for bringing
death upon Him, and in the second that He had summoned the Rebel to a kind of
judgment 140 where he had condemned him and cast him out of his iniquitous
power, and that after obtaining these good things He would make all men
partakers of His glory. Our blessed Fathers said that He became incarnate so
that you might understand that He assumed a complete man, who was a man not only
in appearance but a man in a true human nature, and that you might believe that
He assumed not only the body but the whole man who is composed of a body and of
an immortal and rational soul. It is such a man that He assumed for our
salvation and it is through Him that He effected salvation for our life, because
He was justified and became blameless by the power of the Holy Spirit, as the
blessed |61 Paul said: "He was justified in the Spirit," 141 and again: "Who
through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God." 142 If He
suffered death according to the law of men, because He had no sin He rose from
the dead by the power of the Holy Spirit and became worthy of a new life in
which the wishes of the soul are immutable, and He made the body immortal and
incorruptible.143 In this He made us all participants in His promises, and as an
earnest of His promises He gave us the first-fruits of the Spirit 144 so that we
might possess a faith without doubts concerning future things; and "He
established us with you in Christ and sealed us and gave the earnest of His
spirit in our hearts." 145

We also expect to be immortal and incorruptible at the resurrection from the
dead when there will be no entry for sin into us. The blessed Paul bears witness
to this in saying: "For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this
mortal immortality; and when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption,
and this mortal immortality, there shall be brought to pass the saying that is
written, ' Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy sting? O
grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin
is the law." 146 He means that when we have risen from the dead immortal and
incorruptible and our nature has received immutability, we shall be unable to
sin, and when we have been freed from sin we shall not need the law. Indeed what
is the need of the law for a nature which is freed from sin and which has no
inclination towards evil.

Well did the blessed Paul say after these: "Who gave us the victory through our
Lord Jesus Christ." 147 This shows that it is God who was for us the source of
all good things, and it is He who gave us the victory over all adversaries,
either death or sin or any other evil born of them: He who for us put on the man
our Lord Jesus and transferred Him through His resurrection from the dead to a
new life, and placed Him at His right hand, and gave us by His grace |62
communion with Him,148 when, in truth, as the blessed Paul said: "our vile body
shall be changed and be fashioned like unto His glory." 149

Because the things said by our blessed Fathers concerning the humanity of our
Lord are many let us put an end here to our teaching of to-day, and let us
praise the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit now, always, and for ever and
ever.

Here ends the fifth chapter.

Chapter VI. In what we have already said we have explained to your love that
which was said by our blessed Fathers concerning the humanity of our Lord in the
profession of faith, which they wrote and handed down to us according to the
teaching of the Books. We were obliged to use many words so that you might
thoroughly understand all the meaning of their sentences, and if it were
possible we would have said more in order to confirm the truth and to refute the
deceitful words of the heretics, but the measure of what we said was considered
by us to be sufficient to all those who possess goodwill in religion, because to
those who have an unwilling mind, even a long discourse will be of no avail,
while to those who possess a good will a short discourse will suffice for the
demonstration of the truth, when (this discourse) is drawn from the testimony of
Holy Writ. Let us then embark to-day, by the assistance of the grace of God, on
the continuation of that which we said previously.

After having said: Who for us children of men and for our salvation came down
from heaven and was incarnate and became a man (our blessed Fathers) added: And
was bom of the Virgin Mary and crucified in the days of Pontius Pilate. They
might have said many things that happened in the meantime such as He was wrapped
in swaddling clothes, was laid in a manger, was under the law,150 was baptised
and made manifest the works of the Gospel and many more things. If they had
wished it they would have narrated all that the Sacred Books have taught us
about Him and that |63 which was accomplished by Him for our salvation, as He
fulfilled thoroughly the law of nature for us, because He was going to reform
our nature, and He further observed the law of Moses so that He might pay our
debt to the Lawgiver; and He was baptised so that He might give an emblem to the
grace of our baptism; and He showed effectively in Himself the Economy of the
Gospel to all men. After all these He went to crucifixion and death so that He
might destroy the last enemy, which is death, and make manifest the new and
immortal life. Our Fathers, however, took trouble to say all these things in
short terms so that the hearers might learn them with ease, and so that we might
also learn thoroughly every one of them from the Sacred Books. They wrote and
arranged the Creed in short terms, and this is the reason why they said: Who was
born of the Virgin Mary and was crucified in the days of Pontius Pilate. They
only said the beginning and the end of the Economy that took place on our
behalf, as the beginning of all grace is His birth of Mary, and its end is
crucifixion. They called crucifixion the Passion, and all those things which
took place in it. They included all of them in one word because from the Cross
arose death and from death immortal life, as the blessed Paul said also 151:
"The preaching of the Cross is to them that do not believe 152 foolishness, but
unto us which are saved 153 it is the power of God." He also said: "Though He
was crucified through weakness yet He liveth by the power of God." 154 He showed
here that the word of the Cross is the power of God to those who are saved
because it is with His hand that He destroyed death and made new life manifest.
In their profession of faith our blessed Fathers wrote, therefore, in short
terms, at the beginning and at the end, all those things that were done in the
interval, in order to extend their knowledge to all those willing to learn the
truth. It is obvious that they do not teach that the Divine nature of the Only
Begotten was born of a woman, as if it had its beginning in her, because they
did not say that the one who was born of His Father before all the worlds and
who is eternally from Him and with Him had His beginning from Mary, but they
followed the Sacred Books which speak differently of natures |64 while referring
(them) to one prosopon on account of the close union that took place between
them, so that they might not be believed that they were separating the perfect
union between the one who was assumed and the one who assumed. If this union
were destroyed the one who was assumed would not be seen more than a mere man
like ourselves. The Sacred Books refer the two words 155 as if to one Son, so
that they might show in the same faith both the glory of the Only Begotten and
the honour of the man whom He assumed.

Indeed, after the blessed Paul had said: "Of whom Christ (came)," he added:
"according to the flesh," 156 in order to separate the natures and to show that
he is speaking of Christ who is from the Jews according to the flesh and that he
is naming neither the nature of the Godhead of the Only Begotten, nor God the
Word who was from the beginning with God and who is eternally in the bosom of
His Father, but the form of the man which He assumed. And so that by this word
and this addition to the effect that the human nature of Christ was taken "from
the Jews" the glory of Christ might not be brought low, or that He might be
believed that since He is man by nature and is born of children of men, He has
nothing more, he added the sentence which follows: "He is God over all" in order
to show the glory of Christ, which is from God the Word who assumed Him and
united Him to Himself, as He is the cause of all and Lord over all. And because
of the close union that this man has with God the Son, He is honoured and
worshipped by all the creation.

While the blessed Paul might have said: "In whom is God over all" he did not do
so, but said: "He is God over all," because of the close union between the two
natures. He did not believe that He who was born of the Jews according to the
flesh is God over all by nature, nor did he profess that the human nature is the
cause of all and is Lord of all by nature, but he professed that the form of man
which He assumed was Christ in the flesh, and Him who assumed that form he
called God over all; he, however, mentioned these two things together in order
to show the distinction found between the natures. Nobody believes that He who
is from the Jews according to the flesh is God by nature, nor that God who is
above |65 all is from the Jews by nature;157 he said the two things together in
order to show the close union that took place between the one who was assumed
and the one who assumed, and in order that together with the difference in
natures the honour and the glory that came to the man who was assumed from his
union with God who assumed him, might be known to all.

He wrote something similar to this to the Philippians in saying: "Who, being in
the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself
of no reputation and took upon Him the form of a servant and was made in the
likeness of men and was found in the fashion of a man." 158 Here also he clearly
made a distinction between the natures and between Him who is in the form of God
and Him who is in the form of a servant, between Him who assumed and Him who was
assumed, and (he showed) also that He who assumed became in the fashion of a man
in Him who was assumed. He who was assumed was truly in the fashion of a man, in
whom was found the one who assumed Him; and He who assumed, while not a man,
became in His incorporeal and immaterial nature in the form of a servant, which
by nature was corporeal and material; and He was a man 159 according to the law
of human body. He thus hid Himself at the time in which. He was in the world and
conducted Himself with the children of men in such a way that all those who
beheld Him in a human way and did not understand anything more, believed Him to
be a mere man. In saying this he made a clear distinction between the natures of
the one who is in the form of God and the one who is in the form of a servant,
of the one who assumed and the one who was assumed. And he taught us also about
the human nature in which our Lord was, as he said congruous things concerning
the form of the servant which He assumed: "He humbled Himself and became
obedient unto death, even the death of the Cross. Wherefore God also hath highly
exalted Him and given Him a name which is above every name: that at the name of
Jesus every knee should bow of things in heaven and things in earth and things
under the earth, and that every |66 tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is
Lord to the glory of God His Father." 160

It is not Divine nature that received death, but it is clear that it was that
man who was assumed as a temple to God the Word, (a temple) which was dissolved
and then raised by the one who had assumed it. And after the Crucifixion it was
not Divine nature that was raised but the temple which was assumed, which rose
from the dead, ascended to heaven and sat at the right hand of God;161 nor is it
to Divine nature—the cause of everything—that it was given that every one should
worship it and every knee should bow, but worship was granted to the form of a
servant which did not in its nature possess (the right to be worshipped). While
all these things are clearly and obviously said of human nature he referred them
successively to Divine nature so that his sentence might be strengthened and be
acceptable to hearers. Indeed, since it is above human nature that it should be
worshipped by all, it is with justice that all this has been said as of one, so
that the belief in a close union between the natures might be strengthened,
because he clearly showed that the one who was assumed did not receive all this
great honour except from the Divine nature which assumed Him and dwelt in Him.
Our blessed Fathers wrote in the Creed something that is in harmony with this.
They first taught us about the nature of the Godhead of the Only Begotten, that
He is from the Father before all the worlds, that He is born of the nature of
the Father and not made, and that He is a true God and consubstantial with God
because He is born of His Father. After having taught us these things concerning
the divinity of the Only Begotten they proceeded to teach us concerning the
Economy of His humanity and said: Who for us children of men and for our
salvation came down from heaven and was incarnate and became a man like us in
order to effect salvation for all the human race. And they taught all those
things that happened to the human nature: things through which God wished His
Economy to be accomplished on our behalf. And He who was assumed for our
salvation bore upon Himself all things affecting mankind, and became worthy of
perfection and a source of benefits for us through our communion with Him. |67

They said the above things as of one in conformity with the teaching of the
Books; not that human acts were affecting God in His nature, but they referred
these human acts to Him because of the close union, so that the high things that
happened to Him after the Passion—things that transcend human nature—might be
believed, and so that all might accept them when learning that it was Divine
nature which put on man and that by its union with Him He received all this
honour and glory.

Many things, as we have said, happened to Him according to human law; things
which we may learn from the Gospel. He was wrapped in swaddling clothes after He
was born and laid in a manger;162 He was circumcised after the custom of the law
and was brought to the temple according to the order of Moses; He was shown
before the Lord and endured all things dealing 163 with His increase in stature,
wisdom and favour, while He was subject unto His parents;164 He practised in a
right way all (things dealing with) the justification of the law, and then
received baptism, from which He gave the New Testament as in a symbol; He
endured the temptation of Satan and bore upon Himself the toil of journeys and
the offering of prayers with great devotion; and, to shorten my speech, He
performed all the work of the Gospel with much labour and sweating, showed much
patience with His enemies, and finally drew nigh unto death by crucifixion,
through which He abolished death by His resurrection from the dead. Our blessed
Fathers omitted all these and said: And was born of Mary and crucified in the
days of Pontius Pilate, because the beginning of His Economy for us is one thing
and its end is another, and they included between both headings, one after
another, all those things that the Book of the Gospel taught us. He was born of
the Virgin Mary as a man, according to the law of human nature,165 and was made
of a woman.166 Indeed the Apostle said thus: "God sent forth His Son, made of a
woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might
receive the adoption of sons." 167 In saying that He was made of a woman He
showed that He entered into the world from a woman according to |68 the law of
the children of men, and the fact that "He was under the law to redeem them that
were under the law that we might receive the adoption of sons," happened so that
He might pay our debt to the Lawgiver and procure life for us.

Since He became one of us in nature it is with justice that He paid the debt of
His human kinship; on account of His nature which was identical with ours He was
bound to do this, and He did it. We were delivered from the yoke of bondage 168
because of the freedom which He gave us in His grace. The fact that He was not
born of a man but was only fashioned by the Holy Spirit in the womb of His
mother, is beyond the nature of the children of men, and the (Apostle said) that
He was made of a woman in order to show us that He was fashioned from the nature
of a woman and was born according to the law of nature; and this does not cause
any injury to nature, because Eve also was made of Adam, and her birth is
different from that of all men since she received her existence from a rib only,
without marital intercourse. She had an identical nature with Adam because she
received the beginning of her existence from him. In this way we should also
think about Christ our Lord. It was a novel thing to have been fashioned from a
woman without marital intercourse, by the power of the Holy Spirit, but He is
associated with the human nature by the fact that He is from the nature of Mary,
and it is for this that He is said also to be the seed of David 169 and Abraham,
as in His Nature He is related to them. This is the reason why the blessed Paul
said: "For unto the angels hath He not put in subjection the world to come
whereof we speak, but unto the one concerning whom the Book testifies, saying,
'What is man that thou art mindful of him, or the Son of Man that thou visitest
him'?" 170 And again: "He took not from the nature of angels but from the seed
of Abraham." 171 His words show that our Lord did not take a body from the
angels, nor did He make the angels the head and renovator of the future creation
which we are expecting, but the man whom He assumed from the seed of Abraham and
through whom He performed all this ineffable Economy and whom He first raised
from the dead and transferred to immortal and unchangeable life, Him He made the
head and renovator of all the |69 creation, so that He was with justice set over
the government of the new creation. As a man He was born of a woman according to
the law of nature, and although this happened to Him in a novel way, in the
sense that He alone, to the exclusion of the rest of mankind, was fashioned in
the womb by the Holy Spirit without any marital intercourse, yet all that which
He did for us He did according to the law of our nature, so that He grew little
by little, reached full age and performed also carefully the requirements of the
law. And because He paid our debt to the law and received victory from the Giver
of the law on account of His having put into practice all the requirements of
the law, He drew, with His own hand, to all His human race that blessing which
the law had promised to all those who keep it.

He was also baptised so that He might perform the Economy of the Gospel
according to order, and in this (Economy) He died and abolished death. It was
easy and not difficult for God to have made Him at once immortal, incorruptible
and immutable as He became after His resurrection, but because it was not He
alone whom He wished to make immortal and immutable, but us also who are
partakers of His nature, He rightly, and on account of this association, did not
so make the firstfruits of us all 172 in order that, as the blessed Paul said,
"He might have the pre-eminence in all things." 173 In this way, because of the
communion that we have with Him in this world, we will, with justice, be
partakers with Him of the future good things. And as after He was born of a
woman He increased little by little according to the law of humanity, and grew
up fully,174 and was under the law and acted according to it, so also in the
life of the Gospel He became an example as man to man.

Because it was necessary that we who were born later should receive faith
concerning the above future good things and that we should believe that our
Saviour, our head and the cause of all of them for us, was Christ our Lord, it
was imperative that He should also arrange as much as possible our mode of life
in this world according to the hope of the future. It is with justice,
therefore, that in this also He became our model.175 He was baptised so that He
might give a symbol to our own baptism. In it 176 He was freed from all the |70
obligations of the law. He performed also all the Economy of the Gospel: He
chose disciples to Himself, established the teaching of a new law and a new
doctrine, promulgated ways of acting congruous to His teaching and different
from the teaching of the (old) law, and taught that the ways of acting of us who
believe should be in harmony with His new teaching.177

We also when we are baptised show (in ourselves) the symbol of the world 178 to
come; we die with Him in baptism, and we rise symbolically with Him, and we
endeavour to live according to His law in the hope of the future good things
which we expect to share with Him at the resurrection from the dead. If Christ
our Lord had immediately after His rising from the dead, raised also all men who
had previously died, and had bestowed upon them new life fully and immediately,
we should have been in no need of doing anything; as, however, He actually
performed only on Himself the renewal which is to come and through which He rose
from the dead and His body became immortal and His soul immutable, it became
necessary that this decrepit and mortal world should last further in order that
mankind might believe in Him and receive the hope of communion (with Him) and
future life.

It is with justice, therefore, that He paid the debt of the law, received
baptism, and showed the new Economy of the Gospel, which is the symbol of the
world to come, so that we also, who believed in Christ and became worthy of
baptism, through which we received the symbol of the world to come, should live
according to His commandments. This is the reason why the blessed Paul said:
"God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the
heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you." 179 In this he shows that
through baptism we have received the teaching of the new Economy which is the
symbol of the world to come, and as much as possible we strive to live according
to it, while remote from all sin, and so not according to law. Indeed we are
baptised as men who die with Him and will rise symbolically with Him, because
"so many of us as were baptised into Jesus Christ were baptised into His death
and were buried with Him by baptism into death; that like as Jesus Christ was
raised up from the dead in the glory of His Father, even so we should walk in
newness of life." 180 |71

After having received the grace of baptism we become strangers to all the
observances of the law and we are as in another life: "You are become dead to
the law by the body of Jesus Christ." 181 He (Paul) said this because you have
attained new life in the baptismal birth and have become part of the body of
Christ our Lord; and we hope to have communion with Him now that we are freed
from the life of this world and dead to the world and to the law, because the
law has power in this world and we become strangers to all this world according
to the symbol of baptism. When Christ our Lord performed all these things for us
He drew nigh unto death, which He received by crucifixion, not a secret death,
but a death that was conspicuous and witnessed by all because our Lord's
resurrection was going to be proclaimed by the blessed Apostles, while the
miracles wrought wonderfully by the Holy Spirit were sufficient for the
corroboration of their testimony. His death had to be seen by all, as His
resurrection meant the abolition of death. Indeed, He loosed the pains of death
182 completely by his resurrection from the dead, ascended unto heaven and sat
at the right hand 183 of God, and is for us a true surety 184 by our
participation in His resurrection. "You were saved by the grace of Him who
raised us with Him 185 and placed us at the right hand in heaven in order that
He might show to the future worlds the greatness of the wealth and the sweetness
of His mercy which was shed on us abundantly through our Lord Jesus Christ." 186
And in order that we may believe in the good things which He promised to us, in
spite of their greatness and in spite of the fact that they transcend us, He
gave us the earnest of the future things, the firstfruits of the Holy Spirit,187
as the blessed Peter said: "He was exalted by the right hand of God, and He
confirmed the promise of the Holy Ghost which He had received, and shed forth
this upon us abundantly, as you now see and hear." 188 He calls "the promise of
the Holy Ghost" the grace which was given for the confirmation of the future
good things by the Holy Ghost. Indeed, these future things are confirmed in us
by the power of the Holy Ghost. As the blessed Paul said: "It is sown a natural
body and it will rise a |72 spiritual body." 189 And in order that we may
possess these future good things in a firm faith 190 without doubt, He gave us
even in this world 191 the firstfruits of the Spirit which we received as the
earnest, of which the blessed Paul said: "In whom ye believed, and ye were
sealed with that Holy Spirit (of promise) which is the earnest of our
inheritance." 192 And the Economy of the grace of Christ our Lord, for which we
receive baptism, is like unto this. Our blessed Fathers did well, therefore, to
hand to us our faith by going to the firstfruits of the faith, and including in
them all the necessary things in saying: And was born of the Virgin Mary and
crucified in the days of Pontius Pilate. I believe, however, that my speech has
exceeded the limits as the words (which express) the Economy of the grace of
Christ have only been delivered to us (in short terms) as given above. In order,
therefore, that you may not receive a teaching which is not perfect and that we
may not trouble you with many words, let us, by the permission of God, leave off
here the things which will follow what has been said, and be satisfied with what
has already been spoken to-day, and let us praise the Father, the Son and the
Holy Spirit now, always, and for ever and ever.—Amen.

Here ends the sixth chapter.

Chapter VII.

Let us proceed now to deal with the grace of the Economy of the humanity of our
Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, and see what our blessed Fathers have handed down
to us about it in the creed. This is the third day I am discoursing on this
subject to your love, as I am anxious that you should learn it little by little
and keep my words in your memory. Let us, therefore, begin to-day also to speak
to you concerning things that fit the sequence of those already said.

Immediately they began the words which deal with the Economy (of our Lord) our
blessed Fathers first showed for whom was all this Economy accomplished, and
said: Who for us children of men, to which they added: And for our salvation in
order that the purpose of the Economy might be known. To this they added also:
Came down from heaven, in order that they might make us understand the |73
boundless humility that was involved in His coming down to us, as if they were
repeating the sentence of the blessed Paul: "Though He was rich yet for your
sakes He became poor," 193 and humbled Himself to our wretchedness from the
height of His glory and from His mighty greatness. And in order to show us how
He came down they said: And became a man. He did not humble Himself here by an
ordinary act of Providence nor by the gift of the assistance of (Divine) power
that He had in the same way as He performed many other things, but He assumed
and put on our nature in which He was,194 and in which He dwelt so that He might
perfect it with sufferings and unite it to Him. In this they (our blessed
Fathers) showed us the gift of His grace which they saw in the human race, and
through which He assumed a man from us, was in Him and dwelt in Him, and they
taught us that He endured and bore all according to human nature so that we
might understand that He was not a man in appearance only, but that He was a
real man who suffered all the human [passions] according to human nature. And in
order not to lengthen their speech they omitted all the things which He
gradually performed and which we may learn with accuracy from the reading of the
Gospel, and they rightly made use of condensed words and said: And was born of
the Virgin Mary and was crucified in the days of Pontius Pilate, and in this way
they included all the Economy in its beginning and its end. We remember that we
told your love that it is the habit of the Books to include all the Economy of
Christ in the mention of the crucifixion, because death came to Him by
crucifixion, and He abolished death by death and made manifest the new, immortal
and immutable life. In this way our blessed Fathers included also all the
Economy in these words, but were aware that especial attention had to be paid to
the words said of the Passion or of the things that happened in the Passion, as
they transcend all human intellect. In order that no doubt concerning the
reality of the Passion might enter the mind of the hearers on account of the
sublimity of this same Passion, and in order that they might not think that it
took place in appearance only, they stressed their words so that they should be
believed in the sense that He died in reality and so as to show that human death
and all |74 passions were abolished by the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Indeed,
if Christ endured death by crucifixion in order to make manifest His death to
all and with His death His resurrection also by which death was abolished, it is
with justice that our blessed Fathers warned us first on the subject of His
death and then taught us concerning His resurrection. This is the reason why,
after having said, And was crucified in the days of Pontius Pilate, they added:
And was buried, in order to teach us that He did not die only in appearance and
in an unreal way but that He actually died a natural death so that after His
death His body was also buried according to the law of human nature. In this
they followed also the teaching of the blessed Paul, who, when speaking to the
Corinthians of the resurrection of the dead because of which he made mention of
the resurrection of Christ our Lord—so that he might confirm the general
resurrection from the resurrection of Christ— first taught about His death in
saying that Christ died a real death, since His death once established the words
concerning the preaching of His resurrection will be readily accepted. He said
in effect: "I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received that
Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried."
195 He did not make use of the additional sentence "and was buried" to no
purpose, but he made use of it to show that He truly died according to the law
of human nature and that He duly endured death according to a mortal nature. In
this same way, after our blessed Fathers had said, And was crucified in the days
of Pontius Pilate, in order to show that He had died they added the sentence:
And was buried, so as to demonstrate, according to the preaching of the Apostle,
that He had truly died.

Further, as the blessed Paul, after having said that He was buried and that He
had truly died, added: "He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures"
196 —and it was in this way that he was able to teach concerning the
resurrection of Christ after His death and to fix the true belief in His death
in the souls of the hearers—so also our blessed Fathers, after having said, And
was buried, added: And rose the third day according to the Scriptures. They made
|75 an accurate use of the words of the Scriptures in delivering to us the
belief in the resurrection. The question involved in the resurrection is not an
unimportant one because to those who do not believe it implies the danger of
death and of falling away from all benefits, but on those who believe this same
resurrection bestows confidence, and puts the seal on all the wonderful things
accomplished in the Economy of Christ. Indeed this resurrection is the end of
all the Economy of Christ and the principal object of all the reforms wrought by
Him, as it is through it that death was abolished, corruption destroyed,
passions extinguished, mutability removed, the inordinate emotions of sin
consumed, the power of Satan overthrown, the urge of demons brought to nought
and the affliction resulting from the law wiped out. An immortal and immutable
life reigns by which all the above evils are abolished and destroyed, and it was
through them that the demons entered to fight against us. This is the reason why
the blessed Paul said: "If the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised, and if
Christ be not raised then our preaching is vain and your faith is also vain."
197 If it is not possible that the dead should rise it is evident that Christ
also did not rise, because in His body He was of the same nature and received
death according to the law of nature. If we believe that Christ rose it is clear
and obvious that resurrection is a true fact, as that which is impossible would
not have happened, even to Him, but since it happened to Him it is clear and
evident that it is possible.

We ought not, therefore, to deny resurrection as an impossible thing, but it is
imperative for us to believe in it, because it did happen once and had its
beginning in Christ our Lord. He who denies the general resurrection denies also
the resurrection of Christ, because in His flesh He was part of human nature,
and he who denies this shows that "our preaching is vain and your faith is also
vain." Because resurrection is the principal benefit of all the Economy of
Christ in the flesh—since by it all evil things vanish and an entry is effected
for all good things—He who denies this same resurrection makes our preaching and
your faith vain. If death is not abolished the dominion of evil things is still
standing and we do not look yet for good things. It is indeed plain that if the
resurrection did not take place death |76 would still be holding dominion, from
which it could not have been overthrown, and because of this same death sin
would also be in the ascendant and all evil things would be surrounding us,
because he (Paul) said: "If the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised, and if
Christ be not raised then your faith is vain and you are yet in your sins." 198
In this he shows that death was abolished through resurrection, and sin through
death, as after the resurrection we become immortal and immutable, and if the
resurrection does not take place faith is vain and death holds sway together
with sin, and you also are still in your sins and have no hope of good things
which we announced as coming to you through the resurrection.

It is with justice, therefore, that in accordance with the words of the Apostle
our blessed Fathers first mentioned the principal benefit of the Economy of
Christ in saying: And rose from the dead, and then added the sentence: And
ascended into heaven. It was necessary that after having known that He rose from
the dead we should also know where He is after His resurrection. As the Sacred
Book, after saying that God made Adam, added how, from what, and also in which
locality He placed him to lead his earthly life, so also in the case of Christ
our Lord who was assumed from us and was according to our nature, because after
(our blessed Fathers) said that He rose from the dead they rightly added that He
ascended into heaven so that we should learn that He moved into an immortal
nature and ascended into heaven, as it was necessary for Him to be high above
all. All the evangelists narrated to us His resurrection from the dead and with
it they ended their respective Gospels, because they knew that it was sufficient
for us to learn that He rose from the dead, moved to an immortal and immutable
life and gave us the hope of participating with Him in the future good things.
The blessed Luke, however, who is also the writer of a Gospel, added that He
ascended into heaven 199 so that we should know where He is after His
resurrection. It is also known that he taught us this at the beginning of his
teaching when he wrote the Acts of the Apostles,200 where he further added the
rest of the facts, one after another, as it fitted the sequence of the
narration. As it is not only in His resurrection that Christ became our |77
firstfruits 201 but also in His ascension into heaven—in both of which He made
us partakers of His grace—it is right that we should be instructed in both of
them, because we do not expect only to rise from the dead but also to ascend
into heaven, where we will be with Christ our Lord. In this same way the blessed
Paul said also that "our Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout and
with the voice of the Archangel and with the trump of God, and the dead in
Christ shall rise first, then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up
together with them in the clouds to meet our Lord in the air, and so shall we
ever be with our Lord." 202 In another passage he said also: "For our
conversation is in heaven from whence we look for the Saviour our Lord Jesus
Christ who shall change our vile body that it may resemble His glorious body,"
203 in order to show us that we shall be transferred to heaven from whence
Christ our Lord will come and change us at the resurrection from the dead and
make us like the form of His body and take us up to heaven so that we may ever
be with Him. And again he said: "For we know if this our earthly house were
dissolved, we have a building of God and an house not made with hands, eternal
in the heavens," 204 in order to teach us that at the resurrection we will
become immortal and dwell in heaven. And a little further on he said: "While we
are in the body, we are absent from our Lord, for we walk by faith and not by
sight; we are confident and willing to be absent from the body and to be present
with Christ," 205 and showed that as long as we are in this mortal body we are
as it were absent and remote from our Lord, as we are not actually enjoying yet
the future good things since we have only received them by faith, but in spite
of their being so we have great confidence in possessing them,206 and we are
looking with great eagerness to the time when we will divest ourselves of this
mortal body and cast it away from us and become immortal and immutable at the
resurrection from the dead, and then we will be with our Lord like men who for a
long time and for the duration of this world were absent and expecting to be
present with Him. This is the reason why he said: "Jerusalem which is above is
|78 free, which is the mother of us all." 207 He called "Jerusalem which is
above" the abode which is in heaven and in which we, reborn at the resurrection,
shall become immortal and immutable, when we shall truly enjoy perfect freedom
and happiness, and when nothing will constrain us and no pain will affect us,
but we will be in ineffable pleasures and in a happiness that will have no end;
and we are expecting to enjoy these pleasures in which Christ our Lord became
our firstfruits,208 (Christ) whom God the Word put on, and who through the close
union that He had with Him became worthy of all this glory and gave to us also
the hope of communion with Him.

It is with justice, therefore, that the Sacred Book taught us that not only He
rose from the dead but ascended also into heaven, so that we too should preach
that which is implied by our blessed Fathers who, after having said, He rose the
third day, added: And ascended into heaven. And they further added to their
words: And sat at the right hand of God, in order to show first the great honour
that came to the man who was assumed, from His union with God the Word who had
put Him on, and secondly in order that we might understand the nature of the
good things in which we shall dwell if we have truly communion with Him. Indeed,
after the blessed Paul had said, "You were dead in your trespasses and your sins
and He quickened you with Christ," 209 he added: "Ye are saved.210 And He hath
raised you up and made you sit together in heaven in Jesus Christ" 211 in order
to show us the sublimity of the communion that we shall have with Him.

After our Fathers wrote down this they added with justice: And He shall come
again to judge the living and the dead, in order to inform us concerning His
second coming in which we shall receive communion with Him while truly looking
for Him coming from heaven to fashion us, according to the saying of the
Apostle, like unto His glorious body.212 They added after His coming the
sentence: To judge the dead and the living, so that with the mention of the good
things done to us they should also implant fear into us and make us ready for
the gift of the glory of all this Economy. They said, "of the dead and the
living," not that the dead shall be judged—what kind of judgment can there be to
the dead who do not feel?—but |79 that at the time of His coming He will raise
all of us born of Adam, that is all the children of men who had died, and will
transform them into an immortal nature.

Those men who will be overtaken by the general resurrection while still alive He
will only transform, and from being mortal He will make immortal. This is the
reason why they said, "the living and the dead." Those who will be alive at that
time they called "the living," and those who had already died and passed away
they called "the dead," in order to show us that all the children of men shall
be judged and none shall escape scrutiny, and that when they have been judged
they shall receive a judgment commensurate with the nature of their actions in a
way that some of them will be rewarded and some others punished. The blessed
Paul said also in the Epistle to the Corinthians: "We shall not all sleep, but
we shall all be changed, in a moment and in the twinkling of an eye, at the last
trump, the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed." 213 By
these words he shows that all of us shall not die but that all of us shall be
changed; the dead shall rise incorruptible and immortal, and the living shall be
changed into an immortal nature. Both acts will be accomplished in the twinkling
of an eye. He said the sentence, "we shall be changed" of those who shall then
be alive because when he wrote it he himself was alive, and thus he personified
the living.

He wrote something similar to this to the Thessalonians: "We which are alive and
remain shall not prevent them which are asleep, for the Lord Himself shall
descend from heaven with a shout and with the voice of the archangel and with
the trump of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise first, and then we which are
alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the
Lord in the air; and so shall we ever be with our Lord." 214 He says that all
these things will happen with the swiftness of the twinkling of an eye and that
those who are alive will not prevent those who are dead when these go out to
meet our Lord, and he shows that the latter will rise and the former will be
changed, and both will be caught up together to meet our Lord. Our blessed
Fathers said these things to warn us, to inspire us with fear and to induce us
to prepare for the future account (that we |80 shall give of ourselves). They
rightly ascribed the sentence: To judge the living and the dead to the prosopon
of the man who was assumed on our behalf so that they should show us the honour
that came to the temple 215 of God the Word, that is to say to the man who was
assumed for our salvation, and so that they should implant fear into us when
teaching us by their words concerning the future judgment, which will be all the
harder for us if we have a bad and inordinate will. It would be against our duty
to minimise that man who was assumed on our behalf; who possesses such a great
honour; who will judge the living and the dead because He was freed from all sin
and was, on account of the honour that came to Him, in a position to be immune
from death—as He said: "I have power to lay my life down, and I have power to
take it up again," 216 in order to show that He was the Lord and had power to
die and not to die—who received the death that came His way, and in the
confidence that He had (with God) was able to conquer it; who granted immunity
from death to all the human race; who was from us and from our human nature and
was immune from death because of the greatness of His excellence and was always
without stain by the power of the Holy Spirit, but nevertheless received upon
Himself death and passion—an ignominious death by crucifixion—so that He should
grant us to delight in the future pleasures, (it would indeed, I say, be against
our duty to minimise that man) who endured all these things for us and not to
remain steadfast in His love and not follow His commandments and value His love
and affection more highly than anything else. We ought to show forth such
feelings because of the ineffable benefits that through Him will accrue to us.

Examine the strength of their statement from the fact that in speaking of His
humanity, His Passion and His resurrection they affirmed that the very same
prosopon to whom all this happened shall sit in judgment. In order, however,
that no one might be led to believe that a mere man will be the judge of all the
creation they added the word Again, so that they should refer (the act of
judging) as by a sign to the Godhead of the Only Begotten who was in Him and
from whom He received all that honour. If they did not wish to imply this it
would have been sufficient to say: He shall come to judge the living |81 and the
dead, but with the addition of again they referred to His Godhead. He who shall
come openly is in truth the man who has been assumed from us, and it is He who
shall come from heaven, and He of whom it may rightly be said that He moves from
place to place, as it is written: "This same Jesus which is taken up from you
into heaven shall so come in like manner as ye have seen Him go into heaven."
217 This was to demonstrate to them that it would be the very man who was seen
by them, and was with them, and was now being separated from them, who would be
coming and be seen by all men. To this man the word again is not fitting.
Indeed, it is not He who came but it is the Godhead that came down from heaven,
not that it moved from place to place, but by its condescension and its
Providence for us which it manifested 218 in the man who was assumed on our
behalf. The word again will refer in the next world to the man whom (the
Godhead) assumed on our behalf. The man who was assumed on our behalf went now
first into heaven and will come again first from heaven, but because they (our
blessed Fathers) were referring in their words to the Divine nature they counted
His coming twice, first when He came down through that man, and secondly when He
will come again through the same man who has been assumed, because of the
ineffable union that that man had with God. This is the reason why the blessed
Paul, after saying, "We look for the glorious appearing of the great God,"
added: "and the Saviour Jesus Christ." 219 He shows that we are looking for the
Divine nature, which is higher than everything, to come and appear to all men,
and because this Divine nature cannot be seen with material eyes, it will make
its appearance to men according to the power of the onlookers. And he showed us
the way in which we expect the Divine nature to appear by adding: "and our
Saviour Jesus Christ." He refers here to that corporeal man and shows clearly
that it is in the coming and the vision of that man that the Divine nature will
make its appearance. It is in this man by whom it had formerly saved us that it
will make its appearance in order to grant these ineffable benefits.

It is with justice, therefore, that our blessed Fathers added the word again in
order to show us the Divine nature from which the |82 great honour of judging
was given to that visible (man). It is that (Divine nature) that will judge all
the world according to the sentence of the Apostle who said that it will judge
all the earth through the man Jesus.220 It is clear that the blessed Paul shows
us that it is God who will judge all the earth through that man who was assumed
on our behalf and who rose again from the dead for the confirmation of our
faith.

Let what has been spoken suffice for the teaching of to-day, and let us praise
God the Father, and the Only Begotten Son and the Holy Spirit, now, always and
for ever and ever.

Here ends the seventh chapter.

Chapter VIII. In the last days we spoke gradually and sufficiently to your love
of the doctrine concerning Christ, according to the teaching of our blessed
Fathers. It behoves you now to remember the things spoken to you with so much
care. They gave us a two-fold teaching concerning Christ our Lord according to
the meaning of the Books, that He is not God alone nor man alone, but He is
truly both by nature, that is to say God and man: God the Word who assumed, and
man who was assumed. It is the one who was in the form of God that took upon Him
the form of a servant,221 and it is not the form of a servant that took upon it
the form of God. The one who is in the form of God is God by nature, who assumed
the form of a servant, while the one who is in the form of a servant is the one
who is man by nature and who was assumed for our salvation. The one who assumed
is not the same as the one who was assumed nor is the one who was assumed the
same as the one who assumed, but the one who assumed is God while the one who
was assumed is a man. The one who assumed is by nature that which God the Father
is by nature, as He is God with God, and He is that which the one with whom He
was, is, while the one who was assumed is by nature that which David and
Abraham, whose son and from whose seed He is, are by nature. This is the reason
why He is both Lord and Son of David: Son of David because of His nature, and
Lord because of the honour that came to Him. And He is high above David His
father because of the nature that assumed Him. |83 This is the reason why when
our Lord asked the Pharisees: "Whose son was the Christ?" and they answered:
"The son of David," 222 He did not disapprove of the answer given. It is the
same evangelist Matthew, in whose account is the fact that the Pharisees were
asked this question by our Lord, who wrote also at the beginning of his Gospel:
"The beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ the son of David, the son of
Abraham." 223 He would not have taught this at the beginning of his Gospel had
he known that our Lord did not approve of it; indeed he who took so much trouble
to write faithfully his Gospel according to the orders of Christ would not have
dared to put down in writing a statement that was detrimental to Christ. It is
indeed evident that our Lord did not disapprove of that which was said to the
effect that Christ was the son of David, in the sense that it was not well and
rightly said, the reason being that all the Pharisees and the Jews were
expecting Christ to come as a simple man from the seed of David. In this they
were in harmony with the words of the prophets, and were not aware that the one
who assumed the other who is from the seed of David, was the Only Begotton of
God, who dwelt in Him and through Him performed all the Economy of our
salvation, and united Him to Himself and made Him higher than all the creation.

It is because the Pharisees were not aware of all this that our Lord asked them:
"Whose son was the Christ?"; and after they answered what they knew to the
effect that He was the son of David, He said to them: "How then doth David in
spirit call Him Lord, saying: 'The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit Thou on my right
hand till I make Thine enemies Thy footstool?' If David then call Him Lord, how
is He his son?" 224 In these words He gave them, by a hint only and not openly,
the doctrine concerning the Godhead. At that time they transcended the
intelligence of the Jews so much so that even the blessed Disciples were not
aware of their meaning before the crucifixion. "If ye had known me ye should
have known my Father also." 225 And again: "Have I been so long time with you,
and yet hast thou not known me, Philip?" 226 And again: "These things have I
spoken unto you in proverbs, but the time cometh when I shall no more speak unto
you in proverbs, but I shall |84 shew you plainly of the Father." 227 And again:
"Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name." 228 And again: "I have yet many
things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now; howbeit when the Spirit of
truth is come, He will guide you into all truth." 229

One finds in the Book of the Gospel many passages which demonstrate that the
Apostles were not aware of the Divinity of the Only Begotten before the
Crucifixion, nor were they aware that God the Word was the Son of the Father and
a true Son of God, whom we understand to be consubstantial with His Father. He
knew that it was not yet time to promulgate openly this doctrine of His Godhead,
but in His question He only gave a hint that they would not possess a complete
knowledge about Christ as long as they believed that He was only a man and did
not understand the Divine nature which was in Him and because of which the one
who was from the seed of David became worthy of the honour of being Lord. David,
from whose seed He was by nature, would not have called him His Lord if he did
not believe that the one who was of the same nature as himself was something
higher and better than the nature of men, and one who by His union with the Lord
was elevated to such a great honour that He was believed to be Lord. He is,
therefore, of the same nature as David because He is of his seed, but we
understand Him to be also Lord because of the union that He had with the Divine
nature which is the cause and the Lord of all.

We ought, therefore, to know the natures of both, the one who assumed and the
one who was assumed, and realise that the former is God and the latter is the
form of a servant, and that it is God who dwells and man is His temple which He
built and constituted as His dwelling. This is the reason why He said: "Destroy
this temple and in three days I will raise it up," 230 which the evangelist
interpreted and said: "For He spake of the temple of His body." 231 He called
the man who was assumed His temple while showing that He Himself was dwelling in
that temple, and through His dwelling He clearly showed us His power when He
delivered it (His dwelling) to the destruction of death, according to His
desire, and then raised it by the greatness of His might; and so that it might
die He allowed it to suffer according to its nature while He, as Lord, impeded
it from seeing |85 corruption 232 and from being delivered to dissolution. He
allowed it to die because He wished it, and after its death, He raised it up
according to His will.

He would not have said, "Destroy this temple" had He not known that He had the
power (to say so), and since He is Lord He implied two things in the sentence
"Destroy this temple": although it is in its nature to be destroyed yet I have
it in My power that this should happen or not. I will allow it to be destroyed
according to its nature, and if I do not wish it I have the power to impede it
from being destroyed. "Destroy this temple," because it is impossible that I
myself should be destroyed, as My nature is undestroyable, but I will allow this
(temple) to be destroyed because such a thing is inherent in its nature; I would
not have allowed this to happen to it had I not intended to do a higher thing to
it; I am allowing this (to happen) to it because I am prepared to do another
thing:

What is the meaning of the sentence "and in three days I will raise it up"? (It
means) that when it has been destroyed I will build it up again and will raise
it up at the resurrection from the dead in a state higher and better than the
first; it will not be then mortal and destroyable in its nature as it is now,
but immortal, indissoluble, impassible, and immutable; it is in this way that I
will raise it up to a much higher state than that in which it is at present by
nature; I will allow it to be destroyed in order that I may do something higher
to it. Destroy, therefore, this temple; fulfil your wish; make use of your
artifice; I will allow you to do what you wish so that after you have done it
you should feel my power which is higher than all, as it is by it that I will
raise it up from the dead and make it 233 into something higher than it is now.
You will then realise that you would not even have been in a position to destroy
it if I had not willed it, and that it would not have died if I had not
permitted it; since I will it, however, it will be good to it: "destroy,
therefore, this temple and m three days I will raise it up." In these words He
showed sufficiently the difference between Him and the one who was destroyable,
because the latter was the temple and the former its dweller; the latter His
dwelling as a temple, and the former its dweller as a God; not a temple for a
short time only |86 and not one in which God the Word sometimes dwelt and
sometimes not, but a temple from which it will never be separated, as it
possesses an ineffable union with the one who is dwelling in it. He made Him
perfect through His sufferings, as the blessed Paul said,234 and He received
these sufferings according to His nature while He was in need of the One who was
to deliver him from passion, the One who changed His nature and made Him
impassible and crowned Him with sufferings. As to Himself He dwelt in Him, and
He is by nature impassible, and has the power to make Him impassible also
although (by nature) passible. In this way He perfected through sufferings and
made immortal and immutable in everything the form of a servant 235 which was
assumed as His temple, that is to say the man who was assumed for our salvation.
The blessed Paul said: "For unto the angels hath He not put in subjection the
world to come whereof we speak, but unto the one about whom the Book testifies,
'What is man that Thou art mindful of him, or the son of man that Thou visitest
him? Thou madest him a little lower than the angels, Thou crownedst him with
glory and honour, and didst set him over the works of Thy hands and Thou hast
put all things in subjection under his feet.'" 236 After having shown that He
did not take on Him the nature of angels but of man,237 he explained to us who
was this man and said: "We see Jesus Christ who was made a little lower than the
angels for the suffering of His death crowned with glory and honour " 238 in
order to show that this man Jesus, who was assumed for our salvation, became a
little lower than the angels because He tasted death, and that honour and glory
are also placed on His head because He rose from the dead and through His union
with God became higher than all creation. And in order to teach us why He
suffered and became "a little lower" he said: "Apart from God He tasted death
for every man." 239 |87 In this he shows that Divine nature willed that He
should taste death for the benefit of every man, and also that the Godhead was
separated from the one who was suffering in the trial of death, because it was
impossible for Him to taste the trial of death if (the Godhead) were not
cautiously remote from Him,240 but also near enough to do the needful and
necessary things for the nature that was assumed by it. It was necessary for the
one through whom and for whom everything was (done) to perfect with sufferings
the source 241 of the life of the many children whom he 242 brought to His 243
glory. He 244 Himself was not tried with the trial of death but He was near to
him 245 and doing to him the things that were congruous to His nature as the
Maker who is the cause of everything, i.e. He brought him to perfection through
sufferings and made him for ever immortal, impassible, incorruptible, and
immutable for the salvation of the multitudes who would be receiving communion
with him. In this way the Sacred Books teach us the difference between the two
natures, and so it is indispensable for us to ascertain who is the one who
assumed and the one who was assumed. The one who assumed is the Divine nature
that does 246 everything for us, and the other is the human nature which was
assumed on behalf of all of us by the One who is the cause of everything, and is
united to it 247 in an ineffable union which will never be separated. This is
the reason why on account of our association with it the gift which we are
expecting to receive will also remain truly with us. The Sacred Books also teach
us this union, not only when they impart to us the knowledge of each nature but
also when they affirm that what is due to one is also due to the other, so that
we should understand the wonderfulness and the sublimity of the union that took
place (between |88 them). As such is the statement: "Of whom as concerning the
flesh Christ (came), who is God over all." 248 It is not the one who is of the
Jews in the flesh who is by nature God over all, nor the one who by nature is
God over all is also by nature from the Jews, but in his sentence the Apostle
showed us the two natures. In saying, "of whom is Christ concerning the flesh"
he alluded to His humanity, and in saying, "who is God over all" he taught us
concerning the nature of His divinity; and he referred his teaching to one only
by saying, "of whom Christ concerning the flesh, who is God over all." As such
also are the words uttered by our Lord in the Gospel: "If ye shall see the Son
of man ascend up where He was before." 249 Lo, it is known that the Son of man
who was a man by His nature was not in heaven before, but ascended up because of
the Divine nature which was in Him, and which was in heaven. When He said also
of His body that it can give immortal life to those who eat it,250 because the
words that He uttered were not believed by the hearers, He endeavoured to
convince them from the fact that although His words were incredible at the
present time they will be credible later, as if He were saying to them: When you
see that I have become immortal and have ascended up to heaven you will believe
that you will partake of the things that will happen to me because of your
association with me in those things, as the Divine nature which dwells in me and
which was before in heaven will grant immortality to this one 251 and will take
Him up to heaven and will grant you also communion with Him. He (Christ) uttered
these words as of one in order to demonstrate the close union that took
place:252 If ye shall see the Son of man ascend up where He was before—If this
were not as we said He was bound to say: If ye shall see the Son of man ascend
up where the One who is in Him was,—you will understand the greatness of the
Divine nature which is dwelling in Me and you will be astonished at the
wonderfulness of the things that will happen to Me, and because of Me to you
also. As such also is the meaning of the sentence: "And no man hath ascended up
to heaven, but He that came down from heaven, the Son of man which is in
heaven." 253 He did not say that no man hath |89 ascended up to heaven, and I
ascended up because of the Divine nature which dwells in Me and which is even
now in heaven, but He referred His words jointly to one: "no man hath ascended
up to heaven but He that came down from heaven, the Son of man which is in
heaven." He did not wish to say separately that no man ascended up to heaven but
the Son of man who was dwelling in Him and who came down and was in heaven. He
did not approve of this method of speaking and uttered His sentence in a way
that it refers to one individual, and this in order to demonstrate and confirm
the wonderful things done to the one 254 who was visible.

Any time the Book wishes to speak of the things done to the human nature, it
rightly refers them to the Divine nature because they are high above our nature;
in this it shows the union (of the Divine nature) with that man in order to make
credible the things done to Him: it shows also that it is through the wonderful
Divine nature which was united to Him that He became worthy of all this honour
and glory, and it assures us that these same things will in the future be done
to us. Indeed that man would not have been the possessor of such great benefits
if He had no union with God, nor would we be hoping for all the future good
things if the Divine nature that put on the form of a servant had not wished to
grant to Him all those good things and extended their delight to us.

Because of all this let us learn the distinction between the natures and their
union from the Holy Scripture and let us hold steadfast to this doctrine and
understand the difference between these natures: that the one who assumed was
God and the Only Begotten Son, while the one who was assumed was the form of a
servant, which is man; that God assumed (man) for the benefit of our human race,
and that (man) was assumed so that He 255 should remain in virtues and bestow on
us the communion of His grace. We should also be mindful of that inseparable
union through which that form of man can never and under no circumstances be
separated from the Divine nature which put it on. The distinction between the
natures does not annul the close union nor does the close union destroy the
distinction between the natures, but the natures remain in their respective
existence while separated, and the union remains intact, because the one who |90
was assumed is united in honour and glory with the one who assumed according to
the will of the one who assumed Him. From the fact that we say two natures we
are not constrained to say two Lords nor two sons; this would be extreme
folly.256 All things that in one respect are two and in another respect one,
their union through which they are one does not annul the distinction between
the natures, and the distinction between the natures impedes them from being
one. So in the sentence: "I and my Father are one" 257 the word "one" does not
annul the fact of "I and my Father," who are two. In another passage He said
about the husband and wife that "they are no more twain but one flesh." 258 The
fact that the husband and wife are one flesh does not impede them from being
two. Indeed they will remain two because they are two, but they are one because
they are also one and not two. In this same way here (in the Incarnation) they
are two by nature and one by union: two by nature, because there is a great
difference between the natures, and one by union because the adoration offered
to the one who has been assumed is not differentiated from that to the one who
assumed Him, as the former is the temple from which it is not possible for the
one who dwells in it to depart.

All things said of two take the qualification of two when one of them is not
differentiated by the object through which it receives the number two; as such
is the sentence of the Scripture in which mention is made of four beasts: a
lion, a bear, a leopard and another more dreadful.259 The Book said "four"
because each one of them is a beast in its nature. As such also is the sentence:
"The testimony of two men is true," 260 because each one of them is by nature
that which the other is. Likewise in the sentence: "No man can serve two
masters" 261 because any man who serves mammon with the same care as he serves
God has both as masters.

Here 262 also if each of them was Son and Lord by nature it would be possible
for us to say two Sons and two Lords, according to the number of the persons,263
but one 264 being Son and Lord by nature and |91 the other 265 being neither Son
nor Lord by nature, we believe that the latter received these (attributes)
through His close union with the Only Begotten God the Word, and so we hold that
there is one Son only; and we understand that the one who is truly Son and Lord
is the one who possesses these (attributes) by nature, and we add in our thought
the temple in which He dwells and in which He will always and inseparably remain
on account of the inseparable union which He has with Him and because of which
we believe that He is both Son and Lord. In any other passage in which the Book
calls the one who was assumed "Son," it will be seen that He is called Son
because of the close union that He had with the one who assumed Him. When it
says: "Concerning His Son who was made of the seed of David according to the
flesh," 266 it is evident that it calls here Son the one who was made of the
seed of David in the flesh and not God the Word but the form of the servant
which was assumed. Indeed it is not God who became flesh nor was it God who was
made of the seed of David but the man who was assumed for us, and it is Him that
the blessed Paul clearly called Son.267 We understand Him to be Son and we call
Him so; not for Himself 268 but because of the union that He had with the true
Son.269 It is in this sense that our Lord taught His disciples when He said: "Go
ye and teach all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father, and of the
Son, and of the Holy Ghost." 270 This teaching we uphold in this way: as we call
the Father Divine nature, and the Holy Ghost Divine nature from God the
Father,271 so we call the Son the Divine nature of the Only Begotten, as in the
case of the Father and of the Spirit, but to our knowledge concerning the
Godhead we add the man who was assumed and through whom we received our
knowledge of the Divine nature of which is the one who assumed Him, who is God
the Word, and also His Father |92 and of the Holy Ghost. It is written: "The
Father that dwelleth in me, He doeth these works" 272 and of the Holy Spirit it
is written that it descended like a dove and dwelled in Him.273 Indeed as the
Father cannot be separated from the Son nor the Son from the Father—"I am in my
Father and my Father is in me 274—so also the Father cannot be separated from
the Holy Spirit. The Scripture says: "For what man knoweth the things of a man
save the Spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man
but the Spirit of God," 275 in order to show us that the Holy Spirit is always
and without separation with God the Father in the same way as our soul is never
separated from us as long as we live and are human beings. He was, therefore,
Son by necessity in that form of a servant which was assumed, and the Father was
with the Son and the Holy Spirit.

If He said concerning all men: "He that loveth me keepeth my commandments, and I
will love him and will manifest myself to him," 276 and: "I and my Father will
come unto him and make our abode with him," 277 why should you wonder if in the
Lord Christ according to the flesh dwelleth the Father together with the Son and
the Holy Spirit? Inasmuch as when we say ' Father, Son and Holy Spirit,' we name
the Godhead 278 in which we ought to be initiated to religion and be baptised,
so also when we say "Son" we refer to the Divine nature of the Only Begotten
while rightly including also in our thought the man who was assumed on our
behalf and in whom God the Word was made known and preached and is now in Him,
while the Father and the Holy Spirit are not remote from Him, because Trinity is
not separable, consisting as it does of one, incorporeal and uncircumscribed
nature. We learned these things from the Sacred Books, and we ought to think and
to believe accordingly.

Since the measure of things said suffices let us add here to our discourse glory
to God the Father, to the Only Begotten Son, and to the Holy Spirit, for ever
and ever.—Amen.

Here ends the eighth chapter. |93

Chapter IX.

You have heard from what has been spoken to you how our blessed Fathers
instructed us successively and according to the teaching of the Sacred Books
concerning the Father and the Son without neglecting the Economy of our Lord and
Saviour Jesus Christ. Let us now bring forth what is written after this. The
question will deal now with the Holy Spirit, and our blessed Fathers who
assembled from all parts in the town of Nicea for the sake of that wonderful
Council wrote about Him simply and without amplification by saying: And in the
Holy Spirit. They thought that this would be sufficient for the ears of that
period. Those who after them handed to us a complete doctrine concerning the
Holy Spirit were the Western Bishops who by themselves assembled in a Synod, as
they were unable to come to the East on account of the persecution that the
Arians inflicted on this country. And later, when Divine grace put an end to the
persecution, the Eastern Bishops gladly accepted the doctrine handed down by
(the Bishops of) that Western Synod, concurred in their decision, and by
subscribing to what they had said, showed their adhesion to them.279 If one
looks deeply into the matter, however, one will find that they derived their
reason for the complementary addition that they made later in their teaching
concerning the Holy Spirit from the blessed Fathers who had assembled from the
whole world in the first Council held in the town of Nicea. The reason why our
blessed Fathers did not hand down to us in a complete form all things that were
said later concerning the Holy Spirit is clear and evident, and it is that at
that time had risen the unholy Arius who was the first to blaspheme against the
Son of God, and assert wickedly that the Only Begotten Son of God, and God the
Word, was created and made from nothing. Because of this our |94 blessed Fathers
rightly assembled and held a wonderful Council. The time was propitious for
their gathering because the God-loving and the blessed Constantine urged them to
it in order to destroy the wickedness of the heretics and to confirm the faith
of the Church. This is the reason why they made use in their doctrine concerning
the Son of clear statements and copious words for the destruction of the heresy
of Arius and the confirmation of the true faith of the Church of God. They did
not do the same in the case of the Holy Spirit because at that time no question
had yet been raised concerning Him by the heretics. They thought that for a
complete belief in the true faith it would be sufficient to insert in their
creed the name of the Spirit in its right place according to the teaching of our
Lord, and to teach all men that in the Creed and in the profession of faith it
ought to be pronounced with that of the Father and of the Son. It is not
possible for any one to have faith 280 if he does not name, profess, and believe
in, the Holy Spirit together with the Father and the Son. This is the meaning of
their words in saying: And in the Holy Spirit. Men who did not include (in their
words) any created being would not have inserted the Holy Spirit with so much
care in their faith and in their creed side by side with the Father and the Son
had they not wished to separate in this same creed all the created beings from
the uncreated nature. It was thus necessary that the Spirit should be named and
professed side by side with the Father and the Son, because He also is from the
uncreated nature, existing from eternity, and cause of everything, to which
adoration is due to the exclusion of all created beings. That this is so our
profession of faith testifies; indeed faith is not professed in a created nature
but in a Divine and uncreated nature; nor did our blessed Fathers discover and
write a new doctrine from their own head but they clearly followed the teaching
of our Lord who taught His disciples, saying: "Go ye and teach all nations,
baptising them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy
Ghost." 281

It is clear and evident that He made His disciples the teachers of all the world
and ordered them to convert all men from the error of polytheism to which they
were formerly clinging—by ascribing the name of God to creatures and giving
honour to natures which did not |95 deserve honour—and to teach them to offer
true worship only to the Divine nature which is eternal, not made, and the cause
of everything. He did not order them to convert all nations from the error of
worshipping those who are not gods by nature in order to bring them to the
discipleship of one who is not God by nature, but He did order them to preach,
instead of those who were wrongly called gods, the nature which is not made, is
eternal and the cause of everything, and to which is rightly due the name of
Lord and God because it is Lord and God by nature. The knowledge of religion
consists in this faith, and it is (this faith) that is the cause of all good
things.

It is in this name that we are baptised and expect that the communion of the
ineffable Divine benefits will accrue to us through baptism. We would not have
named at baptism a being that was not the cause of the benefits that we are
expecting to possess. We name (Him) because we know that He has the power to
grant us the heavenly and imperishable benefits in the hope of which we receive
the gift of baptism. In the same way as (the Book) said: "In the name of Jesus
of Nazareth rise up and walk" 282 and showed that it was Christ who was the
cause of the cure of the lame man, in this same way where it 283 ordered:
"Baptise in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost" it
clearly showed that these names which are pronounced at baptism are the cause of
all the benefits which we are expecting to possess. It is not to no purpose that
it says: "in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost," but
in order that from their names we may derive our hope of enjoying the future
good things. As such also is the sentence uttered by the prophet: "Beside Thee
we know no other Lord. We are called by Thy name." 284 (The prophet) shows here
that they did not recognise nor did they name another Lord beside the one who is
truly Lord. And again: "Because of Thy name we shall tread down our enemies,"
285 and: "In Thy name our horn shall be exalted," 286 in order to show that they
prevailed against their enemies through His name. In another passage he said: "I
will call on the name of the Lord," 287 that is to say, I have believed that He
is the Lord and also the cause of all |96 good things to me. (Our Lord) said
here also: "In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost" in
order that His disciples might learn from Him that all the nations were looking
for this name as the cause of all their good things, because the nature which is
called "Father, and Son and Holy Ghost," and in which we are baptised, is truly
the Lord who is able to give us the heavenly good things which we are expecting
and in the hope of which we draw nigh unto the grace of baptism. As He ordered
us to name the Father in the act of our disciple-ship and our baptism, because
He is the Divine nature which is eternal and cause of everything and because He
is able to vouchsafe unto us the benefits involved in the promise of baptism;
and as He ordered us to name the Son because He has an identical nature and is
able to vouchsafe unto us the same benefits, it is likewise evident that He
named the Holy Spirit side by side with the Father and the Son for this very
reason, that is to say because He is of the same nature as that which is eternal
and cause of everything, to which is truly due the name of Lord and God. If in
this creed He had wished to refer to a nature which was created and to another
which was uncreated, we must admit that He neglected to name myriads of other
created natures, that is to say, everything! A man with a sound mind will not
think of such a thing.

It is clear that our Lord was handing down to us the doctrine of the Divine
knowledge and teaching us the religious name which was congruous to the Divine
nature in which we were to be baptised and which was able to vouchsafe unto us
the future good things. We are thus ordered not to look for another name as the
cause of the future good things except to that of the Divine nature which is
eternal and cause of everything. It is, therefore, evident that He would not
have named the Spirit side by side with the Father if they were not one Divine
nature which was eternal and cause of everything, to which the name of Lord and
God was truly due, and by the grace of which we shall also participate in the
future good things. Our blessed Fathers also meant this when they said: And in
the Holy Spirit. They said this so that they might be understood by others that
they were following the teaching of our Lord and so that they might intimate to
every one that they also named the Holy Spirit with the Father and the Son
according to our Lord's doctrine, |97 because He also is, like the Son, of the
same Divine nature of the Father, and we ought to believe in Him and to worship
Him as the cause of the future good things. They left their statement in the
above simple sentence without any amplification because no question had yet been
raised by the heretics against the Holy Spirit; and they thought that the
addition "Holy" placed after the name of the Spirit, according to the teaching
of our Lord, was sufficient as a perfect doctrine for those by whom truth is
honoured. To men of good will the sentence used by our blessed Fathers according
to the teaching of our Lord was indeed adequate, because they could not have
taught us how to believe in things concerning a man in our profession of faith
concerning God. They who taught clearly concerning the Son of God to the effect
that we ought to believe in Him as consubstantial with God, would not have added
in their profession of faith a word concerning the Holy Spirit had they not
known that He also was of the same Divine nature of God the Father. The mere 288
mention of the name "Holy Spirit" was sufficient to demonstrate His nature as
taught to us by the Divine Book, which indeed would not have called Him by this
exclusive name if He was not of Divine nature. Actually there are many things
referred to by the word "spirit" in the Holy Scripture: the angels are called by
it: "He made his angels a spirit," 289 and also our soul: "His spirit goeth out
and he returneth to his earth," 290 and likewise the winds: "He causeth the
spirits to blow and they cause waters to flow." 291 Similarly all things which
have a subtile nature in comparison with the visible objects, which our senses
cannot accurately comprehend and which are not clearly defined, we call spirits.

Although numerous are the things which in common parlance are called spirits,
yet this word "spirit" refers in an exclusive way, as the Holy Scripture teaches
us, to the Godhead,292 which is incorporeal and can never be circumscribed. Holy
Writ bears witness to the fact that it is called and is truly a spirit. This is
the reason why our Lord said to the Samaritan woman who had believed that God
was worshipped in a special place, and was contending against the Jews and
asking |98 whether the place which was fit for worship was Mount Gerizim or
Jerusalem: "God is a spirit, and they that worship Him must worship Him in
spirit and in truth." 293 What He showed here amounted to this: all of you are
in great error in believing that God is more in this or in that place. God being
incorporeal and uncircumscribed is not confined to a place, but is in all places
equally. A worship of duty and of truth 294 is good and obligatory when man
worships while believing that God is incorporeal and uncircumscribed, and thinks
in clear conscience that God is not confined nor circumscribed in a place. As
there are many beings who bear the name of "I am" 295—as all things created from
nothing are so called because they "are"— when God was asked by the blessed
Moses about His name He answered: "I am that I am. This is my name for ever, and
this is my memorial unto all generations." 296 He did not mean to say that there
is nothing else that is "I am," but that this name "I am" belongs prominently to
Him, not that He once was "I am" and once was not, but that He was "I am"
eternally and always. In this same way there are many beings who bear the name
of "spirits," but the word "Spirit" refers pre-eminently and is due to Divine
nature which is truly incorporeal and uncircumscribed. If, therefore, it were
possible to contend that when the Scripture says "Holy Spirit" it says it in a
general sense and throws ambiguity in the minds of the hearers, who in hearing
this very name "Holy Spirit" mentioned might think and say: "What is the precise
meaning conveyed by the Scripture, since this name is applied to all the other
beings who are called spirits?"—the case would be similar with regard to the
name "I am" which Holy Writ applies to God because we would not be able to
understand to whom it is precisely ascribed, as there are many beings who are
referred to by the word "I am" 297 and it is not known whether man or another
being is implied; this general term would, therefore, be in need of an addition
through which the one who is called by it is distinguished. |99 We do not,
however, understand God in this sense, either when we call Him "I am" or when we
call Him "Spirit," because if we call Him "I am" we understand that in truth He
is "I am" alone, and if we call Him "Spirit," He is in truth "Spirit" alone.

It is imperative now that we should discuss also the Holy Spirit and see to what
kind of "Spirit" (the Book) refers when it says, "In the name of the Father, and
of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit." There is no one who is so mad as to believe
that this passage requires discussion, because it is known that the Divine Book
is wont to refer by this name exclusively to one whom it everywhere names side
by side with the Father and the Son, in the same way as it named Him when
baptism was handed down to us. While all spirits have by general usage assumed
one common name (of spirit) because they are subtile in their nature in
comparison with the visible things, which are in no way grasped by any of our
visible senses—this name "spirit" is rightly said with pre-eminence of the
Divine nature as it is truly a spirit which is incorporeal and uncircumscribed.
Thus we have understood Divine nature to be, and the Holy Spirit is called and
professed by this name alone side by side with the Father and the Son because He
possesses an identical nature with them. As when we hear the name of the Father,
although there are many other fathers, we nevertheless understand it to refer
truly to one mighty God who is eternal; and as, although many are called sons,
we, nevertheless, think only of one Son, who did not become, neither is He, a
Son through the process of transformation—like the sons whom we have with us and
who are born through the transformation of the (human) seed and are afterwards
called sons—but He is truly alone Son of a Father who is eternal, and He is
eternally from Him and with Him—, in this same way when we hear [the name of]
the Holy Spirit we do not think of one of those beings who are called spirits
but of the one who is truly called alone by this name and is incorporeal,
uncircumscribed and confessed side by side with the Father and the Son in one
Divine nature. The addition "Holy" is characterised by the same implications as
the name "Spirit." Although there are many beings that are "holy," as in the
sentence, "When He shall come in the glory of His Father and of His holy
angels," 298 and although there are also |100 many objects called by this name
of holiness, such as "The tabernacle of the Most High is holy," 299 these are
called holy by common usage only as having derived their holiness from God. The
one who is truly holy is Divine nature. It is indeed said: "Thou art holy and
Thy name is reverend"; 300 and even the Seraphim when they glorify they say in
their canticle which is congruous to this Divine nature as follows: "Holy, holy,
holy is the Lord of hosts: the whole heaven and earth are full of His glory."
301 The one who is truly holy is He whose nature is immutable and unchangeable
and He who has not received holiness from another but alone can bestow holiness
on all He pleases. In this way the Divine Book calls Holy Spirit the one who is
alone confessed, at baptism and in the act of discipleship, side by side with
the Father and the Son, because this name Holy Spirit is truly due only to
Divine nature. This is the reason why when we hear this name Holy Spirit we do
not ask who is meant by it, because we know that He is the one who is alone
(holy) by nature and who is named with the Father and the Son as an act due to
His nature, because the nature of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy
Spirit is one. From this it is easily understood by men of good will that our
blessed Fathers taught us sufficiently concerning the nature of the Holy Spirit
when they placed Him on the same level with the Father and the Son, because in
this they clearly taught us something that is in harmony with the words which
our Lord pronounced to His disciples and which ascribed to Him a name congruous
to Divine nature. It was deemed sufficient by them simply to insert this name in
the profession of faith which they taught, because by its exclusiveness it is
capable of demonstrating the nature of the one who is named. This being the case
it is only men of ill will who make show of insolence and call the Holy Spirit a
servant or a creature, while some others amongst them although refraining from
these words yet refuse to call Him God. It is with a sense of duty, therefore,
that the Doctors of the Church,302 who assembled from all parts of the world and
who were the heirs of the first blessed Fathers,303 proclaimed before all men
the wish of their Fathers and in accurate deliberations made |101 manifest the
truth of their faith and interpreted also their mind.304 They wrote to us words
which warn the children of faith and destroy the error of the heretics. As their
Fathers did in the profession of faith concerning the Son for the refutation of
the ungodliness of Arius, so they did in their words concerning the Holy Spirit
for the confutation of those who blasphemed against Him.

They thought that it would be the height of folly to call creature and servant
one who by the mention of His name frees us from death and corruption through
baptism, and renews us according to the teaching of our Lord, because a creature
is not able to free us nor is a servant able to renew us. It was considered by
them to be folly to hesitate to call God one who is truly God, as it is clear
that one who is neither a creature nor a servant is God. If He be a creature, He
is also a servant, and no creature and no servant are truly God. To call
creature or servant one by whose name we expect to be renewed and freed—since in
calling Him by His name side by side with that of the Father and the Son we
believe that He will grant us renewal and freedom—is a great error 305 and an
outrageous blasphemy. Duty compels us, therefore, to call Him God because no
other nature can create, renew and free except Divine nature, which is neither
created nor made, but is the cause of everything, is able to renew its works
according to its will and has the power to give us freedom as it wishes.

Because of this and for it, it was right on the part of our blessed Fathers to
proclaim in their creed that the Holy Spirit was Divine nature with the Father
and the Son, and by the addition of short words to confirm the true doctrine of
the Church which was to be made manifest to those who draw nigh unto the holy
baptism: And in ONE Holy Spirit. What our Fathers wrote does not differ in
meaning from: And in Holy Spirit. Although they made use of this word,306 well
knowing that the Holy Spirit that was called by this name was one as the Divine
Books had taught us, they nevertheless made its meaning clear by saying: And in
one Holy Spirit, and thus brought themselves into harmony with the usage adopted
by Holy Writ which in saying "one" Father and "one" Son says also "one" Holy
Spirit. |102 This is the reason why the blessed Paul said in one passage: "By
one Spirit we are all baptized into one body." 307 And in another passage: "One
Lord, one faith, one baptism, one body, one Spirit, one God Father of all, who
is above all and through all and in us all." 308 And again: "There are
diversities of gifts but the Spirit is one, and there are diversities of
administration but the Lord is one, and there are diversities of operations but
it is the same God which worketh all in all." 309 He clearly shows here that as
there is one Lord, because He is the Lord and there is no other beside Him, and
as there is one God and there is no other beside Him, so there is one Spirit and
there is no other beside Him. The created beings are numerous and different in
their nature, but there is only one immutable nature which is the cause of
everything, and outside this nature there is no uncreated being who is the cause
of the created beings, and He who is of that nature is truly uncreated and cause
of everything. This is the reason why there is only one Father who is truly
Father alone and Divine nature, and there is only one Son who is truly Son alone
from the Divine nature of God, and there is only one Holy Spirit who is Holy
Spirit alone and whom we have learnt from the sacred Books to call by this name,
because He also is from that eternal nature and is God and cause of everything.
He is also truly God and Lord alone because He created everything, and has power
over everything, and is called and is truly Spirit because He is truly
incorporeal and uncircumscribed, and to Him is due the attribute of holiness, as
He is alone holy and immutable by nature, and as it is He who bestows holiness
upon those He pleases and frees them from inclination towards evil.

All the created beings are not holy by nature but are receivers of holiness from
the one who is the cause of their being. It is with justice, therefore, that
when the blessed Paul exhorted the Ephesians to unity and to be of one mind,
made mention of this nature by which they were to be of one mind: "Endeavour to
keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace," 310 and as you were born of
one Spirit in order to be one in your motherly bond 311 so you ought to be
united and |103 joined one to another. In amplifying his sentence he said: "one
body and one Spirit even as ye are called in one hope of your calling," 312
because as you were born of one spirit you have become one body of Christ who is
the head:313 the man who was assumed so that through Him we might have
relationship with Divine nature, as we are expecting to have communion with Him
in the next world, because we believe that our vile body shall be changed and
fashioned like unto His glorious body.314 We have been called to the hope of
these (benefits), and we were born of baptism by the power of the Holy Spirit;
and as a symbol and earnest of the future things we received the firstfruits of
the Spirit,315 through whom we were reborn and by whom we obtained the gift of
being one body of Christ. In expanding further his sentence the blessed Paul
said: "One Lord, one faith, one baptism, one body, one Spirit, and one God the
Father who is above all and through all and in us all." 316 One is the Spirit of
whom you were born, in the same way as one is the Lord and one is God whom we
believe to be our Lord and our Maker and whom by the grace of baptism we have
been worthy to call Father. One faith and one baptism: because although we say
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, we only profess one nature of the Father, of the
Son, and of the Holy Spirit, in which we are initiated to our faith and which we
have agreed to name at baptism. It is evident that he would not have said one
faith if he did not know that the names of the Father, of the Son, and of the
Holy Spirit through whom disciple-ship is effected were one nature; nor would he
have said one baptism had he not been aware that those names which are
pronounced at baptism had only one power, one will and one act through which the
grace of our second birth 317 was accomplished. The addition of the word one
has, therefore, taught us sufficiently and accurately the Divine nature of the
Holy Spirit. He is one as the Father is one and as the Son is one, and we
believe that the (nature) of each one of them is identical, because the Divine
nature, which is uncreated, eternal, and cause of everything, is one. It is
known that the created beings are numerous and possess various and |104
different natures according to the wish of their Maker, and are bound to be
always dependent on 318 that nature which is uncreated and the cause of
everything.

Things that have now been spoken will suffice us for to-day, and we will leave
off the rest for another day if God wishes. Let us, therefore, put an end here
to our discourse and praise God the Father, the Only Begotten Son, and the Holy
Spirit, now, always, and for ever and ever. Amen. Amen.

Here ends the ninth chapter.

Chapter X.

I know that you remember what we spoke to your love concerning the Holy Spirit,
when we showed the greatness of His glory from the fact that in the initiation
319 of baptism He is believed in side by side with the Father and the Son. We
adduced another reason which is no less cogent than this from the fact that He
is alone called exclusively Holy Spirit, a name which in the teaching of the
Books is simply ascribed to Divine nature; and also from the fact that He is
called one Spirit like one Son, one God and one Lord. To those who have goodwill
in religion the words written in the sacred Books would have been sufficient;
these have been written also in the teaching of our blessed Fathers, who,
however, because there are no adequate words easily to convince an evil mind,
added of necessity to their teaching a statement which they chose in order to
warn the children of the faith and refute the error of the heretics. They
inserted, therefore, in their doctrine words that resemble those said of the
Son. In speaking of the Son it was sufficient for those who do not refuse to be
convinced to state that the one who was called an Only Begotten Son was truly a
Son consubstantial with His Father, but on account of the wicked men who are
bent on perversion they added: Born of Him before all the worlds, and not made,
true God of true God, consubstantial with His Father, and in this they made |105
clear to all the meaning of the name '' Only Begotten" in order to confirm the
faithful and rebuke the haters of truth. In this same way they inserted here
also a word which gives us the true meaning of the name which is handed down to
us by the Divine Books concerning the Spirit, who at the time of our initiation
and baptism is confessed side by side with the Father and the Son. For people of
goodwill in religion a word which would show that the Holy Spirit was of the
Divine nature of God the Father would have been sufficient, but on account of
people inclined to insolence 320 and steadfast in it and in blasphemy, our
blessed Fathers were rightly advised, even after all this credible teaching, to
corroborate the doctrine of faith by means of a short addition, for the benefit
of all and especially for your benefit, you who are on the point of drawing nigh
unto the gift of the Spirit. They, therefore, said: And in ONE Holy Spirit. They
did not invent this expression but took it from the teaching of our Lord, who,
speaking to all His disciples before His passion wished to instruct them on the
kind of resurrection from the dead which He will grant to mankind, and said that
He will bestow upon them the grace of the Holy Spirit from which is derived the
happiness of the future good things, which are so wonderful and have such a
permanent effect on those who are worthy to receive them.

He rightly instructed us in His teaching on the greatness and glory of the Holy
Spirit, and by this He showed us the greatness of the grace which was to be
given to the faithful, so that we should firmly believe in the wonderful
benefits which from it would be granted to us and would never be taken from us.
He said thus: "If ye love me, keep My commandments, and I will pray the Father,
and He shall send you another Comforter, that He may abide with you for ever."
321 He showed them in these words: You should persevere in keeping My
commandments, never to deviate from them in any way, and since you will not be
receiving a casual and ordinary thing only, you will have to show great care and
diligence: you will be receivers of no less a gift than the grace of the Holy
Spirit, which will be always with you and bestow heavenly gifts upon you. And in
corroboration of what had been said He added something that shows the honour due
to the Holy Spirit, and said: "The Spirit of Truth." 322 Indeed, it is |106 the
nature of the Spirit to give everything in truth without any change, and because
He is eternal, immutable and unchangeable in His nature He is able to bestow
upon others the delight of heavenly gifts which will not perish nor suffer any
change.

(The Book) calls falsehood a perishable thing that is not permanent, and truth
an imperishable thing that is permanent. Because the one who affirms a thing
which does not exist lies, and the one who affirms a thing which exists tells
the truth, it (the Book) calls falsehood a thing which does not last because it
becomes like a thing which does not exist, while it calls truth a thing which
lasts and exists permanently. This is the reason why the blessed David said: "I
said in my haste, All men are liars," 323 that is to say because I became proud
and thought highly of myself I suddenly fell into dire calamities and was in
danger, as if I was nothing, and was about to perish, if Thy wonderful help had
not assisted me; I was astonished at the great number of calamities that
assailed me and understood that it was falsely that I had thought highly of
myself; I found by experience that human things are nothing and that in truth
they are all false: wealth, power, might, and all things which are considered by
men to be great and wonderful. All these things, nay, even the fact of our
existence are also false, because we make show of this fact of our existence to
deceive those who see us, while eventually we are cut off by death and reminded
that we are nothing, and all the great things that we are supposed to possess
leave us at the end of our life. As (the Book) calls falsehood a thing that has
no enduring effect so it calls truth a thing that is lasting and does not
perish, as it is said, "Mercy and truth will meet us" 324 to show us that He
(God) will truly grant us mercy. He is, therefore, called God of truth because
He is truly able to give us all. It is said: "Thou hast saved us O Lord God of
truth," 325 that is to say, Thou hast saved us from the calamities that are
known to us because Thou alone art able to grant benefits that are lasting and
imperishable to whomsoever Thou wishest. The blessed David said these things of
God and called Him God of truth in order to show that He is truly able to grant
everything. Our Lord also said similar things of the Holy Spirit in order to
confirm the truth of the future good things that will be granted to us |107 in
the next world by the same Holy Spirit. It is as if He had said: The Holy
Spirit, the gift of whose grace you will receive, is one who gives heavenly and
imperishable benefits to all He pleases, and because He is eternal in His nature
and immutable and unchangeable, the things which He will give will also last for
ever and will not change or perish. It is not possible that the one who grants
benefits which are unchangeable and imperishable should not Himself be eternal
and imperishable in His nature, and such a one is indeed Divine nature which is
eternal. In created things there is nothing that can last by itself; the one who
may be so constituted is so through another; indeed, how can a created being
have by himself the attribute of permanency unless this be given to him by his
Maker? The one, however, who is eternal, because immutable in His nature, is
able to grant imperishable benefits to others as He pleases. In short, Christ
our Lord gave us a great testimony about the nature of the Spirit, in saying,
"The Spirit of Truth." This expression cannot in any way fit the created beings
because they are very far from being able to give any lasting thing to others,
as they themselves are in need of their Maker to remain in the state in which
they had once been created. And He fittingly added: "Whom the world cannot
receive because it seeth Him not, neither knoweth Him." 326 There is no reason
to wonder that the Holy Spirit is so in His nature and in His power, as in His
nature He is higher than all creation and there is no created being that can see
Him and receive Him in His nature or understand Him, if He Himself does not
reveal His knowledge to mankind by His will. This is the reason why He added:
"But you know Him for He is with you and dwelleth in you," 327 and you rightly
receive His knowledge because you have received from Him the gift of grace,
which will remain with you for ever for the confirmation of the pleasures of the
future good things in which you will be immortal and immutable. Our blessed
Fathers inserted this expression concerning the Holy Spirit as they had received
it from our Lord, and added another: Who proceeds from the Father. This is also
found in the teaching of our Lord to His disciples: "When the Spirit Paraclete
is come, whom I will send unto you, even the Spirit of Truth which proceedeth
from the Father, He will testify of me." 328 Here also He |108 revealed in
advance the gift of the grace of the Holy Spirit which was to be bestowed upon
all the disciples after His ascension. In saying: "When the Paraclete is come,
whom I will send unto you" He refers to the grace of the Spirit which He was
about to bestow on them. He was not going to send unto them the Divine nature of
the Spirit which was everywhere, but He said this of the gift of the grace which
was poured upon them and in which He called also the Paraclete the "Comforter,"
because He was able to impart unto them the knowledge which was required of them
for comforting their souls in the numerous trials of this world.

After having spoken of the gift of the grace of the Holy Spirit He began to
speak of His nature and of the greatness of the honour due to Him, in order to
show the character of the grace which they were going to receive, and said: "The
Spirit of Truth." This expression denotes the greatness of His nature and His
power to grant imperishable benefits to all He pleases. Then He added the
sentence that "He proceeds from the Father" to signify that He is always with
God the Father and inseparable from Him. This has also been said by the blessed
Paul: "What man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in
him? even so the things of God knoweth no man but the Spirit who is from God."
329 He meant by this that as the spirit of man is not separated from him as long
as he is and remains a man, so also the Holy Spirit is not separated from God
the Father because He is from Him and from His nature, and is always known and
confessed side by side with Him To this our Lord referred as by a hint when He
said: "He proceeds from the Father," because the Holy Spirit is a spring which
is always with God and has never been separated from Him. He has not been
created later but He is eternally in Him, and He is from the nature of God the
Father, and eternal; and like a river with undiminishing flow, He bestows His
gifts upon whom He pleases. In this way He said also in another passage: "He
that believeth on Me, as the Scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow
rivers of living water," 330 and the blessed evangelist interpreting this
expression said: "This spake He of the Spirit, which they that believe on Him
should receive, for the Holy Spirit was not yet, because that Jesus was not yet
glorified." 331 He explains here clearly that He was |109 speaking of the gift
of the Spirit. He did not speak of the person 332 or of the nature of the Holy
Spirit that they were not yet, when he said that Jesus was not yet glorified,
because He was eternally before all creation, but He said it of the gift of the
Holy Spirit which after the ascension of our Lord into heaven was poured and
seen on the blessed Apostles and on those who were with them. He said that the
gift of the Holy Spirit will be poured on those who will believe in Him, like an
undiminishing flow of water, because it 333 will be given by God the Spirit, who
thus makes manifest His work of giving eternal life to those who believe in Him.

He who says that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father shows that He is
eternally with God the Father and is not separated from Him, because He is
always and eternally in Him. Indeed if gifts proceed from the Holy Spirit like a
river, and if this Spirit proceeds from God the Father, it is clear that He is
eternally from Him and with Him and He did not come into existence later. As
when the Book says that "a river proceeded from 334 Eden to water the garden,
and from thence it was parted and became into four heads," 335 we rightly
understand that the source which made these rivers to flow from Eden was not
parted for the reason that it was from thence that it had to flow, so also when
our Lord says in parable of the Holy Spirit that He proceeds from the Father, He
gives us to understand that the Holy Spirit is not separated from Him, but He is
eternally from Him, in Him and with Him, and like an undiminishing river He
distributes gifts to all creatures according to the measure of the faith of His
receivers, as the blessed Paul said: "There are diversities of Gifts but the
Spirit is one," 336 and also "the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every
man to profit withal." 337 In explaining this expression of our Lord our blessed
Fathers said that He proceeds from the nature of the Father, that He proceeds
from Him eternally, and that He was always in the Father and did not come into
existence later. It is evident that he who is eternally from the Father and with
Him, proceeds also from His nature, because it is impossible that anything
should be with God which is not by nature from Him. |110

After this they added in their teaching concerning the Spirit: Giver of Life,338
an expression which aptly demonstrates that the Holy Spirit is God like the
expressions 339 discussed above. Our Lord said: "The water that I shall give
shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life." 340 He
refers by His words to the gift of the Holy Spirit which gives everlasting life
to those who are worthy of it. And again in another passage: "He that believeth
on Me, as the Scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living
water." 341 He calls living water the gift of the Holy Spirit because it can
grant everlasting life. And the Apostle also said: "The letter killeth but the
Spirit giveth life" 342 and showed us that He will make us immortal. And again
in another passage: "The first Adam was made a living soul and the second Adam a
quickening Spirit." 343 He shows by his words that Christ our Lord was changed
in His body, at the resurrection from the dead, to immortality by the power of
the Holy Spirit. He likewise said in another passage: "He was declared to be the
Son of God with power and by the Spirit of holiness, and rose up from the dead,
Jesus Christ our Lord." 344 And: "If the Spirit of Him that raised up our Lord
Jesus Christ from the dead dwell in you, He that raised up Jesus Christ from the
dead shall also quicken your dead bodies because of His Spirit that dwelleth in
you." 345 Our Lord also said when teaching us concerning His body: "It is the
Spirit that quickeneth, the flesh profiteth nothing" 346 in order to show that
He also had immortality from the Holy Spirit and to demonstrate this point to
others. Such an act belongs indeed to the nature that is eternal and cause of
everything, because to Him who is able to create something from nothing belongs
the act of giving life, that is to say, to make us immortal so that we should
always live. Even among created beings those who have an immortal nature are
considered higher in rank, and it is, therefore, clear and evident that he who
is able to perform this act 347 is also able to perform other acts. God Himself
shows that it is the prerogative of the Divine nature to |111 do this in saying:
"Know now that I am He and there is no God beside Me: I kill, and I make alive;
I wound, and I heal." 348 He shows that it is His exclusive prerogative to raise
from the dead and to free from their pain those who are wounded.

It is with the (above) words that our blessed Fathers warned us and taught us
that we ought to believe that the Holy Spirit was from the Divine nature of God
the Father. This is the reason why He is confessed and believed in side by side
with the Father and the Son at the time of initiation and baptism. Each one of
us is baptised in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy
Spirit, according to the doctrine of our Fathers, which is derived from the
teaching of our Lord, so that it should be made clear and manifest to all that
our blessed Fathers handed down to us the doctrine of the true faith by
following the order of Christ. Even the words of the creed contain nothing but
an explanation and interpretation of the words found in the teaching of our
Lord. Indeed, He who ordered to baptise the Gentiles in the name of the Father,
and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit showed us clearly that the Divine nature
of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit is one. It was not
possible that He should induce the Gentiles—who were converted to the true faith
by casting away from them the error of polytheism and rejecting those who were
falsely called gods—to receive a teaching that drew them nigh unto the Father,
the Son and the Holy Spirit, if He did not know the oneness of their Divine
nature which exists eternally and which is the cause of everything; (nor would
He have induced us) to secede from those who are not truly gods and to believe
in one Divine nature which is Father, Son and Holy Spirit; to desist from
calling creatures gods and to believe that the uncreated nature is one, which
from nothing can make everything because it is truly Lord and God to whom this
name and this honour are justly due. This is the reason why our Lord caused
baptism to follow catechumenate 349 so that baptism should be the end of
catechumenate. It was necessary for those who had rejected false gods and learnt
that Divine nature was one, eternal and cause of everything, which is |112
Father, Son and Holy Spirit, to receive through these names the gift of baptism
which is bestowed for the sake of a wonderful happiness and is the earnest of
the future and ineffable benefits. Faith is professed at baptism by the mention
of these names, because those who mention them 350 designate one Divine nature
which is eternal, cause of everything, and able to create all things from
nothing while always caring and providing for them. We also rightly expect to be
renewed and to receive the freedom of truth through these names of Father, Son
and Holy Spirit which are pronounced at baptism.

Immediately after the profession of faith in baptism they (our blessed Fathers)
added the profession of faith in: One Catholic Church. (It is as if the
catechumen says): I shall be baptised in order to be a member of the great body
of the Church, as the blessed Paul said: "One body and one Spirit, even as ye
are called in one hope of your calling." 351 He does not call Church the
building made with hands, even if we suppose that it has been so called because
of the congregation of the faithful who are in it, but he calls Church all the
congregation of the faithful who worship God in the right way and those who
after the coming of Christ believed in Him from all countries till the end of
the world and the second coming of our Saviour from heaven, which we are
expecting. When our Lord also said to His blessed disciples: "Go ye and teach
all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the
Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things I have commanded you," He
added: "Lo, I am with you in all days even unto the end of the world." 352 He
said the words "with you" in the person of the Apostles to all who will believe
in Him in every country, and who will be baptised according to this teaching
till the end of the world. This congregation of the faithful and God-fearing men
our Lord called also Church when He said: "Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I
will build my Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." 353
He promised to assemble together all God-fearing men to this faith and to this
creed, and their gathering will not perish nor be prevailed against, in their
fight with the enemies. Upon this the blessed Paul said: "To the intent that
unto the principalities and powers in heaven might be known by the Church the
depth of the wisdom |113 of God, which He purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord
before the worlds." 354 He shows here that in this manifold wisdom of God the
invisible powers were astonished that He assembled together all men to the
worship of God, and made them as one body of Christ at the second birth from the
holy baptism, and prepared them to hope that they will participate with Him in
the future good things of the next world. He calls this Church the body of
Christ because it received communion with Him through the regeneration of
baptism, symbolically in this world but truly and effectively in the next, when
"our vile body shall be changed, that it may be fashioned like unto His glorious
body." 355 As we are in this world like unto the body of Adam and we resemble
him also in our body, so we shall be called the body of Christ our Lord, because
when our vile body is changed we shall receive the glory of His body. The
blessed Paul shows this in another passage: "I rejoice in my sufferings for you,
and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for
His body's sake, which is His church, whereof I am made a minister." 356 He
clearly calls the Church the body of Christ, for the maintenance of which he
became a minister, and because of this he endured and suffered much; and he
shows also that all the faithful became one body through one power of the Holy
Spirit because they were called to one future hope. This is the reason why in
writing to the Corinthians he said: "You are the body of Christ our Lord." 357
Our Lord also said by way of prayer in His words to His disciples: "Neither pray
I for these alone, but for them which shall believe on Me through their word,
that they all may be one as Thou Father art in Me, and I in Thee, that they also
may be one in Us," 358 i.e. I desire that not only these but all those who shall
believe in me through them, be one in the change (which they will undergo for
the possession) of the future benefits; as I have with Thee a close and
ineffable union so let them also be one in their faith in Us, through the
perfection of their change (for the possession) of those benefits, and be like
unto My glory and possess union with Me, by means of which they will gradually
move to the honour of relationship with the Divine nature.

We symbolise this state in baptism, since we die with Christ in baptism and rise
again according to the testimony of the blessed Paul.359 |114 This is the reason
why each one of us declares: "I will believe and be baptised in the name of the
Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit through one holy Catholic
Church." (The catachumen) shows by his words: I am not preparing for baptism for
the sake of little things but for the sake of great and wonderful things and
heavenly benefits, as I am expecting that through baptism I shall be made a
member of the Church, which is the congregation of the faithful, who through
baptism became worthy to be called the body of Christ our Lord and received an
ineffable holiness and the hope of the future immortality and immutability. And
it is one Church, which embraces all, on account of those who believe in all
countries and expect to receive heavenly life, as the blessed Paul said: "The
heavenly Church in which are written the firstborn of God." 360 He called them
"The firstborn" because they will receive the wonderful adoption of sons 361 in
a primary predestination, not like that of the Jews which was of a changing
character, but an ineffable immortality and immutability in good, which is
granted to those who are worthy of it. He called them also "written in heaven,"
because it is there that they will dwell.

They called the Church "holy" because of the holiness and the immutability which
it will receive from the Holy Spirit, and "Catholic" in order to refer to all
those who believed in all countries and at all times, and "one" because only
those who believed in Christ will receive the future good things, and it is they
who are "one holy Church." 362 In order to show the utility that accrues from
this profession of faith they (our blessed Fathers) said: For the remission of
sins. In these words they did not mean a simple remission of sin but its
complete abolition. Our Lord said also: "This is My body which is broken on
behalf of many for remission of sins," 363 that is to say all |115 sins will be
wiped off, because a true remission consists in the remission not of some sins
but of all of them, as the blessed John said: "Behold the lamb of God, which
taketh away the sin of the world." 364 This, however, will take place fully in
the next world when after the resurrection we shall be immortal and immutable
and when all the impulses of sins will cease. This is the reason why the blessed
Paul also said: "If the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised, and if Christ
be not raised your faith is vain and ye are yet in your sins." 365 He shows in
this that in the future resurrection from the dead we are expecting complete
abolition of sin. Our blessed Fathers, therefore, after having said, Remission
of sins, added: For the resurrection of the flesh and life everlasting. They
show here that we shall receive these when we shall have risen from the dead and
received the happiness of the everlasting good things, and then after we have
become truly immutable, the complete abolition of sin will take place, and we
shall become one, holy and Catholic Church, as we shall receive an ineffable
holiness and become immortal and immutable and be worthy to be always with
Christ: "When this corruptible shall have put on incorruption and this mortal
shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is
written, 'Death is swallowed up in victory. O grave, where is thy victory? O
death, where is thy sting?' The sting of death is sin, and the strength of the
sin is the law." 366 Then will truly take place the abolition of all these: of
death, sin and corruption, and with them the law also will be abolished because
saints who have become immortal and incorruptible are in no need of the law. Our
blessed Fathers did, therefore, well to give us first the profession of faith
through which we receive our teaching according to the doctrine of our Lord, and
understand that which we have to learn concerning the Father, the Son and the
Holy Spirit, to the effect that the same Father, Son and Holy Spirit are one
Divine nature, which is eternal and cause of everything, and that this nature is
rightly and alone called Lord and God, whom we ought to confess, in whom we
ought to believe and to whom worship is due from all created beings. After this,
they taught us the profession of faith (which is to be made) at baptism in order
to show that all this is in |116 accordance with the sequence of the teaching of
our Lord who said: "Go ye, teach and baptise in the name of the Father, and of
the Son and of the Holy Spirit." 367 Thus they 368 are taught and thus they
perform the (sacrament of) baptism in the name of the Father, and of the Son and
of the Holy Spirit.

Those who are about to be baptised in the hope of ineffable benefits ought not
to name another nature beside the one from which all benefits are bestowed on
all created beings. This is the reason why they added to this the profession of
faith concerning the future benefits in the hope of which we draw nigh unto the
grace of baptism, as by necessity we have to know what kind of benefits are
granted to this discipleship, and also that the Father, the Son and the Holy
Spirit are one Divine nature, and also that at the second birth from the holy
baptism we receive the faith in the heavenly and imperishable benefits that the
Divine nature, which is eternal and cause of everything, is able to bestow upon
us.

We have in many past days spoken to your love in a comprehensive way that
embraces the explanation of all the creed. It behoves you now to remember
carefully the words that have been spoken to you in order that by keeping
without modification the creed of the religion of the fear of God you may truly
receive the happiness of the future benefits, of which may God make us worthy by
the grace of His Only Begotten, our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom and His Father,
in conjunction with the Holy Spirit, be glory and honour, now, always and for
ever and ever. Amen. Amen.

Here ends the transcription of the ten chapters 369 on the exposition of the
creed, written by the righteous and lover of Christ, Mar Theodore, bishop and
interpreter of the Divine Books.

1. 1 Of the Council of Nicea.

2. 2 1 Cor. ii. 9.

3. 3 Cf . Eph. i. 8-9; Col. i. 26; iv. 3-4, etc.

4. 1 1 Cor. ii. 11-13.

5. 2 Ps. xcviii. 1. (Peshitta has "a marvellous thing.") 6. 3 2 Cor. v. 1 7.

7. 4 Lit. from.

8. 5 Col. iii. 10-11.

9. 1 Phil. iii. 20.

10. 2 2 Cor. v. 1.

11. 3 Ibid. Cf Heb. ix. 11, 24.

12. 4 Or written.

13. 5 Cf. Gen. iii. 18 etc.

14. 6 Cf. Is. xxxv. 10.

15. 7 John iii. 5.

16. 1 Cf. Rom. viii. 1 7; Gal. iii. 29; iv. 7; Tit. iii. 7.

17. 2 Lit. our first.

18. 3 Or: religion, confession.

19. 1 Or: godliness. Does it possibly render the Greek Θεοσέβεια?

20. 2 Rom. x. 10.

21. 3 Heb. xi. 1.

22. 4 1 Tim. vi. 16.

23. 5 Heb. xi. 6.

24. 1 Heb. xi. 3.

25. 2 The word that I translate by "religion" literally means "fear of God," and
it is possibly the Greek word used by Paul (θεοσέβεια) which the English Bible
renders by "godliness."

26. 3 1 Tim. iii. 15.

27. 4 Lit. " who fully shows His Father in it."

28. 1 Deut. vi. 4; Mark xii. 29, etc.

29. 2 Jer. x. 11.

30. 3 Cf also Deut. xxxii. 39.

31. 4 Is. xliv. 6, etc.

32. 5 Lit. high above creation.

33. 1 Ps. lxxxi. 9.

34. 2 Ibid.

35. 3 Deut. xxxii. 1 7.

36. 1 Matt, xxviii. 19.

37. 2 Deut. vi 4.

38. 1 Gen. iv. 1.

39. 1 i.e.. He is Father par excellence.

40. 2 Exod. iii. 14-15.

41. 3 See on all this, p. 98.

42. 1 Ps. cxlviii. 1 -3.

43. 1 Ps. cxlviii. 5-6.

44. 2 Is. i. 2.

45. 3 Exod. iv. 22.

46. 4 The words baitayutha and kaributha used in these sentences may also be
understood in the sense of the Pauline "adoption of Children" and of the
doctrine of the membership of the Household of God spoken of in Eph. ii. 19. See
the following chapter.

47. 1 Gen. i. 24.

48. 2 Or: "servants created," if we read `abde for `ebade of the MS.

49. 3 Or "human seed," or "movement" or "lapse of time." (Syr. marditha.) 50. 1
Here again is the Syriac word marditha.

51. 2 Lit. let us call Him.

52. 3 Ps. civ. 24.

53. 1 1 Cor. viii. 6.

54. 2 Lit. fear of God.

55. 3 1 Cor. viii. 6.

56. 4 Ibid.

57. 1 Deut. vi. 4.

58. 2 Matt. i. 21; Luke i. 31.

59. 3 Acts x. 38.

60. 4 Philip. ii. 7.

61. 1 1 Tim. iii. 16.

62. 2 John i. 14.

63. 3 1 Cor. viii. 6.

64. 4 John i. 3.

65. 5 Acts x. 38; 1 Tim. iii. 16; Heb. ii. 9-10.

66. 6 In the text: Parsopa = πρόσωπον.

67. 7 Rom. ix. 5.

68. 1 John i. 14.

69. 2 Ibid, 18.

70. 3 Ps. lxxi. 9, 12.

71. 1 Rom. viii. 29.

72. 2 Ibid., 23; Galat. iv. 5; Eph. i. 5.

73. 3 Col. i. 15.

74. 4 2 Cor. v. 17.

75. 5 Phil. ii. 7.

76. 1 Ps. lxxxii. 6.

77. 2Is. i. 2.

78. 3 Eph. ii. 19.

79. 4 Or "a servant," if we read `abda, instead of `ebadha.

80. 1 John i. 1.

81. 2 Ibid.

82. 1 Lit. person (Kenoma).

83. 1 The word "creature" may be translated in all this section by "work," "a
created being," a sense which in reality fits some sentences better.

84. 1 John i. 1.

85. 2 Lit. high.

86. 3 Ps. lxxxii. 6.

87. 1 Lit. "one is consubstantial with the other," or "this is consubstantial
with that."

88. 2 John i. 1.

89. 3 John x. 30.

90. 4 Ibid, 27-28.

91. 5Ibid, 29.

92. 1 John xiv. 9.

93. 2 Ibid., 11.

94. 3 Matt. xi. 2 7.

95. 4 Acts xvii. 28.

96. 5 Tit. i. 12.

97. 1 John i. 1.

98. 2 Ibid, 3.

99. 3 Heb. i. 2.

100. 1 Cf. Rom. viii. 3; Phil. ii. 7, etc.

101. 1 Phil. ii. 7.

102. 2 Cf. Matt, xviii. 11.

103. 3 John i. 10-11.

104. 4 Ps. xviii. 9.

105. 1 Cf Phil. ii. 7.

106. 2 Lit. "from there."

107. 3 Ps. viii. 4.

108. 4 Cf Ps. xvi. 10; Acts ii. 27; xiii. 35.

109. 5 John ii. 19.

110. 6 Lit. "until with help he loosed."

111. 7 Acts ii. 24.

112. 8 This passage is quoted in the Acts of the Fifth Council (Mansi, ix., p.
218). It is stated in this Council that it is culled from Theodore's book ad
baptizandos. See the "Prefatory Note."

113. 1 Ephes. i. 21.

114. 2 John x. 33.

115. 3 Phil. ii. 7-8.

116. 4 Rom. viii. 3.

117. 5 1 Tim. iii. 16.

118. 1 I.e. to the soul.

119. 2 Lit. "a man like a man."

120. 1 Rom. v. 12, 15 and 1 7.

121. 2 1 Cor. xv. 22.

122. 3 Cf. 1 Cor. xv. 56.

123. 1 1 Tim. iii. 6.

124. 2 Rom. i. 28-31.

125. 1 Rom. viii. 1-2 where "me" for "thee."

126. 2 Cf. 2 Cor. i. 9.

127. 3 I.e., personality, existence. I prefer here also to use the word "person"
(in Syr. Kenoma) which is probably a translation of the Greek u9po/stasij in
order to preserve the nature and the character of the theological terms used in
the fourth century.

128. 4 I.e., as long as the animal qua animal is alive.

129. 5 The ancients believed the soul of the animal to reside in the blood. See
Barsalibi's treatise against the Armenians, vol. iv., p. 33 of my Woodbrooke
Studies, and `Ali Tabari's Book of Religion and Empire, p. 82 of my edition. Cf.
Aristotle, De anima, i. 2, and Levit. xvii. 18.

130. 1 Lit. Receiving anything.

131. 2 Matt. x. 28.

132. 3 Lit. person of the soul.

133. 4 Possibly: because he resembles.

134. 5 John xiv. 30 135. 1 Rom. v. 21.

136. 2 Note the use of the word ethhayyal.

137. 3 Cf. Rom. vi. 17, etc.

138. 4 Lit. received.

139. 5 John xii. 31 -32.

140. 6 Lit. "that He had a kind of judgment with the Rebel."

141. 1 1 Tim. iii. 16.

142. 2 Heb. ix. 14.

143. 3 This passage is also quoted in the Acts of the Fifth Council (Mansi, ix.
218). It is again stated in this Council that it is culled from Theodore's work
ad baptizandos. See the "Prefatory Note."

144. 4 Rom. viii. 23.

145. 5 2 Cor. i. 21-22.

146. 6 1 Cor. xv. 53-56.

147. 7 Ibid, 57.

148. 1 This passage is also quoted in the Acts of the Fifth Council (Mansi, ix.
218). It is again stated in this Council that it is excerpted from Theodore's
work ad baptizandos. See the "Prefatory Note."

149. 2 Phil. iii. 21.

150. 3 Gal. iv. 4, etc.

151. 1 1 Cor. i. 18.

152. 2 Lit. in all versions: "that perish."

153. 3 Lit. "alive," as in the Peshitta.

154. 4 2 Cor. xiii. 4.

155. 1 I.e. natures.

156. 2 Rom. ix. 5.

157. 1 This sentence is quoted in the Acts of the Fifth Council. See "Prefatory
Note."

158. 2 Phil. ii. 6-7.

159. 3 Lit. was found to be a man.

160. 1 Phil. ii. 8-11.

161. 2 Col. iii. 1, etc.

162. 1 Luke ii. 7.

163. 2 Text: All these together with.

164. 3 Luke ii. 51-52.

165. 4 Lit. of men.

166. 5 Gal. iv. 4.

167. 6 Gal. iv. 4-5.

168. 1 Gal. v. 1.

169. 2 2 Tim. ii. 8, etc.

170. 3 Heb. ii. 5-6.

171. 4 Ibid., 16.

172. 1I.e. Christ; cf. 1 Cor. xv. 23 173. 2 Col. i. 18.

174. 3 Lit. was perfected.

175. 4 Lit. head.

176. 5 In His baptism.

177. 1 Lit. with those.

178. 2 Lit. that world.

179. 3 Rom. vi. 17.

180. 4 Ibid., 3-4.

181. 1 Rom. vii. 4, where no "Jesus."

182. 2 Acts. ii. 24.

183. 3 Col. iii. 1, etc.

184. 4 Heb. vii. 22.

185. 5 2 Tim. i. 9, etc.

186. 6 Tit. iii. 6.

187. 7 2 Cor. v. 5; Eph. i. 14.

188. 8 Acts ii. 33.

189. 1 1 Cor. xv. 44.

190. 2 Lit. faith like this.

191. 3 Lit. here.

192. 4 Eph. i. 13.

193. 1 2 Cor. viii. 9.

194. 2 I translate "He was" literally.

195. 1 1 Cor. xv. 3-4.

196. 2 Ibid., 4.

197. 1 1 Cor. xv. 14, 16-17.

198. 1 1 Cor. xv. 17.

199. 2 Luke xxiv. 51.

200. 3 Acts i. 9-10.

201. 1 1 Cor. xv. 23.

202. 2 1 Thess. iv. 16-17.

203. 3 Phil. iii. 20-21.

204. 4 2 Cor. v. 1.

205. 5 Ibid., 6-8, where "with the Lord" for" with Christ."

206. 6 Lit. those future things.

207. 1 Gal. iv. 26.

208. 2 1 Cor. xv. 23.

209. 3 Eph. ii. 1.

210. 4 Ibid., 5.

211. 5 Ibid, 7.

212. 6 Phil. iii. 21.

213. 1 1 Cor. xv. 51-52.

214. 2 1 Thess. iv. 15-17.

215. 1 John ii. 21.

216. 2 John x. 18.

217. 1 Acts. i. 1 1.

218. 2 Lit. did.

219. 3 Tit. ii. 13.

220. 1 2 Tim. iv. 1.

221. 2 Phil. ii. 6-7.

222. 1 Matt. xxii. 42.

223. 2 Matt. i. 1 (not literal quotation).

224. 3 Matt. xxii. 43-45.

225. 4 John viii. 19.

226. 5 John xiv. 9.

227. 1 John xvi. 25.

228. 2 Ibid., 24.

229. 3 Ibid., 12-13.

230. 4 John ii. 19.

231. 5 Ibid, 21.

232. 1 Cf. Ps. xvi. 10.

233. 2 Or: do to it.

234. 1 Heb. ii. 10.

235. 2 Phil. ii. 7.

236. 3 Heb. ii. 5-8.

237. 4 Ibid., 16.

238. 5 Ibid, 9.

239. 6 Ibid. The Pauline sentence ὅπως χάριτι Θεοῦ ὑπερ παντὸς γεύσηται θανάτου
is rendered in the English Bible as follows: "That He by the grace of God should
taste death for every man." In this translation Jesus tastes death by the grace
of God. In the West Syrian or Monophysite Versions of the Bible we generally
read: "Because He, God, by His grace tasted death for every man." ([Syriac]) In
this translation it is God who tastes death. Against such an idea the East
Syrian or Diophysite versions of the Bible read as above: "Apart from God He
(Jesus) tasted death." In this rendering death is removed from God. The sentence
played a great part in the Christological controveries of the fourth, fifth and
sixth centuries. The Vulgate reads: "Ut gratia Dei pro omnibus gustaret mortem."
For a full discussion of this passage and the different readings of the ancient
Greek MSS. concerning it see Moffatt in International Critical Commentary
(Hebrews), pp. 25-28.

240. 1 This passage is quoted in the Acts of the Fifth Council (Mansi, ix., 21
7). See the "Prefatory Note."

241. 2 Lit. "the head" designating Christ.

242. 3 I.e. the man Jesus.

243. 4 I.e. God's glory.

244. 5 I.e. God.

245. 6 I.e. Christ.

246. 7 or: did.

247. 8 I.e. human nature of Christ.

248. 1 Rom. ix. 5.

249. 2 John vi. 62.

250. 3 Ibid. 51.

251. 4 I.e. Christ.

252. 5 Between the two natures, the human and the Divine.

253. 6 John iii. 13.

254. 1 I.e. one person, individual.

255. 2 I.e. man—Jesus.

256. 1 This sentence is quoted by Facundus and Marius Mercator. See the
"Prefatory Note."

257. 2 John x. 30.

258. 3 Matt. xix. 6.

259. 4 Dan. vii. 4 sqq.

260. 5 John viii. 1 7.

261. 6 Matt. vi. 24.

262. 7 I.e. in the case of Christ.

263. 8 Text: [Syriac] = πρόσωπον.

264. 9 Lit. this.

265. 1 Lit. this, or that.

266. 2 Rom. i. 3.

267. 3 This sentence is quoted in the Acts of the Fifth Council (Mansi, ix., 21
7) as from Theodore's work ad baptizandos. See the "Prefatory note."

268. 4 Lit. nakedly.

269. 5 All this long passage is quoted by Marius Mercator in his book. See the
"Prefatory Note."

270. 6 Matt, xxviii. 19.

271. 7 There is no mention of the Spirit proceeding also from the Son.

272. 1 John xiv. 10.

273. 2 Matt. iii. 16 where "lighting upon Him."

274. 3 John xvii. 21.

275. 4 1 Cor. ii. 11.

276. 5 John xiv. 21.

277. 6 John xiv. 23.

278. 7 Lit. Divine nature.

279. 1 Theodore is referring here either to the "tome of Damasus" against the
Macedonians, which in 378 received at Antioch the subscriptions of 146 Bishops
(see Hefele's History of the Councils, ii., 291 and 360-363) or to the Council
of Constantinople in 381, or even possibly to the Synod held at Alexandria in
363 under the guidance of Athanasius, in which the Deity of the Spirit was
affirmed. See Migne, Pat. Gr., xxvi., 820. On an earlier Synod held at
Alexandria on the same subject in 362, see Socrates, H.E., iii., 7 and Rufinus,
H.E., i., 28.

280. 1 Lit. to be fearer of God.

281. 2 Matt. xxviii. 19.

282. 1 Acts iii. 6.

283. 2 or: He (Christ).

284. 3 Isa. xxvii. 13 (Septuagint).

285. 4 Ps. xliv. 5.

286. 5 Ps. lxxxix. 24 (where his horn).

287. 6 Ps. cxvi. 17.

288. 1 Lit. oneness.

289. 2 Ps. civ. 4.

290. 3 Ps. cxlvi. 4 (Septuagint and Peshitta).

291. 4 Ps. cxlvii. 18 (Septuagint and Peshitta).

292. 5 Lit. Divine nature.

293. 1 John iv. 24.

294. 2 Lit. "of name," i.e. the name of the true God.

295. 3 I.e. who exist.

296. 4 Ex. iii. 14-15.

297. 5 In all this passage I have (for the sake of convenience) followed in the
translation of the Divine name the English Version which renders the Hebrew
words [Hebrew] by I am that I am and I have preserved throughout the first pron.
sing. which is not always the case in the text.

298. 1 Luke ix. 26, cf. Matt. xxv. 31.

299. 1 Ps. xlvi. 4 (Septuagint and Peshitta).

300. 2 Ps. cxi. 9 (with changes).

301. 3 Isa. vi. 3.

302. 4 Allusion to the Fathers of the Council of Constantinople in 381.

303. 5 Allusion to the Fathers of the Council of Nicea.

304. 1 The text repeats "of their Fathers."

305. 2 In a more literal sense: fear.

306. 3 Theodore refers here to the word "one" added to the creed by the Council
of Constantinople in 381, or possibly to the "tome of Damasus" as accepted by
146 Bishops assembled at Antioch in 378.

307. 1 1 Cor. xii. 13.

308. 2 Eph. iv. 4-6.

309. 3 1 Cor. xii. 4-6.

310. 4 Eph. iv. 3.

311. 5 Lit. "from your mother." I.e. the Spirit. That the Spirit is our mother
is found in John iii. 5. The word ruha, "spirit," is feminine in Syriac and
corresponds linguistically with the neuter pneu=ma.

312. 1 Eph. iv. 4.

313. 2 Ibid. 15.

314. 3 Phil. iii. 21.

315. 4 Rom. viii. 23.

316. 5 Eph., ibid, (where in you all).

317. 6 Spiritual birth through baptism.

318. 1 Lit. "to have their whole look at."

319. 2 In the text talmidhutha. Evidently the author refers sometimes by this
word to the "catechumenate" or the state of the "Catachumens" who were taught
the principles of the Christian faith before their baptism. I have rendered it a
few times by "initiation," "teaching," "discipleship."

320. 1 Lit. whose all look is towards insolence.

321. 2 John xiv. 15-16.

322. 3 Ibid.. 1 7.

323. 1 Ps. cxvi. 11.

324. 2 Ps. lxxxv. 10 (Septuagint and Peshitta).

325. 3 Ps. xxxi. 5.

326. 1 John xiv. 17.

327. 2 Ibid.

328. 3 John. xv. 26.

329. 1 1 Cor. ii. 1 1 (where τοῦ Θεοῦ).

330. 2 John vii. 38.

331. 3 Ibid., 39.

332. 1 Text: kenoma.

333. 2 Text: He.

334. 3 I use in this section the verb "to proceed" in order better to follow the
author's argumentation.

335. 4 Gen. ii. 10.

336. 5 1 Cor. xii. 4.

337. 6 Ibid., 7.

338. 1 It is said that the expression "Giver of life" was added by the Council
of Constantinople in 381.

339. 2 Text only, "those."

340. 3 John iv. 14.

341. 4 John vii. 38.

342. 5 2 Cor. iii. 6.

343. 6 1 Cor. xv. 45.

344. 7 Rom. i. 4 (Peshitta and partly also the Greek text).

345. 8 Rom. viii. 11.

346. 9 John vi. 63.

347. 10 I.e. to give immortal life.

348. 1 Deut. xxxii. 39.

349. 2 See Matt, xxviii. 19. As stated above Theodore seems to refer by the word
talmidhutha to the state of the "Catechumens" who were taught the principles of
the Christian faith before their baptism.

350. 1 The text repeats "names."

351. 2 Eph. iv. 4.

352. 3 Matt, xxviii. 19-20.

353. 4 Matt. xvi. 18.

354. 1 Eph. iii. 10-11.

355. 2 Phil. iii. 21.

356. 3 Col. i. 24.

357. 4 1 Cor. xii. 27.

358. 5 John xvii. 20-21.

359. 6 Rom. vi. 4.

360. 1 Heb. xii. 23 (not literal).

361. 2 Gal. iv. 5; cf. Eph. i. 5.

362. 3 It is to be noted that Theodore does not mention the article of the
Council of Constantinople in 381: "We acknowledge one baptism." This article was
evidently lacking in the Nicene Creed. Below he refers to baptism but only in
connection with the words pronounced by the baptizandus. There is, however, a
reference above to the fact that after the "profession of faith in baptism they
added the profession of faith in one Catholic Church." This sentence may
possibly refer to the addition inserted by the Council of Constantinople.

363. 4 Matt. xxvi. 26, etc. (not literal but in a liturgical sense; cf. 1 Cor.
xi. 24).

364. 1 John i. 29.

365. 2 1 Cor. xv. 16-17.

366. 3 Ibid, 54-56.

367. 1 Matt, xxviii. 19.

368. 2 The catechumens.

369. 3 Maimra more often means "discourse," "homily," and this sense seems to be
more fitting for these catechetical lectures of Theodore. I have used the word
"Chapter" throughout in order to maintain more clearly the book character given
to the work either by the author or by his disciples. This text was transcribed
by Roger Pearse, 2008. This file and all material on this page is in the public
domain - copy freely.

Greek text is rendered using unicode.

Early Church Fathers - Additional Texts


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 4: COMMENTARY ON THE NICENE CREED - TRANSLATOR'S INTRODUCTION
========================================================================

Theodore of Mopsuestia, Commentary on the Nicene Creed (1932) pp.1-18 WOODBROOKE
STUDIES CHRISTIAN DOCUMENTS IN SYRIAC, ARABIC, AND GARSHUNI, EDITED AND
TRANSLATED WITH A CRITICAL APPARATUS by

A. MINGANA

VOLUME V COMMENTARY OF THEODORE OF MOPSUESTIA ON THE NICENE CREED

CAMBRIDGE W. HEFFER & SONS LIMITED

1932 INTRODUCTORY NOTE. The present volume is the fifth in the series of
Woodbrooke Studies, the contents of which are drawn from MSS. in my collection.
Owing to the fact that I have relinquished my duties in the John Rylands
Library, Manchester, it was not found convenient to continue the publication of
the "Studies" in serial parts in the "Bulletin" of that Library. Slight changes
have accordingly been made in the preliminary matter as well as in the headings
of the "Studies," and it is hoped that these will be found more suitable to
works of this kind. This volume contains the hitherto lost commentary of
Theodore of Mopsuestia (c. 350-428) on the Nicene Creed, which is undoubtedly
one of the most important theological works of the golden age of Christianity.
In places I experienced some difficulty in following the author's method of
reasoning, but it may confidently be stated that the translation which I have
adopted in the following pages reveals as accurately as possible the secret of
the author's argumentation, which is nearly always fresh and illuminating.

Short passages were by inadvertence omitted in the first part of the work, which
was published in the January issue of the "Bulletin of the John Rylands
Library". These have been inserted in the present edition together with some
corrections.

It is a pleasing duty to offer here my sincerest thanks to Mr. Edward Cadbury
whose generosity has again made possible the publication of the "Studies" in
their new form.

A. MINGANA.

Selly Oak Colleges Library, Birmingham,

5th July, 1932.

PREFATORY NOTE.

(i) Theodore of Mopsuestia.

IT is a great satisfaction for any scholar to be in a position to publish the
hitherto lost theological works of Theodore of Mopsuestia. In the Mingana
collection of MSS.,1 I have so far discovered two works by this Father, which I
propose to edit and translate according to their chronological order. This is
not the place to write the history of Theodore nor to give a full list of his
works, some of which have, wholly or partially, survived in their Greek original
or in East Syrian translations. He seems to have been the most profound thinker
and independent inquirer of the Fathers of the Church in the golden age of
Christianity: the fourth and the fifth centuries. He is directly or indirectly
responsible for the three general Councils of Ephesus, of Chalcedon and of the
Three Chapters. In the Council of Ephesus Nestorianism was discussed and
condemned, but Nestorianism was in reality an amplification of some points in
Theodore's teaching in connection with the mystery of the Incarnation of the
Word, while the Council of Chalcedon seems to have accomplished little except to
reveal a slight reaction against the Christological conclusions drawn from the
doctrine established at Ephesus under the familiar ecclesiastical sanction of
anathema sit. The fifth Council, commonly called the Council of the Three
Chapters, is even more directly concerned with Theodore than its two immediate
predecessors.

It tells much in favour of the high esteem in which Theodore was held by all his
contemporaries that in condemning doctrinal points which had their origin in his
writings no one dared to mention his name in relation to them, and the first
Synodal fulminations in which his name is found are those of the fifth Council,
held about one hundred and twenty-five years after his death. |2

I will here allude to a few episodes in the life of Theodore, which might
illustrate the respect with which his contemporaries regarded his scientific
attainments. In 394 he was present in Constantinople on the occasion of the
Synod held to decide a question concerning the see of Bostra in the patriarchate
of Antioch.2 His fame had spread to such an extent in the Capital that the
Emperor Theodosius, who was already making preparations for his last journey to
the West, desired to hear him. Theodore preached before Theodosius, who declared
at the end of the sermon that he had never heard such a teacher: "Qui in
desiderio visionis viri factus, in ecclesia ejus doctrinae fuit auditor magnus
ille imperator; nec arbitratus est alterum se talem comperisse doctorem,
superadmiratus quidem ejus doctrinam, et colloquio delectatus atque
obstupefactus." 3 We are also informed by John of Antioch that the Emperor
Theodosius the Younger was often in correspondence with Theodore: "Jam vero et a
vestro imperio, pro sui reverentia, et spiritali sapientia, ei saepius
attestatum est, et vestris litteris honoratus est." 4 The same John of Antioch,
who had become Patriarch of the historic see of the Metropolis of Syria in the
year following Theodore's death in 428, speaks in eloquent terms of his work and
teaching: "Qui bene de vita profectus est beatus Theodorus, et quinque et
quadraginta annis clare in doctrina praefulsit, et omnem haeresim expugnavit
nullam alicubi detractionem ab orthodoxis in vita suscipiens." 5 The same
prelate addresses, in glowing words, the Emperor who had shown interest in
Theodore's memory: "Iste ille est Flaviani magni Antiochensium sanctae Dei
Ecclesiae pontificis amantissimus discipulus, et beati Joannis
Constantinopolitani episcopi condiscipulus, cujus memoriam redivivam fecistis,
maximam hunc gloriam pietatis vestrae imperio facientes." 6 A glimpse of the
early life of Theodore is supplied by the writings of his bosom friend John
Chrysostom who testifies that his days were spent in reading and his nights in
prayer, that his fasts were long and |3 his bed was the bare ground, that he
indulged in every form of asceticism and self-discipline. [Greek omitted] 7 A
letter from Chrysostom to Theodore shows that the former's affection and
admiration for the friend of his childhood remained till the end of his days.
The letter was written while Chrysostom was in exile at Cucusus (a.d. 404-407).
In it the exiled Patriarch testifies that "he can never forget the love of
Theodore, so genuine and warm, so sincere and guileless, a love maintained from
early years," 8 and thanks him for the efforts that he had made to obtain his
release, and ends his correspondence with the memorable sentence: "Exile as I am
I reap no ordinary consolation from having such a treasure, such a mine of
wealth within my heart as the love of so vigilant and noble a soul." As the late
Dr. Swete points out, higher testimony could not have been borne, or by a more
competent judge.9

Death did not put a stop to the fame of Theodore. It is recorded in Tillemont 10
that Meletius, Theodore's successor to the see of Mopsuestia, asserted that he
would have endangered his own life if he had uttered words detrimental to his
predecessor. Even Cyril of Alexandria whose views on the Incarnation were not in
harmony with those of Theodore was obliged to avow that in the Churches of the
East one often heard the cry: "We believe as Theodore believed; long live the
faith of Theodore!" 11 The same Cyril of Alexandria informs us that when a party
of bishops was found ready to condemn him, the answer of the bishops of Syria to
them was: "We had rather be burnt than condemn Theodore." 12 Leontius Byzantinus
informs us also that Cyril of Alexandria advised against the condemnation of
Theodore because all the bishops of the Eastern Church considered |4 him an
eminent Doctor, and if he were condemned there would be serious disturbance in
that Church.13 The famous Church historian, Theodoret, was pleased to call him
"Doctor of the Universal Church." 14 This title is also ascribed to him by a
much later Greek author, Nicephorus Callistus, who calls him "Doctor of all the
Churches." 15

There is no need to emphasise the fact that Theodore's memory and especially his
writings have always been considered as the most esteemed treasures of the East
Syrian Church. They were gradually translated after his death; and their
authority among the innumerable adherents of the Eastern Church, which for a
long time stretched from the eastern Mediterranean shores to Manchuria and from
the Caspian Sea to the Indian Ocean, was only one degree below that of Paul.
With them he was the "interpreter" par excellence. The only discordant note
seems to have been struck towards the end of the sixth century by individual
teachers of no great importance in the councils of the Church, but the Synod
held in a.d. 596 by the Patriarch Sabrisho` rose vehemently against them: "We
reject and anathematize all those who do not adhere to the commentaries, the
traditions and the teaching of the eminent Doctor, the blessed Theodore the
interpreter; and who endeavour to introduce new and foreign doctrines saturated
with errors and blasphemies, which are in contradiction to the true and exact
teaching of this saint and of all the orthodox Doctors, heads of the schools,
who have followed in his steps, corroborated his doctrine and taught the true
faith of the incorruptible orthodoxy in our eastern regions." 16 In the Synod of
Gregory I, held in a.d. 605, all the eastern archbishops and bishops bound
themselves to abide by the teaching of Theodore: "We all assembled in this Synod
have decided that each of us should receive and accept all the commentaries and
works written by the blessed Theodore the interpreter, bishop of Mopsuestia, a
man by the grace of God set over the treasures of the two Testaments: the Old
and the New, and who like a river of abundant floods watered and nurtured the
children of the Church in his lifetime and after his death with the true meaning
of the sacred Books in which he was instructed by the Holy Spirit. ... No one,
who in these days wishes to perform the office of teaching in the Church, is
allowed to deviate |5 from the works of this eminent and divine man. . . . All
our venerable Fathers who have handed down this true faith to us, in their
teaching, from his day to our own, have studied his writings and adhered to his
statements." 17

I will also refer to two of the earliest East Syrian historians: "He (Theodore)
did not astonish the world in his lifetime only, but also astonished every one
with his books after his death. Who is able to narrate the good works of this
sea of wisdom, or who is in a position to describe the prodigies which the
Spirit 18 worked in him! When other bishops came near him, they considered
themselves as mere pupils; and philosophers, subtle in reasoning, were before
him as students. Every knotty and difficult problem stopped with him and never
went beyond him, and he explained it before inquirers and made it as clear as
the light of the sun." 19

"At that time shone in all branches of knowledge the truly divine man St.
Theodore the interpreter, who was the first to explain philosophically and
rationally the economy of the divine mysteries of the birth and the passion of
our Lord." 20 In the West the only writer who before the fifth Council dared to
speak openly against Theodore was Marius Mercator, who died about 450. As early
as the year 431 he accused him of being the real author of Pelagianism:
"Quaestio contra Catholicam fidem apud nonnullos Syrorum et praecipue in Cilicia
a Theodoro quondam episcopo oppidi Mopsuesteni jamdudum mota. . . ." 21 This
hostile note is also clearly found in his Latin translations of some of
Theodore's treatises, in which he denounced him as the master of Nestorius and
Nestorianism: ". . . Pravum ejus de dispensatione Dominica, et a fide Catholica
alienum, ac satis extorrem sensum, quo Nestorium Constantinopolitanae urbis
quondam episcopum secum male decepit. . . ." 22 An anti-Theodorian party,
however, was steadily gaining ground in Egypt where Cyril of Alexandria held
sway. Towards the middle of the sixth century the Alexandrian Doctors, followers
of Cyril, counted many adherents in the Metropolis, who were powerful enough |6
to influence the Emperor Justinian and induce him to summon a Council and
condemn Theodore.

Given free rein the outbursts of the Cyrillian Bishops of the Council knew no
bounds. Expressions such as "impious," "blasphemous," "heretical" were
continuously hurled against a man dead one hundred and twenty-five years
previously. The following phrases reveal the spirit which permeated the Fathers
of the fifth Council:

Isti sunt thesauri impietatis Theodori. Sceleratum symbolum impii Theodori. . .
.23 Et postquam lectae sunt blasphemiae Theodori Mopsuesteni et impium ejus
symbolum. . . .24 Et post acclamationes sancta synodus dixit: Multitudo lectarum
blasphemiarum, quas contra magnum Deum et Salvatorem nostrum Jesum Christum, imo
magis contra suam animam Theodorus Mopsuestenus evomuit,justam ejus facit
condemnationem.25 The condemnation of a dead man gave satisfaction to his
adversaries in the Cyrillian camp, but rent asunder the Catholic Church of the
time and caused a deep wound in the spiritual body of the faithful. The evil
effects of that wound are to some extent felt even in our days, in which the
theological admirers of Theodore are, more than one thousand and five hundred
years after his death, still counted in thousands. The condemnation of the works
of the great Antiochian theologian decreased their influence on Western thought,
and the MSS. containing them were either burnt or underwent a gradual process of
slow disappearance from the shelves of ecclesiastical libraries. Fortunately,
however, his works were translated shortly after his death by his admirers in
the East, and the Catalogue of `Abdisho` 26 registers almost all of them. When
`Abdisho` wrote his Catalogue in about a.d. 1298 all the works of Theodore were
found in the churches and monasteries of his day, and probably also in his own
library at Nisibin. The numerous persecutions inflicted since that date on the
eastern Christians by Mongols, Turks and Kurds have, however, resulted in their
complete disappearance even in East Syrian lands, and the only complete
treatises known to have survived are: (a) his commentary on the Gospel of John
which was edited in 1897, |7 according to a MS. of our Lady near Alkosh, by J.
B. Chabot who, however, did not venture to give any translation of it; (b) his
short controversial treatise against the Macedonians which was edited and
translated in 1913 by F. Nau,27 from a recently acquired MS. of the British
Museum.

(ii) The Present Work. The work of which I give an edition and translation in
the following pages is in form of catechetical lectures, and is the one called
"The Book on Faith" by `Abdisho` in his Catalogue,28 while the Chronicle of
Seert 29 calls it more accurately "The interpretation of the faith of the three
hundred and eighteen," i.e., of the Council of Nicea. In a letter of the Pope
Pelagius the work is referred to as "De interpretatione symboli trecentorum
decem et octo Patrum," 30 and the Acts of the fifth Council mention it also once
under the same title: "De interpretatione symboli trecentorum decem et octo
sanctorum Patrum." 31 Nicephorus Theotokes 32 has doubtless this work in mind
when he writes: ἑπμηνεία εἰς τὸ Νικαίᾳ σύμβολον, "An explanation of the Nicene
Profession of faith." From the extracts that I give below it will be seen that
the work is more frequently referred to under the title "Liber ad baptizandos."
The Acts of the fifth Council quote it once under the title " Interpretatio
symboli trecentorum decem et octo sanctorum Patrum" 33 and eight times under the
title of "Liber ad baptizandos." Facundus also quotes it under the slightly
modified title of "Liber ad baptizatos." 34 This "Liber ad baptizandos" is
divided into two distinct parts which embrace all the Christian doctrine which
the Catechumens had to learn before their baptism. The first part deals with the
explanation of the Nicene Creed, as above, and the second part, which
constitutes a book by itself, contains a commentary on the Lord's Prayer, on the
sacrament of baptism in general, and the Greek liturgy used in his day. |8

I will give now the quotations from the present work found in the Acts of the
fifth Council, in the synodical letter of the Pope Pelagius, in the works of
Facundus and in those of Marius Mercator.

[Material in Latin and Syriac omitted, pp.8-14] |15 From the above quotations we
may infer that the official Latin translator of the Acts of the fifth Council
was not always a good translator. Extenuating circumstances may be pleaded in
his favour from the fact that he was dealing with stray quotations and isolated
extracts culled from their context without any regard to the sequence of events,
but when every allowance is made under this head there still remain some
imperfections in his work. Let us take as examples two sentences from the first
and the fourth quotations as given above. In the first quotation Theodore says:
"Nobody believes that he who is from the Jews according to the flesh is God by
nature, nor that God who is above all 35 is from the Jews by nature." This
simple and clear sentence has received the complicated and inaccurate rendering:
Nemo igitur neque eum qui secundum carnem ex Judaeis est, dicat Deum qui est
super omnia, secundum carnem ex Judaeis. The sentence is somewhat better
translated in the Synodical letter of the Pope Pelagius as follows: Nemo igitur,
neque eum qui secundum carnem ex Judaeis est, dicat Deum: nec iterum Deum qui
est super omniar secundum camem ex Judaeis. In the second quotation the
translator of the Council does not seem to have understood the meaning of some
words in Theodore's sentence. Theodore says: "But He (God) remained with him
(Christ) until He by (His) help assisted him to loose the pains of death.36 And
He delivered his soul from bonds which were indissoluble; and raised him from
the dead and transferred him to immortal life, and made him immortal and
incorruptible, and caused him to go up to heaven where he is now sitting at the
right hand of God." The Latin translation of this sentence is given as follows:
Permanens autem, donec secundum suam creaturam et virtutem solvens mortis
dolores, liberavit eum ineffabilibus illis vinculis etc. The Latin translator
seems here to have misread a possible Greek word ἄρρηκτος unbroken as ἄρρητος
unspeakable, ineffable. So far as Marius Mercator is concerned, we may point out
that he seems to have deliberately omitted to translate two sentences of
Theodore. The first sentence is: "And the separation of natures does not
preclude their being one" [Syriac omitted] |16 The second sentence reads: "It is
known that here he (Paul) calls "Son" the one made of the seed of David in the
flesh." 37

Mercator deliberately omits also to translate the adjective "close" when
Theodore uses it to express the " close union " between God the Word and man.
The Syriac expression used in this connection is [omitted] 38

We may incidentally remark that the technical terms used in the mystery of the
Incarnation were so imperfectly fixed even in the time of Marius Mercator that
he translates the word nature, the Syriac [Syriac] which doubtless renders the
Greek φύσις, by the Latin substantia. This last word generally renders the Greek
ὑπόστασις and the Syriac [Syriac] and hardly ever stands for the word "nature."

It should here be stated that some quotations from the present work of Theodore
may be seen in East-Syrian literature, especially in a MS. recently added to my
collection through the good offices of Mr. W. G. Greenslade.

(iii) Theodore's Doctrine.

We do not intend to give here a synopsis of the Christological doctrine of
Theodore, which gave rise to such bitter controversies among Christian
theologians who came after him, and which divided the followers of Christ into
so many distinct and hostile groups. We assume that the readers of the present
work are well acquainted with the Trinitarian and Christological dogmas with
which it deals, and we leave to them the task of understanding and assimilating
Theodore in his own words. It will be sufficient to state that in arguing
against some early Christian thinkers who had unduly emphasised the divine side
of Christ to the detriment of His humanity, he laid great stress on the fact
that the man Jesus was a true man, endowed with all human faculties including a
true human soul, and that the second person of the Trinity, or God the Word, Son
of God the Father, |17 was to be distinguished from the human son of Mary, born
of the seed of David, although through the very close and intimate union
existing between them, they were not two Sons but one Son. The man Jesus was, so
to speak, only figuratively and honorifically the Son of God, while the true and
natural Son of God was and is the Word-God who assumed the form of the man
Jesus. The close union between them was, as it were, not physical but moral and
spiritual, manifesting itself in one visible individual, or rather personage,
who formed the one πρόσωπον or outward appearance of Christ. Nowhere, however,
do we find in Theodore the idea of two persons (ὑποστασις) in Christ. Such an
idea had its full development in the time that followed the Council of Ephesus.
Theodore never goes beyond the idea of two natures and one πρόσωπον.39 He writes
in the third chapter: "From the fact also that they (the Fathers of the Council
of Nicea) referred both words to the one person (= prosopon) of the Son they
showed us the close union between the two natures": [Syriac] As the present work
is a commentary on the Nicene creed and consequently covers the whole field of
Christian religion, the readers will find in it many other interesting points
besides Trinity and Incarnation. These last two points, however, are treated
with much more detail than the others. As a commentator Theodore has been
criticised by no less an authority than Harnack 40 as too prosaic and
monotonous. This stylistic defect is noticeable in the present work which is in
some places marred by many verbal antitheses and repetitions arising from his
desire to stress his point for his readers or rather hearers.

(iv) The Manuscript. The MS. containing the present work of Theodore is found in
my collection of MSS. and is therein numbered Mingana Syr. 561.41 As the MS. is
not throughout in a good state of preservation and is in |18 many places wormed
and damaged by damp, it was not found desirable to reproduce it in facsimile.
For this reason I have had to copy all its text and edit it in the ordinary
Syriac type instead of following the usual practice in my Woodbrooke Studies of
giving facsimiles in case of unique texts.

1. 1 The Mingana Collection has now found a definite home in the newly erected
Selly Oak Colleges' Library, Birmingham. The Library owes its existence to the
generosity of Mr. and Mrs. Edward Cadbury.

2. 1 Mansi, Sacr. Conc. nova et amp. collectio, iii. 851.

3. 2 John of Antioch as quoted by Facundus in Migne's Pat. Lat., lxvii. 563.

4. 3 Ibid.

5. 4Facundus, Pat Lat., lxvii. 562. Facundus died shortly after 571.

6. 5 Ibid

7. 1 Ad Theodorum lapsum in Montfaucon's edition (Venice, 1734), p. 36 sq., and
in Migne's Pat. Gr., xlvii. 310 sq. The late Dr. H. B. Swete in referring to
this passage in Dict. of Christian Biography, p. 935, quotes also the sentence:
"he was full withal of light-hearted joy as having found the service of Christ
to be perfect freedom." I do not believe that in the context this sentence is
meant to apply to Theodore. Chrysostom is here making a general statement that
has no direct bearing on any particular person.

8. 2 Pat. Gr., lii. 668-669.

9. 3 Dictionary of Christ. Biography, iv. 936. I am indebted for the above
references to this article which is permeated with sound scholarship.

10. 4 Memoires, xii. 442.

11. 5 Pat. Gr., lxxvii. 340.

12. 6 Ibid., 343-346.

13. 1 Pat. Gr., lxxxvi. 1237.

14. 2 Eccl. Hist., v. 39.

15. 3 Pat. Gr., cxlvi. 1156.

16. 4 Synodicon Orientale, p. 459.

17. 1 Synodicon Orientate, p. 210 (of the text).

18. 2 Lit. "the hidden sign."

19. 3 Barhadhbeshabba `Arabaya edited by Nau in Pat. Orient., ix. 503-504.

20. 4 Meshihazekha in my Sources Syriaques, i. 141.

21. 5 Pat. Lat., xlviii. 110.

22. 6 Ibid., 1042-1043.

23. 1 Mansi, Sacrorum Conciliorum nova et amp I. collectio, ix. p. 227.

24. 2 Mansi, ibid., p. 229.

25. 3 Mansi, ibid., pp. 229-230.

26. 4 Assemani, Bib. Orient., iii. 30-35.

27. 1 Pat. Orient., ix. 637-667.

28. 2 Bibl. Orient., iii. 33.

29. 3 In Pat. Orient., v. 290.

30. 4 Mansi, Sac. Conc. Nov. et amp. collectio, ix. 443.

31. 5 Mansi, ibid., ix. 216.

32. 6 Seira, i. p. 18 (Leipzig, 1772). Which is the source of Theotokes, who
died in a.d. 1800, for this statement?

33. 7 Mansi, ix. 216.

34. 8 Migne's Pat. Lat. lxvii. 747.

35. 1 Cf. Ephes. iv. 6.

36. 2 Cf. Acts ii. 24. Lit. "he loosed."

37. 1 Rom. i. 3.

38. 2 Theodore uses also in this connection the expression [Syriac] perfect
union (chap. vi.).

39. 1 The doctrine that "natura humana Christi immediate terminatur per
hypostasim Verbi" is later than Theodore's time.

40. 2 E.B., 11th edition, xxvi. 767.

41. 3 For a description of the MS. see pp. 1041 -1044 of the Catalogue of the
Syriac and Garshuni MSS. of my collection. This text was transcribed by Roger
Pearse, 2008. This file and all material on this page is in the public domain -
copy freely.

Greek text is rendered using unicode.

Early Church Fathers - Additional Texts


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 5: PROLOGUE TO THE COMMENTARY ON ACTS - ENGLISH TRANSLATION
========================================================================

Theodore of Mopsuestia, Prologue to the Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles.
The American Journal of Theology 2 (1898) pp.363-6.

PROLOGUE TO THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES [Translated by Ernst von Dobschütz]

I. Long ago, indeed very long ago, by the grace of God we finished the
commentary upon the gospel of the most blessed Luke, and accordingly without
delay sent to thee the book as thou didst request by letter, O most admirable
Eusebius, of all bishops most dear to me, by that writing discharging my
obligation to the blessed Eusebius who was at that time living, and who not only
bore the same name as thou but had also the same zeal for virtue; and indeed he
was also succeeded by thee in his ecclesiastical dignity. And you both have had
like zeal for the sacred Scriptures, so that you manifested like desire for the
labors of the blessed Luke which he expended in the writing addressed to
Theophilus, dedicating to him both the gospel and the Acts of the Apostles. For
he requested from us the commentary upon the gospel, intending, no doubt, later
to ask also from us one upon the Acts of the Apostles; but thou prizing very
highly the possession of the interpretation of the gospel, didst desire that the
exposition of the Acts of the Apostles, still lacking, be undertaken by me.

II. Now that the blessed Luke composed this writing, it is not difficult for him who does not merely superficially glance over the sacred books to see; but it would be well that the scope of the book be set forth by us also; for the gospels afford us accurate knowledge of the economy (of salvation) and the (ideal of) conduct which are according to Christ; in what manner he was begotten, what were the circumstances which attended his birth, how submitting with great fidelity to the conduct prescribed by the law until he was thirty years of age, he came to his baptism, initiating the new covenant in prototype, the reality of which is the resurrection but the type of which is Christian baptism, as this symbolizes both death and resurrection according to the saying of the blessed Paul which saith, "As many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death; we were buried therefore with him through baptism into death, in order that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we also might walk in newness of life. For if we have become united with him by the likeness of his death we shall be also by that of his resurrection." For it is manifest that in the baptism with which the Lord Christ was baptized our baptism was accomplished; with which therefore he commanded the apostles also to baptize men throughout the world, since indeed he himself having withdrawn from the conduct that is according to the law set forth the gospel way of life, having chosen disciples whom he thought adapted to his teaching, and having set forth the laws which were especially adapted to such way of life, and thus having by wonders and various words and deeds rendered them fully receptive of the grace of the Holy Spirit, by which grace now especially they received all knowledge with accuracy and were made competent for the instruction of the whole world, as the Lord himself saith in the gospels, " Yet many things I have to say but ye cannot bear (them) now; when he, the Spirit of truth shall come he will lead you into all truth," and in the Acts of the Apostles, "But ye shall receive power when the Holy Spirit is come upon
|364 you, and ye shall be my witnesses both in Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria and unto the ends of the earth." And to all these things as a crowning conclusion he added the resurrection, which is a token of the general resurrection of men, but above all of the new creation in which all creation is to be recreated with men----"If any man is in Christ he is a new creature. The old things have passed away, behold all things have become new." But this (i. e., the resurrection, or perhaps the new creation) we learn perfectly from the gospels when the Lord Christ rising from the dead commanded his own disciples to transmit to all men the faith in him ---- "Make them disciples, baptizing into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit "----and to teach them that they should observe with carefulness all things which he has commanded. But it remained for us to learn in what manner it was possible for the disciples to bring these things to accomplishment, since it was a wholly new thing and altogether incredible that fishermen, born in the country, acquainted only with the language of the Syrians, altogether uneducated, twelve in number, should fill the world with a story so incredible that a man crucified in Judea rose from the dead, giving to all men assurance of the resurrection.

III. (1) On this account the blessed Luke, in addition to the writing of the
gospel, composed this book for us, teaching how the Lord Christ has ascended
into the heavens and how the Holy Spirit has come down upon his apostles, and in
what way by his grace it became possible that the whole world should be filled
with the teaching of Christ, and in what order God has wrought these things with
much wisdom, having formerly brought Jews to piety (i. e., Christianity) in
order that it might be evident that the way of life and the faith which are
according to Christ are not opposed or hostile to the ordinance of the law or
rather to the God who put forth the law; and having after this with mysterious
dispensations sent forth upon the rest of men the instruction in piety in many
and very various ways; and first by the scattering of many of the pious in
consequence of the things that happened in respect to Stephen; as a result of
which then Philip brought piety (Christianity) to the Samaritans and taught it
also to the eunuch from Ethiopia; and certain Cyprians and Cyrenians came as far
as to Antioch teaching the things of Christ not to Jews only but also to Greeks;
and when they that were in Judea learned these things they were astonished at
that which had taken place, and sent Barnabas, who by his own words confirmed
what had previously been taught them, and taking along Paul as a fellow-helper
of the word, by his assistance brought it about by further teaching that at
Antioch the disciples were first called Christians, for the manifestation of the
law then in force, and that they renouncing all others chose to cleave to Christ
only. And in the midst of these things the divine grace of the Holy Spirit
brought Cornelius and those with him from the Gentiles, through the blessed
Peter, to the doctrine of piety (Christianity), by clear and very fearful
manifestations, making it plain to all that this even had been decreed by God
concerning the |365 Gentiles in order that no place for gainsaying might be left
for those who from among the Jewish Christians wished to strive against these
things.

(2)  Many ways, therefore, as I said, God used to this end, not all of which there is now time to enumerate, but we shall learn about them when we come to details: as last and greatest, however, this, that with all force he drew from the law itself its most zealous advocate and the one most hostile to the teaching of Christ----I mean the blessed Paul ----and led him to the knowledge of himself so that he became the most zealous herald of Christ throughout the whole world, and exceeded all in his zeal for him, and with great eagerness chose to do and suffer anything whatever so that he might teach all men that, relinquishing all others, they should regard Christ both as Savior and as the author for them of all things which are good; for the Gentiles had need of such a teacher, who being plainly rescued by grace from an opinion godless and contrary to law, was then ready to transmit piety (Christianity) to the Gentiles that were to be saved by grace.

(3) Therefore the blessed Luke has composed a detailed narrative of many things
very necessary to know and a teaching useful to those who are zealous to devote
themselves to piety; but above all things through his present writing he taught
us this especially, how by the mysterious dispensations and ordinances of the
Holy Spirit it came to be necessary that among all men the Christian conduct and
way of life should prevail apart from all legal observance. Now this doctrine
the blessed Paul represented according to the grace of the Holy Spirit which was
given to him; for since through the apostles Jews were brought to piety
(Christianity) for the demonstration of the relation of Christians to the law,
as I said, and it was necessary for them to continue in the legal way of life
lest abandoning the former teaching they should lead those who were proselytes
from among the Jews away from piety (Christianity), the divine grace was
constrained to appoint the blessed Paul to this work, that wholly apart from
legal observance he should preach piety (Christianity) to the Gentiles; and the
Holy Spirit caused that the apostles also, together with all those (Christians)
who were in Judea should with befitting readiness (or perhaps: obligation = the
contribution for the poor of Jerusalem) agree with him. For precisely this made
him in his task of teaching most worthy of credence, that having been formerly a
persecutor and having spoken against the disciples of Christ, he had turned to
piety (Christianity), who indeed having ventured so much formerly on behalf of
the law against piety (Christianity), would not have chosen now to teach these
things instead of those, viz., to separate Christian discipleship wholly from
the legal conduct, if he had not been compelled by the truth itself and so
abandoned the former things and went over to this doctrine. Therefore also Luke
set forth first his (former) opinion which was against Christianity and in favor
of the law, and after this he relates in order his calling and the things which
were done by him on behalf of piety (Christianity), and how, having gone even to
Rome, he delivered piety (Christianity) to the Gentiles. |366

IV. But having used no small part of the book for the narrative concerning these things and having thus composed the whole writing in order that we might be able to learn from it how the preaching of piety (Christianity) began among the Jews, and how from them it passed over to the Gentiles, they having without the observance of the law received piety (Christianity)----with this purpose, then, he put forth the book before us; which purposing to interpret we shall now try as the grace of God shall grant us, to give the necessary attention not only to clearness but also to brevity. On this account we shall on the one side investigate everything, in order not to mutilate the body of the book which is to be explained, and on the other hand shall not copy out all the sentences adding thereto the detailed interpretation, lest we unduly extend the writing; but recalling in many places also the explanations of the apostolic men which they have made, whether to their opponents or else also to their own people, and in many places also the narratives (we will be satisfied) to give only the meaning of the sentences, so that together with clearness there may also be brevity in the writing.

Now the blessed Luke makes the beginning of the book of the Acts of the Apostles
as follows:... This text was transcribed by Roger Pearse, 2007. All material on
this page is in the public domain - copy freely.

Greek text is rendered using unicode.

Early Church Fathers - Additional Texts


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  CHAPTER 6: PROLOGUE TO THE COMMENTARY ON ACTS - PREFACE TO THE ONLINE EDITION
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Theodore of Mopsuestia, Prologue to the Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles.
Preface to the online edition. The following extracts from the complete article
may be of interest to readers of this collection.

Ernst von Dobschütz, The American Journal of Theology, Vol. 2, No. 2. (Apr., 1898), pp. 353-387. A HITHERTO UNPUBLISHED PROLOGUE TO THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES (PROBABLY BY THEODORE OF MOPSUESTIA). The oldest manuscripts of the Bible contain, as is well known, only the text of the Holy Scriptures. Even the brief titles and subscriptions in the Codex Sinaiticus and the Vaticanus are in part added by a later hand. Soon, however, it began to be customary to add all sorts of explanatory material. The canons and sections of Eusebius, the brief prologues of Jerome, are familiar examples. The largest collection of such material passes under the name of Euthalius... In all probability we shall have to assume several authors for the various parts of the work. On the one side this is in entire agreement with the fact, observable in the history of literature in general, that the lesser names disappear, their work being attributed to a more famous writer. Conspicuous examples are furnished by the names of Cyprian and Augustine in Latin literature, under which even writings of Novatian, Pelagius, and others are hidden. On the other side this appears in the notorious fondness of the scribes of biblical manuscripts in later centuries for bringing together the greatest possible variety of material in order to give higher value to their manuscripts. The admirable descriptions of the New Testament manuscripts which we owe to Professor Caspar Rene Gregory, of Leipzig, are especially exhaustive with reference to this matter, and give an authentic picture of the way in which, in the course of time, materials have been heaped together in the manuscripts of the Bible. We do not now refer to the fact that biblical manuscripts have also been used for copying other and profane literature. We are concerned only with the introductory matter which stands in relation to the New Testament itself. One who would become acquainted with this material----and it is quite worth while to study the history of biblical interpretation which is embodied in it----can obtain a good impression of it from the older editions of the New Testament, especially from those of Mill and Matthaei, not to mention also the commentaries of Theophylact and Oecumenius, and the well-known catenae. It would no doubt be a task worth undertaking, though not practicable for an individual or at private expense, to gather together and to sift critically all such introductory material as exists in the manuscripts and printed books, and thus to produce a corpus introductorium Novi Testamenti. Undoubtedly many treasures still await discovery. The following pages will furnish an example of this hidden material. The public library at Naples possesses a manuscript which contains the latter half of the New Testament. Gregory's description of the manuscript is as follows :

83. (P 93 Ap 99) Neapoli bibl. nationalis II. Aa. 7. saec XII (al. X vel XI),
26.5 X 18.6, membr, foll. 123, coll. 2, ll. 37, στίχων numeri in mg notantur;
prol, capp-t, tabulae multae : Act Cath Paul (Heb Tim) Apoc (mut post Apoc 3 ?);
1 Ioh 5,7 in mg habet. Textum olim cum codice Pamphili Caesareae conlatum esse
profitetur. Evagrius scripsit. Birch, et Scholz. Bib.-kr. Reise p.136 seq. locc
sell cont. Nescio quis in usum Burgonii cont. Vidi 24 Apr 1886. The statement
about the scribe rests upon an oversight easily explicable. As frequently
occurs, the scribe of our manuscript has simply copied the subscription of his
exemplar. The "Evagrius" is undoubtedly the same as the one mentioned in the
subscription of Codex H of the Pauline letters, first pointed out by Ehrhard. To
the same cause is due also the statement concerning a collation of the text with
the Codex Pamphili in the library at Caesarea. We may set aside the question of
the relation of this Evagrius to Euthalius, whether, as Ehrhard thinks, he is
the proper author whose name was later corrupted into Euthalius; or, as I have
suggested, a later writer who audaciously put his name in the subscription in
place of the author's name, a thing which occurs quite often; or, finally, as
Robinson has recently suggested, an independent redactor of "Euthalius." For our
present purpose it is likewise immaterial whether Codex Neap. is copied directly
or indirectly from Codex H, or again is derived from a sister manuscript of
Codex H. In any case the scribe of our manuscript had several exemplars before
him, and from one of these that had no relation to Codex H and Euthalius he took
the Prologue printed in the following pages.

According to the minute description which the royal librarian, Salvator
Cyrillus, gave in his catalogue of the Greek manuscripts of the Bourbon library
(now the national library) in Naples,1 the manuscript contains, on folio i, the
well-known Euthalian Prologue to the Acts of the Apostles (Zacagni, p. 403)
without heading; then folio 3, a second preface to this book, likewise without
superscription, of which Cyrill gives a small part.

Through the courtesy of two friends I am able to give this highly interesting
Prologue in full. Dr. Erich Forster, pastor at Frankfort-on-the-Main, the
well-known editor of the Chronik der christlichen Welt, and afterward Mr. James
Hardy Ropes, instructor in Harvard University, had the great kindness to furnish
me the entire text, partly in transcription and partly in epilation. The
manuscript is in places very much defaced and only with difficulty legible,
which is no doubt the reason why only a part has been printed by Cyrill, and
that in a very faulty way. Single words are even yet not read with perfect
certainty. As I have not seen the codex myself, I cannot undertake the full
responsibility, particularly where the two collations at my disposal do not
agree. It is nevertheless better to print the text even with some mistakes than
to leave scholars much longer in ignorance of it. I am indebted to several
acquaintances, above all to Professor Blass, of Halle, and Dr. Koetschau,
professor at the Gymnasium in Jena, well known by his studies in Origen, for
various suggestions in the restoration of the text by conjecture. This
introduction to the Acts of the Apostles, as can be readily seen, consists of
four main parts :

1. The introduction and dedication.

2. The recapitulation of the gospels.

3. The statement of contents of the Acts of the Apostles.

(a) The mission of the first disciples.

(b) Paul.

(c) The gospel among the Jews and the Gentiles.

4. The principles of the ensuing interpretation. This last part, especially the
closing sentence, shows clearly that we have here not an independent prologue,
but merely the introduction to a commentary, which unfortunately does not seem
to be preserved in the manuscript. The plan of this commentary seems to have
been this: a continuous explanation of a certain portion of the text was given;
the text itself was not always quoted explicitly and in full and then commented
upon, but was often merely incorporated in the form of a paraphrase into the
exposition. This seems to be the meaning of the somewhat difficult closing
paragraph, the only one that (as Professor Blass remarks) is not well and
clearly written. The real explanation of the difficulty, however, may be that we
are not sufficiently acquainted with the terminology of the school and period to
which he belonged. Our author explicitly states that he follows the
hermeneutical method which, in distinction from that of the glossarists and
catenists, laid most emphasis upon the understanding and exposition of the
connection of thought; perspicuity and brevity are the objects that he rightly
sought for. Quite in harmony with the method of ancient exegesis, he also, as it
seems, sharply distinguishes the speeches from the narrative portions; one need
but recall the statement of contents of the gospel of Mark by Papias, "Christ's
sayings and deeds." Our author is by no means a novice in the art of exegesis,
for he informs us that he has already written a commentary on the gospel of Luke
on the same principles, and we can discern from his whole method of handling his
subject the trained master of interpretation, who wrote with rare mastery of his
language. The exegetical skill of our author, shown most brilliantly in the
whole conception of the problem of the Acts of the Apostles, appears likewise in
some measure in the terminology of which we give examples.

All this points to one of the great Greek commentators, and it is difficult to suppose that such a man should be unknown to us. The neglect of the rubricator, who failed to write the superscription with his minium, or, perhaps owing to the neglect of a predecessor, knew not what he should add here, has deprived us of the name of our commentator. It is highly improbable that this was done
intentionally, as, for example, because the name was obnoxious as that of a heretic; for beside the superscription there are lacking also the large initial letters, which surely were dogmatically unobjectionable, and likewise the superscription to the preceding prologue. We are thus compelled to recover the name ---- at least hypothetically----by the help of conjecture. In doing this three points have to be considered:

I. The authors own historical statements in the dedication.

II. The statements preserved to us concerning Greek commentaries on these
writings.

III. The character of the exegesis and of the whole theological conception of
the author, recognizable even in this preface.

I. The commentary on the Acts of the Apostles is dedicated to a bishop Eusebius, whom our author describes as one very dear to him, and devoted to the study of the Sacred Scriptures. It is a more important fact for us that he calls him the successor to another bishop Eusebius, whom ---- as our author says ---- he resembled not only in name, but also in the striving after Christian virtues and the zeal for the Sacred Scriptures. This predecessor induced him to write his commentary on the gospel of Luke, while the successor requested him to continue it in the case of the Acts of the Apostles. Unfortunately the author does not say in what episcopal see we have to look for the two men. We should suppose it an easy matter to find two men named Eusebius who had occupied the same episcopal cathedra in immediate succession, but our knowledge of the history of the Greek church during the fourth, fifth, and sixth centuries is so meager that we cannot on this basis determine anything with any degree of certainty... consequently we gain from this source no conclusive information concerning the author himself.

II.

If now we turn our attention to the question what commentaries on the Acts of
the Apostles we know to have existed in the Greek church, we find that for the
solution of this question also nothing has as yet been done. For little is
gained from the few titles of leading works that are usually quoted in modern
commentaries. The best help is afforded by the catena, but here we must be on
our guard lest we number among commentators of the writing in question all names
mentioned there; e. g., there is no doubt that the three fragments of Theodore
of Heraclea, mentioned in Cramers Catena in Acta Apostolorum (Oxon., 1844, P.
145, 3, 9, 12), refer to his well-known commentary on Isaiah. If now we combine
the quotations in catena and all accounts of commentaries handed down to us, we
gain approximately the following list:

A. D. (ca.) 250. Origen. Only homilies to the Acts are certified; Jerome, De
vir. illustr. 17; cf. Harnack-Preuschen, Geschichte der altchristlichen
Litteratur bis Eusebius, I, 373. (The commentary mentioned there, after
Verderius, is no doubt the result of a blunder.) A. D. (ca.) 300. Pamphilus of
Caesarea.

A. D. (ca.) 350. Didymus "the Blind," ed. by J. Chr. Wolf in Anecdota graeca, T.
IV, Hamburg, 1724, from a catena.

A. D. (ca.) 370. Ephrem Syrus, preserved only in an Armenian catena; Venice,
1839. 8vo.

A. D. (ca.) 380* Diodorus of Tarsus, according to Suidas.

A. D. (ca.) 400. Theodore of Mopsuestia. (See below.) A. D. 400-401. Chrysostom:
55 homilies; opera ed. Montfaucon, IX, 1731.

A. D. (ca.) 400. Severianus of Gabala (+ after 408), perhaps author of homilies;
cf. Gennadius, chap. 21.

(?) A. D. (ca.) 430. Hesychius Presbyter (+ 433); fragment of catena. Migne,
Patrol, graeca, 93.

[A. D. (ca.) 440. Cyrill of Alexandria. The fragments of catenae are probably
not derived from a commentary on the Acts.] [A. D. (ca.) 440. Theodoret of
Cyrus. The same may be said with still greater certainty here.] A. D. (ca.) 440.
Theodotus of Ancyra, a partisan of Cyrill; fragments of catenae.

A. D. (ca.) 450. Ammonius of Alexandria, fragments of catenae.

After A. D. 500. Andreas of Caesarea in Cappadocia; scholia, also to Acts, in
cod. Athous 129. S. Pauli 2 (Ac. 374, Gregory, p. 650); cf. Ehrhard in
Krumbacher, Geschichte der byzantinischen Litteratur (Iwan Muller's Handbuch der
klassischen Altertumswissenschaft, Vol. IX), 2d edition, p. 130. Andreas is also
the name of the compiler of the catena in cod. Coisl. 25 (= Ac. 15, Gregory, p.
618), Saec. X, and Oxon. Nov. coll. 58 (= Ac. 36, Gregory, p. 621), Saec. XII,
which Cramer published in Catena, T. Ill, Oxon., 1844.

A. D. (ca.) 900. Leo Magister: Scholia to Matt., Luke, John, Acts, and Cath.
Epp.; cf. Ehrhard, I. c, 131, No. 4.

(Date unknown) Oecumenius : fragments in the following work:

Tenth century (?). Oecumenius-Catena, edidit Morellus, Par. 1631; Migne, Patrol.
graeca, 118, 119.

A. D. (ca.) 1078. Theophylact, archbishop of Achrida in Bulgaria. Ed. Foscari,
Venice, 1754-63, wholly dependent upon the preceding.

(?) Nicetas of Naupaktos. Manuscripts mentioned by Ehrhard, l. c., 137.

(?) Anonymi hom. 54 breves in cod. Vindob. 45, 4to, fol. 1-101; Lambecius, III,
63. This list, of course, does not pretend to be complete, for it is very
probable that a reference may have escaped me. And, above all, it is very
doubtful whether we have any knowledge of all the commentators on the Acts of
the Apostles; and whether, perhaps, many anonymous scholia are not the work of
still unknown exegetes. In view of this we must speak with a great reservation
in attempting to say who among the persons mentioned above was the author of our
prologue. At the very outset we must exclude the Byzantine authors of
commentaries after 500 A. D., for they represent, in the great majority of
instances, recensions wholly dependent on the earlier exegetical material, of
value only in so far as they have preserved fragments of their predecessors of
the classic period of Greek theology, otherwise lost. Compare the excellent
description which Ehrhard has given of this exegesis in Krumbacher's Geschichte
der byzantinischen Litteratur, 2. Aufl., 1896, pp. 122 ff. But also among the
commentators preceding the fifth century we have to reject a considerable
number. In the case of many, among these Cyrill and Theodoret, it cannot be
shown at all that they ever composed a commentary on the Acts of the Apostles;
others again, e. g. Origen and Chrysostom, have left us only continuous homilies
on this book, the nature of which excludes our prologue as an introduction; and
again, commentators of the Alexandrian school, Didymus, Cyrill, Theodotus of
Ancyra, and others, are decisively excluded by the character of the theological
conceptions which pervade our prologue, which, it may be said here by way of
anticipation, is strictly of the Antiochian school. This and the masterly
character of the commentary lead us to think above all of Diodorus of Tarsus, or
his yet more famous pupil, Theodore of Mopsuestia. To the former Suidas,
Lexicon, sub voce Διόδωρος (ed. Bernhardy, I, 1, 1379), following a catalogue
compiled by Theodore Lector, ascribes, among other works, and especially after a
chronicon, correcting the Eusebian chronology, two volumes : (on the gospels and
on the acts).

Among the fragments of catenae collected in Migne, Patrologia graeca, T. 33,
there is none at all belonging to writings on the New Testament, and although
there are, as far as comparison is possible, several linguistic points of
contact with our prologue, we nowhere find that originality of expression and
conception which characterizes our document. On the other hand, any one of the
more numerously preserved fragments of the exegetical works of Theodore, e. g.,
his prologue to the commentary on the minor prophets,2 shows a surprisingly
close linguistic relationship to our fragment. To this may be added the decisive
weight of an external testimony. The existence of a commentary of Theodore on
the Acts of the Apostles is variously attested; in particular during the fifth
oecumenical (or general) council, the second Constantinopolitanum, there were
read, at the fourth session, held May 12 (or 13), A. D. 553, a number of
extracts from Theodore's writings, and among these, beside passages of the
commentaries on the gospels of Luke and John, also a passage from the first book
of his commentary to the Acts of the Apostles:... [Latin text omitted]

It is to the Syrian fathers, however, that we owe a more accurate knowledge of
the writings of Theodore "the exegete," a title with which they rightly honored
him. Already Ibas, the well-known Edessene, we are told, had his writings
translated into Syriac, for which he was reproached by his adversaries. It is,
therefore, not surprising that as late as the fourteenth century a learned
Nestorian, Ebed-Jesu, the metropolitan of Zoba and Armenia (f 1318), was able to
incorporate a list of thirty-six writings of Theodore into his rhymed catalogue
of 200 Syrian authors, in which it constituted chap. 19. This catalogue has been
published by Assemani in his Bibliotheca orientalis, Tom. III, 1, 3-362,
together with a Latin translation and excellent notes. ... Our prologue shows
that its author dedicated two commentaries to two Eusebii, the one on the gospel
of Luke to the older, that on the Acts of the Apostles to his successor. In
Ebed-Jesu's list we have three commentaries of Theodore dedicated to a Eusebius,
namely, those on the gospel of Luke, the gospel of John, and the epistle to the
Romans. It appears to be almost like a provoking accident that the commentary on
the Acts of the Apostles, standing between the last two, was not dedicated to a
Eusebius, but to a Basilius. Is this really the case? or may we not have here
merely a mistake of Ebed-Jesu or of one of his predecessors?

It appears to me certain that we have here a case of transposition of the Acts
and the gospel of John, occasioned by the author's desire to preserve as far as
possible the traditional order of the canon. The two tomoi contain the gospel of
Luke and the Acts of the Apostles; alongside of these the commentary on the
gospel of John occupied a much more independent place. And thus I suspect that
this was dedicated to a Basilius, while the two were dedicated to an older and a
younger Eusebius. We have to make, therefore, only a very slight correction in
Ebed-Jesu's list of the writings of Theodore, in order to obtain a testimony
that our prologue is the introduction to the commentary of Theodore of
Mopsuestia on the Acts of the Apostles dedicated to Eusebius, better than we
could have dared to wish for.

III.

Theodore's authorship of the prologue is confirmed finally by an analysis of the
theological conceptions expressed in it. The special points of controversy
concerning Christology, so frequently discussed in the fifth century, are, to be
sure, not mentioned in it. This very fact, however, may point to Theodore as the
author of the discussion, inasmuch as this controversy was imposed upon him from
the outside, rather than grew out of his own religious position. ...

If we should go into further details, many more phrases of our prologue could be
traced also in the other writings of Theodore, still extant. Yet there is no
need of doing this. What has thus far been said will, I assume, amply prove my
suggestion, expressed also on a former occasion, that our prologue is a fragment
of a work of Theodore....

Yet even more important than this precise location of a single writing of Theodore's is the observation that, notwithstanding the reproach of heresy, laid upon him by the orthodox church of the Justinian age, even as late as a hundred years after his death, though not without meeting with violent opposition, his writings have not been destroyed so completely as one might suppose and as was formerly believed by many. A careful research and examination of the catena will certainly yield also for this commentator some valuable material. It would be highly interesting to find out from what source the writer
of our codex Neapolitanus in the twelfth (or perhaps even in the tenth or eleventh) century took this prologue. We can hardly suppose any connection of it with "Euthalius," even if Mill's well-known supposition that Euthalius in his prologue to the epistles of Paul alluded to Theodore as his source really rested on a sounder foundation than is actually the case. The only question now is whether the writer of the codex had still before him the entire commentary of Theodore, or----and this is by far more probable----whether he found this fragment in one of his
exemplars as an independent prologue to the Acts of the Apostles. One might feel provoked at the scribe, or his predecessor, for having saved for us only this introduction, instead of copying the entire commentary. Yet rather let us be thankful to him for having preserved at least so much for us; for we can justly say that such an introduction forms one of the most valuable parts of a commentary, the knowledge of which should stimulate us to further research and investigation. Contrary to their own will and intention, later writers, though fully persuaded of Theodore's pernicious and dangerous influence, have nevertheless unwittingly preserved many fragments of his writings which for the history of exegesis are far more valuable than all their other compilations together.

[A couple of the copious footnotes]

1. Codices Graeci MSS. Regiae Bibliothecae Borbonicae descripti atque illustrati
a Salvatore Cyrillo. Neapol, 1726, I, pp. 13-24.

2. Mai, Nova Patrum Bibl., VII, 1854; ed. von Wegnern (1834), pp. 3 ff. My
citations are from this edition. This text was transcribed by Roger Pearse,
2007. All material on this page is in the public domain - copy freely.

Greek text is rendered using unicode.

Early Church Fathers - Additional Texts


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Source: https://sermonindex.net/books/writings-theodore-of-mopsuestia/
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