Exposition of the Faith 1 part 12/15

"The God who pre-existed, before His sojourn in the flesh, was not man, but was God with God, being invisible and impassible;

therefore neither is the name 'Christ' applied apart from the flesh, since suffering and death follow upon the name."

"Therefore God, Your God, has anointed You"—one must know that the divine Scripture often uses the past tense in place of the future, as in "After this He was seen on earth and dwelt among men" (for not yet

had God been seen nor dwelt among men when this was said); and "By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down and wept" (yet these things had not yet come to pass).

To those who ask whether the holy Theotokos gave birth to two natures, and whether two natures hung upon the cross. Of nature are the unoriginate and the originate, written with a single nu, which signify the uncreated and the created;

but the unbegotten and the begotten are not of nature but of hypostasis, namely, the being begotten and the not being begotten, which is expressed by means of two nus.

The divine nature, then, is unoriginate, that is, uncreated; but all things that are after the divine nature are originate, that is, created.

So then, in the divine and uncreated nature there is contemplated the unbegotten in the Father (for He was not begotten), the begotten in the Son (for He has been begotten of the Father eternally), and the proceeding in the Holy Spirit.

Now of each species of animals the first are unbegotten, yet not unoriginate;

for they came to be by the Creator, but were not begotten from like beings.

Coming-into-being is created, but begetting, in the case of God, is the procession of the consubstantial Son from the Father alone; in the case of creatures it is the procession, from the union of male and female, of a hypostasis consubstantial with them.

Whence we know that to be begotten is not of nature but of hypostasis.

For if it were of nature, the begotten and the unbegotten could not be contemplated in the same nature.

The holy Theotokos, then, gave birth to a hypostasis known in two natures, begotten timelessly of the Father in respect of Godhead, but in the last times made flesh of her in time and born in the flesh.

But if those who ask hint that He who was born of the holy Theotokos is two natures, we say:

for He is the same who is both God and man.

Likewise also concerning the crucifixion and the resurrection and the ascension:

these are not of nature but of hypostasis.

So then Christ, who exists in two natures, suffered and was crucified in the passible nature;

for it was in the flesh that He hung upon the cross, and not in the Godhead.

When they speak, let us ask them:

"Did two natures die?" "No," they will say.

Neither, then, were two natures crucified; rather Christ—that is, God the Word who became man—was begotten, and was begotten in the flesh, was crucified in the flesh, suffered in the flesh, died in the flesh, while His Godhead remained impassible.

How the only-begotten Son of God is called firstborn. The firstborn is the one first begotten, whether he be only-begotten or also prior to other brothers.

If, then, the Son of God were called firstborn but not called only-begotten, we would have supposed Him to be firstborn of creatures as being a creature.

But since He is called both firstborn and only-begotten, we must preserve both in His case.

We call Him firstborn of all creation, since both He is from God and creation is from God; yet He alone, being begotten timelessly from the essence of God the Father, is rightly called only-begotten Son and firstborn and not first-created;

for creation is not from the essence of the Father, but was brought from non-being into being by His will.

And He is firstborn among many brothers;

for being only-begotten and also of a mother—inasmuch as He partook of blood and flesh like ourselves—He also became man.

And we too have become sons of God through Him, having been adopted through baptism;

He who is by nature Son of God became firstborn among us who have become sons of God by adoption and grace and are styled His brothers.

"I ascend to My Father and your Father." He did not say:

"our Father," but "My Father" by nature, clearly, and "your Father" by grace; and "My God and your God."

And He did not say "our God," but "My God"—if you distinguish by subtle conceptions the visible from that which is intelligible—and "your God" as Creator and Lord.

[A corrupt acrostic/colophon, partly illegible:] "Of victory by the sun... the true mind, sweet, shining, ever flashing forth, illuminating mortals, all-wise radiance, sweet-gleaming, gracious, flashing without ceasing in the inmost shrine..." Having begun in longing and faith.

With unwavering faith in God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, I the humble John, having written this love-of-wisdom and soul-enlightening volume of two months—written namely in July and June—offer to the Lord; for glory be to Him who strengthened me, and I render worthy thanksgiving.

O Lord Jesus Christ our God, save, together with him who wrote and those who read, [thy] longed-for servants. To those who ask whether the two natures are reduced under continuous quantity or under discrete quantity. The natures of the Lord are neither one body, nor surface, nor line, nor place, nor time, so as to be reduced under continuous quantity;

for these are the things continuously numbered.

But the natures of the Lord are united without confusion according to hypostasis, and are divided indivisibly in respect of the principle and mode of difference.

And in the mode in which they are united, they are not numbered (for we do not say that the natures of Christ are two hypostases, or two in respect of hypostasis); but in the mode in which they are indivisibly divided, they are numbered (for they are two natures in respect of the principle and mode of difference);

for being united according to hypostasis and mutually interpenetrating one another, they are united without confusion, not admitting any change into one another, and preserving even after the union the natural difference proper to each;

for the created has remained created, and the uncreated uncreated.

Numbered, then, by the mode of difference alone, they will be reduced under discrete quantity.

For it is impossible that things differing in nothing should be numbered;

but in so far as they differ, in that respect they are also numbered—for example, Peter and Paul: in so far as they are united, they are not numbered (for being united in the principle of essence, they neither are nor are called two natures), but differing in respect of hypostasis they are called two hypostases.

So that difference is the cause of number.

Concerning faith and baptism. We confess one baptism for the remission of sins and unto life eternal;

for baptism signifies the death of the Lord.

We are therefore buried together with the Lord through baptism, as the divine Apostle says.

As, then, the death of the Lord was accomplished once, so too one must be baptized once, and be baptized according to the word of the Lord into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, being taught the confession of Father and Son and Holy Spirit.

Those, therefore, who having been baptized into Father and Son and Holy Spirit, and having been taught one nature in three hypostases of the Godhead, are baptized again, these crucify Christ afresh, as the divine Apostle says:

"For it is impossible for those once enlightened" and so forth, "again to renew them unto repentance, since they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh and put Him to open shame."

But those who were not baptized into the Holy Trinity, these must be rebaptized.

For although the Apostle says that we were baptized into Christ and into His death, he does not say that the invocation of baptism is to be made in this way, but rather that baptism is a type of the death of Christ;

for by the three immersions baptism signifies the three days of the Lord's burial.

To be baptized into Christ, then, signifies that those who believe in Him are baptized.

But it is impossible to believe in Christ for those who have not been taught the confession of Father and Son and Holy Spirit.

For Christ is the Son of the living God, whom the Father anointed with the Holy Spirit, as the divine David says:

"Therefore God, Your God, has anointed You with the oil of gladness above Your fellows"; and Isaiah, in the person of the Lord:

"The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me."

And as for the invocation, the Lord taught His own disciples, saying:

"Baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit."

For since God made us for incorruption, but when we transgressed His saving commandment condemned us to the corruption of death, that the evil might not be immortal, He, condescending to His servants as one full of compassion and becoming like us, redeemed us from corruption through His own passion, and caused to spring up for us from His holy and undefiled side a fountain

of remission—water for regeneration and the washing away of both sin and corruption, and blood as a drink that procures life eternal; and He gave us commandments to be regenerated through water and Spirit, the Spirit descending upon the water through supplication and invocation.

For since man is twofold, of soul and body, He gave us also a twofold cleansing, by water and Spirit;

the Spirit renewing in us that which is according to the image and likeness, and the water, through the grace of the Spirit, cleansing the body from sin and freeing it from corruption; and the water fulfilling the image of death, while the Spirit provides the pledge of life.

For from the beginning the Spirit of God was borne over the waters.

And from of old Scripture bears witness to water, that it is a means of cleansing.

In the days of Noah God flooded away the sin of the world by water.

By water everyone unclean according to the Law is cleansed, even their very garments being washed with water.

Elijah showed the grace of the Spirit mingled with the water, when with water he set the whole burnt offering ablaze.

And almost everything according to the Law is cleansed with water (for the visible things are symbols of the things conceived in mind), yet the regeneration takes place in respect of the soul;

for faith knows how to adopt as sons, although they are creatures, through the Spirit, and to lead them up to the ancient blessedness.

Now the remission of sins is given to all alike through baptism, but the grace of the Spirit according to the measure of faith and of prior purification.

Now therefore through baptism we receive the firstfruits of the Holy Spirit, and the regeneration becomes for us a beginning of another life, and a seal and a safeguard and an illumination.

But we must with all our power securely keep ourselves pure from filthy works, lest, turning back like a dog to its own vomit, we again make ourselves slaves of sin.

For faith without works is dead, and likewise works without faith;

for true faith is proved through works.

And we are baptized into the Holy Trinity because the very things baptized have need of the Holy Trinity for their constitution and continuance, and it is impossible that the three hypostases should not be present together with one another;

for the Holy Trinity is inseparable.

The first baptism was that of the flood, for the cutting off of sin.

The second was that through the sea and the cloud;

for the cloud is a symbol of the Spirit, and the sea of the water.

[The third was that of the Law:] for everyone unclean was washed with water and washed his garments, and so entered into the camp.

The fourth was that of John, which was introductory and led those baptized to repentance, that they might believe in Christ;

"for I," he says, "baptize you with water;

but He who comes after me, He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire."

John, then, purifies beforehand by means of the water with a view to the Spirit.

The fifth was the baptism of the Lord, with which He Himself was baptized.

He is baptized not as Himself needing cleansing, but appropriating my cleansing to Himself, that He might crush the heads of the dragons upon the water, that He might wash away sin and bury the whole old Adam in the water, that He might sanctify the baptist, that He might fulfill the Law, that He might reveal the mystery of the Trinity, that He might become for us a type and pattern for being baptized.

But we are baptized with the perfect baptism of the Lord, that which is through water and Spirit.

And Christ is said to baptize with fire;

for in the form of tongues of fire He poured out the grace of the Spirit upon the holy apostles, as the Lord Himself says:

"For John baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit"—and with fire, not many days from now—or [it refers] to the chastising baptism of the fire to come.

The sixth is that through repentance and tears, truly toilsome.

The seventh is that through blood and martyrdom, which Christ Himself also underwent for us, being exceedingly venerable and blessed, inasmuch as it is not defiled by subsequent stains.

The eighth is the last, not saving, but abolishing wickedness (for wickedness and sin no longer hold sway), yet punishing without end.

Like a dove the Holy Spirit descended upon the Lord, indicating the firstfruits of our baptism and honoring the body, since this also, namely the body, is by deification God; and moreover from of old the dove has been wont to announce the abating of a flood.

But upon the holy apostles He came down in the form of fire;

for He is God, and our God is a consuming fire.

Oil is employed in baptism, signifying the anointing and making us anointed ones, and proclaiming to us through the Holy Spirit the mercy of God; since the dove too brought a sprig of olive to those who were preserved from the flood.

John baptized [Him], laying his hand upon the divine head of the Master, and [was himself baptized] in his own blood.

Baptism must not be deferred when the faith of those approaching is attested by works.

He who approaches baptism in deceit will be condemned rather than benefited.

Concerning faith. Now faith is twofold.

For hearing the divine Scriptures we believe the teaching of the Spirit.

And this is perfected by all the things ordained by Christ, believing in deed, living piously, and doing the commandments of Him who renewed us.

For he who does not believe according to the tradition of the catholic Church, or who has fellowship with the devil through unseemly works, is an unbeliever.

And again, faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen—or an unhesitating and undoubting hope of the things promised to us by God and of the obtaining of our requests.

The first, then, is of our own disposition, but the second is of the gifts of the Spirit.

One must know that through baptism we are circumcised of the whole covering that is from birth, that is, of sin, and we are styled spiritual Israelites and a people of God.

Concerning the cross, in which there is yet more concerning faith. The word of the cross is to those who are perishing foolishness, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

For the spiritual man judges all things, but the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit.

For it is foolishness to those who do not receive in faith and do not reckon the goodness and omnipotence of God, but search out divine things with human and natural reasonings;

for all the things of God are above nature and reason and conception.

For if one reckons how God brought all things from non-being into being, and for what cause, and wishes to attain it by natural reasonings, he does not comprehend it;

for this knowledge is of the soul and demonic.

But if one, being led by the hand of faith, reckons the Divine to be good and omnipotent and true and wise and just, he will find all things smooth and even, and a straight way.

For apart from faith it is impossible to be saved;

for by faith all things, both human and spiritual, are held together.

For neither does the farmer cut a furrow in the earth apart from faith, nor does the merchant entrust his own life to the raging deep of the sea on a little timber, nor are marriages contracted, nor anything else of the things in this life.

By faith we understand that all things were brought from non-being into being by the power of God;

all things, both divine and human, we accomplish by faith.

And faith is an assent that does not pry into matters.

Now every deed and wonder-working of Christ is most great and divine and marvelous, but most marvelous of all is His precious cross.

For by nothing else has death been abolished, the sin of the forefather loosed, Hades despoiled, the resurrection granted, power given us to despise present things and even death itself, the return to the ancient blessedness accomplished, the gates of paradise opened, our nature seated at the right hand of God, and we become children of God and heirs—except through the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.

For through the cross all these things have been accomplished. "For as many of us as were baptized into Christ," says the Apostle, "were baptized into His death."

"And as many of us as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ."

And Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God.

Behold, the death of Christ—that is, the cross—has clothed us with the enhypostatic wisdom and power of God.

And the word of the cross is the power of God, either because the might of God—that is, the victory over death—has been manifested to us through it, or because, just as the four extremities of the cross are held and bound together by the central point, so by the power of God the height and the depth and the length and the breadth—that is, all creation visible and invisible—is held together.

This is given to us as a sign upon the forehead, in the manner that circumcision was given to Israel;

for through it we believers are distinguished and recognized from the unbelievers.

This is a shield and a weapon and a trophy against the devil.

This is a seal, that the destroyer may not touch us, as the Scripture says.

This is the resurrection of the fallen, the support of those who stand, the staff of the weak, the rod of those who are shepherded, the guiding hand of those who turn back, the perfecting of those who advance, the salvation of soul and body, the averting of all evils, the procurer of all good things, the destruction of sin, the plant of resurrection, the tree of eternal life.

Now the precious wood itself, as being truly venerable—on which Christ offered Himself in sacrifice for us, sanctified as it was by the touch of the holy body and blood—is rightly to be venerated; likewise the nails, the spear, the garments, and His sacred dwelling-places, which are the manger, the cave, the saving Golgotha, the life-giving tomb, Zion the citadel of the churches, and the like;

as the ancestor of God, David, says:

"We will enter into His dwelling-places; we will worship at the place where His feet stood."

And that he means the cross, the following makes clear:

"Arise, O Lord, into Your rest;"

for the resurrection follows upon the cross.

For if the house and bed and garment of those we love are objects of longing, how much more the things of God and our Savior, through which we have also been saved!

And we venerate also the figure of the precious cross, even if it be made of other material, not honoring the material—God forbid—but the figure as a symbol of Christ.

For He said to His own disciples, instructing them:

"Then shall appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven," meaning the cross.

Wherefore also the angel of the resurrection said to the women:

"You seek Jesus the Nazarene who was crucified;" and the Apostle:

"But we preach Christ crucified."

For there are many Christs and Jesuses, but one only is the crucified.

He did not say "pierced with a spear," but "crucified."

Therefore the sign of Christ is to be venerated.

For wherever the sign may be, there also will He be.

But the material of which the figure of the cross is composed, even if it be gold or precious stones, after the dissolution of the figure (should that happen) is not to be venerated.

All things, then, that are dedicated to God we venerate, rendering the worship to Him.

This precious cross was prefigured by the tree of life planted by God in paradise (for since death came through a tree, it was fitting that life and resurrection should be granted through a tree); by Jacob worshiping the top of the staff and blessing the sons of Joseph with crossed hands and most plainly delineating the sign of the cross; by the rod of Moses striking the sea in the form of a cross and saving Israel while drowning Pharaoh; by hands stretched out crosswise routing Amalek; by the bitter water sweetened with a tree; by the rock split open and pouring forth streams; by the rod conferring on Aaron the dignity of the priesthood; by the serpent displayed in triumph upon the tree (since the tree, deadly, preserves alive those who, believing, behold the enemy dead—as Christ in the flesh of sin, which knew no sin, was nailed up); by Moses the great, who

cried out: "You shall see your life hanging on a tree before your eyes;" Isaiah:

"All the day long I have stretched out My hands to a disobedient and gainsaying people."

May we who venerate this obtain the portion of Christ the crucified.

Concerning worshiping toward the East. Not

without reason nor by chance do we worship toward the East, but since we are composed of a visible and an invisible—that is, an intelligible and a sensible—nature, we render also a twofold worship to the Creator, just as we both sing psalms with the mind and with bodily lips, and are baptized with water and with Spirit, and are united to the Lord in a twofold manner, partaking both of the mysteries and of the grace of the Spirit.

Since, then, God is intelligible light, and Christ is called in the Scriptures the Sun of Righteousness and the Dayspring, the East must be assigned to Him for worship;

for everything good must be assigned to God, from whom every good thing is made good.

And the divine David also says:

"Kingdoms of the earth, sing to God, sing praises to the Lord, who has ascended above the heaven of heavens toward the East."

God planted a paradise in Eden toward the East;

there He placed the man whom He had formed, and when he transgressed He exiled him from the paradise of delight and settled him over against the paradise—that is, in the West.

Therefore, seeking our ancient homeland and gazing toward it, we worship God.

And the tabernacle of Moses too had the veil and the mercy-seat toward the East.

And the tribe of Judah, as more honorable, encamped on the East.

And in the renowned temple of Solomon the Lord's gate was situated toward the East.

Moreover, the Lord too, when crucified, looked toward the West, and so we worship gazing toward Him.

And when taken up, He was borne toward the East, and so the apostles worshiped Him, and so He shall come, in the manner in which they beheld Him going into heaven, as the Lord Himself said:

"As the lightning comes forth from the East and shines as far as the West, so shall be the coming of the Son of Man."

Awaiting Him, therefore, we worship toward the East.

And this is an unwritten tradition of the apostles;

for they handed down many things to us without writing.

Concerning the holy and undefiled mysteries of the Lord. The good and all-good and supremely good God, who is wholly goodness, on account of the surpassing wealth of His goodness did not endure that the good—that is, His own nature—should be partaken of by none.

On this account He made first the intelligent and heavenly powers, then the visible and sensible world, then man, of the intelligent and the sensible.

Now all things made by Him share in His goodness in respect of being (for He Himself is being to all things, since in Him are the things that are—not only because He Himself brought them from non-being into being, but because His energy preserves and holds together the things made by Him); but the animals to a greater degree (for they share in the good both in respect of being and of partaking of life); and the rational beings according to the things aforesaid, and moreover also according to the rational, and these to a still greater degree;

for they are somehow more closely related to Him, even though He transcends all things incomparably.

Man, however, having been made rational and self-determining, received authority to be united unceasingly to God through his own free choice, if indeed he abides in the good, that is, in obedience to the Creator.

Since, then, he came to be in transgression of the commandment of Him who made him, and fell under death and corruption, the Maker and Creator of our race, through the bowels of His mercy, was made like to us, becoming man in all things apart from sin, and was united to our nature;

for since He imparted to us His own image and His own spirit, and we did not keep them, He Himself partakes of our poor and weak nature, that He might cleanse us and make us incorruptible and again establish us as partakers of His own Godhead.

But it was necessary not only that the firstfruits of our nature should come to share in the better, but also that every man who is willing should be born by a second birth, and be nourished with strange food suited to that birth, and so attain the measure of perfection.

Through His own birth—that is, His incarnation—and His baptism and passion and

resurrection, He freed our nature from the sin of the forefather, from death, from corruption, and became the firstfruits of the resurrection, and set Himself as a way and a type and a pattern, that we too, following His footsteps, might become by adoption what He is by nature—sons and heirs of God and joint-heirs with Him.

He gave us, then, as I said, a second birth, that just as, being born of Adam, we became like him, inheriting the curse and corruption, so also, being born of Him, we might be made like Him and inherit His incorruption and blessing and glory.

And since Adam is spiritual, the birth too must be spiritual, and likewise the food;

but since we are twofold and composite, the birth too must be twofold, and likewise the food composite.

The birth, then, is given us through water and Spirit—I mean holy baptism; and the food is the very bread of life, our Lord Jesus Christ who came down from heaven.

For being about to accept the voluntary death for us, on the night in which He delivered Himself up, He established a new covenant with His holy disciples and apostles, and through them with all who believe in Him.

In the upper room, then, of holy and glorious Zion, having eaten the old Passover with His disciples and fulfilled the old covenant, He washes the feet of the disciples, providing a symbol of holy baptism.

Then, breaking bread, He gave it to them, saying:

"Take, eat; this is My body which is broken for you for the remission of sins."

Likewise also, having taken the cup of wine and water, He gave it to them, saying:

"This is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for you for the remission of sins;

this do in remembrance of Me."

"For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the death of the Son of Man and confess His resurrection, until He comes."

If, then, the word of God is living and active, and the Lord did all things, as many as He willed;

if "Let there be light," and it came to be;

"Let there be a firmament," and it came to be;