Eranistes 1 part 2/13

'Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holy place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way, which He has consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, His flesh; and having a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith,' and so forth.

ERAN. The proof is irrefutable, for it is confirmed by apostolic testimony.

for it has been ratified by apostolic testimony.

ORTH. Then do not charge us with innovation.

For we will furnish you also with another prophetic testimony, which openly names the Lord's flesh a robe and a garment.

ERAN. If it should appear enigmatic and ambiguous, we shall gainsay it;

but if it be clear, we shall both accept it and acknowledge our gratitude.

ORTH. I will bring you yourself to bear witness to the truth of the promise.

Earlier you confessed that the prophecy was declared concerning our Saviour.

ORTH. Call to mind, then, what follows.

'Whose coming the nations await;'

'He shall wash His robe in wine, and His garment in the blood of the grape.' ERAN. The patriarch spoke of garments, not of a body.

ERAN. Do you show that He dyed His body crimson with these things.

ORTH. I ask you to answer in a more mystical manner.

For perhaps some uninitiated persons are standing by.

ERAN. Thus will I hear, and thus will I answer.

ORTH. Do you know that the Lord called Himself a vine? ERAN. I know that He said,

'I am the true vine.' ORTH. And the fruit of the vine, when it is pressed, what name does it bear? ERAN. It is called wine.

ORTH. And when the soldiers pierced the Saviour's side with the spear, what do the writers of the Gospels say flowed forth from it? ERAN. Blood and water.

ORTH. Then it was as the blood of the grape that He designated the Saviour's blood.

For if the Master is named a vine, and the fruit of the vine is called wine, and streams of blood and water, poured forth from the Master's side, ran down through the rest of the body to the parts below, then fittingly and appropriately did the patriarch foretell:

'He shall wash His robe in wine, and His garment in the blood of the grape.' For just as we, after the sanctification, name the mystical fruit of the vine the Master's blood, so He named the blood of the true vine 'the blood of the grape.'

ERAN. The argument set forth has been demonstrated at once mystically and clearly.

ORTH. Although what has been said suffices for your faith, nevertheless I will add yet another proof for the confirmation of the truth.

ERAN. You will do me a favour by so doing, for you will increase the benefit.

for you will increase the profit.

ORTH. Do you know that the Master called His own body 'bread'? ERAN. I know.

ORTH. And elsewhere did He not name the flesh 'wheat'? ERAN. I know this too.

For I heard Him saying:

'The hour has come that the Son of Man should be glorified;' and,

'Unless the grain of wheat falling into the ground die, it abides alone;'

'but if it die, it bears much fruit.' ORTH. And indeed in the delivery of the mysteries He called the bread 'body' and the mixed cup 'blood.'

ORTH. But according to nature also, the body might fittingly be called 'body' and the blood 'blood.'

ORTH. But our Saviour interchanged the names, and to the body He assigned the name of the symbol, and to the symbol the name of the body;

thus, having named Himself a vine, He designated the symbol as 'blood.'

ERAN. This you have truly said.

But I should like to learn the reason for the interchange of the names.

For He willed that those who partake of the divine mysteries should not attend to the nature of the things set before them, but through the interchange of the names should believe the change which has come about by grace.

For He who called the body by nature 'wheat' and 'bread,' and again named Himself a 'vine,' this same One honoured the visible symbols with the appellation of body and blood, not by changing the nature, but by adding grace to the nature.

ERAN. Both the mystical things were spoken mystically, and the things not known to all were clearly made manifest.

ORTH. Do you mean of the body and of the blood? ERAN. So I mean.

'This is My Godhead;'

but, 'This is My body;' and again,

'This is My blood;' and elsewhere,

'And the bread which I will give is My flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.' ERAN. These things are true, for they are divine oracles.

ORTH. If, then, they are true—as indeed they are—the Lord assuredly had a body.

ERAN. For do I say that He was bodiless? ORTH. But you confess that He possessed a body.

ERAN. I say that the Word became flesh;

ORTH. According to the proverb, it seems, we are drawing water into a leaky jar;

for after all those proofs and the solutions of the objections, you keep bringing round the same arguments.

ERAN. It is not my own arguments that I bring to you, but evangelical ones.

ORTH. But have I not brought you the interpretation of the evangelical sayings from prophetic and apostolic words? ERAN. Those do not suffice to resolve the question at issue.

ORTH. And yet we have shown that, being invisible, He was made manifest through the flesh.

And we were taught by the divine men the very kinship of the flesh.

'For He took hold of the seed of Abraham.'

And the Lord God said to the patriarch:

'In your seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed.' And the Apostle:

'For it is evident that our Lord sprang out of Judah.' And we adduced many other such testimonies.

But since you long to hear yet others, hear the Apostle saying:

'For every high priest, taken from among men, is appointed to offer gifts and sacrifices. Whence it is necessary that this One too have something which He may offer.'

ORTH. The divine Apostle himself, in that very passage, teaches this plainly.

For a little further on he speaks thus:

'Fear not,' he says, 'to take to you Mary your wife;'

'for that which is begotten in her is of the Holy Spirit.' ERAN. Then the Virgin gave birth to a body only.

ORTH. It seems you have understood neither the construction of the syllables themselves, still less their meaning.

For the angel teaches Joseph the manner of the conception, not the manner of the birth.

For he did not say, 'That which is born of her'—that is, made or formed—'is of the Holy Spirit.'

For since Joseph, being ignorant of the mystery, had suspected adultery, he was plainly taught concerning the fashioning wrought by the Spirit.

These things He declared through the prophet, saying:

'A body You have prepared for Me.' And the divine Apostle, being spiritual, interpreted the prediction.

If, therefore, it is proper to priests to offer gifts, and the Master Christ was designated a priest according to His humanity, and He offered no other sacrifice but His own body, then the Master Christ had a body.

{ERANISTES.} I have often said that neither do I affirm that God the Word appeared without a body;

yet I do not say that He assumed a body, but rather that He became flesh.

{ORTHODOXOS.} As I see, we have our contest against the partisans of Valentinus, Marcion, and Manes.

Or rather, not even they ever dared to say that the immutable nature was changed into flesh.

{ERANISTES.} To revile is foreign to Christians.

{ORTHODOXOS.} We do not revile, but we contend for the truth, and we are exceedingly grieved that you wrangle over things beyond dispute as though they were doubtful.

I, however, will endeavor to dissolve your ignoble and contentious spirit.

What kinds, then, do you seek concerning the present matter? {ORTHODOXOS.} Those concerning the Master Christ.

{ERANISTES.} Do you yourself recall the sayings.

{ORTHODOXOS.} Hear, then, at the very beginning of the psalm, the prophet praising God:

For foreseeing with prophetic eyes the transgression of the people that was to come, and the captivity that would result from it, he reminded his own Master of His unerring promises.

'Your mercies, O Lord, I will sing forever; from generation to generation I will proclaim Your truth with my mouth; for You said, Mercy shall be built up forever.'

Then he says both what He promised and to whom, showing that God Himself was the one speaking.

{ORTHODOXOS.} Therefore it was also to the patriarchs that He made the covenants concerning Solomon.

{ERANISTES.} I consider that God made these promises either concerning Solomon or concerning Zerubbabel.

{ORTHODOXOS.} A little while ago you were employing the words of Marcion, Valentinus, and Manes;

but now you have crossed over to the diametrically opposite faction, and you plead the cause of the Jews' shamelessness.

This is characteristic of those who turn aside from the straight way;

for they wander here and there, traveling an untrodden path.

{ERANISTES.} The Apostle drives those who indulge in reviling out of the kingdom.

{ORTHODOXOS.} If they revile without cause.

Since even the divine Apostle himself, on occasion, employs this manner of speech, calling the Galatians 'foolish,' and saying concerning others:

'Men corrupted in mind, reprobate concerning the faith'; and again concerning others:

'Whose god is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame,' and what follows.

{ERANISTES.} What occasion, then, have I given you for reviling? {ORTHODOXOS.} Your cheerfully pleading the cause of the most manifest enemies of the truth—does this not seem to you a most reasonable ground for the pious to be indignant? {ERANISTES.} And with whom have I fought as an ally against the truth? {ORTHODOXOS.} Now, with the Jews.

{ERANISTES.} How, and in what way? {ORTHODOXOS.} The Jews apply such prophecies to Solomon and to Zerubbabel, in order to prove the Christian doctrine to be unfounded.

But the very words themselves suffice to convict their transgression.

{ERANISTES.} But from where do they set out? {ORTHODOXOS.} From Herod the foreigner, who on his father's side happened to be an Ascalonite, and on his mother's side an Idumaean.

For He said, 'I will build up your throne from generation to generation.' But we see that his lineage has vanished, and his kingdom has met its end.

And beholding these things too, we know the truthfulness of the God of all.

{ORTHODOXOS.} Since, then, you have agreed, come now, let us also examine together the middle portion of the psalm;

for we shall know more clearly the meaning of the prophecy.

{ERANISTES.} Lead the inquiry;

for I too will follow, tracking out the footsteps.

{ORTHODOXOS.} God, having promised many things concerning this Seed—that He should rule both by sea and by land, and should be higher than the kings upon the earth, and should be called the firstborn of God, and should call God 'Father' with boldness—added these words as well:

'Forever will I keep My mercy for him, and My covenant shall stand firm for him;

and I will set his seed forever and ever, and his throne as the days of heaven.' {ERANISTES.} The promise is beyond human nature.

For both the life and the honor possess what is imperishable and eternal, whereas men are transient.

For nature is short-lived, and even in this life a kingdom has many and reversing changes.

Therefore the greatness of the promise befits the Savior Christ alone.

{ORTHODOXOS.} Go on, then, to the rest as well.

For your opinion concerning this will assuredly become more firmly established.

For again the God of all says:

'His seed shall remain forever, and his throne as the sun before Me, and as the moon established forever.' And to show the truthfulness of the promise, He added:

'And the witness in heaven is faithful.' {ERANISTES.} One ought to believe without hesitation the things promised by the faithful witness.

For He Himself possesses both life and kingdom that are eternal.

{ERANISTES.} We do not doubt, but confess that these things are so.

And the rest of the prophecy is in harmony with these things.

'Ruling and commanding among the nations,'

for these things too truly befitted the Master Christ.

{ORTHODOXOS.} Therefore let us pass over to another prophetic testimony, and let us give ear to the same prophet as he says:

'There shall come forth a rod from the root of Jesse, and a flower shall arise from the root.' {ERANISTES.} I think this prophecy was written concerning Zerubbabel.

{ORTHODOXOS.} If you also hear what follows, you will not abide in your opinion.

For thus not even the Jews have understood this prediction.

'And the Spirit of God shall rest upon Him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and godliness; the Spirit of the fear of God shall fill Him.' Now these things one could not apply to a mere man;

for even to the exceedingly holy the gifts of the Spirit are given according to a distribution.

And the divine Apostle is a witness, saying:

'For to one is given through the Spirit the word of wisdom, and to another the word of knowledge according to the same Spirit,' and what follows.

But here the prophet has said that He who sprang from the root of Jesse possesses all the operations of the Spirit.

{ERANISTES.} To resist these things is manifest madness.

{ORTHODOXOS.} Then hear also what follows;

for you will see that some of these things even transcend human nature.

'He shall not judge according to appearance, nor reprove according to hearsay, but He shall judge the lowly in righteousness and shall reprove in uprightness the glorious ones of the earth;

and He shall smite the earth with the word of His mouth, and with the breath through His lips He shall slay the ungodly.' Of these predictions, some are human, and some are divine.

For righteousness and truth, and uprightness and unswerving impartiality in judgment, declare His virtue after the manner of man;

but the destruction of the ungodly man by a word, and the transformation of the earth into something better, hint at the all-powerful might of the Godhead.

ERANISTES: Through these things we have learned more clearly that the prophet foretold the coming of our Saviour Christ.

ORTHODOX: What follows upon these words will teach you still more plainly the truth of this interpretation.

'Then shall the wolf feed together with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid, and the calf and the lion and the bull shall feed together,' and what follows; through which he teaches both the diversity of dispositions and the harmony of faith.

And as witness to the prediction we have the experience of the events themselves.

For those who abound in wealth and those who live with poverty, servants and masters, subjects and rulers, soldiers and private men, and those who hold the sceptres of the world—one baptismal font receives them all, one teaching is offered to all, one mystical table is set before all, and each of the believers enjoys an equal portion.

ERANISTES: But these things show that the one prophesied is God.

ORTHODOX: Not God only, but also man.

For this very reason, right at the beginning of this prophecy, he said that a rod should spring forth from the root of Jesse;

and having brought the prediction to its conclusion, he took up again the opening theme.

But he would not have called the Lord Christ a rod springing forth from Jesse, if he had known Him to be God only.

And the prediction foretold also the transformation of the whole world.

'For,' he says, 'the whole earth was filled with the knowledge of the Lord, as many waters cover the seas.' ERANISTES: I have listened to the prophetic oracles.

ORTHODOX: You have enjoined nothing difficult, but rather something very manageable and easy.

ERANISTES: Which other of the apostles proclaimed these things? ORTHODOX: The great Peter alone would suffice as a witness to the truth;

for the Lord, receiving the confession of true religion from him alone, confirmed it with that celebrated blessing. But since you desire to hear this proclaimed by others also, listen to Paul and Barnabas speaking publicly in Antioch of Pisidia.

'From this man's seed hath God according to His promise raised unto Israel a Saviour, Jesus,' and what follows.

And in writing to Timothy the inspired Paul set down these words also:

But tell me, why then did you leave out what follows in the testimony? ORTHODOX: Because you are in doubt concerning the humanity, and not concerning the Godhead.

For if you were disputing concerning the Godhead, I should have brought you the proofs concerning it.

But it suffices to say that the phrase 'according to the flesh' intimates the Godhead which is passed over in silence.

For in teaching the kinship of an ordinary man, I do not say that such a one is the son of such a one 'according to the flesh,' but simply his son.

So too the divine evangelist composed the genealogy;

'for Abraham,' he says, 'begat Isaac,' and he did not add 'according to the flesh,' for Isaac was only a man.

And in like manner he made mention of the others also;

for they were men, having nothing beyond their nature.

But when discoursing concerning the Lord Christ, the heralds of the truth, and showing to those who were ignorant the kinship from below, attach the words 'according to the flesh,' by this indicating the Godhead and teaching that the Lord Christ is not man only, but also God before the ages.

ERANISTES: You have brought forward many testimonies, both apostolic and prophetic;

but I put my trust in the evangelist who says, 'The Word became flesh.' ORTHODOX: I too trust this divine teaching, but I understand it reverently, namely, that having taken flesh and a rational soul, He is said to have become flesh.

But the predictions of the prophets have not reached their fulfilment.

'Vain, then, is our preaching, and vain also is our faith,' and vain too is the hope of the resurrection.

For the apostle, so it would seem, lies when he says:

'He raised us up together and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.' For if the Lord Christ had nothing of our nature, then He was falsely called the firstfruits of us;

and the nature of the body has not been raised from the dead, nor indeed has it obtained in heaven the seat at the right hand.

...and made to sit together with Christ those who in no way belong to Him according to nature? But it is impious to say such things.

For the divine apostle, while the common resurrection had not yet taken place, nor had the kingdom of heaven been bestowed upon those who had believed, cries out:

'He raised us up together and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,' teaching that, since our firstfruits has risen and has received the seat at the right hand, we too shall assuredly attain the resurrection; and those who share in the nature and have partaken of the faith share in the glory of the firstfruits.

ERANISTES: You have gone through many true arguments;

but I should like to know the meaning of the evangelical saying.

ORTHODOX: You have no need of a foreign interpretation;

for the evangelist himself interprets himself.

For having said, 'The Word became flesh,' he added, 'And dwelt among us'—that is, having dwelt among us and using, as it were, a temple, the flesh taken from us, He is said to have become flesh.

And, teaching that He remained unchangeable, he added:

'And we beheld His glory, glory as of the only-begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.' For though clothed with flesh, He displayed the nobility of the Father, and sent forth the rays of the Godhead, and let stream the splendour of the Lord's authority, revealing by His miracles the nature that lay hidden.

To these words are similar those which the divine apostle wrote to the Philippians:

'Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men; and being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself, becoming obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.' Behold the kinship of the proclamations.

The evangelist said, 'The Word became flesh'; the apostle said, 'Being made in the likeness of men.' The evangelist said, 'And dwelt among us'; the apostle, 'Taking the form of a servant.' Again the evangelist said, 'We beheld His glory, glory as of the only-begotten from the Father'; the apostle, 'Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God.' And, to speak in sum, both teach that, being God and the Son of God, and clothed with the glory of the Father, and having the same nature and power as Him that begat Him, He who was in the beginning and was with God and was God, and who fashioned the creation, took the form of a servant.

And He seemed to be only that which was seen;

but He was God, clothed with human nature, and working out the salvation of men.

This is what is meant by 'The Word became flesh,' and by 'Being made in the likeness of men, and being found in fashion as a man.' For this alone the Jews saw, wherefore they also said to Him:

'For a good work we stone Thee not, but for blasphemy; because that Thou, being a man, makest Thyself God.' And again:

'This man is not from God, because He keepeth not the sabbath.' ERANISTES: The Jews were blinded through their own unbelief, and for this reason they used these words.

ORTHODOX: And if you should also find the apostles saying these things before the resurrection, will you accept the interpretation? ERANISTES: Perhaps I shall accept it.

ORTHODOX: Hear them, then, in the boat, after the mightiest miracle of the calming of the sea, saying:

'What manner of man is this, that even the sea and the winds obey Him?' ERANISTES: This has been demonstrated;

why then does the divine apostle say that He was made in the likeness of a man? ORTHODOX: What was taken was not the likeness of a man, but the nature of a man;

and just as the form of God is understood to be the nature of God, so the form of a servant is understood to be the nature of a servant.

He, however, who took this form, was made in the likeness of a man, and was found in fashion as a man.

For being God, He seemed to be a man on account of the nature which He had assumed.

The evangelist, however, said that His being made in the likeness of a man was His becoming flesh.

But that you may know that those who deny the flesh of our Saviour are disciples of the contrary spirit, hear the great John speaking in the catholic epistle:

'Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God;

and every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus is come in the flesh is not of God, and this is that spirit of Antichrist.' ERANISTES: You have interpreted persuasively.

But I should wish to learn how the ancient teachers of the Church understood 'The Word became flesh.'

ORTHODOX: You ought indeed to have been persuaded by the apostolic and prophetic proofs.

But since you seek also the interpretations of the holy fathers, I too, with God's help so to speak, will offer you this remedy also.

ERANISTES: Do not bring forward to me men who are obscure or of doubtful reputation;

for I will not accept the interpretation of such men.

ORTHODOX: Does that far-famed Athanasius seem to you worthy of credit, that most brilliant luminary of the Church of Alexandria? ERANISTES: Assuredly.

For by his sufferings on behalf of the truth he set his seal upon the teaching.

ORTH. Hear him then, in what he wrote to Epictetus:

For that which is said by John, 'The Word became flesh,' has this meaning, as it is possible to discover from a like instance as well.

For it is written by Paul:

'Christ became a curse for us.' Just as it is said that he became a curse, not because he himself became a curse, but because he received the curse on our behalf, so also he is said to have become flesh, not because he was changed into flesh, but because he took on flesh for our sake.

ORTH. Thus far the most divine Athanasius.

And Gregory, whose renown is great among all men, who of old guided the imperial city that lies upon the mouth of the Bosporus, and later dwelt at Nazianzus, wrote thus against the trickery of Apollinaris, in his letter to Cledonius:

ERAN. The man is illustrious, and has proved himself a champion of true religion.

ORTH. Hear him then, saying:

Now the phrase 'The Word became flesh' seems to me to have the same force as when he is said to have become sin and a curse—not that the Lord was transformed into these things (for how could that be?), but that, by receiving these things, he took up our iniquities and bore our diseases.

ERAN. The interpretation of both men agrees.

ORTH. Since we have shown you that those who shepherded the south and the north are in agreement, come now, let us also conduct you to the celebrated teachers of the West, who, though in a different tongue, yet in no different mind, composed their interpretation.

ERAN. I hear that Ambrose, who adorned the episcopal throne of Milan, was preeminent against every heresy, and wrote most excellently and in harmony with the teaching of the apostles.

ORTH. I will bring his interpretation before you.

He says these things in his discourse On the Faith:

But, they say, it is written that 'The Word became flesh.' I do not deny what is written.

But consider what is said.

'And he dwelt among us'—that is, that Word who took flesh dwelt among us; that is, he tabernacled in human flesh.

Do you then marvel at what is written, 'The Word became flesh,' the flesh having been assumed by God the Word, when even concerning sin, which he did not have, it is said that he 'became sin'?

That is, he did not become the nature and activity of sin, but that he might crucify our sin in his own flesh.

Let them therefore refrain from saying that the nature of the Word was changed.

For he who assumed is one thing, and that which was assumed is another.

ERAN. After these, it is fitting to hear the teachers of the region toward the rising sun:

for this alone is the portion of the inhabited world that remains to us.

ORTH. These indeed ought to have been the first to bear witness to the truth:

for they were the first to give heed to the apostolic preaching.

But since you have whetted them upon the whetstone of falsehood, we have assigned them the last place, so that, having first heard the others and then set the words of these alongside those, you may marvel at the harmony and cease from your idle chatter.

Hear then Flavian, who for a very long time wisely steered the helm of the Church of Antioch, and rendered the churches he governed stronger than the Arian tempest, as he interprets the evangelical saying:

'The Word,' he says, 'became flesh, and dwelt among us.' He was not changed into flesh, nor did he cease to be God; but the one he was from eternity, while the other he became by the dispensation, himself having built his own temple and dwelt in the passible offspring.

ORTH. And if you also long to hear the ancient Palestinians, lend your ears to the admirable Gelasius, who diligently cultivated the church of Caesarea. He says these things too, for the festival of the Lord's Epiphany:

Learn the truth from John the fisherman, who says, 'And the Word became flesh'—not that he himself was changed, but that he tabernacled among us.

The tabernacle is one thing, and the Word another;

the temple is one thing, and the God who dwells in it another.

ERAN. I greatly marvel at the harmony.

ORTH. And John, the great lamp of the inhabited world, who first zealously watered the Church of Antioch, and then wisely cultivated the imperial city—do you not consider that he kept the apostolic rule of the faith? ERAN. I have certainly esteemed this teacher as most worthy of admiration.

ORTH. This man, best in all things, interpreting this passage of the Gospel, speaks thus:

So that, when you hear 'The Word became flesh,' be not troubled, nor cast down.

For the essence did not fall over into flesh;

for this belongs to the uttermost impiety;

but remaining what it is, thus did it take the form of a servant.

For just as when he says, 'Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us,' he does not mean this, that his essence, departing from its own glory, was substantiated into a curse (for not even demons could conceive of this, nor those who are utterly senseless and bereft of their natural wits;

so great is the madness such a notion carries along with its impiety)—