復活節講道集 第 1 章 第 14/28 段

but all the rational creatures that have been called by it into existence, holding the rank of servants, are dignified with measures most fitting to their nature;

and this is their dignity and excellence: to be able to preserve the rule that has been appointed to them and granted to them as a gift.

And thus the divine prophet Isaiah says, 'I saw the Lord of Sabaoth sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up;

and Seraphim stood round about him, six wings for the one, and six wings for the other.'

And with two they covered their face, and with two their feet, and with two they flew;

and, he says, responding antiphonally to one another, they called the Lord of hosts holy. For this is what 'Sabaoth' signifies.

Observe, then, how the highest powers, both holy and rational — that is, the Seraphim — possessing a measure befitting servants, stand around the divine throne, rendering their praises as though discharging a debt owed.

I will ask, then, O noble sir, to whom would it befit to sit upon a lofty and exalted throne? And to whom to stand by and minister? But I think you will certainly say this, being persuaded by the very fact itself:

that sitting indeed indicates the dignity befitting a master;

while standing by is the measure befitting a servant.

For it is said, 'The Lord has prepared his throne in heaven, and his kingdom shall rule over all.' Then he commands those who hold the scepters of rule, saying:

'Bless the Lord, all you his angels, mighty in strength, who do his word, hearkening to the voice of his words.'

'Bless the Lord, all his hosts, his ministers, who do his will.'

'Bless the Lord, all his works.' Behold, then, in this too, he says that the divine throne is set in heaven,

and that all must unceasingly give glory to him, naming for us angels, and ministers, and hosts;

For to transfer to a creature the glory belonging to its Maker is nothing else than to bring the Maker down into the rank of the things he made.

For that it is utterly unwelcome and altogether hateful to him to be ranked together with the things made by him, and that a most terrible judgment hangs over those who ascribe divine glory to unclean demons, you will understand very well if you consult the Mosaic writings;

'Hear, O Israel: the Lord your God is one Lord.' And again:

'You shall worship the Lord your God, and him alone shall you serve.' And he further commands, saying:

'And when the Lord your God destroys before you the nations, into whose land you go to possess it,'

'and you take possession of them and dwell in their land, take heed to yourself that you do not seek to follow after them, once they have been destroyed before you, and that you do not inquire after their gods, saying:'

'How do these nations serve their gods? I also will do likewise.'

'You shall not do so to the Lord your God.'

'For every abomination which the Lord hates, they have done for their gods;'

'even their sons and their daughters they burn in fire to their gods.' And again:

'And if there arises among you a prophet, or one who dreams a dream, and he gives you a sign or a wonder, and the sign or the wonder of which he spoke to you comes to pass, saying:'

'Let us go and serve other gods, whom you have not known,'

'you shall not listen to the words of that prophet, or of him who dreamed that dream; for the Lord your God is testing you, to know whether you love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul.'

'You shall walk after the Lord your God;'

and that prophet, or that dreamer of that dream, shall be put to death;

'for he has spoken to lead you astray from the Lord your God.' Death, then, is the penalty appointed for those who most impiously turn aside the minds of the innocent to what is unfitting.

And he who rebukes those who have fallen into such folly would clearly be, no doubt, one who does not tolerate being worshipped together with others, but testifies that the kingship over all things belongs to himself, and to himself alone.

Therefore he also declared, through the voice of the saints:

'I am God, and there is no other righteous one and savior; there is none besides me.' Confessing, then, that the God who is over all and through all is one, let us reckon no other god alongside him,

nor let us be found assigning the crown of his kingship either to visible creatures, or to any others whatsoever;

for we shall not undermine the glory of God, nor should we even attempt to do so; rather, we would only be casting ourselves into the pits of destruction.

Let him, then, hear the divinely inspired Scripture crying out:

'Understand now, you senseless ones among the people; and you fools, at last be wise.'

'He who planted the ear, does he not hear? He who formed the eye, does he not perceive? He who instructs the nations, shall he not reprove?'

Since, then, God both knows and watches over all that concerns us, let us hold our faith secure and firmly established;

and let us wipe away the shame that comes from double-mindedness, remembering the blessed Paul, who writes:

'Therefore, my brothers, be steadfast, immovable,

always abounding in the work of God.' Come, then, let us offer to God the sincerity of our faith as a spiritual sacrifice, and say with a heart free of suspicion:

'Behold, we here will belong to you, for you are the Lord our God.' And again:

'O Lord our God, possess us;'

'O Lord, besides you we know no other; we call upon your name.' For those who would choose to think rightly must believe that the God who is over all and through all is one and alone;

he neither having been brought into being by himself, nor having received this existence from another;

but ever being and existing eternally, before every age and time;

incorruptible and indestructible, dwelling in unapproachable light, the fountain of wisdom and life, being and existing by nature precisely that which is the Good, the root of all strength;

known that he is, but unknown as to what he is by nature.

'For he who comes to God must believe that he exists, and that he becomes a rewarder of those who seek him.' But to inquire further is no longer fitting.

For do not, O man, waver within yourself, nor, driven on by thoughts born of ignorance, dare to say, out of perilous over-curiosity:

'I have been initiated into the mysteries and have believed, and I have been taught to worship the one God.'

'But why do I not learn the nature of the one I worship?' Away with bringing an untimely inquiry to bear upon what is above mind and reason!

For what at all is the mind of man in comparison with that ineffable and inexpressible nature? Or who could ever become so great in understanding as to be able to measure that beauty? Hear what the divinely inspired prophet Isaiah says, hinting this very thing to you enigmatically:

'Who has measured the water in the hollow of his hand, and the heaven with a span? Who has weighed the mountains in a balance, and the valleys in scales?' Do not, then, meddle curiously with anything that is above nature, but draw near through faith, agreeing and assenting that he is and exists, and holds sway over all things;

but wisely not permitting your mind to go, as it were, beyond the measures proper to humanity.

Thus also the divinely inspired Moses received the faith:

'Speak to the sons of Israel, and you shall say to them:'

'The Lord God of your fathers has sent me to you'—for he had inquired, saying:

'Behold, I am going to the sons of Israel, and I will say to them, «The Lord has called you.»'

'But they will ask me,' he said,

'«What is his name?» What shall I say to them?' And what did God say in reply to this? 'Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel:'

'HE WHO IS has sent me to you.'

'This is my name forever, and my memorial to all generations.' For to be and to exist eternally is proper to God according to nature.

That which is and exists without beginning and without end will also escape the taint of having been made, and by this very fact it will bear witness of itself that it does not have its existence from another.

For God the Father is uncreated and unbegotten, having as connatural and coeternal with himself the Son who was begotten from his own essence, through whom he also made the ages, and grants to things that once were not the passage into being, and gives life to all things whatsoever that are capable of receiving life;

and with the divine and intelligible light he in turn illumines those things that lack light.

'How you have multiplied your mercy, O God! And the sons of men shall put their hope in the shelter of your wings.'

'They shall be filled abundantly with the fatness of your house;'

and you will give them to drink from the river of your delights.'

'For with you is the fountain of life, and in your light we shall see light.' And indeed the most wise John said: 'That was the true light, which enlightens every man coming into the world.' For he is—yes, he truly is—the Only-Begotten, the unfalsified image of the essence of God the Father, having the Begetter wholly present in his own beauty;

and, by what he himself is, most excellently depicting the nature of the one who begot him.

Hence he also said, 'I am in the Father, and the Father is in me.' But when you hear 'Father' and 'Son,' withdraw your thought from bodily things;

and, running away from the ordinary notion concerning these things, think what you ought;

and understand that our discourse at present concerns nothing among the things subject to generation and corruption.

That nature which exercises sovereign authority over all things is something incorporeal and beyond all essence.

Therefore let the mind depart from bodies, whenever it learns something about God.

But that which is conceived as beyond and above every bodily substance could not be circumscribed by place, nor indeed be subject to the forms of shapes.

But even when he is said to beget, he will not be found subject to any effluxes or severances;

For men, that is, any other of the embodied animals, bring forth offspring from themselves, and through emissions directed toward another, possess as their own, individually, the offspring that come from themselves.

But God, who is incorporeal and beyond every conception within us, begets without being divided;

But if someone should wish me to explain the manner of the divine begetting, and should come forward and ask,

'How then has the divine nature begotten?' — without blushing at all, I will say:

And what mind of yours will comprehend the things that are beyond mind? Or what word could interpret for us the things that are beyond word? For the blessed Paul writes:

'The peace of Christ, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts.' And to show that such things are altogether inexpressible, the most wise Solomon also said:

'Who shall declare his generation?' And more clearly still the prophet Habakkuk explains, saying:

'His excellence covered the heavens.' For what would it mean to say that the Son's excellence covered even the heavens themselves, except that the account concerning him is greater than even the multitude above and the holy ranks? Therefore the begetting of Christ is utterly unspeakable to all creation and altogether inconceivable.

But following the divine Scriptures, and seeing as it were in a mirror and a riddle, we say both that he was begotten and that he co-exists with the Father eternally, in certain manners such as these:

and I know that the examples are small, and not sufficient to signify to us adequately the nature of God and the manner of the begetting, as it truly is;

yet it follows that we should consider that there is nothing among the things that have come into being which anyone could see as not falling short of the glory of God.

Therefore, setting forth the example as a kind of perceptible model for our contemplations, let us leap up to that which incomparably surpasses it, and, as far as is possible and attainable, going up to the very beauty of the divine nature itself, let us consider that human reason, and indeed also the form which one might suppose to exist in bodies, do not truly subsist, and have nowhere any distinct subsistence of their own;

whereas the divine and supra-cosmic offspring, that is, the Son, does subsist, having been begotten distinctly from the Father who subsists unbegottenly.

Let the difference of terms trouble no one.

For let us by no means accept the rash opinions of certain people, who speak from their own heart and not from the mouth of the Lord, according to what is written:

to whom it is fitting to add and say:

They plunder the flock, turning it aside into error, and casting it into the pits of destruction.

Let them, therefore, hear the divinely inspired Scripture crying out:

'This wisdom is not one that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic.'

For what indeed do these wretched men say, as, so far as lies in them, they drag the Son away from consubstantiality with God the Father? And how, they ask, could that which is begotten be by nature the same as the unbegotten Father? For there is a very great difference between the terms.

To this I would say at once that what is indicated to us by the terms is admittedly different, yet this does not sever the Son from consubstantiality with God the Father.

For no argument persuades us to confess, as though by necessity, that what is begotten is altogether of a different nature from what begets it;

rather, so long as it is believed to have been begotten at all, according to the true manner of begetting, it will be of the same nature and consubstantial with the one who begot it.

If then the Father has truly begotten, and they themselves confess that this is indeed the nature of the matter, in what way could the Son, who has shone forth from him according to nature, be foreign and of a different kind? For, if it were so, as they foolishly babble, it would be shown that the divine nature suffered what not even created nature itself would endure to suffer.

For a man's offspring is a man;

and indeed each of all those beings which has received the law of being able to beget will assuredly have as its own offspring things of the same species and the same substance;

and neither would a man beget a horse, nor a horse bring forth a dog.

Since then God the Father far surpasses us in what is better, he will surely also be superior in this respect, and will be understood to have his own Son consubstantial with himself;

for he could in no way suffer what even the nature of created beings is ashamed to suffer.

If, then, in fashioning all things at the beginning, he judged it best that each of the things made should have what is begotten of it consubstantial with itself, why would he deprive himself of the finest of things, by not himself being so? But if it is absurd even to think or say this — for it is fitting that all excellent things belong to him — then this too will surely belong to him.

But if they suppose that God has not truly begotten, why do they put forward the difference of terms as though it were necessary, and attempt to undermine the glory of the offspring, saying that it is of a different nature from the Father who exists unbegottenly?

For if God the Father has not begotten at all, then according to them the Son is not even begotten.

Therefore let the question be resolved, and let them cease setting up against us, as an unanswerable objection, the difference of the terms;

and if the Father has not begotten, let them themselves teach who then the Only-begotten is, of whom God the Father says:

'From the womb, before the morning star, I have begotten you.' For it says 'from the womb';

for the language concerning these things is framed after the manner of human beings;

so that, by conceiving from what belongs to us what is beyond us, we may believe that the Son has been begotten from the very substance of the Father.

But I marvel, beloved, how, though they are exceedingly bitter, and think themselves wise, this too has escaped them:

For the inspired Paul, though he is a steward of the divine mysteries for us, and ordained for this very purpose (for he was set apart unto the Gospel of God), in showing that God is first and alone and truly Father, and that the things that have come into being have, by likeness to him, been honored by him with the title of 'father,' writes concerning him:

'From whom every family in heaven and on earth is named.' But these precise investigators of things beyond mind and reason, stripping God the Father of all things good, say that he has not truly begotten the Son, but that he is a falsely-named father, having the Only-begotten as an adopted son.

One might then say to them, quite reasonably, 'O most excellent ones, if God is not by nature and in truth a Father, and if he has not begotten his own Son out of himself, that is, out of his own substance —

while we are truly fathers, having our own children from ourselves, how then is every family still named from him, according to what is written? For he is called Father in likeness to us, and it is not that we are fathers because of him.'

For what is by adoption is secondary to what is by nature;

and what is by imitation and likeness to a thing is later than what is according to truth.

We, therefore, are the first fathers, who are seen to be this by nature and in truth through actual fact;

and God is second, and after us, being Father by likeness and imitation.

Then how is it still that every family in heaven and on earth is named from him? But we must give heed not to their loose talk, but to the utterances of the saints.

Therefore the inspired Paul will in no way tell a false tale;

but God is clearly the first and true Father, and has as his own the Son begotten of him, consubstantial with him;

for this is what the manner of true begetting signifies.

But perhaps, bringing forward against us other arguments in turn, and adding sin upon sin, according to what is written, they will say that 'unbegotten' is indicative of the substance of God the Father;

and that 'begotten' is indicative of the substance of the Only-begotten;

and that 'the unbegotten' is not like 'the begotten' in nature.

But I, beloved, have marveled at the greatness of the derangement that possesses them;

and I will show, before long, that they do not know what they are saying, nor about what things they make their assertions.

For if 'unbegotten,' as applied to God the Father, does not signify that nothing has been begotten of him,

nor indeed does 'begotten,' as applied to the Son, indicate that he has been begotten, but they say that these names are indicative merely of substances,

then from where have they learned the difference of the Son from the Father? For since the term signifies nothing other than that it is merely a substance, who then has revealed that the Son is foreign to the Father, joined to him in no way at all, even though they are the same in substance? Therefore, if they are unwilling to think that 'unbegotten' signifies not having been begotten,

nor that 'begotten' signifies having been begotten, but that both terms simply denote substance, with no difference at all discernible from this,

then from where will their otherness become apparent? For substance in relation to substance, insofar as they are conceived merely as substances, will have nothing opposed to one another.

What, then, will still prevent the Son from being like the Father in substance, if what is signified by the terms is not opposed to one another? But since, abandoning a life of simplicity and believing without inquiry, they attach themselves to the eloquent men of the Greeks, and from that source arm themselves against us like the boastful Goliath, and thus revile the congregation of the Lord just as he did, saying:

'I am not accustomed to these things' — yet holding Christ as a staff of power, as it were, and the choice stone, let us advance our mind, as though carried in a small pouch, against those who are raging in madness.

And so, setting aside for a little, out of necessity, a small part of the Church's simplicity, let us convict them of madness in those very matters in which they suppose themselves to be clever and hard to withstand, so that — having neither the understanding that comes from God, nor having truly attained, by reasoning, the wisdom of those outside — they may justly hear:

'How long will you go limping on both your hams? Either Baal, Baal —

or God, God.' For that they say, in ignorance, that 'unbegotten' is indicative of substance will become evident from this as well; and grant me leave to say briefly a little of what is philosophized about among many.

I have learned that they call and name 'definitions' those things by which the substances of existing things are signified;

and it seems that they weave together their definitions out of genus and difference, or differences. For they say that the genus is the substance simply signified, as, for instance, let us say, 'animal';

And in turn, the term that points out the difference is the account showing what sort of living being it is, rational or irrational.

For if one wished to define man and horse, he would simply say that each is an animal.

For man and horse alike are equally animals.

But adding the differentia to the genus, concerning man he will certainly say that he is a rational, mortal animal;

and concerning horse, that it is the neighing animal.

Therefore, if the name 'unbegotten' defines for us the essence of God, and the word has the force of a definition, let it fall under genus and differentia.

For example, if someone should ask what fire is, one fittingly answers: the hot, and dry, and burning, and illuminating element;

for he makes his explanation from what it is.

But if he should say that fire is that which is not cold, he shows it not from what it is, but from what it is not;

and this is unskillful and utterly unreasonable.

If then, in the case of God, the name 'unbegotten' signifies not having been begotten, it remains true that it points not to what God is, but to what He is not; for the name signifies only that He has not been begotten.

How then, according to them, does the word have the force of a definition, so as to signify the essence, and not rather something believed to attend upon the essence? But these things we have said against them.

But it shall be said to you that the proclamation of the Church is simple.

For we have been baptized into the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit;

and believing the holy Trinity to be consubstantial, we worship in it one Godhead;

giving thanks to God and the Father, because for the sake of our salvation and life He sent forth from heaven His own Son, who was born of a woman, and who put on our likeness, and truly became man, so that, having triumphed over the Principalities and the Powers, He might nail to His own cross, as it is written, the handwriting that was against us, and might declare us free from all guilt and clean, having washed away the stain of our former transgressions;

and might proclaim also to the spirits in Hades who had once been disobedient, as it is written, and thus at last abolish death, the enemy of all, having been raised from the dead.

And indeed, having opened wide for those on earth the gates above, He might make the one who was long a fugitive a citizen of heaven.

For He will come, He will come in due season, and, just as He Himself said, He will take all of us who excel in right faith and are made radiant by evangelical conduct, to be with Him.

Knowing this, beloved, having washed away every stain, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement;

and let us become merciful, as our heavenly Father is merciful;

and helping, according to our power, those in want, let us restore widows and orphans, and bring the naked and the homeless into our houses;

and, in short, let us practice every kind of virtue.

For thus, thus let us fast purely;

beginning the holy Forty Days from the thirtieth of the month Mechir, and the week of the saving Pascha from the fifth of the month Pharmouthi, and ending the fasts on the tenth of the same month Pharmouthi, at deep evening, according to the evangelical proclamation;

and celebrating the feast on the following dawning Lord's Day, the eleventh of the same month Pharmouthi;

and immediately joining also the seven weeks of Pentecost.

For thus, thus again shall we delight in the divine words, in Christ Jesus our Lord, through whom and with whom, to the Father, together with the Holy Spirit, be honor and glory and might, unto the ages.

It is good, it seems, or rather it is already the time, for us, taking up holy words, to come forward and proclaim beforehand our holy and all-glorious feast, saying:

Grace to you and peace from God the Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us out of this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, to whom be glory for ever and ever.

Amen. For of old, sin used to mock us as we lay low, and the innate movement of the flesh made tyrannical war upon us, while unrestrained and savage pleasure ever poured itself, like a river's stream, into the souls of all, and ever thrust them down to choose to mind the things upon the earth.

and, sick with a fondness for arrogance, cried out along with that one, saying:

'I will seize the whole world with my hand, as a nest, and I will take it up as eggs that have been left;'

'and there is none who shall escape me, or gainsay me.' Since, then, our affairs had slipped down into such misery and were shaken, God, who loves mercy, almost grieving Himself over the calamities of all, says through the voice of Isaiah:

'Therefore my people have become captive;'

'and a multitude of dead came to be, because they did not know the Lord;'

'and Hades enlarged its soul, and opened wide its mouth, that it might not cease.' But even though death, having prevailed, swallowed us up, yet God has taken away every tear from every face;

He has taken away the reproach of His people from all the earth.

For having been carried off into transgression and disobedience, and having sinned against lawful living through love of the flesh, we had against us Satan, who loves to accuse, laughing broadly and reproaching us, together with the evil host of demons.

For he is indeed an enemy and an avenger, according to what is written.

And indeed, because of these things and the reproaches from our own conscience, we wretches were deeply ashamed, and in this we had been deprived of our boldness toward God—and indeed, having fallen sick with what absurdity did we not?—we spent our time upon the earth.

'Do not fear, for you have been put to shame;'

'and be not ashamed, for you have been reproached.'

'I am, I am He who blots out your iniquities, and I will not remember them.' He sent to us from heaven the only-begotten God the Word, born of a woman and of the seed of Abraham, that, being made like His brethren in all things, He might put sin to death in the flesh, and, filling it with spiritual vigor, might through Himself and in Himself reshape our nature back to its original state, and might render it unassailable by sins, and prepare it to become superior to ruin and corruption.

And knowing this, the wise Paul writes to us:

For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God, by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and concerning sin, condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.

And indeed, signifying beforehand for us the much-longed-for time of the incarnation—or rather, as one who had already come to be among us—the Word from God the Father cried out beforehand, saying:

'I myself, who speak, am present, as the season upon the mountains, as the feet of one bringing good tidings, a report of peace, as one bringing good tidings of good things.' For God, having spoken of old to the fathers in many portions and in many ways by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us in a Son, through whom we have all blossomed anew unto incorruption and life.

For He came to us as a season upon the mountains. And what indeed is this? For the plants on mountains and in gardens, when winter induces them to contract, and does not allow the moisture from the root to run richly upward, all but wither and become fruitless, experiencing a barrenness of leaves.

But when the season has appeared, that is, the smiling time of spring, and the sun with its warmer rays makes everything grow hot, that which was shut up unfolds, and, the moisture from the depths now having free passage everywhere, the branches become as if drunk, and, putting forth fresh green foliage, are at once crowned with their own fruit.

Our Lord Jesus Christ, then, has become for us as a season upon the mountains.