Gregory of Nazianzen (the Theologian): SECOND PASCHAL ORATION
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THE SAINT PACHOMIUS ORTHODOX LIBRARY
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ST. GREGORY, BISHOP OF NAZIANZEN, CALLED THE THEOLOGIAN:
ORATION XLV (Second Paschal Oration) [Circa A.D. 383].
Translated by Charles Gordon Browne and James Edward Swallow
[Gaps in the Greek text are indicated by . . . ]
ONE.
I will stand upon my watch, saith the venerable Habakkuk
[2:1]; and I will take my post beside him today on the authority
and observation which was given me of the Spirit; and I will
look forth, and will observe what shall be said to me. Well, I
have taken my stand, and looked forth; and behold a man riding
on the clouds and he is very high, and his countenance is as the
countenance of an Angel, and his vesture as the brightness of
piercing lightning; and he lifts his hand toward the East, and
cries with a loud voice. His voice is like the voice of a trumpet;
and round about Him is as it were a multitude of the Heavenly
Host; and he saith:
"Today is salvation come unto the world, to that which is visible,
and to that which is invisible. Christ is risen from the dead, rise
ye with Him. Christ is returned again to Himself, return ye. Christ
is freed from the tomb, be ye freed from the bond of sin. The gates
of hell are opened, and death is destroyed, and the old Adam is put
aside, and the New is fulfilled; if any man be in Christ he is a new
creature; be ye renewed."
Thus he speaks; and the rest sing out, as they did before when Christ was
manifested to us by His birth on earth, their "glory to God in the highest,
on earth, peace, goodwill among men."
And with them I also utter the same words among you. And would
that I might receive a voice that should rank with the Angel's,
and should sound through all the ends of the earth!
TWO.
The Lord's Passover, the Passover, and again I say the
Passover to the honour of the Trinity! This is to us a
Feast of feasts and a Solemnity of solemnities as far
exalted above all others (not only those which are merely
human and creep on the ground, but even those which are of
Christ Himself, and are celebrated in His honour) as the
Sun is above the stars. Beautiful indeed yesterday was our
splendid array, and our illumination, in which both in
public and private we associated ourselves, every kind of
men, and almost every rank, illuminating the night with our
crowded fires, formed after the fashion of that great
light, both that with which the heaven above us lights its
beacon fires, and that which is above the heavens, amid the
angels (the first luminous nature, next to the first nature
of all, because springing directly from it), and that which
is in the Trinity, from which all light derives its being,
parted from the undivided light and honoured.
But today's is more beautiful and more illustrious; inasmuch as
yesterday's light was a forerunner of the rising of the
Great Light, and as it were a kind of rejoicing in
preparation for the Festival; but today we are celebrating
the Resurrection itself, no longer as an object of
expectation, but as having already come to pass, and
gathering the whole world unto itself.
Let then different persons bring forth different fruits and
offer different offerings at this season, smaller or greater
. . . such spiritual offerings as are dear to God . . . as each
may have power. For scarcely Angels themselves could offer gifts
worthy of its rank, those first and intellectual and pure
beings, who are also eye-witnesses of the Glory that is on
high; if even these can attain the full strain of praise.
We will for our part offer a discourse, the best and most
precious thing we have--especially as we are praising the
Word for the blessing which He hath bestowed on the
reasoning creation. I will begin from this point. For I
cannot endure, when I am engaged in offering the sacrifice
of the lips concerning the Great Sacrifice and the greatest
of days, to fail to recur to God, and to take my beginning
from Him. Therefore I pray you, cleanse your mind and ears
and thoughts, all you who delight in such subjects, since
the discourse will be concerning God, and will be divine;
that you may depart filled with delights of a sort that do
not pass away into nothingness. And it shall be at once
very full and very concise, so as neither to distress you
by its deficiencies, nor to displease you by satiety.
THREE.
God always was and always is, and always will be; or rather, God
always -is-, for "was" and "will be" are fragments of our time, and of
changeable nature. But He is Eternal Being; and this is the Name He
gives Himself when giving the Oracles to Moses in the Mount. For in
Himself He sums up and contains all Being, having neither beginning in
the past nor end in the future . . . like some great Sea of Being,
limitless and unbounded, transcending all conception of time and
nature, only adumbrated by the mind, and that very dimly and scantily
. . . not by His Essentials but by His Environment, one image being got
from one source and another from another, and combined into some sort
of presentation of the truth, which escapes us before we have caught
it, and which takes to flight before we have concieved it, blazing
forth upon our master-part, even when that is cleansed as the
lightning flash wich will not stay its course upon our sight . . . in
order, as I conceive, by that part of it which we can comprehend to
draw us to itself (for that which is altogether incomprehensible is
outside the bounds of hope, and not within compass of endevour); and
by that part of It which we cannot comprehend to move our wonder; and
as an object of wonder to become more of an object of desire; and
being desired, to purify; and purifing to make us like God; so that,
when we have have become like Himself, God may, to use a bold
expression, hold converse with us as God; being united to us, and
known by us; and that perhaps to the same extent as He already knows
those who are known to Him. The Divine nature, then, is boundless;
even though one may conceive that because He is of a simple Nature
He is therefore either wholly incomprehensible or perfectly
comprehensible. For let us further enquire what is implied by "is
of a simple Nature?" For it is quite certain that this simplicity
is not itself its nature, just as composition is not by itself the
essence of compound beings.
FOUR.
And when Infinity is considered from two points of view,
beginning and end (for that which is beyond these and not limited
by them is Infinity), when the mind looks into the depths above,
not having where to stand, and leans upon phenomena to form an
idea of God, it calls the Infinite and Unapproachable which it
finds there by the name of the Unoriginate.
And when it looks into the depth below and at the future, it calls
Him Undying and Imperishable. And when it draws a conclusion from
the whole, it calls Him Eternal. For Eternity is neither time nor part
of time; for it cannot be measured. But what time measured by the
course of the sun is to us, that Eternity is to the Everlasting;
namely a sort of timelike movement and interval, coextensive with
Their Existence.
This however is all that I must now say of God; for the present is not
a suitable time, as my present subject is not the doctrine of God, but
that of the Incarnation. And when I say God, I mean Father, Son, and
Holy Ghost; for Godhead is neither diffused beyond These, so as to
introduce a mob of gods, nor yet bounded by a smaller compass than These,
so as to condemn us for a poverty stricken conception of Deity, either
Judaizing to save the -Monarchia-, or falling into heathenism by the
multitude of our gods. For the evil on either side is the same,
though found in contrary directions. Thus then is the Holy of
Holies, Which is hidden even from the Seraphim, and is glorified
with a thrice-repeated Holy meeting in one ascription of the
title Lord and God, as one of our predecessors has most
beautifully and loftily reasoned out.
FIVE.
But since this movement of Self-contemplation alone could not
satisfy Goodness, but Good must be poured out and go forth beyond
Itself, to multiply the objects of Its beneficence (for this was
essential to the highest Goodness), He first conceived the
Angelic and Heavenly Powers. And this conception was a work
fulfilled by His word and perfected by His Spirit. And so the
Secondary Splendours came into being, as the ministers of the
Primary Splendour (whether we are to conceive of them as
intelligent Spirits, or as Fire of an immaterial and incoporeal
kind, or as some other nature approaching this as near as may
be). I should like to say that they are incapable of movement in
the direction of evil, and susceptible only of the movement of
good, as being about God and illuminated with the first Rays from
God (for earthly beings have but the second illumination), but I
am obliged to stop short of saying that they are immovable, and
to conceive and speak of them as only difficult to move, because
of him who for His Splendour was called Lucifer, but became and is
called Darkness though his pride; and the Apostate Hosts who are
subject to him, creators of evil by their revolt against good, and
our inciters.
SIX.
Thus then and for these reasons, He gave being to the world
of thought, as far as I can reason on these matters, and estimate
great things in my own poor language. Then, when His first
Creation was in good order, He conceives a second world,
material and visible; and this a system of earth and sky and all
that is in the midst of them; an admirable creation indeed when
we look at the fair form of every part, but yet more worthy of
admiration when we consider the harmony and unison of the whole,
and how each part fits in with every other in fair order, and all
with the whole, tending to the perfect completion of the world as
a Unit. This was to shew that He could call into being not only a
nature akin to Himself, but also one altogether alien to Him.
For akin to Deity are those natures which are intellectual and
only to be comprehended by the mind; but all of which sense can
take cognizance are utterly alien to It; and of these the
furthest removed from It are all those which are entirely
destitute of soul and power of motion.
SEVEN.
Mind then and sense, thus distinguished from each other,
had remained within their own boundaries, and bore in themselves
the magnificence of the Creator-Word, silent praisers and
thrilling heralds of His mighty work. Not yet was there any
mingling of both, nor any mixture of these opposites, tokens of a
greater wisdom and generosity in the creation of natures; nor as yet,
were the whole riches of goodness made known.
Now the Creator-Word, determined to exhibit this, and to produce a
single living being out of both -- the invisible and the visible creation,
I mean -- fashions Man; and taking a body from already existing
matter, and placing in it a Breath taken from himself (which the
Word knew to be an intelligent soul, and the image of God), as a
sort of second world, great in littleness, He placed him on the
earth, a new Angel, a mingled worshipper, fully initiated into
the visible creation, but only partially into the intellectual;
king of all upon the earth, but subject to the King above;
earthly and heavenly; temporal and yet immortal; visible and
yet intellectual; half-way between greatness and lowliness; in
one person combining spirit and flesh; spirit because of the
favour bestowed on him, flesh on account of of the height to
which he had been raised; the one that he might continue to live
and glorify his benefactor, the other that he might suffer, and
by suffering be put in remembrance, and be corrected if he became
proud in his greatness; a living creature, trained here and then
moved elsewhere; and to complete the mystery, deified by its
inclination to God . . . for to this, I think, tends that light
of Truth which here we possess but in measure; that we should
both see and experience the Splendour of God, which is worthy of
Him Who made us, and will dissolve us, to remake us after a
loftier fashion.
EIGHT.
This being He placed in paradise -- whatever that paradise may
have been (having honoured him with the gift of free will, in order
that good might belong to him as the result of his choice, no less
than to Him Who had implanted the seeds of it) -- to till the immortal
plants, by which is perhaps meant the Divine conceptions, both the
simpler and the more perfect; naked in his simplicity and inartificial
life; and without any covering or screen; for it was fitting that he
who was from the beginning should be such. And He gave Him a Law, as
material for his free will to act upon. This Law was a commandment as
to what plants he might partake of and which one he might not touch.
This latter was the Tree of Knowledge; not, however, because it was
evil from the beginning when planted; nor was it forbidden because God
grudged it to men -- let not the enemies of God wag their tongues in
that direction, or imitate the serpent. But it would have been good
if partaken of at the proper time; for the Tree was, according to my
theory, Contemplation, which it is only safe for those who have
reached the maturity of habit to enter upon; but which is not good for
those who are still somewhat simple and greedy; just as neither is
solid food good for those who are yet tender and have need of milk.
But when through the devil's malice and the woman's caprice, to which
she succumbed as the more tender, and which she brought to bear upon
the man, as she was the more apt to persuade -- alas for my weakness,
for that of my first father was mine; he forgot the commandment
which had been given him, and yielded to the baleful fruit; and for
his sin was banished at once from the tree of life, and from paradise,
and from God; and put on the coats of skins, that is, perhaps, the
coarser flesh, both mortal and contradictory. And this was the first
thing which he learnt -- his own shame -- and he hid himself from God.
Yet here too he makes a gain, namely death and the cutting off of
sin, in order that evil may not be immortal. Thus, his punishment
is changed into a mercy, for it is in mercy, I am persuaded, that
God inflicts punishment.
NINE.
And having first been chastened by many means because his sins
were many, whose root of evil sprang up through divers causes and
sundry times, by word, by law, by prophets, by benefits, by threats,
by plagues, by waters, by fires, by wars, by victories, by defeats, by
signs in heaven, and signs in the air, and in the earth, and in the
sea; by unexpected changes of men, of cities, of nations (the object
of which was the destruction of wickedness) -- at last he needed a
stronger remedy, for his diseases were growing worse: mutual
slaughters, adulteries, perjuries, unnatural crimes, and that first
and last of all evils, idolatry, and the transfer of worship from the
Creator to the creatures.
As these required a greater aid, so they also obtained a greater. And
that was that the Word of God Himself, Who is before all worlds, the
Invisible, the Incomprehensible, the Bodiless, the Beginning of beginning,
the Light of Light, the Source of Life and Immortality, the Image of the
Archetype, the Immovable Seal, the Unchangeable Image, the Father's
Definition and Word, came to His own Image, and took on Him Flesh for the
sake of our flesh, and mingled Himself with an intelligent soul for my
soul's sake, purifying like by like; and in all points except sin was made
Man; conceived by the Virgin, who first in body and soul was purified by
the Holy Ghost, for it was needful both that Child-bearing should be honoured
and that Virginity should receive a higher honour.
He came forth then, as God, with That which He had assumed; one Person in
two natures, flesh and Spirit, of which the latter deified the former.
O new commingling; O strange conjunction! the Self-existent comes into
Being, the Uncreated is created, That which cannot be contained is contained
by the intervention of an intellectual soul mediating between the Deity and
the corporeity of the flesh. And He who gives riches became poor; for
He assumes the poverty of my flesh, that I may assume the riches of
His Godhead. He that is full empties Himself; for He empties Himself
of His Glory for a short while, that I may have a share in His
Fulness. What is the riches of His Goodness? What is this mystery
that is around me? I had a share in the Image and I did not keep it;
He partakes of my flesh that He may both save the Image and make the
flesh immortal. He communicates a Second Communion, far more
marvellous than the first, inasmuch as then He imparted the better
nature, but now He Himself assumes the worse. This is more godlike
than the former action; this is loftier in the eyes of all men of
understanding.
TEN.
But perhaps some one of those who are too impetuous and festive
may say, "What has all this to do with us? Spur on your horse to the
goal; talk to us about the Festival and the reasons for our being here
today." Yes, this is what I am about to do, although I have begun at
a somewhat previous point, being compelled to do so by the needs of my
argument.
There will be no harm in the eyes of scholars and lovers of
the beautiful if we say a few words about the word Pascha itself, for
such an addition will not be useless in their ears. This great and
venerable Pascha is called Phaska by the Hebrews in their own
language; and the word means Passing Over. Historically, from their
flight and migration from Egypt into the Land of Canaan; spiritually,
from the progress and ascent from things below to things above and to
the Land of Promise. And we observe that a thing which we often find
to have happened in Scripture, the change of certain nouns from an
uncertain to a clearer sense, or from a coarser to a more refined, has
taken place in this instance. For some people, supposing this to be a
name of the Sacred Passion, and in consequence Grecizing the word by
changing Phi and Kappa into Pi and Chi, called the Day Pascha. And
custom took it up and confirmed the word, with the help of the ears of
most people, to whom it had a more pious sound.
ELEVEN.
But before our time the Holy Apostle declared that the Law was
but a shadow of the things to come, which are conceived by thought.
And God too, who in still older times gave oracles to Moses, said when
giving laws concerning these things,"See thou make all things
according to the pattern shewed thee in the Mount," when He shewed him
the visible signs as an adumbration of and design for the things that
are invisible [Ex. 25:40].
And I am persuaded that none of these things has been ordered in vain,
none without a reason, none in a grovelling manner or unworthy of the
legislation of God and the ministry of Moses, even though it be difficult
in each type to find a theory descending to the most delicate details, to
every point about the Tabernacle itself, and its measures and materials,
and the Levites and Priests who carried them, and all the particulars which
were enacted about the Sacrifices and the purifications and the Offerings;
and though these are only to be understood by those who rank with
Moses in virtue, or have made the nearest approach to his learning.
For in that Mount itself God is seen by men; on the one hand through
His own descent from His lofty abode, on the other through His drawing
us up from our abasement on earth, that the Incomprehensible may be in
some degree, and as far as is safe, comprehended by a mortal nature.
For in no other way is it possible for the denseness of a material
body and an imprisoned mind to come into consciousness of God, except
by His assistance. Then therefore all men do not seem to have been
deemed worthy of the same rank and position; but one of one place and
one of another, each, I think, according to the measure of his own
purification. Some have even been altogether driven away, and only
permitted to hear the Voice from on high, namely those whose
dispositions are altogether like wild beasts, and who are unworthy of
divine mysteries.
TWELVE.
But we, standing midway between those whose minds are utterly dense
on the one side, and on the other those who are very contemplative and
exalted, that we may neither remain quite idle and immovable, not yet
be more busy than we ought, and fall short of and be estranged from
our purpose -- for the former course is Judaic and -pos tapeinon-, and the
latter is only fit for the dream-soothsayer, and both alike are to be
condemned -- let us say our say upon these matters, so far as is within
our reach, and not very absurd, or exposed to the ridicule of the
multitude.
Our belief is that since it was needful that we, who had
fallen in consequence of the original sin, and had been led away by
pleasure, even as far as idolatry and unlawful bloodshed, should be
recalled and raised up again to our original position through the tender
mercy of God our Father, Who could not endure that such a noble work of
His own hands as Man should be lost to Him; the method of our new
creation, and of what should be done, was this: that all violent
remedies were disapproved, as not likely to persuade us, and as quite
possibly tending to add to the plague, through our chronic pride; but
that God disposed things to our restoration by a gentle and kindly
method of cure. For a crooked sapling will not bear a sudden bending the
other way, or violence from the hand that would straighten it, but will
be more quickly broken than straightened; and a horse of a hot temper
and above a certain age will not endure the tyranny of the bit without
some coaxing and encouragement.
Therefore the Law is given to us as an assistance, like a boundary wall
between God and idols, drawing us away from the one and to the
Other. And it concedes a little at first, that it may receive that which
is greater. It concedes the Sacrifices for a time, that it may establish
God in us, and then when the fitting time shall come may abolish the
Sacrifices also; thus wisely changing our minds by gradual removals, and
bringing us over to the Gospel when we have already been trained to a
prompt obedience.
THIRTEEN.
Thus then and for this cause the written Law came in, gathering us
into Christ; and this is the account of the Sacrifices as I account for
them. And that you may not be ignorant of the depth of His Wisdom and the
riches of His unsearchable judgements, He did not leave even these
unhallowed altogether, or useless, or with nothing in them but mere blood.
But that great, and if I may say so, in Its first nature unsacrificeable
Victim, was intermingled with the Sacrifices of the Law, and was a
purification, not for a part of the world, nor for a short time,but for the
whole world and for all time.
For this reason a Lamb was chosen for its innocence, and its clothing of
the original nakedness. For such is the Victim That was offered for us,
Who is both in Name and fact the Garment of incorruption. And He was a
perfect Victim not only on account of His Godhead, than which nothing is
more perfect; but also on account of that which He assumed having been
anointed with Deity, and having become one with That which anointed It, and
I am bold to say, made equal with God.
A Male, because offered for Adam; or rather the Stronger for the strong,
when the first Man had fallen under sin; and chiefly because there is in
Him nothing feminine, nothing unmanly; but He burst from the bonds of
Virgin-Mother's womb with much power, and a Male was brought forth by the
Prophetess [Isaiah 13:3], as Isaiah declares the good tidings.
And of a year old because he is the Sun of righteousness setting out from
heaven, and circumscribed by His visible Nature, and returning unto
Himself. And "the blessed crown of Goodness," -- being on every side equal
to Himself and alike; and not only this, but also as giving life to all the
circle of the virtues, gently commingled and intermixed with each other,
according to the Law of Love and Order. And Immaculate and guileless, as
being the Healer of faults, and of the defects and taints that come from
sin. For though He both took on Him our sins and bare our diseases
[Isaiah 53:4], yet He did not Himself suffer aught that needed healing.
For He was tempted in all points like as we are yet without sin [Hebrews
4:15]. For he that persecuted the LIght that shineth in darkness could not
overtake Him.
FOURTEEN.
What more? The First Month is introduced, or rather the beginning of
months, whether it was so among the Hebrews from the beginning, or was made
so later on this account, and became the first in consequence of the Mystery;
and the Tenth of the month, for this is the most complete number, of units
the first perfect unit, and the parent of perfection. And it is kept until
the fifth day, perhaps because the Victim, of Whom I am speaking, purifies
the five senses, from which comes falling into sin, and around which the
war rages, inasmuch as they are open to the incitements to sin. And it was
chosen, not only out of the lambs, but also out of the inferior species,
which are placed on the left hand -- the kids; because He sacrificed not only
for the righteous, but also for sinners; and perhaps even more for these,
inasmuch as we have greater need of His mercy.
And we need not be surprised that a lamb for a house should be required as
the best course, but if that could not be, then one might be obtained by
contributions (owing to poverty) for the houses of a family; because it is
clearly best that each individual should suffice for his own perfecting,
and should offer his own living sacrifice holy unto God Who called him, being
consecrated at all times and in every respect. But if that cannot be, then
that those who are akin in virtue and of like disposition should be made use
of as helpers. For I think this provision means that we should communicate of
the Sacrifice to those who are nearest, if there be need.
FIFTEEN.
Then comes the Sacred Night, the Anniversary of the confused darkness of
the present life, into which the primaeval darkness is dissolved, and all
things come into life and rank and form, and that which was chaos is
reduced to order. Then we flee from Egypt, that is from sullen
persecuting sin; and from Pharaoh the unseen tyrant, and the bitter
taskmasters, changing our quarters to the world above; and are delivered
from the clay and the brickmaking, and from the husks and dangers of this
fleshly condition, which for most men is only not overpowered by mere
husklike calculations. Then the Lamb is slain, and act and word are sealed
with the Precious Blood; that is, habit and action, the sideposts of our
doors; I mean, of course, of the movements of mind and opinion, which are
rightly opened and closed by contemplation, since there is a limit even to
thoughts. Then the last and gravest plague upon the persecutors, truly
worthy of the night; and Egypt mourns the first-born of her own reasonings
and actions which are also called in the Scripture the Seed of the
Chaldeans [Judith 5:6] removed, and the children of Babylon dashed against
the rocks and destroyed [Ps. 136(137):8]; and the whole air is full of the
cry and clamour of the Egyptians; and then the Destroyer of them shall
withdraw from us in reverence of the Unction. Then the removal of leaven;
that is, of the old and sour wickedness, not of that which is quickening
and makes bread; for seven days, a number which is of all the most
mystical, and is co-ordinate with this present world, that we may not lay
in provision of any Egyptian dough, or relic of Pharisaic or ungodly
teaching.
SIXTEEN.
Well, let them lament; we will feed on the Lamb toward evening -- for
Christ's Passion was in the completion of the ages; because too He
communicated His Disciples in the evening with His Sacrament, destroying
the darkness of sin; and not sodden, but roast -- that our word may have
in it nothing that is unconsidered or watery, or easily made away with;
but may be entirely consistent and solid, and free from all that is impure
and from all vanity. And let us be aided by the good coals [Isaiah 6:6],
kindling and purifying our minds from Him That cometh to send fire on the
earth, that shall destroy all evil habits, and to hasten its kindling.
Whatsoever then there be, of solid and nourishing in the Word, shall be
eaten with the inward parts and hidden things of the mind, and shall be
consumed and given up to spiritual digestion; aye, from head to foot, that
is, from the first contemplations of Godhead to the very last thoughts
about the Incarnation.
Neither let us carry aught of it abroad, nor leave it till the morning;
because most of our Mysteries may not be carried out to them that are
outside, nor is there beyond this night any further purification; and
procrastination is not creditable to those who have a share in the Word.
For just as it is good and well-pleasing to God not to let anger last
through the day, but to get rid of it before sunset, whether you take this
of time or in a mystical sense, for it is not safe for us that the Sun of
Righteousness should go down upon our wrath; so too we ought not to let
such Food remain all night, nor to put it off till to-morrow. But whatever
is of bony nature and not fit for food and hard for us even to understand,
this must not be broken; that is, badly divined and misconceived (I need
not say that in the history not a bone of Jesus was broken, even though
His death was hastened by His crucifiers on account of the Sabbath); nor
must it be stripped off and thrown away, lest that which is holy should be
given to the dogs, that is, to the evil hearers of the Word; just as the
glorious pearl of the Word is not to be cast before swine; but it shall be
consumed with the fire with which the burnt offerings also are consumed,
being refined and preserved by the Spirit That searcheth and knoweth all
things, not destroyed in the waters, nor scattered abroad as the calf's
head which was hastily made by Israel was by Moses, for a reproach for
their hardness of heart [Exod. 32:20].
SEVENTEEN.
Nor would it be right for us to pass over the manner of this eating
either, for the Law does not do so, but carries its mystical labour even
to this point in the literal enactment. Let us consume the Victim in
haste, eating It with unleavened bread, with bitter herbs, and with our
loins girded, and our shoes on our feet, and leaning on staves like old
men; with haste, that we fall not into that fault which was forbidden to
Lot by the commandment, that we look not around, nor stay in all that
neighbourhood, but that we escape to the mountain, that we be not
overtaken by the strange fire of Sodom, nor be congealed into a pillar of
salt in consequence of our turning back to wickedness; for this is the
result of delay [Gen. 19:17].
"With bitter herbs," for a life according to the Will of God is bitter and
arduous, especially to beginners, and higher than pleasures. For although
the new yoke is easy and the burden light, as you are told [Matt. 11:20],
yet this is on account of the hope and the reward, which is far more
abundant than the hardships of this life. If it were not so, who would not
say that the Gospel is more full of toil and trouble than the enactments
of the Law? For, while the Law prohibits only the completed acts of sin,
we are condemned for the causes also, almost as if they were acts.
The Law says, "Thou shalt not commit adultery"; but -you- may not even
-desire-, kindling passion by curious and earnest looks. "Thou shalt not
kill," says the Law; but -you- are not even to return a blow, but on the
contrary are to offer yourself to the smiter. How much more ascetic is
the Gospel than the Law!
"Thou shalt not forswear thyself" is the Law; but -you- are not
to swear at all, either a greater or a lesser oath, for an oath is the
parent of perjury. "Thou shalt not join house to house, nor field to
field, oppressing the poor"; but -you- are to set aside willingly even
your just possessions, and to be stripped for the poor, that without
encumbrance you may take up the Cross and be enriched with the unseen
riches.
EIGHTEEN.
And let the loins of the unreasoning animals be unbound and loose,
for they have not the gift of reason which can overcome pleasure (it is
not needful to say that even they know the limit of natural movement). But
let that part of your being which is the seat of passion, and which
neighs, as Holy Scripture calls it [Jer. 5:8], when sweeping away this
shameful passion, be restrained by a girdle of continence, so that you may
eat the Passover purely, having mortified your members which are upon the
earth, and copying the girdle of John, the Hermit and Forerunner and
great Herald of the Truth.
Another girdle I know, the soldierly and manly one, I mean, from which the
Euzoni of Syria and certain Monzoni take their name. And it is in respect
of this too that God saith in an oracle to Job, "Nay, but gird up thy
loins like a man, and give a manly answer" [Job 38:3]. With this also holy
David boasts that he is girded with strength from God, and speaks of God
Himself as clothed with strength and girded about with power -- against
the ungodly of course -- a declaration of the abundance of His power, and,
as it were, its restraint, just as also He clothes Himself with Light as
with a garment. For who shall endure His unrestrained power and light? Do
I enquire what there is common to the loins and to truth? What then is the
meaning to St. Paul of the expression, "Stand, therefore, having your loins
girt about with truth?" [Eph. 5:14]. Is it perhaps that contemplation is
to restrain concupiscence, and not to allow it to be carried in another
direction? For that which is disposed to love in a particular direction
will not have the same power towards other pleasures.
NINETEEN.
And as to -shoes-, let him who is about to touch the Holy Land which
the feet of God have trodden, put them off, as Moses did upon the Mount,
that he may bring there nothing dead; nothing to come between Man and God.
So too if any disciple is sent to preach the Gospel, let him go in a
spirit of philosophy and without excess, inasmuch as he must, besides
being without money and without staff and with but one coat, also be
barefooted, that the feet of those who preach the Gospel of Peace and
every other good may appear beautiful [Isaiah 52:7]. But he who would flee
from Egypt and the things of Egypt must put on shoes for safety's sake,
especially in regard to the scorpions and snakes in which Egypt so
abounds, so as not to be injured by those which watch the heel, which also
we are bidden to tread under foot.
And concerning -the staff- and the signification of it, my belief is as
follows. There is one I know to lean upon, and another which belongs to
Pastors and Teachers, and which corrects human sheep. Now the Law
prescribes to you the staff to lean upon, that you may not break down in
your mind when you hear of God's Blood, and His Passion and His death; and
that you may not be carried away to heresy in your defence of God; but
without shame and without doubt may eat the Flesh and drink the Blood, if
you are desirous of true life, neither disbelieving His words about His
Flesh, nor offended at those about His Passion. Lean upon this, and stand
firm and strong, in nothing shaken by the adversaries nor carried away by
the plausibility of their arguments. Stand upon thy High Place; in the
Courts of Jerusalem place thy feet; lean upon the Rock, that thy steps in
God be not shaken.
TWENTY.
What sayest thou? Thus it hath pleased Him that thou shouldest come
forth out of Egypt, the iron furnace; that thou shouldest leave behind the
idolatry of that country, and be led by Moses and his lawgiving and
martial rule. I give thee a piece of advice which is not my own, or rather
which is very much my own, if thou consider the matter spiritually. Borrow
from the Egyptians vessels of gold and silver [Exod. 11:2]; with these
take thy journey; supply thyself for the road with the goods of strangers,
or rather with thine own. There is money owing to thee, the wages of thy
bondage and of thy brickmaking; be clever on thy side too in asking
retribution; be an honest robber. Thou didst suffer wrong there whilst
thou wast fighting with the clay (that is, this troublesome and filthy
body) and wast building cities foreign and unsafe, "whose memorial
perishes with a cry" [Ps. 9:7 LXX]. What then? Dost thou come out for
nothing and without wages? But why wilt thou leave to the Egyptians and to
the powers of thine adversaries that which they have gained by wickedness,
and will spend with yet greater wickedness? It does not belong to them:
they have ravished it, and have sacrilegiously taken it as plunder from
Him who saith, The silver is Mine and the gold is Mine, and I give it to
whom I will. Yesterday it was theirs, for it was permitted to be so;
to-day the Master takes it and gives it to thee, that thou mayest make a
good and saving use of it. Let us make to ourselves friends of the Mammon
of unrighteousness, that when we fail, they may receive us in the time of
judgment [Luke 16:9].
TWENTY-ONE.
If you are a Rachel or a Leah, a patriarchal and great soul, steal
whatever idols of your father you can find; [Gen. 31:19] not, however, that
you may keep them, but that you may destroy them; and if you are a wise
Israelite remove them to the Land of the Promise, and let the persecutor
grieve over the loss of them, and learn through being outwitted that it was
vain for him to tyrannize over and keep in bondage better men than himself.
If thou doest this, and comest out of Egypt thus, I know well that thou
shalt be guided by the pillar of fire and cloud by night and day. The
wilderness shall be tamed for thee, and the Sea divided; Pharaoh shall be
drowned; bread shall be rained down; the rock shall become a fountain; Amalek
shall be conquered, not with arms alone, but with the hostile hand of the
righteous forming both prayers and the invincible trophy of the Cross; the
River shall be cut off; the sun shall stand still; and the moon be
restrained; walls shall be overthrown even without engines; swarms of hornets
shall go before thee to make a way for Israel, and to hold the Gentiles in
check; and all the other events which are told in the history after these and
with these (not to make a long story) shall be given thee of God.
Such is the feast thou art keeping to-day; and in this manner I would have
thee celebrate both the Birthday and the Burial of Him Who was born for thee
and suffered for thee. Such is the Mystery of the Passover; such are the
mysteries sketched by the Law and fulfilled by Christ, the Abolisher of the
letter, the Perfecter of the Spirit, who by His Passion taught us how to
suffer, and by His glorification grants us to be glorified with Him.
TWENTY-TWO
Now we are to examine another fact and dogma, neglected by most
people, but in my judgment well worth enquiring into. To Whom was
that Blood offered that was shed for us, and why was it shed? I mean
the precious and famous Blood of our God and Highpriest and Sacrifice.
We were detained in bondage by the Evil One, sold under sin, and
receiving pleasure in exchange for wickedness. Now, since a ransom
belongs only to him who holds in bondage, I ask to whom was this
offered, and for what cause?
If to the Evil One, fie upon the outrage! If the robber receives
ransom, not only from God, but a ransom which consists of God Himself,
and has such an illustrious payment for his tyranny, a payment for
whose sake it would have been right for him to have left us alone
altogether.
But if to the Father, I ask first, how? For it was not by Him that we
were being oppressed; and next, On what principle did the Blood of His
Only begotten Son delight the Father, Who would not receive even
Isaac, when he was being offered by his Father, but changed the
sacrifice, putting a ram in the place of the human victim? Is it not
evident that the Father accepts Him, but neither asked for Him nor
demanded Him; but on account of the Incarnation, and because Humanity
must be sanctified by the Humanity of God, that He might deliver us
Himself, and overcome the tyrant, and draw us to Himself by the
mediation of His Son, Who also arranged this to the honour of the
Father, Whom it is manifest that He obeys in all things?
So much we have said of Christ; the greater part of what we might say
shall be reverenced with silence. But that brazen serpent [Num. 21:9]
was hung up as a remedy for the biting serpents, not as a type of Him
that suffered for us, but as a contrast; and it saved those that
looked upon it, not because they believed it to live, but because it
was killed, and killed with it the powers that were subject to it,
being destroyed as it deserved. And what is the fitting epitaph for
it from us? "O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy
victory?" Thou art overthrown by the Cross; thou art slain by Him who
is the Giver of life; thou art without breath, dead, without motion,
even though thou keepest the form of a serpent lifted up on high on a
pole.
TWENTY-THREE.
Now we will partake of a Passover which is still typical,
though it is plainer than the old one. For that is ever new which is
now becoming known. It is ours to learn what is that drinking and that
enjoyment, and His to teach and communicate the Word to His disciples.
For teaching is food, even to the Giver of food. Come hither then, and
let us partake of the Law, but in a Gospel manner, not a literal one;
perfectly, not imperfectly; eternally, not temporarily. Let us make
our Head, not the earthly Jerusalem, but the heavenly City [Heb.
12:22]; not that which is now trodden under foot by armies [Luke
21:20-24], but that which is glorified by Angels. Let us sacrifice not
young calves, nor lambs that put forth horns and hoofs [Ps. 64:32], in
which many parts are destitute of life and feeling; but let us
sacrifice to God the sacrifice of praise upon the heavenly Altar, with
the heavenly dances, let us hold aside the first veil; let us approach
the second, and look into the Holy of Holies [Heb. 13:15 and 10:20].
Shall I say that which is a greater thing yet? Let us sacrifice
-ourselves- to God; or rather let us go on sacrificing throughout
every day and at every moment. Let us accept anything for the Word's
sake. By sufferings let us imitate His Passion: by our blood let us
reverence His Blood: let us gladly mount upon the Cross. Sweet are the
nails, though they be very painful. For to suffer with Christ and for
Christ is better than a life of ease with others.
TWENTY-FOUR.
If you are a Simon of Cyrene, take up the cross and follow. If
you are crucified with Him as a robber, acknowledge God as a penitent
robber. If even He was numbered among the transgressors for you and
your sin, do you become law-abiding for His sake. Worship Him Who
was hanged for you, even if you yourself are hanging; make some gain
even from your wickedness; purchase salvation by your death; enter
with Jesus into Paradise, so that you may learn from what you have
fallen. Contemplate the glories that are there; let the murderer die
outside with his blasphemies; and if you be a Joseph of Arimathaea,
beg the Body from him that crucified Him, make thine own that which
cleanses the world. If you be a Nicodemus, the worshipper of God by
night, bury Him with spices.
If you be a Mary, or another Mary, or a Salome, or a Joanna, weep in
the early morning. Be first to see the stone taken away, and perhaps
you will see the Angels and Jesus Himself. Say something; hear His
Voice. If He say to you, Touch Me not, stand afar off; reverence the
Word, but grieve not; for He knoweth those to whom He appeareth
first. Keep the feast of the Resurrection; come to the aid of Eve
who was first to fall, of Her who first embraced the Christ, and made
Him known to the disciples. Be a Peter or a John; hasten to the
Sepulchre, running together, running against one another, vying in
the noble race. And even if you be beaten in speed, win the victory
of zeal; not -looking- into the tomb, but -going- in. And if, like a
Thomas, you were left out when the disciples were assembled to whom
Christ shews Himself, when you do see Him be not faithless; and if
you do not believe, then believe those who tell you; and if you
cannot believe them either, then have confidence in the print of the
nails. If He descend into Hell, descend with Him. Learn to know the
mysteries of Christ there also, what is the providential purpose of
the twofold descent, to save all men absolutely by His manifestation,
or there too only them that believe.
TWENTY-FIVE.
And if He ascend up into Heaven, ascend with Him. Be one of
those angels who escort Him, or one of those who receive Him. Bid
the gates be lifted up [Ps. 23(24):7], or be made higher, that
they may receive Him, exalted after His Passion. Answer to those who
are in doubt because He bears up with Him His body and the tokens of
His Passion, which He had not when He came down, and who therefore
inquire, "Who is this King of Glory?", that it is "the Lord strong and
mighty", as in all things that He hath done from time to time and does,
so now in His battle and triumph for the sake of Mankind. And give to
the doubting of the question the twofold answer. And if they marvel
and say as in Isaiah's drama: "Who is this that cometh from Edom" and
from the things of earth? Or "how are the garments red of Him that is
without blood or body, as of one that treads in the full wine-press?"
[Isaiah 63:1-2] Set forth the beauty of the array of the Body that
suffered, adorned by the Passion, and made splendid by the Godhead,
than which nothing can be more lovely or more beautiful.
TWENTY-SIX.
To this what will those cavillers say, those bitter reasoners
about Godhead, those detractors of all things that are praiseworthy,
those darkeners of Light, uncultured in respect of Wisdom, for whom
Christ died in vain, unthankful creatures, the work of the Evil One?
Do you turn this benefit into a reproach to God? Will you deem Him
little on this account, that He humbled Himself for your sake, and
because to seek for that which had wandered the Good Shepherd, He who
layeth down His life for the sheep, came upon the mountains and hills
upon which you used to sacrifice, and found the wandering one; and
having found it, took it upon His shoulders, on which He also bore
the wood; and having borne it, brought it back to the life above; and
having brought it back, numbered it among those who have never
strayed? That He lit a candle, His own flesh, and swept the house,
by cleansing away the sin of the world, and sought for the coin, the
Royal Image that was all covered up with passions, and calls together
His friends, the Angelic Powers, at the finding of the coin, and
makes them sharers of His joy, as He had before made them sharers of
the secret of His Incarnation? That the Light that is exceeding
bright should follow the Candle-Forerunner, and the World, the Voice,
and the Bridegroom, the Bridegroom's friend, that prepared for the
Lord a peculiar people and cleansed them by the water in preparation
for the Spirit?
Do you Reproach God with this? Do you conceive of Him as less
because He girds Himself with a towel and washes His disciples, and
shows that humiliation is the best road to exaltation; because He
humbles Himself for the sake of the soul that is bent down to the
ground, that He may even exalt with Himself that which is bent double
under a weight of sin? How comes it that you do not also charge it
upon Him as a crime that He eateth with Publicans and at Publicans'
tables, and makes disciples of Publicans that He too may make some
gain? And what gain? The salvation of sinners. If so, one must
blame the physician for stooping over suffering and putting up with
evil smells in order to give health to the sick; and him also who
gives health to the sick; and him also who leans over the ditch, that
he may, according to the Law, save the beast that has fallen into
it.
TWENTY-SEVEN.
He was sent, but sent according to His Manhood (for He was of
two Natures), since He was hungry and thirsty and weary, and was
distressed and wept, according to the Laws of human nature. But even
if he were sent also as God, what of that? Consider the Mission to
be the good pleasure of the Father, to which He refers all that
concerns Himself, both that He may honour the Eternal Principle, and
that He may avoid the appearance of being a rival God. For He is
said on the one hand to have been betrayed, and on the other is is
written that He gave Himself up; and so too that He was raised and
taken up by the Father, and also that of His own power He rose and
ascended. The former belongs to the Good Pleasure, the latter to His
own Authority; but you dwell upon all that diminishes Him, while you
ignore all that exalts Him. For instance, you score that He
suffered, but you do not add "of His own Will."
Ah, what things has the Word even now to suffer! By some He is
honoured as God but confused with the Father; by others He is
dishonoured as Flesh, and is severed from God. With whom shall He be
most angry -- or rather which shall He forgive -- those who falsely
contract Him, or those who divide Him? For the former ought to have
made a distinction, and the latter to have made a Union, the one in
number, and the other in Godhead. Do you stumble at His Flesh? So
did the Jews. Do you call Him a Samaritan, and the rest which I will
not utter? This did not even the demons, O man more unbelieving than
demons, and more stupid than Jews. The Jews recognized the title Son
as expressing equal rank; and the demons knew that He who drove them
out was God, for they were persuaded by their own experience. But
you will not either admit the equality or confess the Godhead. It
would have been better for you to have been circumcised and a
demoniac -- to reduce the matter to an absurdity -- than in
uncircumcision and robust health to be thus ill and ungodly disposed.
But for our war with such men, let it be brought to and end by their
returning, however late, to a sound mind, if they will; or else if
they will not, let it be postponed to another occasion, if
they continue as they are. Anyhow, we will have no fear when
contending for the Trinity with the help of the Trinity.
TWENTY-EIGHT.
It is now needful for us to sum up our discourse as follows:
We were created that we might be made happy. We were made happy when
we were created. We were entrusted with Paradise that we might enjoy
life. We received a Commandment that we might obtain a good repute
by keeping it; not that God did not know what would take place, but
because He had laid down the law of Free Will. We were deceived
because we were the objects of envy. We were cast out because we
transgressed. We fasted because we refused to fast, being
overpowered by the Tree of Knowledge. For the Commandment was
ancient, coeval with ourselves, and was a kind of education of our
souls and curb of luxury, to which we were reasonably made subject,
in order that we might recover by keeping it that which we had lost
by not keeping it. We needed an Incarnate God, a God put to death,
that we might live. We were put to death together with Him, that we
might be cleansed; we rose again with Him because we were put to
death with Him; we were glorified with Him, because we rose again
with Him.
TWENTY-NINE.
Many indeed are the miracles of that time: God crucified; the
sun darkened and again rekindled; for it was fitting that the
creatures should suffer with their Creator; the veil rent; the Blood
and Water shed from His Side; the one as from a man, the other as
above man; the rocks rent for the Rock's sake; the dead raised for a
pledge of the final Resurrection of all men; the Signs at the
Sepulchre and after the Sepulchre, which none can worthily celebrate;
and yet none of these equal to the Miracle of my salvation. A few
drops of Blood recreate the whole world, and become to all men what
rennet is to milk, drawing us together and compressing us into
unity. [Rennet is the membrane of a cow's stomach, used by some
traditional dairy-farmers in the process of curdling milk. -Editor]
THIRTY.
But, O Pascha, great and holy and purifier of all the world --
O Word of God and Light and Life and Wisdom and Might -- for I
rejoice in all Thy names -- O Offspring and Expression and Signet of
the Great Mind; O Word conceived and Man contemplated, Who bearest
all things, binding them by the Word of Thy power; receive this
discourse, not now as firstfruits, but perhaps as the completion of
my offerings, a thanksgiving, and at the same time a supplication,
that we may suffer no evil beyond those necessary and sacred cares in
which our life has been passed; and stay the tyranny of the body over
us; (Thou seest, O Lord, how great it is and how it bows me down) or
Thine own sentence, if we are to be condemned by Thee. But if we are
to be released, in accordance which our desire, and be received into
the Heavenly Tabernacle, there too it may be we shall offer Thee
acceptable Sacrifices upon Thine Altar, to Father and Word and Holy
Ghost; for to Thee belongeth all glory and honour and might, world
without end. Amen.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
The St. Pachomius Orthodox Library, July 1995.
Have mercy, O Lord, on Thy servants Charles and James the translators,
and the Friar Martin, Bertram, Clay-Edward, Craig, Elizabeth, Iain,
James, Jeff, Jeff, Kate, Lori, Malachi, Maurice, Michael, Nigel, Paul,
Stephen, Steven and Vassilios, the scribes.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
THE END, AND TO GOD BE THE GLORY!
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